Vigorous II
| Model: | 4HM528 |
|---|---|
| Serial: | |
| Bore: | 8" |
| Stroke: | 10½" |
| Cylinders: | 4 |
| Horsepower: | 85 |
| RPM: | 450 |
| Current Owner: | Ron Brazell (website) |
| Current Location: | Vallejo, California |
| Current Condition: | Display |
Engine History
This engine was purchased from a trade school to power the tugboat-yacht Vigorous II. After it was removed from the Vigorous in Maple Bay, British Columbia, it was sold as a "parts" engine to a ferryboat on the Sacramento River Delta, which was powered by an engine of the same model. Following a catastrophic failure aboard the ferryboat, both the Vigorous II's engine and the ferry's engine were sold to collector and salvager Ron Braznell, who has restored both engines.
Incidentally, this engine is an Atlas-Heaps engine; during WWII, the Atlas-Imperial Company licensed its designs to be used and manufactured by the Heaps Engineering Company of Vancouver, Canada. The Atlas-Heaps are nearly identical to Atlas-Imperials, save that their crankshafts, for reasons now unknown, are 1/8" to 6-1/4" larger than those in the Atlas-Imperial models, making replacement of main bearings at times problematic.