40 Daniel <strong>and</strong> Floyd Hungerford: <strong>Rocket</strong> Power, Interstellar Travel <strong>and</strong> Eternal Life, by Geofrey N. Stein
Chapter Six HUNGERFORD INVENTIONS Over more than a half century, Daniel <strong>and</strong> Floyd Hungerford imagined <strong>and</strong> developed a variety of inventions. While this book elsewhere mentions important Hungerford products, e.g. aircraft engines <strong>and</strong> the rocket car, this section identifies additional projects. Some Hungerford work was only incomplete, elusive sketches. Other inventions, including some that were patented, came closer to production. TWO-CYLINDER OPPOSED AIRCRAFT ENGINE Dated 1909–1910, a two-cylinder, thirty-horsepower engine combined air <strong>and</strong> water cooling using fins <strong>and</strong> copper water jackets. The layout was similar to the Detroit Aero Engine, an air-cooled device used in light aircraft of the 1910 period. Additional description appeared in part earlier in chapter two of this book. The engine survives in the collection of the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport. Figure 21. Daniel <strong>and</strong> Floyd Hungerford, left to right, posed with the two-cylinder aircraft engine designed <strong>and</strong> built by them in 1909. AUTOMATIC STOP AND REVERSE MECHANISM A.K.A. FURNACE REGULATOR A h<strong>and</strong>bill promoting Daniel Hungerford for assembly in the election of 1948 included the information that among Hungerford’s inventions was “the all-electric furnace regulator”. The 1910 patent granted to Hungerford for the automatic stop <strong>and</strong> reverse mechanism suitable for use in a thermostat was described above in chapter one. The rights to the patent were assigned to Hungerford’s employer, the American Thermostat Company. ROTARY AIRCRAFT ENGINE Working with Amos P. Newl<strong>and</strong>s, the Hungerfords, in 1928, applied <strong>and</strong> received a patent in 1932 for the valve fitted to the hub for a five-cylinder, two-stroke engine (cylinders each firing during one revolution). Curtiss Museum curator Merrill Stickler noted in 1979 that there were two Hungerford “cased rotary engines of unusual design” in the Museum’s collection. 171 One example is the five-cylinder engine, while the second is a smaller, four-cylinder machine. Photographs from the Hungerfords show both free-st<strong>and</strong>ing engines operating. The author does not know if either engine ever was installed in an airplane. Newl<strong>and</strong>s (1875–1973) appears in the 1906, 1938 <strong>and</strong> 1949 Elmira city directories as a painter. In 1912, he was an engineer at the Hotel Rathbun. And from 1914 until 1933, he worked as a chauffeur for the Copel<strong>and</strong> family in Elmira. 172 Newl<strong>and</strong>s was identified (1940) as a carpenter residing with his wife Millie on West First Street a few blocks from the Hungerfords. His work as a chauffeur <strong>and</strong>, if independently employed as a painter or carpenter, likely left him time to visit <strong>and</strong> consult with the Hungerford brothers. What education he had beyond the ability to read <strong>and</strong> write reported in the 1920 census is unknown here. Schuyler Lathers related that Daniel Hungerford received $10,000 from the federal government during World War One for an aircraft engine. With no Daniel <strong>and</strong> Floyd Hungerford: <strong>Rocket</strong> Power, Interstellar Travel <strong>and</strong> Eternal Life, by Geofrey N. Stein. New York State Museum Record 4, © 2013 by The University of the State of New York, The State Education Department, Albany, New York. All rights reserved. 41
- Page 1 and 2: Daniel and Floyd Hungerford: Rocket
- Page 3 and 4: Daniel and Floyd Hungerford: Rocket
- Page 5 and 6: Daniel and Floyd Hungerford: Rocket
- Page 7 and 8: CONTENTS Forward . . . . . . . . .
- Page 9 and 10: FORWARD At the New York State Museu
- Page 11 and 12: Chapter One EARLY YEARS In the late
- Page 13 and 14: secretary-treasurer, was president.
- Page 15 and 16: 7 Keith Marvin, “The Wizards of W
- Page 17 and 18: Chapter Two THE AVIATION BUSINESS
- Page 19 and 20: Figure 6. Rebuilt as a biplane, thi
- Page 21 and 22: Figure 8. The Elmira Airplane Corpo
- Page 23 and 24: 35 Hungerford in a letter to Keith
- Page 25 and 26: Chapter Three FAMILY On August 7, 1
- Page 27 and 28: instructor with whom Dan was ‘kee
- Page 29 and 30: 68 Keith Marvin to Geoffrey N. Stei
- Page 31 and 32: Chapter Four THE HUNGERFORD ROCKET
- Page 33 and 34: igged this Pump for you - we have d
- Page 35 and 36: Figure 14. Daniel Hungerford posed
- Page 37 and 38: Figure 16. Photograph of the rocket
- Page 39 and 40: Figure 17. Following a period of mi
- Page 41 and 42: 80 The Sunday Telegram, September 8
- Page 43 and 44: Chapter Five POLITICS For a man who
- Page 45 and 46: very Element Essential to the Ends
- Page 47 and 48: times. 162 In 2000, Thomas J. Carpe
- Page 49: 149 Elmira Advertiser, November 10,
- Page 53 and 54: camshaft, no valves, and no connect
- Page 55 and 56: AUTOMOTIVE BRAKE AND ACCELERATOR PE
- Page 57 and 58: I just dreamed - sitting here - a m
- Page 59 and 60: Chapter Seven TO THE STARS BY “EL
- Page 61 and 62: developing an Electro-Magnetic driv
- Page 63 and 64: Figure 26. This stationary used by
- Page 65 and 66: tion” since he had no patents. An
- Page 67 and 68: These are questions in the writer
- Page 69 and 70: Chapter Eight THE FINAL YEARS In 19
- Page 71 and 72: Figures 28. A photograph of the roc
- Page 73 and 74: A mother on nearby Edgewood Drive t
- Page 75 and 76: exclusive property of the City of E
- Page 77 and 78: delivered food to the East Third St
- Page 79 and 80: Figure 32. In 2005 H. Steven Sekell
- Page 81 and 82: ets etc. and other areas of aeronau
- Page 83 and 84: It was sad to see him lose his home
- Page 85 and 86: 289 Woodlawn Cemetery records, Elmi
- Page 87 and 88: SECONDARY BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTES (Orig