Opening Up The RAREST Flathead Supercharger Ever 

I run a CNC router for a living and the vacuum pump we use as a hold down source is this same dry vein technology only it's the size of a car engine. The veins are in fact solid graphite and do have a wear specification. As they slide in and out of the slot they will form a scallop in the face and the friction against the inside of the drum will wear the material away over time. The first pump we had ran for 17 years and we replaced the veins maybe 2 or 3 times in that span. We run the machine 8 hours a day 5 days a week and the veins will last for years. They are not lubricated otherwise. The pump creates a vacuum pressure of 26.4 inches of mercury and has enough force to hold down a part through an inch of MDF. The pumps are made by a company called Becker. We have bought veins from them, they are very expensive, about $4000. But I have found a company in the UK called Supervein that sold them for $1700. It is a very reliable and low maintenance technology. You keep the bearings greased and that's about all until the veins wear below a certain point. They are easily replaced and if they do happen to fail they just turn into dust which is expelled through the exhaust. I hope this may be helpful, I didn't have time to read through all of the comments to see if someone else had said this so... Good luck. Very cool.

If you have a Bridgeport, it's really easy. Clamp along the x-axis behind the part, leaving clear access to the front side. Tram straight then tighten clamps. Can elevate on V blocks, just be sure to clamp over them, if you don't, you'll induce a bend. Then use a slitting saw for the groove. Its not angled, it's offset from center. To help you maintain 90 degree separation, leave a 3/4" stub on the end of the shaft. Say 6" long. Then use a 4 sided collet block on that 3/4" stub. Or leave the bearing stud really long and trim to length later. Then after each cut is to depth, you can then loosen clamps, rotate along the cylinder axis to the next flat on the collet block. Rinse and repeat. Sounds complicated, it's really easy. Once turned to diameter, should take 3 hours maybe to machine the 4 slots.

"See if I can find a couple of Strombergs" cracked me up !!!

Hey Matt you might already know this but there is a circle track museum at latimore valley fairgrounds just south of Carlisle PA. They may be able to shed some light on those blowers. They have a lot of rare and interesting motors and speed equipment. I'm glad that you are able to carry the torch for this era of hot rodding.

Two suggestions; as for the vanes, the same material as was used in the old smog pumps or more modern vacuum pumps on high performance engines. Most of those were PTFE. It is highly likely that those vanes had thin but high tension hairpin springs behind them to keep them loaded against the case to maintain the seal. In all likelihood, the score in the rotor occurred when the vane broke and the spring contacted the housing, scoring the housing first then damaging the rotor. The original vanes were likely phenolic with a fibrous weave embedded in the resin. Phenolic is temperature sensitive and becomes brittle when exposed to heat, also the exposure to gas vapor probably contributed to some sticking of the vanes in the slots causing a loss of effectiveness of the supercharger's compression of the intake charge. Good luck on the restoration/rebuild.

Hi Matt I also love this stuff, I have a Norman supercharger that was made here in Australia in the 50's, the case was cast iron with a chrome finished bore, the shaft assembly was steel with Bakelite veins, they made good power but heat was a big issue

Loved the backdrop of all the carbies and other parts. One tweak to the format could be swapping the small green cabinet for a 6' by 6' steel-topped table. You looked a bit squeezed for work-space.

We had 12 large vacuum pumps for CNC routers where I used to work, about 3 times the size of what you have. The vanes were all solid graphite and with care, i.e. clean filters, lasted 1000 hours or more in an industrial woodworking environment. Interesting video today.

It is exactly like a Judson. I have an old Judson for a VW that has the same vane style. There is a Judson online group with people that replicate the vanes

Being a Pennsylvania man all my life, i love seeing this old racing stuff thats come from PA racers. Keep these amazing parts and cars alive for the nxt generation to learn aout. ❤

Fantastic stuff here! Looking forward to seeing one of these running on one of your rides. Go Iron Trap, keep preserving hot rod history and keep moving forward!

That rotor is just the rotor inside your air tools, with vanes that slide out against the body, cool, glad your taking it apart!!

Thank you Matt and Mike for sharing a piece of history with me !

