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I, the Gasoline Era includes six chapters:
Chapter
1, Pioneers: Regan in San Francisco, Sintz in Ohio and Michigan,
the Palmers in
Connecticut, Daimler, Otto, Steinway in New York, and others.
It was the pioneers who
developed commercially viable four-cycle and two-cycle engines
that could be applied to
turning a boat's propeller. This is the story of the men, their
inventions, and their
companies.
Chapter
2 , Production: By 1898, it had become clear that the internal
combustion engine
would change most aspects of life and commerce, ashore and afloat.
The handful of
pioneer companies were soon joined by dozens and later hundreds
of others. In those
early days, many wondered whether it would be the marine engine
or the automobile that
would have the most impact and offer investors the most reward.
This chapter explores
the many connections between early car companies and marine engine
companies and
includes profiles of numerous marine engine builders throughout
the country.
Chapter
3 , California: Although Midwest, East Coast, and European
developments have
generally been the focus of most engine research and history,
the West Coast companies
played a major role. Now, that role has been recognized in a chapter
that includes the men
and machines of Union, Standard, Hall-Scott and others.
Chapter
4 , Gray: When author Stan Grayson began his research for
this book, he looked
for one company that might encompass the entire story of the U.S.
marine engine industry.
He found it in the many previously disconnected aspects Gray Motor
Company's history.
Through extensive research, the author has linked the many chapters
of the Gray story
together to present a portrait of a company that remains among
the best-known of all
marine engine builders.
Chapter
5, Faster: While early marine engines were robust and heavy
machines designed
for the ceaseless work of driving a boat, a few men dreamed of
building engines that
possessed much improved power-to-weight ratios. This chapter explores
two key
pioneers. It chronicles the rise and fall of Van Blerck in Michigan
and Sterling in Buffalo,
New York, and their development of the high speed, lightweight
marine engine.
Chapter
6 , Technology: Although it is now natural to take for granted
the convenience
represented by a modern engine, each step towards such machines
represented a step
into the unknown. Ignition, timing, carburetion, the layout of
valves or ports, the two-cycle
vs. four-cycle -- all these had to be explored along the way.
This chapter describes such
engines as the early Standard, the first Lenoir and Daimlers,
the famous T-heads, OHV,
and more.
There's
More!
Both volumes
of Engines Afloat include an Appendix and a useful Index. In Volume
I, the Appendix includes a most unusual glossary of terms so that
readers will be able to identify how the first generation of engine
designers defined the machines they were building. Volume II includes
fascinating operating instructions relating to Kahlenberg and
Hicks engines.
Both books
measure a big 8 1/2" x 11" trim size! Volume One contains
224 pages and 101 illustrations. Volume Two
contains 192 pages and 89 illustrations.
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