I did an apprenticeship at Johnson Machinery, Stockport in the early 70's. The firm built Dumpers, pumps and rammers. During my apprenticeship I manufactured parts as well as building and testing the rammers. Memories are the fly cutting of the Magnesium alloy cylinder heads using paraffin as a cutting fluid with the swarth falling like snow. This swarth had to be brushed up and taken into the yard where it was set alight as it couldn't be recycled with the other aluminium swarth. Testing the newly built rammers was also fun and you soon learnt to keep the thing vertical when working as any tilt meant it flying out of control; things were bloody heavy to pick up off the ground. Way before my time Johnsons also built something they called a Frog Rammer which weighed a quarter of a Ton. This also had a angled foot and on firing would leap forward dragging its operator with it.
Small world....I served my engineering apprenticeship at Simon Engineering, Stockport, my first day was 1st September 1969. I now find myself retired in East Texas after 50 odd years in the metal cutting industry, UK and the US.
I used to work at a boatyard in Oxford & had to use an adapted version of these machine up to 20’ in the air on a rig to knock oak piles into the riverbed for mooring posts. Scary stuff as I had to winch the piledriver up to sit on the post & using foot runs on the rig climb up to operate it. The machines base had a hole in the centre which slid over a pin allowing it to rise & fall without drifting off sideways. It would sometimes clear to pin 😬
What does the very last sentence of your comment mean? I have no mechanical, construction or engineering experience so I don't know what clear to pin means?
@@thomasrussell4674 What he meant to type was 'clear the pin'. As in the device would jump up so high as to clear the height of the pin, potentially causing it to fall in an unsafe direction.
My father was a road ganger for the local council and used many machines like the ones you have demonstrated. Working in a trench is back breaking work even when using powered tools .
Me too, mid 60's to early 70's when I was 3 up to about 9 I used to be really entranced watching the road gangs using these - never knew what they were called so used to call them road thumpers. The sound was somehow very soothing - a lot nicer than the modern whacker plate. I also used to love watching them use a pneumatic drill.
Yes I can remember them , when I was a young apprentice mechanic we used to service / repair several building firms vehicles. I used to get sent out to get these things going again and I was terrified of these things. Health and safety had never been heard of then .
‘Trench Rammers’ ‘Jumping Jack’s’ ‘Paddy’s Motorbike’ call them what you will, you can still buy them if you look, but the actions mechanical (like the later one demonstrated , rather than compression ignition (diesel, just like large piling hammers) which came after the original petrol powered ones , ‘Wacker’ plates and double drum trench rollers took over
Thats because its bollocks - if you try and look into it at all theres nothing talking about a three stroke. in the classical use of the term it would mean that the piston is at the opposite location per firing. Impossible unless perhaps its using combustion either side of the piston, but I don't see what use that would be for this. And even then wouldn't be a 3 stroke, would just be two 2 strokes sharing a piston sleeve and firing out of phase.
So many having a miserable retirement with hand arm and shoulder issues from these and other pneumatic hammers , let alone a l;ong life of breathing in mostly siliceous dust . Un represented canon fodder were a lot of people in the building industry .
These weren't as bad as the pneumatic breakers for that. Vibration white finger with those for sure, that and tinnitus and hearing loss. The breakers were compact though and you could have a point, spade or compaction bit, so one tool for the whole lot.
I have one of these Pegson elephant foot trench rammers and it must be about 45 years ago I last saw it work. I recently got the magneto working but a strong sense of self preservation has precluded any further progress!
Last week I had the latest version in my back yard. A sticker on it said " no personnel within 30 feet ". Radio controlled for maximum safety. Two vibrating rollers. As a kid, I imagined a 2 stoke pogo stick very similar to your rammer.
Great to see . Back in the early 70s as a teenager, I remember trying to start one and scaring myself stupid when it fired. Used to love them building site play days as a kid. Lol. No H&S but loads of fun......
I'm sure I remember something with Johnny Ball on TV (Think Again maybe?) talking about corrugated cardboard and demonstrating its strength by laying under a big slab of the stuff while somebody set off one of those trench rammers on top of it.
I remember watching the men when i was a lad using these. A gang of workers would come dig up the street and the night watchmen looking after all the tools over night. Then JCB's came along and you do not see the gangs anymore.
