[SEL] Re: Literature on Old Engine - Ethics Question

MaytagTwin at aol.com MaytagTwin at aol.com
Sun Feb 27 14:40:18 PST 2005


Hi Arnie, Peter, Dave, Ron, Ken and all,

Let's see.  If I download a manual, then print it off and use it in the shop 
I have stolen the bread from the children of an old iron vendor, and that is 
considered a bad thing because the old iron vendor may go out of business thus 
depriving the hobby of a source of parts and copies of manuals.  Of course, if 
I get far enough to download the manual, take it to the shop, and then, by 
using the downloaded manual, identify correctly the missing parts for my 1923 2 
HP Gasper, I can then seek out a vendor and request exactly what I need.  Are 
we really concerned that the lowered sales of copies of manuals will harm the 
vendors?  
I wonder.

>From time to time I hear laments that we need more young folks in the hobby.  
It would seem to me that easy access via Internet would encourage young folks 
to learn more about the hobby.  How does restricting access to copies of 
manuals affect the rate of infection of the young with old iron fever?  I think 
restricting access will lessen interest in the hobby.

Why do we care about availability of our old iron and related products?  
Well, the more available it is, the less the cost.  Market value of our toys is 
related as much to rarity as to attractiveness.  If that were not the case, the 
Maytag Twin would undoubtedly be among the highest priced engines extant.  
But, humor aside, we do hope our old iron will sell well at our estate auctions, 
and many of us use that argument with our spouses when mentioning the lust for 
another engine to put in the shed.  If the posting of pictures of engines on 
web sites were the same as giving away real, three dimensional old engines, I 
would expect to hear the outcry from those who would see their shed contents 
losing value.  But, copies of literature?  I haven't seen that the availability 
of copies of literature has much effect on the prices of the originals.  Some 
people lament the Lister and Petter clones becoming available.  I suspect, if 
anything, interest in the originals has increased as a result of the clones 
coming out.  The price of the clones seems to ebb and flow with the daily 
change in attitude of the Environmental Protection Agency.  One day they are 
against them, the next, tolerant.  

My position on this whole thing is that copyrights should be honored.  Beyond 
that, I can't see the vendors suffering any from the displaying of manuals on 
the Internet, and they might even have increased sales as a result of 
increased interest in the hobby.  A nice balance might be made by adding a page to 
the old manuals that give contact information for today's vendors of parts, 
engines, and, of course, copies of manuals.

Respectfully submitted,

Ron Carroll
Clearmont, Missouri 
(home of the lonesome vertical magneto flywheel Maytag)


 



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