George Fowell OR Fowler Dumpers

[BulldozerD11]

I've just aquired one of these and have posted pictures here http://www.classicmachinery.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=28404984 it's given me more incentive to restore the old girl

Thanks for posting Scruffyhippo yours makes 4th then I know of. The first one i saw is restored and has appeared at several steam/tractor shows in the Midlands.

[oldbikeles]

Hi, I am new here, but the name FOWELL caught my eye. I had one of these, about 1972, for which I paid £28. It was to use with my JCB1, to make a new drive at my cottage. I clearly remember the name plate, which said "G.F.Light Dumper", and that was followed by (something like) "Made by George Fowell". It had a Petters PA1 engine. I added a second small tank, and ran it on TVO, with petrol for starting only. Fuel prices were just going through the roof. It had been road registered ***28 (on the tip of my tongue, I will remember it soon. I gave it away to a chap at Burton on Trent in about 1989 before I moved.

[BulldozerD11]

Welcome to CMN Les

Did the makers plate on yours have a serial number on it at all (Nobody has found one yet with a plate on that we know of) or found a serial number on a machine ?

Have you any old photos of your Dumper or JCB1 in action.

How did you find it to drive when loaded with the pivoting front steering Axle design ?

Dave

[oldbikeles]

Hi again. I don't recall any serial number, only the "G F Light Dumper". I tried to get more info, but no internet back then, and I got nowhere. I seem to recall that the plate was on the big mudguard (RHS?) which lifted up to give access to the big alloy flat belt pulley. After that, memory fades. Steering? Interesting. In fact the drive job was probably far too much for it, but I struck a deal with a local farmer. They turned up with thier Massey 244, tractor and trailer, and moved the silt from a defunct mill pond to the other end on my property. This left me a much more manageable job with the drive.
The "quid pro quo" was my loan to them of the JCB1 do do some ditching and drainage.
I have some photos of the JCB1 somewhere, and possibly something of the GF, which I will try to dig out when I get chance.

[shaunhorrocks]

Hello...I've just joined CMN and might be able to shed some light on the George Fowell issue. I currently own a couple of Fowell dumpers one of which is the GF Series A light dumper which I rebuilt 20 years ago. It dates back to the mid 30's. One sold on Ebay a couple of years ago for over £800. Yes the serial number plate is on the belt guard and it is pivot steer...similar to modern articulated dumpers. You can see mine, and a number of others at...

http://www.oilyhands.co.uk/Archive12.htm

I also have a spare parts manual if anyone is interested.

[BulldozerD11]

Hello...I've just joined CMN and might be able to shed some light on the George Fowell issue. I currently own a couple of Fowell dumpers one of which is the GF Series A light dumper which I rebuilt 20 years ago. It dates back to the mid 30's. One sold on Ebay a couple of years ago for over £800. Yes the serial number plate is on the belt guard and it is pivot steer...similar to modern articulated dumpers. You can see mine, and a number of others at...

http://www.oilyhands.co.uk/Archive12.htm

I also have a spare parts manual if anyone is interested.

Hi Shaun Welcome to CMN

Could you please post a photo of the S/N palate as all the ones i've seen previously have been missing the plate !

Dave

PS if you can scan the manual then Holger (Admin) can add it to the download archive on here which contains a lot of brochures and manual's in PDF format.

[XS650]

Period working picture of a George Fowell ;-

http://www.transportphotos.com/road/photo/GM00175-18d1

[shaunhorrocks]

Hi Dave

I have attached a manual for the Fowell GF Light Dumper. Cannot get a picture of the S/N at the moment as the dumper is under a tarpaulin nunder about a foot of snow!!

Cheers Shaun

PS. There is a guy in the Bournmouth area who has a collection of these dumpers including another one of mine.....he originally gave me a copy of this manual. You can probably catch him at the Great Dorset show.

[cliffnemo]

They were a problem for us in the plant department. They had a four inch wide belt slackened or tightened by a jockey pulley attached to the clutch pedal It required a spot of secomastic ? on it to stop it slipping. Over enthusiastic drivers put too much on , then the dumper would not stop. Think I have a pic somewhere of our 'wrecker' pulling one out of a trench. The fitters didn't think much of Mr Fowell , they refered to him as Mr F***** Fowell. However Foweil, Thwaites, Winget, Joe Bamford ,et al,were pioneers moving away from the pre war wheelbarrow days.

The Thwaites clutch was perfect being a very crafty adaption of the Girling brake drum

[FOWLER MAN]

Hi Shaun,
Thanks for the download, very interesting and nice to have.
Cliff mentioned the "flat belt drive". GF were not alone with this, I had the same problems with a simmular drive on an early Benford.
If there was no suitable belt dressing available the lads would raid the canteen and use sugar, this worked well.
A littlle off topic, but sugar worked on slipping navvy travel clutches to make them bite. I remember a 19 RB struggling to travel out of some soft ground, the clutches were slipping and the opperator emptied some sugar into the band. The machine traveled allright but the clutch stuck and wouldn't disengage.
By the time he realised what was happening and disengaged the main clutch the machine had traveled through a 9 inch wall into the neighbouring site.
Fred