I remember seeing those used when the paving slabs were being reset in the pavement (sidewalk for N Americans). We called them “jumping beans”. That was back in the late forties or early fifties.
I well remember those rammers, as a kid, they used to fascinate me, but I also found them to be a little bit frightening; the thought of what would happen if one landed on the operator's foot.
I remember those thumpers. Along with hand crank start dumper trucks (Thwaites?) with single cylinder engine - I imagine H&S saw those off too, probably Aircon and Elec start today 🤣
I remember seeing one of these on Shed & Buried as the one thing the legendary Sam Lovegrove couldn't get running. - Maybe the 3-stroke thing bemused him?
I actually found and downloaded the patent papers years back. I was hellbent on building one. They were sold as toys, but caused too many ER visits, so they pulled them off the market. One story goes that a Nascar team got their hands on one and would spend time between practice sessions jumping up and down pit lane, easily jumping higher than one story- boys being hooligans, they had modified them.
Not quite, the Paddy's motorcycle was a term used for the petrol engined road breaker, I've got one of those....perhaps another video for Mr.Clough......he'll need his ear defenders for that....blooming noisy thing 😂.
I well remember these.If the ht lead was not unscrewed for safety when at rest, it has been known for people to lean on the control lever,fire it and knock their teeth out Good old Paddys motorbike:-).
Wouldn't count on the Brits, BSA went from the world's biggest motorcycle maker to broke in two years. They even had the world 500cc championship and blew that by overthinking.
They're quite impressive to watch.. i used to work at Fairport, who'd presumably bought Warsop Metrix. Some of the old pokers were pretty nice quality but most people seemed to be wanting to spend less.
I used one those awful things, they were very dangerous, they often fell over and you couldn't lift them back up. with out help. often they wouldn't run pushing them up and down till you want blue in the face, when they did go they got red hot, they had them that work off a compressor you could a flat foot to a pneumatic drill they were far better, happy days,
I did an apprenticeship at Johnson Machinery, Stockport in the early 70's. The firm built Dumpers, pumps and rammers. During my apprenticeship I manufactured parts as well as building and testing the rammers. Memories are the fly cutting of the Magnesium alloy cylinder heads using paraffin as a cutting fluid with the swarth falling like snow. This swarth had to be brushed up and taken into the yard where it was set alight as it couldn't be recycled with the other aluminium swarth. Testing the newly built rammers was also fun and you soon learnt to keep the thing vertical when working as any tilt meant it flying out of control; things were bloody heavy to pick up off the ground. Way before my time Johnsons also built something they called a Frog Rammer which weighed a quarter of a Ton. This also had a angled foot and on firing would leap forward dragging its operator with it.
@@alastairmellor966 thanks for posting pal all the very best
I’ve never heard of paraffin used as a cutting fluid. Is it better than machine oil?
@@ronliebermannit use to be, especially for machining aluminum....or aluminium being the British term.
Small world....I served my engineering apprenticeship at Simon Engineering, Stockport, my first day was 1st September 1969.
I now find myself retired in East Texas after 50 odd years in the metal cutting industry, UK and the US.
@@stockportbrits thanks for your kind comments mate all the very best
I used to work at a boatyard in Oxford & had to use an adapted version of these machine up to 20’ in the air on a rig to knock oak piles into the riverbed for mooring posts. Scary stuff as I had to winch the piledriver up to sit on the post & using foot runs on the rig climb up to operate it. The machines base had a hole in the centre which slid over a pin allowing it to rise & fall without drifting off sideways. It would sometimes clear to pin 😬
What does the very last sentence of your comment mean? I have no mechanical, construction or engineering experience so I don't know what clear to pin means?
@@thomasrussell4674 What he meant to type was 'clear the pin'. As in the device would jump up so high as to clear the height of the pin, potentially causing it to fall in an unsafe direction.
Excellent Film Peter. Thank you for posting
I am trying to convince Peter to show and tell a three stroke motor. He’s prepping a cutaway engine
@@Anotherflyonmyvisor that would be great. Peter is such a fascinating chap to talk to.
