I am about to head out on a 3 week trip, so before heading off I will leave the blog with something cool – A 1955 F-M proposal package for a Diesel-Electric drive tug. Unfortunately, it seems F-M was never really able to get a foot hold in the commercial DE drive market, one dominated by Cleveland Diesel. However, F-M was able to sway both the US and Canadian Coast Guards, and several classes of vessels were built, including the 140′ Bay Class Ice Breakers. The tug in the design, while just a sketch, looks strikingly similar to the Reading Railroad’s Harold J. Taggert. Click on all of the images below for larger versions.
Anyone ever seen an F-M powered, Diesel-Electric harbor tug? Drop me a line!
I mentioned last week that I picked up a bunch of drawings recently, and in the group was a microfilm reel with a rather interesting engine…
Yup, it is indeed an opposed piston engine, and an experimental US Navy engine at that.. And I can not find one single thing about this engine online, anywhere. Gray Marine is pretty well known for the work they did during WWII, specifically with the Detroit Diesel 6-71. Gray Marine would take engines built by Detroit, and convert them to marine use, one of which being the 64HN9 – a 6-71 with a high output governor, used on the Higgins Boat: The LCVP, or Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel.
I cant say I know alot about Gray, but I do know that they would commonly take off the shelf engines (like the 6-71 above), convert them to marine use, and slap their name on it with a new model number.
So, just what is the deal with this engine? Well, I have no idea, and I really hope some of the viewers can help with this one. I have never seen an opposed piston engine like this one. Its a 2 cylinder opposed piston, but note that each crankshaft (4 of them!) drives a bevel gear set, which in turn drives the main center shaft. Holy moving parts, Batman, this thing could almost give a Napier Deltic a run for its money. On the back end, is a reverse gear.
Unfortunately, I have not spotted a spec sheet yet in the drawings. It is not a very big engine though, only 26 1/2″ tall and only about 64″ long. So it could not have been that much of a powerhouse..
These are pretty big drawings, so click on them to see the full size. The one top view had to be spliced together from 4 separate ones.
So, anyone with ideas on this thing…comment or email!
Vintage Diesel Design 