3 blade paragon from 1911 --- ID help????

[gpilot]

Greetings:

Can anyone help with this? Its a Paragon 3-blade which was donated to our local airmans museum. We are looking for info for the aircraft and engine it might have been installed onto.

42" blade length, 84" diameter, bolt circle is 4 inches, Six bolts, inner hub shaft diameter appears to be about 13/16. OD of metal hub is 5 inches, OD of wooden part of hub (red circle in photos) is 6 1/2 inches.

Please see the photos.

Thanks for any help!

[Dbahnson]

Nice prop, and quite rare.

I don't know of engines from that era that had a 4 inch bolt circle in the hub, but the Air and Space Museum does have several engines on display that have small hubs like that, and some of the early engines had 5 and 6 hole hubs as well.

I'd suggest that you contact NASM and see if they can help. At one time I believe they had a Paragon 3 blade on display, but I was there last month and it was no longer there at that time.

[gpilot]

Dave:

Thanks for your reply!!

Would you have any idea how to contact someone at the NASM? Who or what sort of person/department to inquire of?

If not, I understand.

Thanks,

Greg

[Dbahnson]

You could ask for Jeremy Kinney. He's the curator of propulsion and a nice guy to work with. The other option is to ask for the Librarian as I know they have assisted other people with similar questions.

The whole Mall facility of the NASM is undergoing a major renovation project now, so things are in a bit of disarray. Apparently they need to move all of the exhibits out of their main building to allow the contractors to work, so already many things have been moved around, some to the Udvar-Hazy facility.

It may be difficult for anyone to get the information you're seeking, however. So much propeller data has been lost or destroyed over the years.