That's great that you keep the history alive by talking about it and explaining it to us.. appreciate it and hope that you can build these superchargers again and bring them back to life

Looks very much like a Judson supercharger -- how the vane slots are orientated, how 'deep' the vanes are, etc. The Judson kits came with a lubricator bottle that injected a lubricant (sort of like an Ampco upper cylinder lubricator) to lubricate the vanes.

Hey Matt, that Marshman is very cool! Good that you're not going to "flood the market" with reproductions - AND I'm looking forward to the next installment on this very cool project!

That's so neat how it's like a variable displacement hydraulic pump and they even used graphite like in electric motors because it's self lubricating. Awesome piece of early automotive engineering.

Outstanding video with the superchargers! Excellent background with the shelves, too! Thanks!

Matt/Mike thank you for diving into this very unique bit of speed equipment history.

Pretty cool that the racers around your area were always trying to beat each other and coming up with speed accessories like this and especially stuff you can still find.

Worth a shot interms but the rotor design and blades look almost identical to the becker vaccum pumps my work uses, Maybe worth looking into the becker pumps company to see if they have any graphite blades that match your dimensions

I love watching your videos about old school hot rod building and I wish to one day own one too.

Great find Matt. All your hard work is paying off big time. Wish you the best and may the hot rod god's smile upon you.

Teflon strips backers with light safety pin style flat springs as a modern replacement for the original veins. The originals are probably not asbestos as asbestos is quite abrasive and would score both the running bore as well as the vein slots. They are likely a graphite matrix, possibly in a jute or hemp binder.

Matt, the material for the veins is fairly straight forward. There is a plastic called Delrin. I've used it many times in a lot of unusual applications. Unlike teflon or nylon, it's not affected by liquids or most chemicals. Petroleum doesn't affect either. It's self lubricating and very easy to machine. It comes in natural (white) and black. The vane wouldn't be that hard to machine with a vertical rotary head and a slitting saw. Don't over think this. There is also a company out your way that does hard coating on vintage motorcycle cylinder bores and I'm sure they could repair that housing for you. I'll have to look for their contact info and let you know. Keep up the good work. Rick

I'm here recently just now learning about the intricacies of the flathead engines. The exhaust has one hell of a trip out of the cylinder! No wonder they didn't make much power stock. That and the 7 to 7.5 to 1 compression ratio 😮

Hey Matt, I am a metallurgical chemist and I love this tech. It was astounding what they did with what they had back then. I am starting a welding/fabrication business that specializes in pre WW2 race cars. I am working with a guy who is designing gears in a transaxle to make a posi-rear. I live in Pottstown also and I am just starting a build of a 1928 Morgan RIP GN(MGB)Special Hillclimb racecar. These started out as three wheelers but when they used either a GN or an MG rear differential they became a 4 wheel special. I am rebuilding experimental opposed twin aircraft motor for the front which mates to the MGB transmission by means of a hand cast two part aluminum adapter. The frame is Wood over steel and The build will be my first series of RU-vid videos. I hope to catch up with you and stop by sometime. I can take a look at the supercharger and see how easy or hard it would be.

Definitely cool video. Really neat "speed artifact". It looks like you can replace the "beat" shaft and everything else... To the point of replication. Just use the original for dimensions. You're a sharp dude. It'll be a project that can sit on the shelf, until time is available. No rush.

Since they are internal I think you could use a teflon strip for the vanes. Like what they use to line dump trucks. Like the superchargers of the more modern era and being most likely designed for racing I am sure this is a wear item A very cool piece of history

Some awesome history. I've lived in the Phoenixville, Pottstown area pretty much all my life and haven't heard of a lot of the tracks you named. But at the same time my dad wasn't into racing so that might be why I never heard about the tracks. Kinda sucks cause I'm almost 68 and would have loved to go to some of the races.

Totally interesting, as usual Matt. I love watching this stuff!!

Never even heard of a Marshman blower before - wow. Shorrock made vane superchargers here in England up to the early '70s but of course for much smaller engines (1000-1500cc). I think the vanes were steel and a constant oil drip-feed had to be used but they were efficient over long periods. Their main market was for everyday cars (Austin-Healey Sprites, Ford Cortinas, etc)

As a Brit it's the first time I've ever heard an American refer to a set screw as a "grub" screw. Very interesting video, never seen that design of supercharger before, thanks for posting.

