Clam baker

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sat Oct 11, 2003 10:31 pm

There is a pulsejet you can look at for sale on eBay. Just type the word "pulsejet". I think it might be a Katydid, or about the same size. It's all of 30 pounds and produces 110 lb static thrust. Ok, all you terrorists, buy it now.
Mark

Bruno Ogorelec · Post by **Bruno Ogorelec** » Sun Oct 12, 2003 7:26 am

Well worth $ 850.- (incl. postage and handling) I think. The 8-inch Solar was one of the three or four 'standard' US military pulsejet engines of the 1950s. Very well developed. I'd love to have one. I'd hate to see it go up in flames, driving a misguided missile.

Bruno

Pieter van Boven · Post by **Pieter van Boven** » Sun Oct 12, 2003 6:40 pm

Great engine! I want to have it too but he won't ship to an other country....
How is it possible to find such a beauty (he has more of them) in a box?
Is there more informtion about this engine like drawings?

Pieter.

larry cottrill · Post by **larry cottrill** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 1:57 am

Mark, Bruno, Pieter -

This was my Dad's era working at Solar's Des Moines headquarters. I'm sure that if he'd worked on these, I would know about it -- he would have at least mentioned it when I was saving up to buy my Dynajet. I know he welded titanium tailcones and stainless vanes & buckets on wheels; so, his work was all turbo stuff, I'm pretty sure.

One time I found an old Solar employees handbook up in the attic of the old house in Des Moines that I grew up in. If I remember right, it said that certified weldors started there at $2.85/hour. Sounds ludicrous, but you could buy a decent house back then for $5000 or so, so that was probably an enviable wage. If you had to finance your home, that was 3% for a bank mortgage.

Solar moved lock, stock and barrel to San Diego, CA somewhere around 1957 or '58. My dad did not elect to go with them. That was probably the most prestigious job he ever had, but probably very demanding, with every weld scrutinized and magna-fluxed for QA.

And yes, that Solar engine does look like one beautiful piece of work!

L Cottrill
---------

Pieter van Boven · Post by **Pieter van Boven** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 6:41 pm

What about the valvegrid of this engine? The valves will be gone if you riun this engine a few times. Did they design the valvegrid to last longer?
By the way, it looks like the tundra -jet valve assembly!

Pieter.

Bruno Ogorelec · Post by **Bruno Ogorelec** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 4:26 am

As far as I know, the Solar had the same kind of valve array as the Argus; only the number of grid openings was much smaller. I have no idea how easy or difficult it was to change reeds. I don't think Argus went to much trouble to provide easy replacement -- it was meant to last half an hour and then drop on the heads of Englishmen, after all. Easy maintenance must have been the least of their worries. Solar may have made some improvements, though.

Bruno

Pieter van Boven · Post by **Pieter van Boven** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 6:20 pm

Is this a picture of the engine we are talking about?
Imagine the sound...

Pieter.

Bruno Ogorelec · Post by **Bruno Ogorelec** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 7:08 pm

Yes, this is it! It also powered the Katydid drone, I think, and a few others.

As for the sound, imagine the sound these gentlemen are listening to!

Bruno

Pieter van Boven · Post by **Pieter van Boven** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 8:08 pm

The blues brothers? :)

Pieter

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 10:30 pm

Pieter van Boven wrote:Is this a picture of the engine we are talking about?
Imagine the sound...

Pieter.

Might suffice as a lifting object to supply tundra people their supply. ha

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 1:31 pm

Mark wrote:There is a pulsejet you can look at for sale on eBay. Just type the word "pulsejet". I think it might be a Katydid, or about the same size. It's all of 30 pounds and produces 110 lb static thrust. Ok, all you terrorists, buy it now.
Mark

Ok, so you didn't bite on the first one up for sale, not to worry, he's selling another.

Pieter van Boven · Post by **Pieter van Boven** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 8:03 pm

I think he didn't sell his first pulsejet. The bidding stopped at $830 and I think he wants more for it.

Pieter.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 8:09 pm

Pieter van Boven wrote:I think he didn't sell his first pulsejet. The bidding stopped at $830 and I think he wants more for it.

Pieter.

Maybe you are correct, I followed it to the last day but not to the last minute. I was talking to Don Laird today, he drew the Dynajet drawings you sometimes see, and he said this engine was used on the Katydid and the Gargoyle drones.
Mark

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 4:24 am

Mark wrote:
Pieter van Boven wrote:I think he didn't sell his first pulsejet. The bidding stopped at $830 and I think he wants more for it.

Pieter.
Maybe you are correct, I followed it to the last day but not to the last minute. I was talking to Don Laird today, he drew the Dynajet drawings you sometimes see, and he said this engine was used on the Katydid and the Gargoyle drones.
Mark

Looks like one of the srl.org boys are buying.
Mark

Mike Kirney · Post by **Mike Kirney** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 4:40 am

Mark wrote: Might suffice as a lifting object to supply tundra people their supply. ha

www.pulse-jets.com

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