[SEL] What followed me home.

[Jim Dragoset]

Curt,
Sorry for the late reply.
I have two of these Hercules 4 cylinder units, military Korean War vintage,
engine and generator.
The big end of the armature has the flange with the four rubber bushings you
speak of but the
weight is supported by stub shaft that fits into the flywheel where a pilot
bearing would be
if there was a clutch. Another important function of this arrangement is the
crankshaft thrust
is independent of the armature. I would think a solid connection would work
but, in addition to
angular and center-line alignment, crankshaft end play would have to be
split with the set made up.
Jim Dragoset

-----Original Message-----
From: sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com
[mailto:sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com]On Behalf Of Curt
Holland
Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2004 11:59 AM
To: SEL(new)
Subject: [SEL] What followed me home.


Haven't heard much about what followed the Portland pilgrims home this
year so I'll start with one and then ask a question about it that I need
some advice on.

At the spring swap meet I bought a synchronous generator that make 60
cycles 115 volt power at 52 amps continuos. At the fall Portland show I
was looking for a prime mover for it. I looked at some of the Kabota
diesels at $900 that were missing the flywheels, starters, and
alternators. There were also some sweet 2 cylinder Vee, 17HP
Kiwasakee(sp?) engines for $700.
Then I found her! A WWII vintage Hercules 4 cylinder stand alone power
plant that ran. It was cheap and best of all, it's a kewl looking motor.
Looks old, flat head, lots of neat stuff to look at.
So home it followed...
After her poor starter motor took a swim in Lake Portland I figured I
better take that apart and dry the arm and field windings in the oven. I
gave the entire engine a good pressure washing and dried the generator
too. Missy didn't even grumble (much) when I dried the parts in the oven.
Last night I reassembled the starter and generator. Before putting them
back on I replaced a leaky valve lifter cover gasket with a new home
made cork one.
At the show the engine seemed to be running very lean so I took the carb
apart and sure enough there was some old gas gum clogging some tiny
holes. Everything is back together and she is running great now. (Jim
Dunmeyer-mine now runs a little rich too-expecially at slower rpms)
I've just finished sketching up an adapter plate to mount the
synchronous generator to the bell housing of the Hercules motor. I still
need to design the coupling between the flywheel and the synchronous
generator.
This synchronous generator does not have a bearing on the input side of
the shaft. It is designed to be supported by the shaft that is driving it.
On the Hercules engine's flywheel are 4 bolt studs sticking out of the
face of the flywheel. The there was a plate slid over these studs with
big rubber bushings/grommets between the studs and the plate. A nuts
squeezed and expanded the rubber to make it a tight fit within the
plate. I imagine all this was done to remove power pulses.

It would be a whole lot easier to design a solid coupler from the
flywheel face to the input shaft of the synchronous generator. But my
question is, does anyone know if the power pulses are significant enough
to do damage to the armature windings on the synchronous generator? Was
this elaborate rubber bushings and floating plate a necessity to make
the original synchronous generator last? Or was it simply a coupling to
handle misalignment? I think most car clutches have some sort of springs
system to remove power pulses.
What are your thoughts?
Curt Holland
Gastonia, NC
P.S. What followed y'all home?













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