Wobbler Steam or Air Engine

[mklotz]

Interesting that your attention is drawn to Standby. It, a Verburg design, was the first engine I completed, though not the first I started.

In a fit of bravado, I had optimistically started my engine building career with Rudy Kouhopt's two cylinder vertical marine engine. I was working then and only got to work on it sporadically. Every time I went back to it I would pick up a piece, mutter "I can do better than that", and start remakiing it. There are parts in that engine that have been made five or six times. As you might expect, very little progress was made.

One day my wife saw the box of parts and commented, "If you're having trouble finishing it, maybe you should build something simpler.. That will motivate you to finish it." I took her advice, built Standby, got a huge rush the first time it ran, and the rest is history. My collection today numbers over three dozen engines, steam, Stirling and atmospheric, as well as machine tool models and artillery.

Eventually Rudy's engine turned out pretty well...

It taught me a lot - fabricating crankshafts, how D-valves work. and eccentric fabrication.