Southwest Regional Hot Air Meet
Barry Romich
Arizona Flywheelers is an organization of people with an interest in old engines, both steam engines and internal combustion gasoline engines. Every year about this time, they have a gathering, the Annual Antique Engine Show, at which they display and operate their engines. This happens at the Verde Valley Fairgrounds in Cottonwood, Arizona. Four years ago they also hosted the First Southwest Regional Hot Air Meet. My father and mother attended the events that year and you can Click Here to see a couple photos of a model engine that Dad displayed. Since hot air engines are a relatively uncommon item, and the number of people with this interest is smaller, the hot air engine show is not an annual event. The timing worked perfectly for me to make a brief appearance at this, the Second Southwest Regional Hot Air Meet.
Cottonwood is a good two hour drive from Congress, where the Hershbergers live. It is a beautiful trip, with the road climbing over two mountain passes and going through Yarnell, Prescott, and Jerome, a former mining town.
The view east above Jerome
Upon arrival at the show, I learned that I had chosen the right day to be there. The first day of the show had been rainy and cold and we were now enjoying sun and warmth. I set out trying to locate the two of Dad's friends whom he had alerted to my potential visit. They were Gene DeCamp and Bernard Weideman. Gene was pointed out to me and I took the photo below of him with one of his engines. He connected me with Bernard who gave me a comprehensive tour of the show.
Gene DeCamp
Audrey and Bernard Weideman and some of their engines
Hot air engines were popular around 100 years ago for various tasks. They were preferred for domestic tasks, like pumping water, because they were simple and, unlike steam engines, would not blow up and kill people. While most of the engines were either old or small models, one display was staffed by an entrepreneurial spirit, Don Isaac. His company, Tamin, is based in Half Moon Bay, California and is developing Stirling engines for use in generator sets, garden equipment, etc. He had an instrumented engine connected to a dynamometer for meauring power output. Their first commercial product will be an engine for teaching university engineering students.
Don Isaac
The show attracted about 45 people from the UK. Among them was Robert Sier, author of "Hot Air Caloric and Stirling Engines. Volume One. A History". The book was available for purchase and an autographed copy will soon be a birthday present for a certain family member. (Stirling was a Scottish minister who in the first half of the nineteenth century had conceived of and implemented a regenerator for improving the efficiency of hot air engines.)
Robert Sier
Another item that the show organizers had for sale was a small engine model from Germany. It also will be part of the birthday celebration.
I would have enjoyed staying longer for the engine show, but also wanted to get back to join the Hershberger activities. Approaching Jerome from the east gave a view of the mountainside nature of the small community that has become a haven for artists.
