[SEL] Intro

[Orrin Iseminger]

Here is my updated biographical sketch from five years ago.

Orrin
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cathy and I live on a six acre patch of steep hillside in southeast
Washington State.  Our place sits near the bottom of the deep Wawawai Canyon
that branches off the Snake River Canyon, about 120 miles downstream from
the mile-deep Hells Canyon.  It's comfortable down here in the
winter-sometimes by as much as 20º F warmer than the farmland, above; but,
we pay for it in the summer when temperatures frequently hover in the mid
nineties.  However, with negligible humidity and cool nights, we find it
very tolerable.  We're surrounded by game: every day we see deer browsing on
the far side of the canyon and every night we listen to the coyotes yip,
howl, and serenade. 

Cathy, my first wife of 43 years, stayed home to raise our two sons.
They're now grown, so she went to work in the business office of Northwest
Public Radio at Washington State University.  Cathy wants to build up her
own Social Security and private retirement funds.  I retired ten years ago
and am now a healthy 67.  I'm living the best, happiest, years of my life. 

We have two sons:  Wade teaches sixth grade and is married; Tad is a
journeyman electrical lineman and remains single.  Many of you will recall
that early in his apprenticeship he was seriously burned when he contacted a
7,200-volt power line.  Although some important muscles in one arm were
destroyed, he can put out as much or more work as anyone in the trade.  

We probably have too many hobbies to give proper attention to any one of
them.  Cathy gets her kicks by showing her restored Model A Fords.  Being
her chief mechanic, I don't get to spend much time with my 1929 Model A Ford
roadster or 1929 tudor.  You're welcome to take a look at them on our Web
site:
http://users.moscow.com/oiseming/lc_ant_p/index.htm

My family got our start in Model A's when we drove them to grade school back
in South Dakota.  That's right.  The state didn't license drivers back then
and if you could reach the clutch pedal you could drive.  Every day there
would be two or three Model A's and an old Chrysler with wood spoked wheels
parked out in the playground; not a one of them belonged to the teacher. 

While growing up on the farm, the wind pumped the water for our livestock;
but, sometimes in the heat of summer it didn't blow and we'd have to start
up our old "one lung" engine to do the job.  Nobody had electricity back
then, so just about every farm had an engine or two.  I never owned one of
my own, so about retirement time I decided to get a hit 'n' miss.  It didn't
stop at one.  The things have a way of multiplying.  

We cannot afford "exotics" so we remain content with a mix of IHC "M's," one
lone
Mogul, J-Ds, F-Ms, Herc-builts, etc.  The easy part of the hobby is buying.
The hard part is finding time to do proper restorations.  If I could do one
a year I'd have enough raw material to last the rest of my life.  My
favorites are an all-original Model D Kohler light plant (thank you for the
manual, Dave R.) and an 8-h.p. Waterloo.   The Kohler is a great
attention-getter.

The Waterloo traces its heritage to my home town of Canton, South Dakota.
There, Jeff Knowlton invented the concept of the hopper-cooled engine and
started manufacturing them under his name.  In a deal worked out with
Waterloo, Knowlton gave the company permission to use his design.  They did
so without changing much of anything.  The only difference between my
Waterloo is its (cheaper) J-shaped cast-iron mixer as opposed to the more
expensive Lunkenheimers that came on the Knowltons. 

A couple of years ago I got a pleasant surprise.  The owner of a Knowlton
who is a local history buff got in touch with me and offered to sell me his
engine.  I let him name his price and I gladly paid it.  As part of the deal
he let me duplicate his photograph of the factory when it was in operation,
the only such print known to exist.  It is my wish that both the photograph
and the engine will eventually take up permanent residence in the Canton
museum. 

Cathy's favorite engine is her 2 h.p. Jaeger.  She's proud of being able to
service it and start it all on her own.  We'll forever be indebted to Steve
Barr and Mark Shulaw for generously hauling it halfway across the US for us.
There's no folks finer than engine folks and Mark and Steve are the best of
the best.  You can see it in its barn-fresh condition on Keith Kinney's
Hercules Web site, http://www.herculesengines.com/hercules/painting.html.
Look for "Here are some pictures of a 2HP Jaeger engine that was listed on
eBay."  Now cleaned up and mounted on a cart, it's more photogenic.  

Another of my budding hobbies is home shop machining.  I now have machined a
number of hot air engines that I show from time to time.  Last winter I
built a half-sized Moriya Stirling engine powered fan of James Senft's
design  It pairs up with a double-scale version I built a number of years
ago.  I'm still hoping to build a copy of one of Reg Ingold's Stirlings.
Reg generously gave me all the necessary drawings and dimensions.  You can
see a sampling of my projects and engines, here:
http://users.moscow.com/oiseming/lc_ant_p/PnE_Menu.htm

I'm a past president of the Lewis-Clark Antique Power Club and have been on
the board of directors for five years.  I've also been the newsletter editor
for more years than I can count.  

Here is a sampling of my work background:
* Seven years as a nuclear power plant Machinist Mate in US Navy submarines,
including three years as instructor at the prototype reactor for the
aircraft carrier Enterprise's power plant.  The reactor from my sub, the
Abraham Lincoln, SSB(N) 602, is now buried near here at the Hanford nuclear
reservation.
* A stint as a reactor operator and experiment operator at the 250 MW
Advanced Test Reactor; the world's largest test reactor, at the time.  It
was a real "gee whiz" experience.
* Reactor operator and fuel handler at EBR-II, an experimental liquid sodium
cooled fast breeder reactor--more wow and gee whiz.
* Three years as a hydroelectric power plant operator at the historic Fort
Peck Dam in NE Montana.  At one time this was the world's largest earthen
dam:  it's about four miles long and a mile thick at the base.  Its 1930s
vintage machinery at the tunnel works fascinated me.  It included an antique
Enterprise diesel-powered emergency generator. 
* Twenty years as a hydroelectric power plant and navigation lock operator
at Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River.  Total capacity: 932 megaWatts. 

We've not made any pilgrimages further east than Rollag, LeSeuer or Lake
Itasca, but that will change when Cathy retires in another 18 months.  Then,
we some day hope to meet all you good people back at Portland, Coolsprings
and places in between.  Perhaps all of us could make a special effort to
show up at a 15th anniversary reunion of this list.  

It's a good life.  

Orrin Iseminger
Colton, Washington, USA
http://users.moscow.com/oiseming/lc_ant_p/index.htm
So many projects.  So little time.