Mike is impressing me with his mechanical knowledge. Is there a port that can be used to measure how much PSI this thing would generate? Super cool I think This is one of your best videos. I think it should Be reproduced but identifiable has a reproduction.

This makes boost the same way an air starter for a 3512 caterpillar works! They have springs that keep the fins against the inner housing to make air pressure/boost. They are also off center to allow constant contact with the fins in the inner housing. Interesting blower you have there..

What a cool device! it is the longest rotary vane pump I have seen though there is no reason It couldn't be larger. The beauty of design is that centrifugal force creates the seal between the blade and the housing, and they self-adjust as they slowly wear out. If you apply a pressureized fluid or air to the thing it becomes a handy motor btw

Always interesting to see early speed equipment and how they did things back in the early days of hot rodding. Some nice research on George Marshman and his son. I have to believe you're right that he had something to do with those superchargers. The absence of serial numbers suggests they were never produced in large numbers, perhaps a failed venture.

Hey Matt. I work on tugboats and the air starters on the older diesel engines use the same sliding vane technology. You might be able to contact them to find out what kind of material they use to make the vanes. Ingersal Rand made our starters. Being that your Dad was a diesel mechanic he might know. Good luck 🍀. Enjoy your videos

Great find, thanks for sharing it !

The dust from the vanes as they wear, ends up going through the cylinders so I imagine that was not good for cylinder wear.

Nice vid. Yes they belong on working engines, not shelves. Looking forward to that. Thanks for sharing.

"Definately asbestos" is the best deadpan drop by Mike yet.

The early supercharger stuff is super cool, when I was stationed in Germany I was often informed about 3.0 csl bmw's with McCullough superchargers leaving the Italian exotics in the dust on the autobahn. Tha ks for the video man💪💪👍

Thanks Mate....Very Informative

Thank you for sharing your collection and the supercharger with me and my family/friends.y Uncle who was 92 who passed away last month was a great fan of the Model "T"and "A". He had a 1929 A that was like his first car All I can say is that he would have loved this and probably would have been able to answer the questions about it but I had no idea you had one or two of these. I know another man who might be able to help you. I will try and contact him and let him know.

Way cool! I found myself leaning into my monitor more and more as your video ran!

Super interesting content,on a super rare supercharger 🗿👍 Thanks for sharing Matt

🤯Very cool & interesting stuff my friend 🤯

Preserving history Matt 👍very cool 😎

Very interesting, thanks for sharing. Gramps

it's nice to find a channel that's in my neighborhood. very good.

In fire services we have what is known as a Rotary Vane Priming Pump, apart from being only 3 to 4 inches long they look very similar but the vanes are slotted vertically 90 degrees apart, the vanes are a Bakelite and resin style material. great find, very interesting

cool old peace Matt and Mike

Not sure if you’ve considered it yet or even thought about it but it’s possible you can have the bore Nikasil plated like a two stroke engine cylinder bore. Heck even just nickel plated would be more wear resistant than the cast aluminum. As far as the actual rotor of your blower if you wanted to make a copy you could turn one on a lathe to press a steel or inconel shafts into. After your shafts are pressed in an old manual mill can be used to make the slots. Although easier to do with a horizontal mill and slitting saw it could be done with a vertical mill. The rotor would need to be setup off center of the slitting saw while being held by a chuck on an index head at one end and a simple live or fixed center at the opposite end. Heck, you can repair the shaft in the rotor you have by turning it down in the lathe. I’d recommend using a tool post grinder to do so. Afterwards, turn a steel bushing/collar to press onto the shaft. Then either thread the shaft or broach a key way into the new bushing. If you’re able to set it up on an engine to get accurate measurements off of your crankshaft pulley turn a new shaft with a flange for the pulley to stop against and source either some different diameter pulleys to fit it or make your own. To that end, fabricating a jack shaft to overspeed the blower compared to crankshaft speed mounted on a parallel plane to the two would be even easier and allow more ratios. Bit whacko about speed parts myself and completely understand the willingness to overspend on rare or even odd historical stuff.

I've seen industrial air compressors use a sliding vane set up similar to that.

