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Author Topic: A Stuart Turner Cygnet Finds a New Home at the Office of Steam with fresh VIDEO..!  (Read 495 times)

RedRyder

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A Stuart Turner Cygnet Finds a New Home at the Office of Steam!

These rarely come available and I am happy to have it here as part of my permanent collection.

Internally it is like new and the seller and I don't think it was ever run.

This one was factory built by Stuart Turner at Henley on Thames. Not sure of the precise age however I do have it's history for more than 50 years.

Here it is as shared by the seller:

  Hi Gil, here’s the history of the Cygnet, Bill of Sale attached.


Purchased by Ralph C. Peabody (my maternal grandfather) in the early 1970’s from the UK, seller unknown.
Manchester, NH
WWII Navy Veteran - Radio Operator on the USS Duluth in the Pacific Theatre
Owner/founder of Ralph C. Peabody Commercial Plumbing in Manchester, NH

Given to Peter P. Parady in early 1980’s (his son in-law/my father)
Manchester, NH
Huntington Beach, CA
Danbury, NH
Asheboro, NC

The Cygnet spent most of the last 50 years on display in my grandfather’s and father’s living rooms.  It was never run on air or steam that I am aware of at any point during that time.  Both my grandfather and father were steam collectors, primarily small scale models.  The Cygnet was the largest displacement model in either of their collections.

I hope you enjoy the Cygnet and in time pass it along to another person that will preserve the history of the engine.

Best regards,

Chris


I will add that it is so nice to be handed so much of the history along with the engine. I am honored to carry the torch for this family who cared for it for the last half century.

Below are a few pictures as arrived here and as the clean up begins. I have thoroughly enjoyed beginning to work on this piece as I haven't tackled a good project in some months due to preparing to move to a new home for the Office of Steam. While I am not certain of having enough time, I will do what I can when I can.

Enjoy,

Gil


As arrived and I will say how pleased I am the seller has relatives less than 20 minutes away and they brought it to my door on their way to visit his wife's family.


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As I begin the clean up...

The bore is perfect!

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The timing is a bit off.

As I feared, timing is locked because the eccentrics are keyed in place.
I may need to find someone to cut a new key slot inside the eccentrics bore.

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St Paul Steam

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I can't say I've ever seen one of those before ,chunky little beast , very nice  what is that mass beside the engine ?
Bruce, St. Paul Indiana, USA
"Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind."
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RedRyder

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Hi Bruce, It is a Stuart 5A cylinder assembly on a dedicated marine platform.
That attached "mass" consists of a vacuum pump, feed water pump, steam cylinder oil pump driven by a ratchet drive and all are driven by by a reduction gear case with eccentrics and finally there is the Stuart Henley on Thames brass ID tag.

RedRyder

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Here is a short video of the beginning break in procedure.
I turned it over on the lathe for about an hour when my 15 plus years old chinese lathe gave out. 
The motor failed and the shop smelled like... well... a freshly burned out electric motor.

Here is what this set up looked like:


St Paul Steam

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Hi Bruce, It is a Stuart 5A cylinder assembly on a dedicated marine platform.
That attached "mass" consists of a vacuum pump, feed water pump, steam cylinder oil pump driven by a ratchet drive and all are driven by by a reduction gear case with eccentrics and finally there is the Stuart Henley on Thames brass ID tag.
Way cool , I can see your attraction to it ,gears ,pumps , ratcheting oil pump , what's not to love .
Steam therapy heals a lot of ills 😊
Bruce, St. Paul Indiana, USA
"Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind."
  Nikola Tesla

RedRyder

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You got that right, Bruce!

Now I need some rest.

Gil

krypto31337

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That poor little lathe didn't like running a load like that so slowly.  No back gears!

That's an awesome find! Was that sold as a pleasure model or an engine made for work? I've seen the boat launch engines on U-Tube and they aren't much bigger...

All right, search to the rescue to answer my own question:

http://stuartturnersteam.com/Marine/Cygnet/Cygnet.html

Awesome!
My Workshop Blog:  http://doug.sdf.org/

RedRyder

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I see that website is sharing my video of my Swan. That works! I'll have to send them a link when I make a good running video of the Cygnet.

Steamandoil (Tim)

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If you play with fire, you're gonna get burned.

Nick

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I spotted this on ebay and was sure not to save it in my watchlist as I knew I would try and win it  :D

Congrats Gil!! Can’t wait for more videos  8)
Nick

tenniV11

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  • that's all I have to say about that
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No question - high quality steam hardware - what a find!
Congrats Gil
I only have a #1 on my shelf (2"x2" displacement)
and the Cygnet is on my wishlist since many years.
Arnold

txlabman

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An awesome addition to your collection Gil.

I hope to see it live at Cabin Fever 2022.

Jim

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That looks like a whopper of an engine Gil
_______________________________________________
Cheers.
Jim

My YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/Blue123Heeler/videos


RedRyder

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An awesome addition to your collection Gil.

I hope to see it live at Cabin Fever 2022.
I will bring it!

Gil

St Paul Steam

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An awesome addition to your collection Gil.

I hope to see it live at Cabin Fever 2022.
I will bring it!

Gil

Bruce, St. Paul Indiana, USA
"Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind."
  Nikola Tesla