T he Mode

A Journal of Small P ow

E

ngin

Engineering.

Edited by

P

ERCIVAL

M

ARSHALL

,

Assistant Editor

W

ALTER

C. R

UNCIMAN

.

Technical Research and

Department

Manager :

A

LFRED

D

AWSON

.

A

LFRED

W. M

ARSHALL

,

A.M.I.E.E.

Editorial, Advertising and Publishing

: 66, Farringdon Street, London. E.C.4.

Single Copies, 4d.. post free 5d.

Annual

Subscription,

Is. 8d.. post free anywhere.

V

O L

.

L. No. 1184.

JANUARY 3,

WEEKLY.

Our Point of View.

To Our

Visitors.

Before

hours

have

shall once

again be occupied in

performance of a series

of pleasant

w h i c h

h a d t h e i r i n c e p t i o n

m a n y y e a r s a g o - i n

the

in

t h e

first

E x h i b i t i o n

held. On

that occasion the

g r e a t e r n u m b e r o f m o d e l

engineers and their friends mhom we met

n a t u r a l l y ,

to us;

had met

the pages of our journal. Since then the stranger

h a s g r a d u a l l y

year

each occasion

a s s u m i n g

t h e

of a

of mutual interests than

o f s i g h t s e e r s

f o r n o v e l t y .

B u t i n

old

m u s t n o t

u n m i n d f u l o f t h e

influx of

o n e s .

o f t h e m t h e

p u r p o r t

e x p l a n a t i o n - b u t

f i n d

t o

t h e m

t h e

What to Look For.

the Exhibition is composed of three

sections-(r) the productions of individual effort,
comprising

mechanical,

electrical,

a n d o t h e r

scientific models and apparatus entered for com-
petition, a n d a s i m i l a r

of

b u t n o t

e l i g i b l e f o r

i n t h e L o a n

Section.

S e c o n d l y ,

n-ill

the Clubs

is, the

collection of models

m e m b e r s

o f

of

m o d e l e n g i n e e r i n g

s o c i e t i e s a n d

and sailing boat clubs of

L o n d o n a n d i t s s u b u r b s .

thirdly,

is

the Trade

The

Origin of Many Models.

one of the first

to

in

m i n d - o f t h e n e w v i s i t o r t o t h e

i s ,

is

t o s e t a b o u t s u c h l i k e

T h e

can

be By a process of care-

f u l s e l e c t i o n . ” I f t h e r e i s o n e f a i l i n g m o r e
c o m m o n a n d m o r e p r e v a l e n t t h a n a n o t h e r t o

the

t o m o d e l e n g i n e e r i n g i s

heir it is

o f a t t e m p t i n g c o m p l i c a t e d

too

in his career, particularly if he is not,

to begin

naturally adaptable to mechanical

or is

e x p e r i e n c e i n t h e

handling of tools and

appliances. This

of conception of

really

in

m o d e l

i s n o t c o n f i n e d

any

t o

of their

o c c u p a t i o n ,

had no r e a s o n

need to give thought

m a t t e r .

i n q u a r t e r s

o n e

expect to find it.

Only last month

introduced

of the

of the

to a firm of shipbuilders who

to

model steam dredger built for exhibi-

tion purposes.

fen-

after the

t i o n , h e c a m e i n t o

us

a

p r i n t

u n d e r h i s a r m m e a s u r i n g n i n e f e e t l o n g . I t
n-as a

drawing

of the

dredger, full size of the required model,

t h a t t h e j o b w o u l d

m a s s o f

a u x i l i a r y

c o m m o n

of that

of

w o u l d

i n v o l v e d

a s m u c h

as the compound engine illus-

trated in our present issue.

years at t e n

h o u r s

w o u l d n o t

enabled a

maker of

first r a n k to complete the hull and

m a i n e n g i n e s ; a n d

t h e f i r m a s k i n g f o r

2.

The Model Engineer and Electrician.

January

tenders wished for a scale model complete with

all auxiliaries to ready for the big exhibition

at Wembley in April next! When such ideas

can emanate from sources intimately concerned

with engineering work, one

the general tendency of the stranger to

real model work as the product of a

hours. What, then, can the beginner do,

and how can he commence a process of

selection

He can commence by reviewing, as

as his time and inclination will permit. the

The Yacht Model Racing Association.

N.3, will

of our readers who

What’s in a name?

is the question at

present agitating the minds of manv model

with

of the association.

yachtsmen, for it is proposed to

the

Yacht Racing Association.

are

divided but

think, now that its Constitution

has been so improved, it could not adopt a

better title than the Yacht Model Racing Asso-

ciation, and yet

learn that

are some

would like to see it The Model

Association.

There is a very good reason

the title

uphold. The words model yacht”

are in general use by the public as describing

kind of

production, and ordinarv

people do not recognise

difference except

and price

years the leading

model clubs have been interested the m-o&c-

of

models such as the

Class,

the

Class, and, lastly, the z-inch

to the foot 6-Metre Class for International

racing. All these are strictly

models in

design-so, also in a wav

the

are built from

and mav be said

to be models of the

is

still racing.