My father was a road ganger for the local council and used many machines like the ones you have demonstrated. Working in a trench is back breaking work even when using powered tools .
I remember those jumping contraptions. Used to watch the Navis using them when I was a kid.
@@mikethespike7579 same here I always wanted to have a go. Rather ride my bantam off a cliff pal
Me too; I couldn't have been more than five or six. The things used to terrify me!
me too also remember the nick name for them Paddy's motorbike
Me too, mid 60's to early 70's when I was 3 up to about 9 I used to be really entranced watching the road gangs using these - never knew what they were called so used to call them road thumpers. The sound was somehow very soothing - a lot nicer than the modern whacker plate.
I also used to love watching them use a pneumatic drill.
@johno4521 When I was 5, I saw one of these being used and asked my Mum what it was. She told me it was a "shooshbomper"!!
Elephants foot we are 4 generations of ground workers and civil engineers we have some of these in our collection awsome bits of ingenuity
Yes I can remember them , when I was a young apprentice mechanic we used to service / repair several building firms vehicles. I used to get sent out to get these things going again and I was terrified of these things. Health and safety had never been heard of then .
i work on rammers in the mechanic shop and dang they have come far from then
Great explanation of the Benjo working. Used Wackers at Southerngas in early 80s 😊
@@waynetetley584 Pete’s a natural I think he maybe even the new Fred D - we will have to find another subject he’s passionate about
Irishman’s motorbike 😂. I remember the last model being used by the electricity board when I was a kid back in the 80s. Happy days. Cheers.
Hand Tool Rescue on YT restored a US Barco one around a year ago. Narration is in the subtitles so make sure you have them on.
Fantastic, subbed, thanks for sharing
I used the jumping trench rammer, terrifying when starting to use it but very easy when you got the knack.
0:55 I love this description: ..a dob of iron on the end of a wooden or a steel pole…” …dob of iron…
This is soooo cool. Greetings from florida!
Two items I’ve always wanted to operate…a trench rammer and a Stop/Go lollipop. Such power in my hands.
You would have regretted after the rammer compacted your foot or gave you an upper-cut. I am glad we don't have these rammers today.
@@Frank-Thoresen Naaah, I would have been sitting on it for the ride!
Stop/Go lollipop is 80k job now
@@littlehills Go on… Reeely? Reeely reeely?
@@josephinebennington7247 amazing u have the internet and cant google yes in Australia
‘Trench Rammers’ ‘Jumping Jack’s’ ‘Paddy’s Motorbike’ call them what you will, you can still buy them if you look, but the actions mechanical (like the later one demonstrated , rather than compression ignition (diesel, just like large piling hammers) which came after the original petrol powered ones , ‘Wacker’ plates and double drum trench rollers took over
I remember them well, we called them jumping jacks
it's a wackerplate... nothing new
Elephants foot was a name I remember,
Paddy's motorbike lmao
could you imagine holding onto one of those for an 8hr shift? great video,i enjoyed that.thanks
Interesting to see Boris Johnson walk past at 1:23. 😂 Good video. I used to watch road workmen use these as a kid.
Well I've learnt something today 3 stroke !!!
@@derek876544 same here mate never heard of them
Some people call them 5 stroke
Thats because its bollocks - if you try and look into it at all theres nothing talking about a three stroke. in the classical use of the term it would mean that the piston is at the opposite location per firing. Impossible unless perhaps its using combustion either side of the piston, but I don't see what use that would be for this. And even then wouldn't be a 3 stroke, would just be two 2 strokes sharing a piston sleeve and firing out of phase.
@@trotskiftw Exactly my thoughts too.
@@trotskiftwyep, this design was quite common back in the day.
They are referred to as 2 stroke ground compactors.
Red and white striped tents. Wackers going badoomf badoomf
Jumpers for goalposts and a raspberry mivvi
Excellent we used to use "Wackers" but of a handful to use
So many having a miserable retirement with hand arm and shoulder issues from these and other pneumatic hammers , let alone a l;ong life of breathing in mostly siliceous dust . Un represented canon fodder were a lot of people in the building industry .
