Bonner Specialties Escapement w/Video
July 1957 American Modeler

July 1957 American Modeler Table of Contents These pages from vintage modeling magazines like Flying Aces, Air Trails, American Modeler, American Aircraft Modeler, Young Men, Flying Models, Model Airplane News, R/C Modeler, captured the era. All copyrights acknowledged.

For as much as I desperately wanted a radio control system when I was a kid, I never bought an R/C system until I was around 15 years old, when a used 3-channel OS digital proportional system became available from a man that lived a couple blocks away. Even the "cheap" $100 rudder-only escapement models were out of reach on my paltry income from a paper route. So, it wasn't until a couple years ago, at age 50, that I finally purchased an escapement from someone on eBay, just to see one up close. Some of the airplane kits I had, like the Carl Goldberg 1/2A Skylane, showed an escapement installation on the plans, with the rubber band engine and a rather large receiver constructed of discrete transistors and large tuning coils.

While looking through the July 1957 issue of American Modeler, I happened across an advertisement for the very escapement that I now own. There are no markings on the device - not a manufacturer name or model number. It turns out the escapement is "The Single," from Bonner Specialties. It is a self-neutralizing 4-arm escapement which provides stronger action to operate throttle, other auxiliary controls. Weight: 0.6 ounces. Price: $5.95.

I built a mock-up of an escapement installation for controlling the rudder in a single-channel radio controlled airplane, and then made a video to show how it works (see below photos).

You can use the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' inflation calculator to see that $5.95 is $46.23 in year 2010 dollars.

Here is an article from the January 1955 edition of Popular Electronics titled," 3 and 4 Finger R/C Escapements."

Here is a video showing how the Bonner escapement operates

Posted October 4, 2010