Projects - Lyndon's Machines

Buskermatic

The Buskermatic was originally was built for the Henley Festival of music & Arts.

The 9 piece mechanical orchestra makes numerous banging and crashing sounds.

It is constructed from numerous parts including old car windscreen wiper motos, bits of bicycles, aeroplanes, wind-up gramophones and copper tubing.

Tritanic

Tritanic was the first ‘river machine’ built during the late 90s originally with wooden hulls on which was mounted a side by side 1930s tricycle.

Originally propelled by pedal power by means of a double sprocket on rear wheels with secondary chain driving a small gearbox with propeller shaft fitted with 2 bladed propeller.

During 2023/24 Titanics original wooden hulls were replaced with larger hulls enabling more cargo.

Tritania

Tritania was the second of the river machine series. Based on a 1930 Argoson electric bathchair mounted on wooden hulls, tritania is equipped with windup gramophone built into the port float, a rotating umbrella, mechanical flapping pigeon, bubble generator, wine cooler and a special cranked out arm to send/receive drink glasses to passing craft.

Tritania has appeared many times at Henley regatta, Thames Traditional Boat festival and has carried various celebrities for TV programmes- including the late Jill Dando, Gyles Brandreth, presenters from South Korean TV, Belgiuim TV, French TV, CNN plus other programmes about the Thames.

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Whatsometer

The ‘Whatsometer’ was the first mechanical creation made for Henley Festival of music & arts.

Basically a mechanical programme, each disc representing a day of the festival.

The operator selects the day and time for a particular day, the window in the disk lights up showing what is on and where.

The Whatsometer mechanical programme made for the Henley Festival of music and arts.

The user selected by means of a controlling lever the day and time required so the large copper disc would rotate to the appropriate signal window.

Each disc represented a day of the festival, a window in each disc showed what was on and its location on the festival site

Voltanic

The Voltanic river machine was constructed from a pair of Hawker Hunter fighter jet long range underslung fuel tanks.

Whilst cruising along the Thames at Henley Regatta it started to sink and had to be rescued and beached.

Voltanic is now a garden ornament.

Dreadnought

Dreadnought was a steam-electric river machine powered by a coal fired Stuart Turner engine which drove a pair of 24v geared electric motors connected to twin side paddle wheels.

With its flat bottomed hulls it soon proved to be very difficult to control in windy conditions – sometimes being driven in circles.

Dreadnought attended Steam Boat association events and the Traditional Boat Festival. It was scrapped a few years ago!

Propellar Moped

Hybrid moped based on 1960s Solex powered plus electrically driven 4 bladed propellor.