Electric Sailor

[arrgee]

J Peterson
LCDR
USN, Retired

John, do we forthwith refer to you as 'Lieutenant Commander Peterson, Retired'

[badpenny]

On behalf of all Navy men around the world, good work, Rory.

J Peterson
LCDR
USN, Retired

London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR)

[gameswat]

Vid of the mech running.

[slotalot]

Hi Gameswat
Thanks for posting the video of it in action.
So wonderfully smooth and simple in operation.
You have done a first class job in getting up and running.
Well done.

[gameswat]

Thank you! This one arrived with only a short verbal description so until i unboxed it I had no idea what i was dealing with. Sometimes that can be a bit daunting when I realise how many problems there are, and i have to sort them all. But this was still a hell of a lot of fun, especially when when it first came back to life - I always feel like Dr Frankestein, 'It's Alive.....It's Alive!"

[badpenny]

What a brilliant job you've done on a truly superb mechanism, well done that man!

Have you chucked a meter across it? I guess it's chucking out high volts and low milliamps?
Just enough to make your EEK! muscle react but not enough to erase the piano lessons you had as a child.

[gameswat]

BP, cheers! My multi meter is almost useless, been dropped five too many times. I tried running the machine on 4.5V but a little too low to make the induction coil vibrate well. Using a new 6V lantern battery it really hums and also helps to make good contacts across the various switches. I did decide to add a 1.5K ohm resistor to the output circuit though as the shock was pretty sharp. And I always worry about people throwing these smaller machines around by accident.

25 years ago my father once nearly bashed his own head in with a 1930's Advance shocker. I'd just finished restoring it and I was slowly building up the charge with each go. So he decided to show me up and instantly went for the full amount, but the machine was just standing on the workbench......his arms spasmed, muscles contracted and I watched that damn red steel box pass just over his head! Then procede to fly 20 ft across the factory to smash high up the wall. How it missed his head is a mystery but he felt pretty stupid and embarrassed to say the least. Tough little machine as only needed minor attention and was good to go. Went onto location in a theme restaurant for many years and the return on investment was incredible especially since he found the machine in a junk pile outside an old operators warehouse. He still has that one actually.

[badpenny]

That's a fantastic story.
Just imagine what the coroner's report would have stated.

Death by Amusement Only.

Superb!

[treefrog]

Well, I am sure you have watched Drew Pritchard's Salvage Hunters tonight to see the Electric sailor he bought for £600 from the Isle of Man. (Isn't one our members from the island?)

Of course I checked his site out and it sold a while back. I am sure someone here may be the lucky owner.... Missing its lower box though and mechanism. Interesting to see his description on his site.

You can watch the program on the web now on bottom link.

http://www.drewpritchard.co.uk/decorative/hello-sailor-

http://www.questtv.co.uk/video/#3775839954001

[treefrog]

Saw one of these for sale recently, but with talk of repros that may have been made I was not sure as although it is over restored and using wood screws to hold in the award plate, the castings sort of look right. Also has the mount position for the lights in the eyes.....if it was real, probably was a reasonable price

[gameswat]

About 12 years ago I saw a repro out of Europe that conned a collector. The base was wonky though, welded steel plate instead of a casting for some reason. Can't remember how good a job they did on the mech making it look old?

[treefrog]

Fella wanted a grand for it. Looking and comparing to the machine you worked on, I reckon was repro, but it never sold unless someone has since agreed a price with the guy...another machine in Holland, this place is a minefield of machines