About Portable Engines

More portable engines were built than all other types of engine combined. Construction was simple and the basic design remained unchanged for almost 100 years between their invention in the 1850's up until the end of production in the years after the Second World War.

A portable engine cannot move itself and was normally moved from job to job by horses. They carried out tasks similar to general purpose engines, threshing, wood sawing, stone crushing, pumping water and even generating electricity. Sizes ranged from very small engines weighing only a ton to enormous engines weighing 20 tons or more.

Lincoln and Ipswich based builders dominated, vast numbers were produced for agricultural outside of the UK, hundreds of which survive to this day.

This area will be expanded soon.