@@MyKharli yup - I remember being told asbestos was safe ……
These weren't as bad as the pneumatic breakers for that. Vibration white finger with those for sure, that and tinnitus and hearing loss. The breakers were compact though and you could have a point, spade or compaction bit, so one tool for the whole lot.
just what i wanted!! a 2 stroke pogo stick
I have one of these Pegson elephant foot trench rammers and it must be about 45 years ago I last saw it work. I recently got the magneto working but a strong sense of self preservation has precluded any further progress!
Must be 40 years or more since I last saw one of those working.
Yeah, I was just thinking I remember seeing those, but when I was quite a small kid - I'm 60 now.
@@jonb3311 Pete’s prepping another engine to talk about he’s a local star in Cambridgeshire
Last week I had the latest version in my back yard. A sticker on it said " no personnel within 30 feet ". Radio controlled for maximum safety. Two vibrating rollers.
As a kid, I imagined a 2 stoke pogo stick very similar to your rammer.
There was a 2 stroke pogo stick back in the day called "hot rod", spectacular stuff!
Just operated a modern one a couple of days back, beat the heck out of me!
When I was a little lad about 3 or 4 and we were being converted to north sea gas I used to call them things plump uppers.
Great to see .
Back in the early 70s as a teenager, I remember trying to start one and scaring myself stupid when it fired. Used to love them building site play days as a kid. Lol. No H&S but loads of fun......
I'm sure I remember something with Johnny Ball on TV (Think Again maybe?) talking about corrugated cardboard and demonstrating its strength by laying under a big slab of the stuff while somebody set off one of those trench rammers on top of it.
Jeepers creepers.
Fascinating 😮
@@ianwarriner8193 thank you a little different for me
Brilliant. I remember these in the 60s. They used to hurt my ears lol.
Often wonder how they worked!
I remember watching the men when i was a lad using these. A gang of workers would come dig up the street and the night watchmen looking after all the tools over night. Then JCB's came along and you do not see the gangs anymore.
......and the smell of the paraffin road lamps too, happy days.
@@reverendodarn4295 The night watchman' brazier fire sparks from the coal and the smell
I remember seeing those used when the paving slabs were being reset in the pavement (sidewalk for N Americans). We called them “jumping beans”. That was back in the late forties or early fifties.
I remember using a jumping jack on construction sites in the early 2000s
I bet some teeth have been lost due to these. very interesting thankyou
@@johnnyslap1009 thanks for your kind words. Both Peter and I enjoyed making it.
As lads, we called the 'thumpers' because of the noise they made. Great fun watching them being used though - ! 😅
We used to call it "Jumping jack." Watch out for your toes! A dangerous contraption.
I well remember those rammers, as a kid, they used to fascinate me, but I also found them to be a little bit frightening; the thought of what would happen if one landed on the operator's foot.
@@martinsims1273 I bet it was quite a regular occurrence mate especially after a lunchtime pint mate
Thumbs 👍 very interesting
Gees Ive done my apprenticeship on ne of them
Sore arms and back bu was young and fit in those days ❤❤
Well, I'll soon be going to bed with a bit more knowledge than I woke up with .👍
Back when they repaired road works properly ,didn,t end up like the somme battlefield 😢😢
@@barryjones872 yup not like today mate
@@Anotherflyonmyvisor we back filled made good and the traffic was running on the same day, now they close the road it's like it for weeks,
Australia is exactly the same!
So how does the 3 stroke work?
I remember those thumpers. Along with hand crank start dumper trucks (Thwaites?) with single cylinder engine - I imagine H&S saw those off too, probably Aircon and Elec start today 🤣
When I was a kid, I thought these things were evil robots, they scared the crap out of me.
I hope my wife doesn't learn about these. I'll be out of a job.
6 passes every 4" for max compaction. We used scalping with British Gas Scotland, had to be moist, not wet. Arms still going hours afterwards.
We finally four the real piston return springs!
I never saw one of these actually being used, other than in the Captain Sensible "Wot?" video.
A frog rammer! Wow, I've only seen videos of the Delmag version.
Rgds, Peter.
My Irish ganger back in the olden days on the roads informed me as an apprentice this was a paddy's dancing partner and potcheen was good for you😝
Quite interesting
Aka road thumpers Great educational video, thanks for posting!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Our local roadmen in North Wales called them dollies in the 60's
Remember those well from my childhood. We called them "thumpers".
