Any Service men ever use or seen one of these?

[tybob81]

We bought this at a army surplus aution the other day for 35 bucks. It is an old gas driven pump. Built in 1968.

[averagef250]

Starter for small turbines on tanks or choppers?

60CFM @ 6.5 PSI is a strange requirement.

Would be killer for airing up a large raft or innertube though, maybe that's what it was for?

[Madman]

Little weak for a turbine starter I think. Portable maint compressor perhaps, or a small control air system compressor?

[tybob81]

We thought it might be for an air raid siren or something. It starts easy and runs great.

[mrollings53]

"Huffers" or turbine starters for aircraft are much larger. At least nowadays they are. They're pretty much just small jet engines, and by small I mean that they are about 4x8x4 feet on a trailer. It's not often I saw them because F-18's have an APU on board, and can start themselves.

[ccryder2011]

probably for maint. when you test electronics aboard a bird when it is on the ground you need to keep them cool,as everything is air cooled and designed to operate at speed in flight,when i was at N.A.S. Miramar I was a mechanic on huffers and all the other "yellow gear" on board a carrier,we used a HUGE a/c unit powered by a diesel v8 engine to cool the f-14 tomcats, the trailer measured about 6' wide,8' high and 10' long...

[woods]

Well, I can't give you a specific military use (it may not have had one). I can tell you that I have seen these used in other countries for all sorts of things. A lot of rebel forces buy our old surplus to use.
I seen one used as a large aerator in a water supply in South America. As mentioned before, large air pontoon craft inflator. Seen one used the slightly pressurize a huge drinking water tank.
So, I don't know if it has a special use in our military, but I sure have seen them used a lot in other places.

[knightfire83]

Here is some additional info found on the net:

http://books.google.com/books?id=R8oXAA ... mv&f=false

http://www.liberatedmanuals.com/TM-5-4310-278-25P.pdf

Still no idea on it's designed purpose.

[averagef250]

"Huffers" or turbine starters for aircraft are much larger. At least nowadays they are. They're pretty much just small jet engines, and by small I mean that they are about 4x8x4 feet on a trailer. It's not often I saw them because F-18's have an APU on board, and can start themselves.

The big propulsion GE's I worked on were stationary and started with air, but it was 3000 PSI or from a compressor direct driven from a 16V149 detroit.

We had a helo air detachment on our ship when deployed. I remember them having units that looked like small turbines, about the same size as what is pictured in this thread. That's probably where I got the turbine starting idea from.

[DuckRyder]

Here is some additional info found on the net:

http://books.google.com/books?id=R8oXAA ... mv&f=false

http://www.liberatedmanuals.com/TM-5-4310-278-25P.pdf

Still no idea on it's designed purpose.

I note several refrences in those to "inflator".

Boat, RIB or Bridge maybe?

[woods]

Seen a lot of boats and such blown up with them, just not sure if it was their intended purpose.

[tybob81]

It's a cool little pump for 35 bucks. I knew they guys on here would know or have used one of these.