Anyone seen a "Jumping Jesus" lately?

agulesin

agulesin

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Nothing to do with DIY so I hope I've used the right forum!

When I were a lad, some workmen were laying cables/pipes/whatever in some parts of the village. They were using an interesting "device" to compact the soil (and probably tarmac) and I've never seen one of them since.

It was a single-cylinder (probably two-stroke) "engine "contraption with the "crankshaft" fixed solidly between the piston and a compacting plate (I remember this was rectangular but not sure). The "cylinder" was the main part of the machine and it had a small fuel tank and magneto system on the top.

In use the worker pushed it up and down a few times to gain compression and then at the right moment, pulls the hand lever which fires the spark plug, thus propelling the whole thing into the air, compressing whatever's beneath (including feet!) and starting the next cycle. It was great fun to watch and probably the most dangerous device ever invented for such work; I assume it was banned outright when the HSE was formed.

The name "Jumping Jesus" was probably something that the workers had called it, I wasn't used to collecting details from rating plates in those days!

If anyone has any details, photos, (even a working example!) please let me know!

Many thanks,

A. Stephen Eyles,
Ankara, Türkiye
 
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The thing you are talking about was called a 'Pegson'.
Petrol tank on top, slide handle magneto, 18mm spark plug. It actually had a sort of speed control - to start up, the magneto handle was fully depressed and then yanked up, causing the thing to fire. If the magneto handle wasn't fully depressed on the return, the piston wasn't fully up before the spark sent it back down again, with a faster but gentler stroke.
Its maximum stroke was 9" if I remember.
Once the operator had finished bouncing around with the thing, keeping the handle depressed would stop the momentum.
Open exhaust port made pretty blue flames, spitfire like.
Truly, these things were for men and very brave mice!
John :)
 
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The one we had did have a domed cast aluminium fuel tank on the top, and a Villiers carburettor....thinking about it, depressing the magneto handle must have opened an inlet valve at the same time as producing the spark. I remember the 'snort' the thing gave as it inhaled fuel (which must have been a two stroke mix) and then it would leap in the air. I couldn't have been older than 15 I think, and the thump that it made when coming down on concrete was memorable. I often wondered what would have happened if the thing had tipped over during use!
John :)
 
I seem to remember them being called a " Benjo"
 
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