Stuart Turner
Encyclopedia
Model engineering
Model engineering is the hobby of constructing machines in miniature. The term was in use by 1888. There is some debate about the appropriateness of the term...
empire which went on to make
motorcycles, marine diesel engines and pumps. The name Stuart Turner is eponymous with small quality models.
Sidney Marmaduke Stuart Turner was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
engineer born in Shepherds Bush, London in 1869. Little is known about his childhood or adolescence although we do know that his family's ambitions for him did not include becoming an engineer. He eventually, after a series of other jobs including an apprenticeship on the Cylde building marine engines, a period at sea and working as an engineer in Jersey, gained employment in 1897 looking after the steam generating plant at Shiplake Court
Shiplake Court
Shiplake Court was a historic manor house near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, England. In the sixteenth century, it was the residence of Edmund Plowden. In 1897, it had its own electricity generating plant, managed by Stuart Turner. The independent school, Shiplake College, is now on the manor...
near Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. In those days mains electricity was rare and therefore most large houses had their own electricity generating plants.
It was while working at Shiplake that Turner designed his No.1 Model Steam Engine. He drew up the patterns which he then sent away to be cast. On their return he machined and assembled them and soon showed the finished model at a local exhibition. He then approached Percival Marshall the editor of Model Engineer magazine who wrote an article about the engine.
The coverage of which bought an immediate response and orders for sets of castings flooded in, and a business was established in 1898. Stuart Turner Ltd was incorporated in 1906 http://www.stuart-turner.co.uk/company/company.htm and started to produce model steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
s, gas engine
Gas engine
A gas engine means an engine running on a gas, such as coal gas, producer gas biogas, landfill gas, or natural gas. In the UK, the term is unambiguous...
s for domestic electricity, lathes, etc. Stuart Turner went on to produce further designs, and by 1906 there were Nine models in the range. By 1907 more space was needed so premises were rented at Market Place, Henley-On-Thames where the company remained for many years.
In 1911, the Stuart Stellarmotorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
. http://www.tradboatrally.com/gallery06sl/slides/39%20Motorcycle.html
was introduced, including a two-cylinder water-cooled two-stroke engine
Two-stroke cycle
A two-stroke engine is an internal combustion engine that completes the process cycle in one revolution of the crankshaft...
. In 1914, the company manufactured a generating plant for the Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...
's ship, the Endurance
Endurance (1912 ship)
The Endurance was the three-masted barquentine in which Sir Ernest Shackleton sailed for the Antarctic on the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition...
. It was used in the ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition , also known as the Endurance Expedition, is considered the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent...
.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
(1914–18), the company produced nuts and bolts, gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
valve
Valve
A valve is a device that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically pipe fittings, but are usually discussed as a separate category...
s and a Klaxon horn for gas attack
Chemical warfare
Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from Nuclear warfare and Biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical...
warnings. The workforce expanded to over 300 men and 100 women. In 1917, Stuart Turner acquired Broadgates Inn in Market Place, Henley-on-Thames, and has used this as a base ever since.
In World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
(1939–45), the company produced a number of products for the military including combined boiler, steam engine and generator plants, designed to be used by resistance fighters of troops operating covertly behind enemy lines to power radio transmitters. The modest-sized steam generator plants were based around the Stuart Sirius engine .
Stuart Turner left the firm in 1920 and went to South Africa. He returned to Southend to retire and died in April 1920. http://www.stuartturnermarine.co.uk/4.html
A decision was taken in the late 1980s to separate Stuart Turner Ltd. into two separate operations with the larger side of the business making pumps staying at Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and the Steam Engine section moving to Cheddar
Cheddar
Cheddar is a large village and civil parish in the Sedgemoor district of the English county of Somerset. It is situated on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, north-west of Wells. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Nyland and Bradley Cross...
in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
. In 1991, Stuart Models underwent a change of ownership with the production and sales departments moving to Guernsey
Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
.
History of Stuart Models
S5010V
D10
D10H
Score
Beam
Half Beam
Victoria
Twin victoria
James Coombes
Real
No.8
No.4
No.9
No.1
Major Beam
Oscillator
Twin Oscillator
Compound Launch
Twin Launch
Triple Expansion
Sun
Sirius
5A
6A