It's been a while since we visited the USA back in 2020, wenn My wife and I met a lot of members from here on the forum.
A month later and Covid brought the world to a stand still.
Since that time I wasn't really active anymore in the restorations scene.
My wife an I used that lockdown period to it's maximum, and we did very big overhaul of our home.
This didn't mean that we forgot you all, and it really gave us a drive to get through this covid situation.
Thinking back of all the nice people we met in our travel along the east cost from New York down to Texas.
But we couldn't have had a better travel guide, good companion and I may say that I consider Charlie under my best friends.
I hope to give Charlie a same experience back in a trip through Europe in the near future.
From that period I brought back an Empire B38 that I got from Charlie.
The B38 I got from Charlie was on first side in very good condition but there was a slight problem, it was damaged in that sense that it wouldn't heat up anymore.
Obviously there was something wrong with the heat element.
And Charlie knowing me, he fully trusted me that I would get it running again, don't know why🤔😁
So when it arrived at my home, I put it in my display cabinet, daily looking at it bilding a bond with it.
Call it psychoanalysis of the patient😁
I also talked about it, with Stuart Owens, who is as you all know expert in restoring Empire's and has a beautiful collection of them too, as Charlie has.
So last week, wenn it was all quit in the house, and it felt that it was time that I preformed the surgery on this rare engine.
You have to understand this technology is absolutely new to me, and I was really stressed to open it up.
Specially as I new that the heat insulation was made of very porous mica sheet.
The heat element consists of a long strap mica where a thin flat resistance wire is rapped around.
The wire was broken on 5 different places.
The only way to connect them again is folding them in to each other, there is no way you can solder them.
Luckily all the broken points where at the edge, where folding them over each other, made it easier.
After the repair the most difficult part was assembling it all together again, and mica is such a fragile substance that utter care was necessary.
Anyway the moment after feeding it with 110V, I felt the heat appearing, and I did a real dance of joy, another one running again🤗🤗😍😍😘
But the trip brings also a sad memory for an event that happened after.
While I was in the USA I had the chance to meet Scott Rouze and his wife, and that day we will never forget.
Although that was our last day in the USA and time was very limited, due to that we had to catch our flight back home.
Visiting him, is something Charlie, my wife and will never forget, he treated us as royals.
Later on I got an Empire N°50 fountain as a present from him, because he knew that I was a big fan of the Empire brand.
A year later, Charlie brought me the sad news that Scott past away, and thinking of that, still makes me very sad, as it does to so many others who knew him.
So that little fountain means a lot to me and is a reminder that I carry in my hart.
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