A “Francis runner”, an old-school hydroelectric turbine from the Gilman dam in nearby Gilman, Vermont. We are going to display this turbine as a sort of sculpture in the Greg Cloutier Memorial Waterpower Park we are making in Lancaster, New Hampshire. (Greg was the man who commissioned my gargoyles some years ago. He’d made his fortune restoring old hydroelectric power plants, and did a lot to revitalize downtown Lancaster, so we are making a small park here in his honor to remember him.)
This is a “shop drawing” for the cradle that will support the turbine in the park. The inscription reads “WATERPOWER”.
Things are going circular these days. Last week, I purchased this E. O. Grabo metal spinning lathe with an 18-inch swing, from the 1920s. The previous owner had been director of design at the Gorham Manufacturing Company, where they had fifty of these lathes operating on the factory floor at one one time. I hope to teach myself metal spinning so that I can produce the odd gimcrack for the weathervanes I am making.
I’ll be replacing this weathervane with a bicycle built for two. (Had to bring over my 40-foot ladder, though, to reach and dismantle the old weathervane.)
Getting started. I thought I’d use the spinning lathe for the wheels, but the design took a different turn.
A mock-up of a bicycle wheel. These wheels will spin like windmills, I hope.
A variety of wheels in brazed copper. I think I will use the 12-spoke design at lower left.
Actually, a lot more has been going on, but this is enough for now…
I wonder my English is good enough for the original. My daughter was last week in Berlin, about 600 km away from Bonn. On the train back she caught Corona virus, but fortunately not sever. Say them to take care ...
I wonder my English is good enough for the original. My daughter was last week in Berlin, about 600 km away from Bonn. On the train back she caught Corona virus, but fortunately not sever. Say them to take care ...
I should read it, this book I refrained from for the last 100 years ...