Back in the 90s we purchased a Company called Rotocold from the UK who made rotary vane compressors used for material handling and refrigeration. We renamed it Rotovane and set up a factory in Utica, NY to manufacture them. Unfortunately, we ran into several problems with the manufacture of them, and eventually the plant closed. The issue with these types of compressors are they require extremely tight tolerances in machining all the parts as when all fitted together the centrelines of the main housing and bearing end caps must all align perfectly. Additionally, there is the issue of sealing of the ends of the rotor and blades to the end caps. Again, to seal, especially without a lubricant like used in refrigeration, is difficult, and tolerances become crucial. Not something a run of the mill machine shop can likely do. We purchased state of the art top end CNC machines from Okuma as well as high end measuring equipment and still had issues yet in the UK they had non CNC old school equipment, but it really came down to their knowledge and experience.

Thanks Straight Ahead ✌😎

I have used this stile of pump withe the damaged vave clean up the rotor with a charp box cutter blade remove the vane very carefully if it's not broken (only small peice missing on seal edge tip then clean it up and put it in backwards reassemble and should be fine. I have done this with vane pumps as a field repair and it has lasted years)

This is very cool stuff to see.

Your cool you share. Info and stuff w/friends.

I used to work in Coatsville. what a slum huh? i moved to MD now but born and raised in chester co! Cheers!

Used to rebuild much larger pumps like this is in a cement plant years ago, cool find !!

That is designed based off of the old milking vacuum pumps. The veins are 100% carbon graphite blend. Look up old milking machine vacuum pumps. I use to rebuild those old vacuum pumps, they could pull over 20 psi of vacuum. They were loud when running. That damage makes no difference, just clean up the sharp edges and the critical part is the graphite slot, the veins must move freely, they work off of centrifugal force, the veins must have minimum side clearance, I think it was 0.002" - 0.004" side clearance. Milk pump veins we used on our machines lasted 3 to 5 years running 16 hours a day at least 5-1/2 days a week. If you cannot find any information on them let me know I think I still have my old machine catalog with the pump information in it in my storage unit.

Good idea to have the missing snout and rear cover, made. Would that be a job for a, high-end CNC machine?

Thanks Irontrap team. What a wonderful insite, watch the film back i think its meant to go on the Mercury!!😂😂

Cooper-Bessemer industrial engines used a similar vane type setup. The engines I worked on were 1948 - 1950 versions. Bakelite/graphite vanes using a wave-spring to keep them in contact with the blower insert.

Actually, it’s a pretty simple assembly. I was expecting it to be more complicated. Thanks for tearing it apart for us!

Matt your supercharger works very similar to a fire engine primer pump. primer pumps are generally a rotary vein which is used to remove air so the fire pump can draft water out of a pond Using the hard sleeves mounted on the engine those black things

Just stumbled on to you channel, so crazy, I live in Barto, grew up in Schwenksville.

rotary vane pump, all air tool motors... VW vacuum pumps, etc). Vanes made of bakelite - or similar fiber infused composite, as the vanes wear, they conform to the housing. The body casting is eccentric to the rotor - that is where the compression comes from. The Bakelite is fairly aggressive, I have a feeling the aluminum wore out fairly quickly. In air tools, we see hardened steel casings galled and worn relatively quickly. Once vanes have been run in a cylinder/housing, they need to stay with them as they have conformed to the various wear lines, unless you bore the housing and start with new vanes. I am guessing this supercharger was relatively slow speed/low boost compared to the overall engine RPM - an equivalent air tool with same design (albeit smaller) regularly run above 20,000-25,000. Very cool idea from an era where this technology would be relatively inexpensive. Thank you for sharing this!!

Very interesting. Not what I was expecting on the inside.

That's awesome! Would phenolic be a suitable materiel for replacement vanes? All the very best in all you all do!

Paxton also used a sliding vane style, at least in the 60's. I had one that was made to fit the Corvair. That one also had an oil injection/drip feed (Marvel's Mystery Oil BTW) to lubricant the micarda vanes

The sliding vane set up is similar to Gast vacuum pumps that I used to rebuild. Those pumps had an oil feed for lubrication thou.

Eldred Norman made rotary vane superchargers in Australia and wrote a book about how he did it. The vanes were made of I think reinforced phenolic resin and a replacement set could be readily bought. Lubrication of the rotor and vanes was achieved by adding a specified amount of oil to the fuel. He also fitted his superchargers to standard cars of the day and connected them to the motor via an electric clutch. When his passengers least expected it he would throw a switch and the bonnet would rise 4"!

