Isn’t it wonderful when you stumble across stationary engines even when you are not looking for them?
That was the case on a recent trip to Maryland and the Calvert Marine Museum. Now, it’s not surprising to find engines at a marine museum, most museums have their collections of outboards, Inline diesels and even steam engines. But the Calvert museum has something a bit more relevant to our hobby, A collection of Palmer Bros Marine engines and one Red Lion Co!
All of these lovely examples were restored by a Richard A. Day Jr, who will be a familiar name if you are familiar with Palmer Engines or Marine engines in general! To those unfamiliar with Palmer (Like myself) They were established in 1894 out of Cos Cob, Connecticut. Notable for being an early builder of 2 strokes, their T-Head 4 stroke and three-port engines.
The ZR-1 I took a particular liking to, featuring that previously mentioned T-head. A pleasing design and a good manageable size. Seems to be a popular engine as videos of these still being used in Launches can be found on Youtube.
Unfortunately, being the amateur I am, I didn’t take enough photos of the other machines. However, if you are familiar with my Spooners Shed profiles, you’ll know that video I can do! The Youtube video I took of the other machines will be attached to this article.
If you find yourself in the beautiful state of Maryland, do highly recommend a visit to the Calvert Marine Museum. Aside from the Palmer engines, the museum has a decent collection of outboards, a nice vertical steam engine and of course, lots of boats of all shapes and sizes. And not forgetting to mention the very picturesque Drum Point Lighthouse.
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