Clam baker
Moderator: Mike Everman
Clam baker
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
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Re: Clam baker
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
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Working at Solar
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
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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
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Solar valves
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
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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
As for the sound, imagine the sound these gentlemen are listening to!
Bruno
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entrepreneurism
Might suffice as a lifting object to supply tundra people their supply. haPieter van Boven wrote:Is this a picture of the engine we are talking about?
Imagine the sound...
Pieter.
Re: Clam baker
Ok, so you didn't bite on the first one up for sale, not to worry, he's selling another.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
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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.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.
Mark
Looks like one of the srl.org boys are buying.Mark wrote: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.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.
Mark
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Re: entrepreneurism
Mark wrote: Might suffice as a lifting object to supply tundra people their supply. ha
Last edited by Mike Kirney on Wed Oct 22, 2003 1:34 am, edited 1 time in total.