Looks like a fun pogo stick.
Never thought I'd see a three stroke Johnson on the TH-cam!
Thanks for the comment - I had never heard about a three stroke before talking to Pete
My machine is a Ben Johnson from Yorkshire, not the Johnson machinery rammer. Their last rammer was the Max-tamp which was a tommy two-stroke.
Another school day for me.
i might start one up in tesco,s
Is that a Dorset accent?
I remember seeing them as a kid in the sixties. I used to call them bouncer bots!
Always wanted a Pegson rammer, but you just don’t see them..
Growing up in the 60's I remember these being used outside my house and listening to Paddy cussing because "the fo**en thing won't start boss"
A one legged dance partner.
I used to call them butcherkers cause that’s the noise they made 😂😎👌🏽
They basically marketed these to children in America in the 60s, gas powered pogo sticks.
They were banned because they just broke the childs ankles.
Then in March of 1960 a brand new childs toy called the “Hop Rod” hit the market. .
I remember seeing one of these on Shed & Buried as the one thing the legendary Sam Lovegrove couldn't get running. - Maybe the 3-stroke thing bemused him?
Pile drivers are/were diesel. Simpler mechanics. (See elsewhere on YT). Was diesel no good for this smaller version?
remember the benjo rammers been used as a kid they were called paddys motorbike lol
On an episode of American Pickers, they found a 'pogo stick' that works like these 😮
Just found out it was called a hop rod and some people still have them..
I actually found and downloaded the patent papers years back. I was hellbent on building one. They were sold as toys, but caused too many ER visits, so they pulled them off the market. One story goes that a Nascar team got their hands on one and would spend time between practice sessions jumping up and down pit lane, easily jumping higher than one story- boys being hooligans, they had modified them.
Life before health and safety was so much better
Paddys motorbike
@@stevesavage8784 love that term
Also air compressor jack hammer's known as Paddy's motorbike
Not quite, the Paddy's motorcycle was a term used for the petrol engined road breaker, I've got one of those....perhaps another video for Mr.Clough......he'll need his ear defenders for that....blooming noisy thing 😂.
We used to call 'em K'jundas when we were kids, It was the noise they made.
We call them jumping jacks,the ones with the large plate we call wacker packer.
so you didnt explain how its a 3 stroke engine
I well remember these.If the ht lead was not unscrewed for safety when at rest, it has been known for people to lean on the control lever,fire it and knock their teeth out Good old Paddys motorbike:-).
Imagine the uppercut you’d get if used them without paying attention!
Remember to keep it upright unless you want either a punch under the chin or to have it leaping off like an iron kangaroo.
Just another thing that has disappeared from our street scene, like hand operated windy hammers...
How can it possibly be three-stroke? I'd say that's flat-out impossible.
This is exactly how gas-powered pogo sticks work. They aren't really 3-strokes. Just 2-strokes without crankshafts.
i used to service these
Bet you kept your balls well tucked away .
A Donegal motorbike!
Paddy's Bike!
Wouldn't count on the Brits, BSA went from the world's biggest motorcycle maker to broke in two years. They even had the world 500cc championship and blew that by overthinking.
They are like giant petrol powered pogo sticks.
The old ones look like they get the job done better, just stay out of the way like any machine.
They're quite impressive to watch.. i used to work at Fairport, who'd presumably bought Warsop Metrix. Some of the old pokers were pretty nice quality but most people seemed to be wanting to spend less.
Would have been nice to see one actually work
You're flying kinda low there bud.
I used one those awful things, they were very dangerous, they often fell over and you couldn't lift them back up. with out help. often they wouldn't run pushing them up and down till you want blue in the face, when they did go they got red hot, they had them that work off a compressor you could a flat foot to a pneumatic drill they were far better, happy days,
Why doesnt someone invent an attachment to go onto a jackhammer. instead of a cutting chisel you have a flat plate.
That guy has a 9 inch trench rammer.
Paddys Motorcycle.
gabs wahrscheinlich viele verletzte bei den ersten Verdichter )))
Terrifying pogo stick
Ceredigion council have a better way . Just push the dirt back in and sprinkle a bit of tarmak on top . SORTED !