George Martin passes away :(

[Mark75H]

South Bend Tribune

A few technical inaccuracies about outboards in the obit, but the important thing is the accurate description of Mr. Martin and his character

[The Big Al]

Living here in Moorsville, NC I remeber his record. (not that long ago)

[mk30h]

Thanks for the posting Sam, I had assumed that he had passed on many years before, I think he would have been close to the same age as EC, maybe a two to four years apart. Did know about the Merc story, or the cause of his pulling the plug on NPC.
Has anyone else looked into Poppet valves recently?

[Mark75H]

Has anyone else looked into Poppet valves recently?

Not that I've heard of. They are heavier and slower acting than reed valves and much more expensive to make.

Means other than reed valves were common on outboards at the time Martin came up with the cam actuated poppet. There were even spring actuated poppets that worked much like a reed valve (not on an outboard that I know of), but outboards did use piston port and various configurations of rotary valves instead of reeds in the 30's and 40's. Reeds weren't yet dominant in the market.

[staylor]

...including multi-disc slip clutches in the prop hubs, glass fuel gages on the front of the engine mounted tank, and on some models the swivel brackets were articulated so you could rotate the entire motor into the boat for maintenance without loosening the clamp brackets. I ran a 10 hp Martin 100 for 2 years on an old A utility. Top end was 4 mph less than a Merc KG-7 Hurricane. This motor would idle so slow that you could read the name Martin on the flywheel at idle. Two intake poppet valves, cam driven, with valve springs. These were located just behind the carb where you'd normally expect to find reed valves. The poppets were supported by a very fragile aluminum cage which was supposedly a weak point if the engine was over-revved. The poppets had o-rings which needed to be replaced if the idle became rough. This particular motor was a one-pull starter at all times, and had a screw type trim adjustment handle located between the mounting clamp screws. Thus, you could adjust motor angle while running which was a nice feature. My present late model 15hp Merc has a similar feature but is limited to a few detented positions, rather than the infinite adjustments of the 1954 Martin 100.
Doug

[Dukeofchippewa]

also had a hand in the design of the BlackMagic racing runabout. I had 3 Martin 200s and a BlackMagic, I sold my last 200 earlier this year. Pressure Cooker is still in business under the name National Presto Industries.

[LakeRacer99]

I didn't know George was still around...

Here is my 200 SilverStreak as it sits today...Man, is this thing screaming for a restore.