Oddball engines and prototypes

[WilDun]

http://modelenginenews.org/etw/rotpiseng.html

That's a clever invention!
I've never heard of that one before, the picture isn't great, but good enough to get an idea of what it's all about, guess it would be an expensive thing to fix if it happened to throw a rod!
Very interesting though.

[Asher]

Here's a 2 stroke pivot piston we have here at work. It's one of the engineers at work from when he worked at Brown Brothers. Apparently the engine worked well and made decent power.

[WilDun]

Here's a 2 stroke pivot piston we have here at work. It's one of the engineers at work from when he worked at Brown Brothers. Apparently the engine worked well and made decent power.

I think that one is covered somewhere on the net and just called the "Pivotal Engine " from New Zealand, guess it must be the same one. I'm sure you already have all the guff on it - i'll have to check it out.

UPDATE http://www.pivotalengine.com/img/des...tionstitle.gif - Maybe this the same one?
Talking about he one you have access to - is it the prototype?

[husaberg]

there is a pivoting square on the net a Rhodesian guy I think, he's built a working model.

[Mental Trousers]

Here's a 2 stroke pivot piston we have here at work. It's one of the engineers at work from when he worked at Brown Brothers. Apparently the engine worked well and made decent power.

I think that one is covered somewhere on the net and just called the "Pivotal Engine " from New Zealand, guess it must be the same one. I'm sure you already have all the guff on it - i'll have to check it out.

UPDATE http://www.pivotalengine.com/img/des...tionstitle.gif - Maybe this the same one?
Talking about he one you have access to - is it the prototype?

http://www.pivotalengine.com/flashversion.html

[Grumph]

Here's a 2 stroke pivot piston we have here at work. It's one of the engineers at work from when he worked at Brown Brothers. Apparently the engine worked well and made decent power.

Brown Bros are right next door to Mace Engineering where Paul McLaughlin developed the thing...I think in fact Brown Bros are part of the Mace group.
The staff were always back and forward between.
If you want to embarass him, ask if Paul or Bill Mace know he's got it....even though I think it's a reject, it represents a fair amount of Mace $$$.

[Ocean1]

Guess this goes here...

[WilDun]

If you want to embarass him, ask if Paul or Bill Mace know he's got it....even though I think it's a reject, it represents a fair amount of Mace $$$.

Would be interesting to know just how much ingenuity and forgotten dreams (not to mention dollars) is lying in attics, the corners of workshops and backyards through the country and no one having a clue what they are!
Trouble is, inventors are often just that (inventors) and forget about the cost of development and marketing the things they've invented, leaving the "successful" people to pick over their designs and make use of them.
Guess that's how our world works!

[Grumph]

Would be interesting to know just how much ingenuity and forgotten dreams (not to mention dollars) is lying in attics, the corners of workshops and backyards through the country and no one having a clue what they are!
Trouble is, inventors are often just that (inventors) and forget about the cost of development and marketing the things they've invented, leaving the "successful" people to pick over their designs and make use of them.
Guess that's how our world works!

In the case of the Pivotal, from the outside, it was seen as a pure business opportunity. Mace Engineering (the family) had seen Ricky Main rake in the dollars for something which never really worked well enough to sell. Sarich was getting writeups too. It looked for a short while like new motor concepts were going to be extremely profitable...Then just at the right moment, Paul popped up with a proposition to develop one. Whatever the outcome, I've got to give him the fact it ran - and quite well too. But it appears that by the time of the big video release and promotion, the time had passed for a new motor. People had been burnt who invested in Ricky Main's scheme and this sort of thing was no longer flavour of the month.

As an aside there's a very funny story to come out one day about the negotiations by a friend of mine with the IRD on Ricky's behalf to allow him to come back to NZ - without being immediately clapped in jail...

[WilDun]

Guess this goes here...

I imagine a misfire could leave you with quite a limp!

[WilDun]

on Ricky's behalf to allow him to come back to NZ - without being immediately clapped in jail...

Anyway, where did Ricky eventually end up?

[Grumph]

Anyway, where did Ricky eventually end up?

Last heard of working in Oz again. He had to come home to NZ as his mother was very ill. Without clearing the decks he would never have seen her again alive.
I was never very sure of his motor. Sounded good in theory and he'd got Jack Brabham in his corner which wasn't ever easy...But....
And of course I'd known of him for years as he'd raced bikes and built trailers in ChCh - which didn't exactly add confidence.

[WilDun]

And of course I'd known of him for years as he'd raced bikes and built trailers in ChCh - which didn't exactly add confidence.

As I see it, government assistance can often leave loopholes for unscrupulous types and I was never convinced about his engine at all - when he set up that flash "workshop" in OZ with all it's CAD stations and fancy machines with people manning them who didn't actually seem to know what they were doing, I definitely was not convinced.
Got to give him credit for being a trier though - I do think (as someone else mentioned) he possibly got some of his business inspiration from Sarich, who must have have gone about things the right way of course - he actually got there with an offspin from his original idea - not his revolutionary engine however.

[Grumph]

As I see it, government assistance, also people with surplus cash can sometimes be a little misguided and government assistance often leaves loopholes for unscrupulous types.

Ha - it seems to be generally forgotten that John Britten received a DFC grant - which afaik was never paid back....Someone in ChCh at the time reckoned it was akin to giving Bob Jones a grant to set up a racing stable.

[WilDun]

Ha - it seems to be generally forgotten that John Britten received a DFC grant - which afaik was never paid back....Someone in ChCh at the time reckoned it was akin to giving Bob Jones a grant to set up a racing stable.

Yes, then there's Bob Jones, he even set up a political party expressly to get rid of Muldoon and as soon as he managed to do that, he walked off and left his party to flounder!
Now if he had invented a revolutionary engine, he could have made multi million dollars without even building a prototype! - without going to prison I might add.