My wife's engine

[S.Upham]

These are the first photos of my wifes hot air engine.It's a 6 inch Rider- Ericson that was buried for many years.It is complete and in restorable condition.She loves hot air engines because they are quiet and run so smooth.I hope to have it restored for her in time for our show in September.

[Ray Cardoza]

Looks like that will be a fun project for the two of you to get up and running again. are you going to leave it as is or paint it.

[Gerlacr]

Take lots of pictures during the retoration and post updates. I would be very interested in seeing it in various stages of assembly. I want to build a 1/2 size model from scrap some day. Ron

[badboy1950]

here's a photo of my 8" rider which is set up in the basement.
i have friends over when i run it and we can have a nice leisurely conversation while it runs (on propane).
if you need any help or would like to take a closer look at my engine send me a pm.
Dan

[Bob Upham]

I'm curious what different people use to replace the firebrick in hot air engines. With so much of it having rounded corners it's not the easiest stuff to work with.

[Peter]

Could try refractory cement and wire mesh. One warning, though. There is a problem with these engines trapping moisture behind the bricks that leads to problems. I dont have a good answer, but would think about either making up your own bricks from cement, so they could be removed or leaving an air space between cement and cast iron so the condensation can dry out.

I know you understand the critical thing is to keep the top cold and the bottom hot.

This is a website run by two experts. Lowell and Buster. These guys are tops and they know everybody and everything sterling related. Many good sources for parts like leather packings. Call Buster, his phone is on the web, and chat. You wont be sorry.

http://hotairengines.com/hot_air_engines.htm

Looks like you might have an delamanter (predating rider Ericsson) with those spindly legs.

[Bob Upham]

In the past we've made wooden molds and cast them out of refractory. Didn't get the best of results. They take months to dry out and shrank more than i expected.

[Peter]

Bob, Do you know if or not you have a Delamanter?

[Kevin Kusel]

Its great to see ones gal involved. Good job and send some photos on the progress. PS where does that transmission bolt on?
Send some pics.
KK

[Mike O]

Steve, I would have thought you would have picked a more challanging project for her. But I guess since it is her 1st I understand!!!

[Peter]

I assume then, it is a Rider Ericsson after all. I just took a quick perusal of Gerd Maier's excellent reference work on the Ericsson style engine.

I think a few people may be surprised to learn that Gerd Maier has been publishing books on about one per year or every other year bases to the tune of about 9 or 10 books. These are the only works of their kind that I am aware on historic (old iron) sterling cycle engines. They are printed like booklets with plastic clear covers and glue binding. Kinda like a staples type printing. A excellent reference in a very limited printing. I think about 200 copies each volume and when done they are done and he moves on. Lowell Wager, at the website I listed earlier has imported those for a few friends and collectors in the states. I have been luck to get in on this. They are Bi lingual written in German and English and highly illustrated.

These are also expensive on a per page basis and not for everyone. Running about 50 bucks per volume. If you appreciate the work involved and really want the information then these are well worth having. And being the only reference work of its kind....well, there you have it.... I don't know what is still available. There might be some of the Rider Ericsson books remaining.

This forum is not involved in hot air too much. I guess its a odd duck out interest by a minority of the engine world. None the less, to those involved, this is another passion - so - I pass this on FWIW.

[S.Upham]

I would imagine I'll be doing most of the restoration on this one.There are few small traces of paint,so it will be repainted.We are hoping the transmision will gear down low enough to run a rock crusher.

[S.Upham]

Peter,
I am not sure what you mean by a Delamanter engine.Here is a photo of my tag.could you please explain?