A model yacht (as the public

it) can be bought in any toy-shop,

but a yacht model has to designed and built

by experts. Bearing these facts in mind, we are

surprised to hear that those

are so keen on

racing yacht models should not

the

difference in the title of their association.

A s

the annual general meeting of the (at present)

is to held towards the end of this

month,

may still hope the good sense of the

meeting will see to it that the body it represents

gets a name befitting its scope, activities, and

aspirations. And so now that

within its

ranks is stilled,

we express another hope

that its members

settle down to design and

build, and race; that its leading spirits will try

to elucidate for the

of the less experienced

yacht builders matters of moment pertaining to

the scientific and practical side of the subject,

of lectures and demonstrations;

and, finally, that the association will before

long be able to exercise a beneficial influence

the

of more and

sailing waters

they

needed throughout the coun-

try. The fact that individual citizens may now

become members,

are attached to

any local club or not, should go far towards

strengthening its position and fitting it to tackle

such

Mr. C. Forge, the

Hon. Secretnrv.

Grove. London.

of other modellers, a vast record of which

be found in the back numbers of

Single copies of most of the issues

still to be had, but were we bent on his

errand we should prefer a few of the

volumes. Each volume contains one half-year’s

issues, and as much of the subject matter coin-

tained therein is presented, and then discussed

and developed with a natural sequence, the read-

ing up of any given subject is at once found both

acceptable in form and

in effect. Our

representatives, who will be in attendance at the

Stand throughout the Exhibition, will

gladly advise any inquirer in search of reading

matter on any particular subject.

Auxiliary Information for Model Engineers.

But besides the M.E. itself.

model engineer will find on

mass of other reading matter to

in.

Amongst this the

series

of

handbooks

attract his attention. be his interests ever

so diverse. There are

to select from,

each dealing with a distinct

and each

based

the practical experience of its author.

Then a perusal of our complete book-list will

reveal the fact that a new series-“ The Prac-

tical Workshop

“-has just been started,

so far Nos.

I

, and 3 have been published.

These little works are also auxiliaries,” and

are designed to meet the

the man uith

a workshop who is wise enough to be not above

gleaning useful information

and when he

can. No. I

is on

o u t

N o .

2

P r a c t i c a l H a n d

Forging,” and No. 3

on

Fitting and Adjusting

We

know which should be

read

That depends so

upon the

inclination of the reader, in what

I t m a y b e s a i d , h o w e v e r , t h a t

a u t h o r , C a p t a i n

R i c h a r d

h a s s u c c e e d e d i n

a surprising

amount of practical advice into a

and presented what he has to

in a

compass,

readable form. These. then. are a few of

things and factors

to make the

has treated his

in a

origin of many models,” and we beg the visitor,

is this week

perforce, only super-

ficially acquainted with the

of model

engineering, to ponder our

a s k u s t o

state that

of the models described in our

recant article Commercial Models were

built to

received by them, and handed

on to Messrs.

Models, Ltd., for whom

were acting as sole concessionaires.

January

The Model Engineer and Electrician.

3

Man, Petrol, and Electric Power Plants for Pumping.

AM one of those

read with especial

the discussion

in

a n e n t

small internal combustion engines.

About ten

years ago I

bitten with the bug of making

things, and I fitted up a small workshop with a

Barnes’ screw-cutting bench lathe, grindstone

and an emery

and I purchased a two

cycle

engine to furnish power. The

engine ran at

controlled by a centri-

fugal governor acting on the throttle. It was

r a t e d a t

if I

Until I got it

bolted to a concrete base,

about a ton,

the little thing used to travel all over the shop

With Some Reference to Steam.

( N e w

U . S . A . )

was better than a foot treadle, and do not

e

many of such small two-cycles are any

better than it was. I took it apart for some rea-

son, and it took two men two days to get one

fy-wheel off.

It was well put together

Since then I have had much experience with

gas engines, and the only place I care for

the two cycle design is in a motor-boat where

the load is virtually constant-and even then

I think the four cycle is better.

I forgot that I

to explain that I sub-

scribed to the

E

N G I N E E R

in those days,

and read every

including the

“--and

is

his gas tank with

grease cups, pouring water

the hopper, putting

the belt on, lacing when

breaks-

on its skids, nails and screws very quickly

ments.

I again am a subscriber, and read with

giving up the

struggle.

It had

no less interest; although in those days I had to

but one stopped trying to talk

it

learn

a

tap or a die w a s , w h i l e

exploded

times a minute.

After I led the

to-day I call myself a mechanical

and

exhaust far away through a long

and

an

engineer, and have designed and

came

of the vibration with sheer mass of

manufactured some pretty complicated

concrete, the machine became something of a

trical-mechanical devices.

comfort. It

many times refuse to start

To come back to the gas

engine.

I recently

for half an hour, then run

all through no

built a new home. (The carpenters built it (at

discernable cause, and it would four cycle, and

day). I paid for it.) There was no water

eight cycle, and at times hit about every

supply

so I had a well driven in back of

ten seconds, and do all sorts of weird things.

I

the house, feet deep. For a while I pumped

used to cuss it often, but

couid one do?

the required

into the tank in the attic