Hartzell Liberty prop ID

[roswell823]

We bought an old Hartzell prop at an auction here in upstate NY. My wife was born & raised in Piqua and our son is an Air Force pilot so we were interested in learning more about this prop.

Went to the Hartzell website and woodenpropeller.com helped a bit but still not sure what we really have. Surely looks like a rare Hartzell OX5 prop but there are no markings or stampings other than the 2 Hartzell Liberty decals.

The overall length of the prop is about 93.5”. It has a 7.5” diameter hub with 2.75” center bore and the hub is about 4.25” thick. The bolt hole circle is about 5.25” and the 8 bolt holes are about 7/16” countersunk to what looks like a 3/8” hole.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thnaks!

[Dbahnson]

I owned one of those years ago, and put it on one of my web pages on the site. (You may have already seen it.) Apparently there were only four models that used the Liberty decal, so yours is probably one of those. I'm not sure what's going on at the tip and you'll notice on mine that there was metal sheathing installed by the factory. The original is 8 feet in length, so yours appears to have been shortened, possibly in an experiment by the factory and did not get the metal sheathing. It certainly looks like an original factory manufactured one from the late teens or possibly early twenties, but I can't explain the discrepancies mentioned above.

HartzellSCf.jpg

[roswell823]

Thanks for the reply. Did see your post with similar prop.

The copper cladding on the tips definitely looks like added after the fact and covers some slight prop damage? Also no obvious signs of shortening overall length.

[Dbahnson]

But mine (and another one I've seen in the past) is the same design and is 98" in length. Also, in most factories the stamped information was typically the last step in the manufacturing process, and often included inspector's stamps. It makes me wonder if this went through the process but was intentionally manufactured with a shorter diameter for test. Manufacturers often did "whirling tests" where they underwent much higher RPMs than designed, and its' possible that yours might have been used for that purpose.

[roswell823]

Maybe... I sent a note to Hartzell through their website with the pertinent info & photos. Will see if they respond?

thanks

[Dbahnson]

Keep us posted. I've had a lot of contact over the years with Hartzell, but as you might anticipate some of the older historians are no longer around.