Edward “Ted” Pritchard (28 August 1930 – 16 August 2007) was an Australian mechanical engineer, inventor and developer of small scale modern steam engines. Pritchard was obsessed by the virtues of modern steam as compared to the internal combustion engine. He believed that for a fraction of the investment in the development of internal combustion engines, modern small-scale steam, externally fired engines, could prove to be of far greater efficiency and utility, exhibit better combustion characteristics, have lower emissions, greater fuel efficiency, higher torque and better power-to-weight ratios.
Ted Pritchard
His commitment saw him nearly single-handedly attempt to launch a steam driven car industry in Australia in the 1970s. Towards the end of his life, he continued to refine the engineering principles and designs of his engines and he left a design for what he referred to as “the best small steam engine the world has ever seen”. Pritchard claimed that he had, “done for the steam engine what IBM did for the computer, made it small and personal”. It is from these final designs that we at Uniflow Power have built our prototype combined heat and power generator – The Cobber.