Great Content today!!

I'm impressed , a great piece of gear

Gast Manufacturing still makes industrial rotary vane compressors , they used carbon vanes at one point. They were used to move paper inside early office copiers. A local aluminum die cast shop has been known to make small runs of performance parts, if you get that far...

Di por casualidad con este video y te felicito por el video..ese diseño de supercharger lo habia visto en un depresor para el sistema de frenado en una camioneta Diesel...pero JAMAS esperé que tuviera capacidad para sobrealimentar un motor....Saludos chicos!!

Great video. What do you think the optimal rpm in the supercharger? The pulley on the supercharger would spin faster or slower with different diameter pulleys. The pulley size on the crankshaft would effect the rpm in the supercharger too. Just a thought.

This has to be one of more arcane branches of the automotive hobby. It is also very interesting!

It's designed just like your air powered die grinder except it's a lot bigger, and it sucks in air rather than air pushing the vanes/drive shaft. Very cool.

"8000 tools to get the pulley off ..." That hit home lol, I always say almost every simple job turns out to be a 50-tooler by the time I finish it.

Lol I live right outside Coatesville in parksburg lol. Small world I just found you by accident

it would be cool to see them run!

Judson supercharges also made in PA. Lots of info

Thanks Matt. Very interesting. A simple design too. You should talk to a die maker about replicating that housing and snout. It might be more do-able than you think. A steel or stainless sleeve pressed in might be a good improvement too. A horizontal mill would be a good tool for cutting those slots. ...Just some thoughts. Good luck with them. I'll bet those would sell like hot cakes to the flat head crowd.

So which one will end of on the race T. Interesting vlog. Ty for taking us along

Those veins could be carbon. The town next to the one I live and grew up in has the Union Carbide Corp in it. And a good friend of mines Dad was a machinist there. I wish I could show him and ask for ya but he passed away a few years ago but it looks a lot like that stuff he worked in. Very Cool pieces you have for sure. Great vid as usual thanks for sharing. 👍

I ran a Shorrock Centrifugal Supercharger fort a few years, it had cast iron blades/vanes which suffered from wear, they were, after I sold it, replaced with teflon tipped blades, they lasted longer, I believe. The biggest issue was excess heat, especially at the back of the engine.

Very cool guys. I would assume the vanes are made of Bakerlite. So it’s a vane compressor. Would cause pulses that’s why Detroit made helix rotors for 71 series engines. Regards Ken

Hilariously long vane supercharger... pretty cool stuff.

Works like a little air grinder but makes air not useing air 👍

Marshman supercharger on top of the Ardon V8!!!!! Super rare super charger on legendary V8.

3-D scan the castings, then 3-d print some patterns [don't forget to scale up per the shrink rule], and CNC machine them. You may need a fixture for the slotting operation. Oh, the sand castings should be vacuum sealed or you will be fighting porosity problems that will drive you crazy. We learned that the hard way.

Looks basically the same a vacuum I worked on. Had graphite sliding vains, and was used to suck saw dust out of a cnc router.

Matt, that unit looks extremely similar to ones used on late 20' and 30's straight 4 & 6 cylinder Aviation engines I saw aa a kid growing up around airplanes. My Dad was an early member of the EAA abd we went to the EAA airshow in Rockford Illinois then Oshkosh Wisconsin every summer wher there was always many aircraft from those eras. Plus engines and parts on display and for sale in tents. It would have been perfect for aircraft due to it's semi-airstreamed shape.

Cool video hope to see it on a car running eventually

neat device. rotary vane pump or motor. vanes self-adjust for wear as they are thrown out from center while spinning. Very popular design although I would call plastic trade association for a spec on a newer material for blades. Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene comes to mind although an operating temperature would need to be figured before a material could be specified, Blades have to be free enough in slots to self-adjust.

I've never seen vanes used to pump air. But air motors are made in this style to this day. They're used in industry and have a fairly long life. I came back to add that those motors need a small amount of added lubrication. In fact in some applications it is sufficient to drip in a little oil every day. But they do need lubrication.