A brief history of engine design.
A personal view

Victorian engineers had an insatiable appetite for power to run their many and varied inventions. Water, and steam were the most commonly used and suited the needs of heavy engineering and transport well. Some large farms had a steam engine which occupied a prominent position in the middle of the buildings. Their exact location could be detected by the position of the large chimney.A well preserved example can be found at Tatton Park.They were not very adaptable for small scale use and this eventually led to the invention of the internal combustion engine in the latter part of the 19th century.

Early engines were heavy , slow running, with large external fly wheels,and unreliable. They had low tension ignition or some form of "hot bulb"ignition. Isolated farmers in America quickly saw the potential for a self contained power source for barn work, and electricity around the home and buildings. Small single cylinder engines such as the Farmers Boy and Amanco soon became popular and they found their way across the Atlantic where they were made in Britain and Europe under license.

British engines followed a similar pattern of development with many familiar names, i.e. Lister, Bamford, Villiers, Crossley. Sadly these engines were never as good nor sold as well in world markets as the American ones. They lacked the refinements of "Hit and Miss" ignition which were great fuel savers, even in times of plentiful fuel supplies.

Stationary engines faded from use with the spread of electricity and the introduction of the tractor. For many years they were widely used to power elevators and loaders and can still be found in use on some garden machines such as mowers and rotovators. Some may still be seen today running pumps for irrigation systems in countries where electricity is less common than here.

Today's engines bear little resemblance to early models and certainly produce more power from a much smaller engine as can be seen from the universally popular Briggs and Stratton.

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Briggs and Stratton have become synonymous with
small engines and they are to be found in most parts
of the world. These were seen in New Zealand and are
early examples from the 1940,s.

The Classic British stationary engine made by Lister of Dursley,
Glouceter. This was in production in the Thirties and Forties.
Robust and simlpe it was extensively used on elevators etc.