[SEL] Miracle of the SEL List!

[Rick Rowlands]

Dave,

I'm working on it!  My goal is to have her turing over via electric motor 
(steam and air are too expensive) by 2010.  Can you stay alive until then? 
That means next year's project is foundation work and 2009 is lining up and 
reassembly.

Rick
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Rotigel" <rotigel at alltel.net>
To: "The SEL email discussion list" <sel at lists.stationary-engine.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 9:59 PM
Subject: Re: [SEL] Miracle of the SEL List!


> Hi Rick,
>         I will remember, to my dying day when we first met in Youngstown 
> and saw the Tod. My reaction was, I'm sure, the same as the 16 year old 
> girl on her wedding night in the year that the Tod was built--DAMN THAT 
> THING SURE IS HUGE! The Tod was a good 200 yards away when we first saw 
> it, and we all stopped dead in our tracks and just looked at her! What a 
> sight! And what a crew we made! Can anyone else remember the day that it 
> was -10 F in the building and we (dumb asses that we were) still tried to 
> remove nuts and bolts? It was 5 minutes of work and 20 minutes in front of 
> the kero torpedo space heater! One inch frost on the flywheel, and when 
> you scraped that off it would reappear in about 15 minutes and you could 
> not tell where it had been removed!
>         I also remember you, Rick, hanging on the end of a 4' chain wrench 
> (about 9' in the air) with an 11' cheater pipe attached to it--and the 
> damn chain broke! That was in an attempt to remove the last 5" nut holding 
> the flywheel together. It was only "the luck of the Irish" that caused you 
> to miss stratteling that 4'X8' piece of upright 1/4" steel guard at the 
> end of the flywheel! (Have you ever told your bride how close you came to 
> becoming a soprano  that day?)
>         Then there was the day we attempted to remove the last 11" nut 
> from the con rod cap. Used the 10 ton Pettibone crane so we did--and broke 
> the dam 3' wrench in the process! Your friend (damn, I can't remember his 
> name) cut us a new 11" hex nut wrench out of 1" steel plate  (actually two 
> 1/2" pieces of steel plate welded together) that night and the next 
> morning the Pettibone  loosened the nut with only a slight "tink." After 
> that I removed the nut BY HAND--although I needed Arnie's help to carry 
> the damn thing over to the nut pile after I had it off.
>         And the stories I could relate about the comradery that developed 
> as the project continued. Only one other time in my life can I recall such 
> comradery! I thank you Rick for allowing me to be a small part of the TOD 
> Project! I'll take my memories of that experience with me to my grave!
>         Dave
> PS, Thinking about my grave, when the hell do you think the Tod will be 
> all back together and running on her own steam (or should I say "air?") I 
> figure that I only have another 10 years, or so, so how about getting on 
> the stick and making it happen before that?
>
> At 08:47 AM 9/19/2006, you wrote:
>>Ten years ago several members of this Stationary Engine List met in 
>>Youngstown, Ohio to undertake the removal of a large stationary steam 
>>engine.  Dave Rotigel, Arnie Fero, Matt Picaro, Craig Prucha, Bill 
>>Pfeiffer, DJ Rotigel, Rick Monk and myself made up what we have called the 
>>"Wrecking Crew".
>>
>>The engine that we successfully removed has sat in pieces until yesterday 
>>when 250 tons of 93 year old iron was put back together in her new home.
>>
>>http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/DSC09493.JPG
>>
>>More Photos here:
>>
>>http://community.webshots.com/album/554214728mqgcLZ
>>
>>The engine is a 34" x 68" x 60" cross compound rolling mill engine of 
>>4,000 HP.  The crankshaft hasn't been set into the bearings yet and the 
>>flywheel also is not together yet.
>>
>>Rick Rowlands
>>Tod Engine Foundation
>
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