Motor Manufacturers
 

After looking at Dale's motor pages, it makes me wonder just how many of these folks made their own motors and how many were made for them by somebody else.

We all know Estes made motors for Centuri and MMI. Who else did they make motors for?

Who else manufactured motors for relabling and who did they go to?

Most of these motor companies are one or two man operations. There have been a ton of them over the years. I started hosting launches at Lucerne in a moment in history to give three of them a venue for people to see what they have and fly rockets with them. That eventually gave rise to over a dozen different motor companies from that launch alone including AeroTech, Ace, Hypertek, CD#2, CD#3, Plasmajet, USR, IBCo, Kosdon, CompDist, and many others.

There were also motor company hotspots surrounding Ohio, Florida and Texas.

The companies which survived had high prices, some sort of distribution or discharge network and favorable press.

I formed a magazine before HPR was formalized by NAR and TRA to bootstrap the trade and get the maximal number of vendors out there. There was a huge initial blast-back by NAR and Estes. Once they realized we had good intentions and the will to continue our already 15 year old legacy of safety and fun, they switched to public acceptance and leveraging their considerable clout within regulatory bodies. That legacy of over-regulation to spite us has survived to this day.

We need to self-de-regulate rocketry in sensible ways to bring the groundwork for growth back in.

There is no reason other than self imposed rules and traditions why we could not have DOZENS of boutique motor makers today. That would be righteous!

Jerry

I'm trying to add that info to the website. I know that Aerotech/ISP and Estes (and Canaroc?) made motors for relabeling. Don't think anyone else had the manufacturing capacity.

Hey Jerry, I'm waiting for the rest of the Crm's to get up on your website. I have a few of the early issues and I still pull them out to read. Hope you don't mind that I pulled some photos from the USR website.

I don't mind.

AT relabeled for North Coast, USR, Apogee, Rocket Vision, FSI for a while and of course Kosdon.

Plasmajet relabeled for USR for a while but most of those were sold as Plasmajet brand itself.

Vulcan made some motors for USR for FX stuff, not consumer stuff.

Jerry

I almost forgot about Rocket Vision. I got a bunch of their motors for cheap a number of years ago when they closed up shop. They were blowing them out on the old, original ROL auction site.

Have you heard of Eastern ballastic motors,made in New Jeersey in the early 60's?

As I posted in Dale's thread on the return of his motor website, the "ASC" engines of around 1975-76 were made by AVI (Mike Bergenske).

Originally Bergenske created his own company, Model Rocket Industries (MRI) sometime in the mid-late 1960's. Then General Mills bought it to add to MPC for a rocket div, keeping on Bergenske, who brought in G Harry Stine to design some of the models, and three plastic models (the flying Vostok and Titan-III, and the non-flying Pilgrim Observer). When the Space Race model rocketry Fad went bust, General Mills/MPC dropped rockets, and Bergenske & a few others bought what was left for pennies (including all the engine machines and molds), and created AVI. Around late 1978 to early 1979 AVI went bankrupt, by late 1979 they were auctioned off.

- George Gassaway

And from this, the stash of MPC kits leftover is still being sold off 30 years later, right?

http://www.skyhighhobbies.com/rocketkits.htm

I can't help but think General Mills took a bath on these.

Doug

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Estes puts more in landfills every year than everybody else combined makes. Hey Barry may I have the disposal contract? ;)

I have not scanned the remaining CRm's yet so if you do I'll upload them. I ran out of server space back when it used to be scarce.

If I could wish for something it would be for 3-4 guys to come over with computers and scanners for several days and start to save history. I have a great place to do it.

Jerry

Mike Gillette used to make motors, though I don't recall their name. He called AT's wimpy motors, esp the J350, when it came out. IIRC he had a 29mm "I". In talking with him a few times, he stated none of his stuff was certed by TRA or NAR. He didn't like doing that., didn't like spending the bucks to do it. Always wonderd if they were made by Vulcan (Scott Dixon). His kits were first class.