Ye Olde Rocket Forum - View Single Post - Original Orville Carlisle Motor Questions

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gus

In doing some research I was looking at picutures and descriptions on the Smithsonian site. I noticed that the original Rock-A-Chute motors, made by Orville Carlisle himself were actually 13 mm motors ("Dimensions: Overall: 1/2in. x 3 3/8in. (1.3 x 8.57cm)"). The motors in the pictures below (from NASM) have printed labels so they were actual "production run" motors meant for sale, made by Orville himself, before G. Harry and before the motors made by Brown Manufacturing.

So a few questions:

Does anyone know why the switch was made from 13mm to 18mm?

Does anyone have any pictures of either these motors being used or the motor mounts of the earliest Carlisle rockets.

Does anyone know if the test models G. Harry initially got from Orville used these same 13 mm motors (I presume so since these were given to NASM by G. Harry).

Finally, does anyone have any idea what Orville Carlisles designations of "4-4" and "4-4-2" on the motors stood for?

Thanks,

Steve

G. Harry wrote some articles on the "Early Days" that I remember reading in The Model Rocketeer back in the late '70s when he was the editor. I believe that similar articles may have also appeared previously in Model Rocketry Magazine. In one, Harry mentions that they switched to 18mm when they went to Brown because the cost would be much less since they could use existing tooling.