There was the prototype, the .49.
Actually the 49s with the vertical plugs and 3 or more cooling fins were more factory experimentals or individual experiments. Keith Storey worked with them a lot. Usually they had a .59 stroke and a smaller bore. The first production 49, SN #1 is in the AMA museum. Note due to its shorter stroke it has 1 less fin than the production 59s.
There were 5 .59 prototypes; #1, 4, and 5 are in the AMA Museum. #3 was stolen and sold on Ebay. #2 is in a safe deposit box.
And here is a letter from Dick Lyons who worked with Duke, actually machining the first two 59 protos:
Fox .59 Long Shaft Prototype
By Dick Lyons
In 1944 I was transferred to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio to work
in the Equipment Lab there. In my barracks I met another G.I.
by the name of Duke Fox who was assigned to the Aircraft Lab. We
soon became aware of our mutual interest in model aircraft and
became close friends. Duke confided that when the war was over
he was going back to California and go into the model engine
business, and in fact, had already designed the engine he
hoped to manufacture. He showed me the drawings he had made for
the Long shaft .59. It was designed primarily for U-Control
speed models, hence the long shaft to facilitate cowling the
engine with the timer and needle valve located at the rear of
the engine. Duke said he was planning to build some prototypes
and had a pattern shop in town making some wood patterns so he
could have some Aluminum sand castings made to proof the design
before going into the more expensive die castings molds needed
for production when he got out of the service. He was wondering
how he was going to machine up the parts, when I suggested that
I had access to a complete machine shop in my Lab.
We began to spend evenings and week ends in the machine shop
building the prototypes. Duke did most of the machining and I
scrounged for materials and did some of the bench work. We were
in need of some cast iron for the rings but couldn't locate any
stock. We finally noticed that the spigot on one of the oil
drums was cast iron so in true scrounger fashion this spigot was
requisitioned and the rings were fabricated from this material.
Two engines were completed and were stamped with serial numbers
1 and 2. The engines, after working out a few problems with the
timers, ran exceedingly well and Duke was extremely pleased with
his first design.
In the Spring of 1946 I was discharged and returned to Illinois
with prototype S/N 2. Duke was discharged several months later
and returned to So. California where he started his own company,
eventually moving the operation to Fort Smith, Arkansas. That
story has been best told by others. We kept in contact for many
years, and when he would come to Chicago for the Hobby industry
shows, we would get together. In later years, after moving to
California I would meet him at the Nats or the I.M.S. show in
Pasadena. I do not know what happened to S/N 1, but I do know
where S/N 2 has been for the last 48 years!!
Dick Lyons
Camarillo, CA
Topic: Your favorite "looking" engine? (Read 12893 times)