[Milsurplus] Re: Generators...

[Todd Bigelow - PS]

I've got one of those ancient Onan 2 cylinder upright flathead engines with the
cast iron radiator, makes around 3kw of 115/60 IIRC. Recently there was a book
posted on epay showing aircraft ground stations with associated equipment, and
there was a picture of this bird on one of the pages. It's truly a work of art,
has those nice nickel-plated cap nuts all over it and a nice, rounded housing
over the generator. It weighs a TON(or close to it), being all cast iron.
Luckily it's mounted on a flatbed wagon so I can drag it around. It came from a
friend's old greehouses that his family ran for years, before that it was up on
a mountain in someone's cabin. When his family sold the business, I asked the
new owner about it and he sold it to me for $25 because it didn't run. Cleaned
up the magneto wires and away it went, leaky fuel pump diaphram and all. Took
about 4 hours to revive. Seems to reverse the polarity on the generator
momentarily to use it as a starter? Oh - it has a handcrank too, just in case
you feel adventurous(or the battery is flat).

Couple years back I found another, considerably smaller model at the old
Deerfield Hosstraders 'fest. The seller told me it was used in PBY flying boats
to power the radio and charge the batteries(?), but I've not been able to
confirm this. It consists of a tiny one cylinder Lauson engine with a rope, and
the generator and side-mounted control box, 12 volt. Two male 2-pin connectors
on the end about the size of silver dollars, one marked 'RADIO' and one marked
'BATTERY' with a switch to toggle between. Sure would like to find the matching
plugs - anyone have a clue as to what their designation might be from the thin
description? Large pins, maybe half the diameter of a pencil.

Nice little genny, good shape and dark green mil paint. Amazing thing is how
you can tote the thing around as it's running, that's how small it is. Looks
like it was meant to fit on some kind of shock mount. It does have a
nomenclature tag on the side, so I'll check for more info. It also has a couple
of devices used to close it off from outside debris when not in use, the seller
told me it was to keep the spray from outside the PBY from getting into it. Hey
- if there's that much spray inside the radio compartment, the life raft better
be close by.

de Todd/'Boomer'  KA1KAQ