[PSUBS-MAILIST] Kittredge memorial

Sat Oct 12 10:13:45 EDT 2013

It was meant to be direct drive. George had an 8 horse yanmar diesel set aside for it. Dan Lance and I helped him fix a throttle problem he had with the engine one time when we paid him a visit. George had a transmission for the engine as well because he said "you need reverse".

The sub had an 24" x 12" tall x 1.5" thick acrylic cylinder for viewing (made by "spec plastics" many years before). I believe Jon ended up with the cylinder. George also had a brand new 24" dome (made by yours truly) in case he decided not to go with the cylinder. I believe that Ian ended up with the pedal powered sub and the new dome (which I was glad to see because Ian was a great friend to George).

In one of my last conversations with George, I asked him how he was going to use the diesel sub when it was finished. His reply was simple- 

 "Have you ever seen how scallops jump off the bottom when you disturb them? We'll, I was thinking that if I built a submarine with a hatch in the bottom, they might just jump in the submarine as I drive over top of them. So, I think I'll finish the diesel sub with a hatch in the bottom and drive over a bed of scallops to see if they jump inside".

With a little more time I think he would have done it.

Greg

On Friday, October 11, 2013 6:52 PM, "vbra676539 at aol.com" <vbra676539 at aol.com> wrote:

That looks to be across the road from the little store with the great lobster rolls and the nautical art place. For the uninitiated, the church in the background is the one Mrs. Captain Kittredge attended, and just over the forward main ballast tank is George's old shop. If you look carefully, you can see the marine railway. 
Vance  
-----Original Message-----
From: greg cottrell <jgcottrell2002 at yahoo.com>
To: Personal Submersibles General Discussion <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
Sent: Fri, Oct 11, 2013 2:36 pm
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Kittredge memorial

You can see the Kittredge memorial sub on this link: 

http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2012/09/personal-submarines.html 

Greg 

________________________________
 From: greg cottrell <jgcottrell2002 at yahoo.com>
To: Personal Submersibles General Discussion <personal_submersibles at psubs.org> 
Sent: Friday, October 11, 2013 5:22 PM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Diesel Exhaust

Vance, 

I can confirm that the sub that George intended to be diesel powered was cleaned and painted through the efforts of his friend Ian and local business and put on display as a memorial to George. 

Greg 

________________________________
 From: "vbra676539 at aol.com" <vbra676539 at aol.com>
To: personal_submersibles at psubs.org 
Sent: Friday, October 11, 2013 11:39 AM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Diesel Exhaust

James, 

I think the diesel subs were mentioned in passing in George's autobiography, rather than in detail. They were K-subs, one 500-foot capable that went to Alaska for a recently retired super tanker Captain. He had another one (the third?) unfinished sitting in the weeds by the shop when I was last there which I half remember was a K-250. 

All I really remember about that one is that the aft elliptical head was flanged and bolted to the hull cylinder for access to the diesel, and had the underwater exhaust like a WW II sub and a snorkel for the engine. That was going to be the Skipper's next personal sub, but he got sidetracked when he reacquired the K-600. He never finished the diesel sub that I know of, and I don't have any idea what happened to it in any case. 

I do know that the family house and archives were donated to the Owl's Head township or the county historical society or somebody like that, and that something or other is on display up there. No idea where, but you might call the South Thomaston library, which is open part time and just down the street from the Kittredge house. They might know something about what went where, or provide a clue you could follow. I don't know what they ended up doing with the house itself, either. Maybe it's a museum now, too. 

There is also a very nice transportation museum just up the road from George's house. (it might, in fact, be called the Owl's Head Transportation Museum, or something similar). Who knows? That little sub might have been painted up and put on display as a reminder of one of South Thomaston's most interesting and productive characters. Be a shame if it wasn't. 

And if the diesel sub modifications could be unearthed, I'm sure they would be a welcome addition to the psubbers archives. There will be prints, somewhere. George did a lot of them himself, but surely they were saved, and having been saved, might be rescued from obscurity. If it costs a bit, let me know. I'll chip in just for general interest, and perhaps others would, too. Also, Jon had some of the last dealings up there, and might have an idea or two about how you (or we) could track things down. 

