Binks/Amal carburettors

[wristpin]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and I'm afraid here under false pretences but having failed to get any info elsewhere I hope that the knowledge base for old British bikes may help me. I don't own a bike but have a lovely bit of British engineering, a 1934 Dennis lawnmower with a 500cc single fed by a carb that has Binks on the hex in the centre of float chamber lid and Amalgamated Engineering etc around the circumference.
Amal I know but what is the association with Binks  and are any parts still available?
Any info will be gratefully received.
Angus

[R]

What a lovely bit of kit !
Who made your engine - Dennis ?  Who are they ?
Thats a hefty engine in a lawnmower !

Don't know the precise details, but Binks, B&B (Brown and Barlow) and someone else became AMAC in the 1920s (Amalgamated Carburettors ?), and then became Amal in either the late 20s or the very early 1930s.

So 1934 is very late for any mention of Binks - unless its old stock ?

Your carb has a number stamped on the throat - that looks like an Amal, with an Amal code, although not a code I'd recognise. (could be specifically for a stationary engine, or for Dennis).
You don't say where you are, but some of the carb/amal specialists could probably supply bits - Martyn Bratby does the swaps in England, quite an authority on carbs apparently and very skilled...

[cardan]

Hi Angus,

Amalgamated Carburetters Ltd (AMAL) was formed from an amalgamation (!) of the companies making AMAC, Binks and B&B carbies. For 1929 it seems that most of the output was just branded AMAL but there were some remnants of the old order. On the continent, for example, the AMAC brand lived on, and from your lawnmower we see that AMAL were using the Binks brand for some of its industrial output.

I have a little booklet that lists parts for AMAC, Binks and B&B up to 1928 and "AMAL and Binks carburetters" for 1929 and 1930. The Binks carbies shown in the booklet are pretty similar to the AMAL products, but for example the top of the mixing chamber like the one on your mower is shown on the Binks, but not on the AMAL.

In summary, let me guess that AMAL (the company) used the Binks brand for some of its products supplied to industrial customers. You'll probably find that many AMAL parts will suit your Binks.

Cheers

Leon

[wristpin]

Thanks guys, it all starts to build up a picture and make sense. Dennis Bros of Guildford originally used Blackburn engines and then went on to make their own. My machine was bought new by my Dad in around 1934/36 and was an everyday working machine until it got too heavy for him to handle in the 1980s. Its the same Dennis company that went on to make fire appliances and buses and the Dennis name is still around today on a range of quality sports turf mowers.
As a working machine it was looked after by the local garage mechanic and Dad was a b****r with the grease gun which has probably helped preserve it in the nice original condition that it is today - and still capable of doing a day's work if the driver is man enough!
I attach an image of my spare carb' which is "all Amal"

 

[cardan]

Fine old firm, Dennis Brothers. The Dennis "Speed King" motor tricycle of the late 19th century comes to mind - I think there is a survivor. Even out here in Australia, some of our early commercials were Dennis.

http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Dennis_Brothers
http://earlymotor.com/lewis/cars/html/dennis.htm

Leon

[R]

Thanks for the clarification on Amac and Amal.
Where did Amac come from then, they hadn't been around long ?

[cardan]

AMAC carburetters were built by Aston Motor Accessories Co., Ltd., of Aston, Birmingham. Not sure when they started but I have a c1909 model for one of my bikes. B&B (Brown and Barlow) and AMAC were the "big two" in British motorcycle carburetters, with Binks a distant third. AJS was probably the only big company to fit Binks carbies to their production bikes, while most of the top manufacturers of the teens and twenties - BSA, Triumph, Norton, Douglas... - used either B&B or AMAC at one time or another.

Leon

[Rex]

I used to have a Binks spray gun...wasn't bad either.

[R]

Do you have an address for AMAC and for Aston Motor Accessories ?

Aston Motor Accessories were in Wolverhampton ? 
Although must have had a Birmingham connection for the Aston bit... ?

Parts of the same company, or parent company ??

[cardan]

I'd hate to comment in detail because I've not researched it. Early adverts give the AMAC (Aston Motor Accessories Co.) address as Aston Cross, Birmingham. Later there was the "Lion Works, near Witton Station, Birmingham".

I know nothing of a Wolverhampton connection for AMAC.

Leon

[RichP]

The Vintage Motorcycle Club have all the Amal production build cards and from memory, these include industrial and other applications, not just motorcycles.

It might be worth giving them a ring. If they have the cards for the Dennis carbs then these will normally detail which standard parts were used to build the particular option.

[wristpin]

Thanks for all the info - all going into the file!
Meanwhile back at the bench someone brought me a 1950s Nash Boadicea lawnmower with a 34cc JAP engine. No problem, points, carb and fuel tank flush - expect you can smell the stale fuel. But what intrigues me is the KLG plug with a stepped electrode - never seen anything like it.

[33d6]

It's not so much a stepped electrode but looks like a long life platinum tipped electrode to me. I had a similar style of plug fitted to my business van when it was stacking up a fair annual mileage and they certainly lasted very well.

I'm not sure why one would feel the need to fit a long life plug to a lawnmower but who knows what the owner had in mind.

Cheers,

[Bomber]

Big lawns?