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Author Topic: ID Needed on this Steam Launch  (Read 3631 times)

Junkologist

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ID Needed on this Steam Launch
« on: May 17, 2020, 07:53:40 pm »
I picked up this little steam launch today because it has what I would consider a rather unusual oscillating engine.
The hull is 25” long and roughly 5” wide. The engine has a built in displacement lubricator, which is the part that looks like a knob on top. It also has a throttle valve, which is the little lever with the spring behind it. The cylinder swings from a pivot point on top of the cylinder head instead of a central pivot point like most oscillators. The engine frame and cylinder are bronze castings. There is nothing extraordinary about the boiler.
I’m hoping someone will recognize the make. There are no markings at all on anything. Thanks!
Mike

Check out my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Cletrac

Stoker

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Re: ID Needed on this Steam Launch
« Reply #1 on: May 17, 2020, 08:54:12 pm »
The boiler and engine have some design elements that are similar to an early Stuart oscillating launch engine, but for some reason I suspect it could be Bassett-Lowke. If that oiler has a standpipe coming up from the bottom, than it probably is a displacement lubricator, but from your pictures I suggest that it is actually a total loss pot oiler that has no steam condensate feed, but rather just a gravity feed to the oscillator's axle and port faces.

I have no idea about the boat itself, other than the entire kit looks very nice indeed!!!
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.

Nick

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Re: ID Needed on this Steam Launch
« Reply #2 on: May 17, 2020, 08:57:07 pm »
Sure has a Stuart ST or Bassett Lowke G.F. look to it... but looks shorter/fatter (maybe just the camera angle?)

Can we see more of the engine frame? Is the bracket holding the cylinder on a homemade addition? Same with where the head pivots with the engine frame?
Nick

Nick

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Re: ID Needed on this Steam Launch
« Reply #3 on: May 17, 2020, 09:04:36 pm »


Nick

Junkologist

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Re: ID Needed on this Steam Launch
« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2020, 09:50:54 pm »
The boiler and engine have some design elements that are similar to an early Stuart oscillating launch engine, but for some reason I suspect it could be Bassett-Lowke. If that oiler has a standpipe coming up from the bottom, than it probably is a displacement lubricator, but from your pictures I suggest that it is actually a total loss pot oiler that has no steam condensate feed, but rather just a gravity feed to the oscillator's axle and port faces.

I have no idea about the boat itself, other than the entire kit looks very nice indeed!!!

It does have a standpipe in the oiler.
Mike

Check out my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Cletrac

RedRyder

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Re: ID Needed on this Steam Launch
« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2020, 10:06:15 pm »
Nice find, Mike.!!

The boat somewhat resembles an H.E. Boucher hull.

Junkologist

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Re: ID Needed on this Steam Launch
« Reply #6 on: May 17, 2020, 10:14:16 pm »
Here’s some more pics of the engine. It’s mostly apart right now. I’m still working on freeing up the piston rod in the gland. It’s really putting up a fight. It’s soaking in evap-o-rust right now.

The previous owner claimed that this was a prototype made by White Motors in Cleveland, Ohio. He said a close family friend worked there and somehow acquired it in the late ‘40s or early ‘50s. He had nothing to back the story up either. Doesn’t make any sense to me that White Motors would be prototyping a toy steam boat, but who knows? It’s definitely not homemade. The hull and most of the boiler and firebox parts are steel and brass stamped parts.

The funniest part of the deal today was when he turned my offer down because it was too much and then stated a lower price that he was happy with. That doesn’t happen very often!
Mike

Check out my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Cletrac

St Paul Steam

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Re: ID Needed on this Steam Launch
« Reply #7 on: May 18, 2020, 06:35:04 am »
Very nice Mike, I'm sure you'll make a beauty out of this one.
Bruce, St. Paul Indiana, USA
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Nick

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Re: ID Needed on this Steam Launch
« Reply #8 on: May 18, 2020, 09:04:25 am »
Thanks for the extra pics Mike, everything looks original on the engine frame, I'm stumped...  ???
Nick

Stoker

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Re: ID Needed on this Steam Launch
« Reply #9 on: May 18, 2020, 09:20:13 am »
I'll have to admit to being stumped as well Mike .... clearly outside my knowledge base and reference library.

However there is one thing I can definitely say about it .... I like it!!!
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.

Junkologist

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Re: ID Needed on this Steam Launch
« Reply #10 on: May 19, 2020, 10:25:16 am »
I finally got the piston rod free from the gland only to discover that it was rusted badly. A new piston and rod had to be made and our own George Britnell came to the rescue! George and I are not very far from each other, so I ran over to his shop and he knocked the parts out for me. These are fairly simple parts, but he is an amazing craftsman, nonetheless! Thanks, George!

The engine runs perfectly now, but I still have not found another like it.

Mike

Check out my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Cletrac

Stoker

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Re: ID Needed on this Steam Launch
« Reply #11 on: May 19, 2020, 11:14:21 am »
Oh how embarrassing.

Looks like George and I are similarly equipped, ie: Atlas 618 lathe (George appears to have the Craftsman tagged version) and steel surface plate with vernier & dial height gages. Yet he makes mechanical art, while I struggle to make parts worthy of sewer drain fittings.

I have occasionally done some good work, but it is extremely slow going and certainly doesn't come naturally in any way, in spite of my many years of exposure!
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.

Nick

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Re: ID Needed on this Steam Launch
« Reply #12 on: May 19, 2020, 12:25:14 pm »
Nice runner now, wish I was a short drive from George!
Nick

Junkologist

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Re: ID Needed on this Steam Launch
« Reply #13 on: May 19, 2020, 01:52:12 pm »
Oh how embarrassing.

Looks like George and I are similarly equipped, ie: Atlas 618 lathe (George appears to have the Craftsman tagged version) and steel surface plate with vernier & dial height gages. Yet he makes mechanical art, while I struggle to make parts worthy of sewer drain fittings.

I have occasionally done some good work, but it is extremely slow going and certainly doesn't come naturally in any way, in spite of my many years of exposure!

George makes it looks so easy! He told me he bought that little Craftsman lathe in 1969, the year I was born!
Mike

Check out my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Cletrac

Stoker

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Re: ID Needed on this Steam Launch
« Reply #14 on: May 19, 2020, 04:19:07 pm »
Oh how embarrassing.

Looks like George and I are similarly equipped, ie: Atlas 618 lathe (George appears to have the Craftsman tagged version) and steel surface plate with vernier & dial height gages. Yet he makes mechanical art, while I struggle to make parts worthy of sewer drain fittings.

I have occasionally done some good work, but it is extremely slow going and certainly doesn't come naturally in any way, in spite of my many years of exposure!

George makes it looks so easy! He told me he bought that little Craftsman lathe in 1969, the year I was born!

Looking around on George's bench there, I really don't see anything in the way of "magical" tooling, that I don't have something about equivalent to, so there must be some other key ingredient that I'm missing, like  ................  TALENT!!!
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.