Vance   
-----Original Message-----
From: James Frankland <jamesf at guernseysubmarine.com>
To: Personal Submersibles General Discussion <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
Sent: Fri, Oct 11, 2013 6:10 am
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Diesel Exhaust

Hi Greg\All, 

Does anyone have any more info on Georges diesel subs?  I have his book and i dont recall any mention of them, though i could be mistaken, its a while since i read it.  I'd just be interested to see more info.  Were they K type designs?  Or something else?
Thanks 
james

On 11 October 2013 13:03, greg cottrell <jgcottrell2002 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>Captain Kittredge built a couple of diesel subs that worked very well. In his design, exhaust went straight down into the water at the bottom of the hull. The exhaust exit was directly behind what looked like a "v" shaped steel skeg that created a low pressure area when the sub was moving forward. The low pressure area reduced back pressure on the exhaust. 
>
>Incidentally, one of George's customers bought a diesel sub from him but took it down one time without closing the exhaust valve. Water entered one of the cylinders in the diesel and bent either the crank or the rods when he tried to start the engine. 
>
>Greg 
>
>
>
> From: Marc de Piolenc <piolenc at archivale.com>
>To: personal_submersibles at psubs.org 
>Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2013 10:15 PM
>Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Dive report - Pickles Reef
> 
>
>I've been following this discussion with great interest. I don't have a 
>sub yet, but I do live in the Tropics, and as there's no cold current 
>handy to where I live any subbing I do will be in water pretty near air 
>temperature. As you might expect, I've given this problem a lot of thought.
>
>My tentative conclusion is that, if I build a sub, I will have to make 
>it
 more autonomous than is the rule on this list. Specifically, it will 
>need a combustion engine to ferry itself on the surface to dive sites, 
>and to maintain comfort and keep the battery topped off for diving while 
>doing so. I started with the assumption that I would need an air 
>conditioning unit running off a small industrial diesel, but then I 
>realized that, if I use a snorkel exhausting into the cabin, and have 
>the diesel draw air from the cabin, I get continuous renewal of the air 
>in the cabin without the cost, power burden and safety problems of 
>running a Rankine cycle refrigeration system. That's the solution that 
>I've retained for the moment. Of course I also need a secure means of 
>preventing exhaust gas from being aspirated into the snorkel (I can't 
>quite understand how naval submarines manage to combine both functions 
>in one mast), but that might be as simple as having the diesel exhaust 
>flush with the hull, with some arrangement to prevent water from coming 
>in. Since the diesel would only be used on the surface, and the snort 
>would only be there to allow a low-freeboard hatch to be kept closed, 
>the power penalty would be minimal.
>
>Fuel storage, fuel feed and the like still have to be worked out. Naval 
>submarines have very complex arrangements for this, and that complexity 
>must be tolerated for a good reason. Even so, I need a simpler way to do 
>it that still protects the fuel from contamination and me from asphyxiation.
>
>Marc de Piolenc
>
>On 10/11/2013 1:45 AM, Land N Sea wrote:
>> I have been out of the loop for 5 weeks on the mainland on my sailboat
>> and I should of read all the emails before responding when I got back. I
>> did view the great footage and noticed that my tower looked a little
>> taller (good for water ingress) and of course doesn’t have the dome so I
>> hopefully won’t have quite as bad of a heat problem as one with the dome
>> but I was thinking about Emile’s clear acrylic fairing as an option when
>> I heard about the water egress problems with a three foot chop.
>> It does get pretty hot here and we are about the same latitude as
>> Florida so I will probably be trying Phil’s idea of the frozen pouches
>> vest and or the gallon of frozen water and have the air coming out of my
>> scrubber blowing against it.
>-- 
>Archivale catalog: http://www.archivale.com/catalog
>Polymath weblog: http://www.archivale.com/weblog
>Translations (ProZ profile): http://www.proz.com/profile/639380
>Translations (BeWords profile): http://www.bewords.com/Marc-dePiolenc
>Ducted fans: http://massflow.archivale.com/  
>
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>
>     
>_______________________________________________
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>
> 

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