Good for you, Geoff. I wish I had some good memories of Tom, but alas....he seemed to offend everyone. I do appreciate what he did for our hobby, though.
I sure hope that when I'm gone people will have good memories of me! Ron On Jan 25, 2006, at 12:47 PM, Geoff Spenceley wrote: > Ah, Tom Cooper, wotta fellow, I met him in Diamondhead once, he was > on crutches, had a terrible trip and was in an awful mood. > > However, he did a lot for our hobby years ago. The Merlin Hunslet I > purchased in 1985 overall was a strong, long running loco with > wonderful gas and regulator control. The cupped "teflon" pistons > lasted and lasted, the Merlin Matterhorn lasted me well too. I sold > both engines a couple of years ago to put a few dollars in my > wallet towards the Duchess. I suspect a book could be written about > Tom! "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!!" I remember the "Good" > mostly! > > Geoff > >> So, Peter.....you're not a big fan of the Osmotor?.........8-) >> >> I remember Tom Cooper coming to a steamup in PA >> with his "Smokey Shay", and ticking off the host as >> he sprayed diesel fuel all over everything within 3 >> feet in every direction. It ran out of steam every 10 feet >> and had to sit there while it built up pressure again. >> Not a very impressive demonstration. >> >> Ron >> >> >> >> >> On Jan 24, 2006, at 9:10 PM, Peter Foley wrote: >> >>> Try another design.......Start out from scratch.......Anything >>> but an >>> Osmotor! As produced by Tom Cooper they were a total pig's ear, >>> requiring >>> upward of 100 hours of running to bed properly. My buddy Bill >>> Shipp has a >>> Steamlines shay that is powered by an Osmotor, and after 100+ hours >>> it is >>> only now approaching a condition that could be described as >>> 'controllable'. >>> >>> The problems are inherent in the design - the spring pressure to >>> hold the >>> cylinder against the port comes from the outside edges of the >>> cylinder, not >>> at the centre of rotation. This compounds friction forces >>> tremendously - >>> not only the cylinder/port face friction found on every oscillator, >>> but two >>> additional moving points of friction on each cylinder as the spring >>> holders >>> move back and forth in an arc as the cylinder goes through a cycle. >>> >>> All in all, a design best lost. >>> >>> regards, >>> >>> pf >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> SSLiveSteam mailing list >>> Send messages: [email protected] >>> Cancel subscription: http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/ >>> sslivesteam >>> Rules: http://www.45mm.com/sslivesteam_guide.html >> >> _______________________________________________ >> SSLiveSteam mailing list >> Send messages: [email protected] >> Cancel subscription: http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/ >> sslivesteam >> Rules: http://www.45mm.com/sslivesteam_guide.html > > _______________________________________________ > SSLiveSteam mailing list > Send messages: [email protected] > Cancel subscription: http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/ > sslivesteam > Rules: http://www.45mm.com/sslivesteam_guide.html _______________________________________________ SSLiveSteam mailing list Send messages: [email protected] Cancel subscription: http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/sslivesteam Rules: http://www.45mm.com/sslivesteam_guide.html
