Shot Gun Start Field Marshall Tractor & Others

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

I came across a couple of videos on YouTube about how various engines were started by using a shot gun cartridge. One video shows a Field Marshall Tractor being started. There is also video of a 1945 FM-2 Wildcat BU 86774 being started with a cartridge.

Were old Mack Trucks in Australia ever started using the same technique?

These videos were accessed on 4th December 2015 from,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Sr8S9uQMc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65qrzgbTTcQ

Kind Regards
Lionel

[JDNSW]

Cartridge start (not shotgun - no shot!) was commonly used for large diesels and aeroplane engines from the 1930s to the fifties. For diesels, because they often did not have electrical systems (and the cartridge start was simpler, cheaper, more reliable and lower maintenance than a full electrical system), and for aeroplanes because they were simpler and lighter than an electrical system big enough to turn over a large engine.

Very few such engines are in use today, probably only a few such as the Marshall tractors and a few warbirds, perhaps some stationary diesels.

As far as I know Macks never used them, although they certainly used air start rather than electric start for a number of years in the fifties and sixties.

John

[Lionelgee]

As far as I know Macks never used them, although they certainly used air start rather than electric start for a number of years in the fifties and sixties.

John

Hello John,

Thanks for the information. Okay air start for the old Macks. I can remember there was an old green Mack truck in the next street from my ancestral home in Temora NSW. The driver's favourite trick was to wait until some unsuspecting pedestrians were walking by. Then he would hit the air starter. Mostly to great effect with the people jumping out of their skins! It was a while ago and I confused it with the cartridge start I saw on YouTube today - see I used the correct term.

There are also some old bulldozers at the Temora Rural Museum that are cartridge start - I think the same Mack driver used to volunteer there too. Temora Rural Museum :: MGNSW (http://mgnsw.org.au/organisations/temora-rural-museum-temora-historical-society-inc)

Kind Regards
Lionel