What reason did Frankie give for failing to deliver the engines as she promised?
Of course, failure to deliver a working engine is nothing new. Here's a timeline:
July 30, 2009 First two Mark V engines are sold to customer Phoenix Power Group LLC of Tennessee with a quoted delivery time of six months.[4] The contract required that "The Mark V engine shall produce approximately 92hp" and that "The final working prototype engine will have been thoroughly tested by continuously running the engine at a minimum of ¾ power for 7 consecutive days". The contract contained a late delivery penalty clause of $25,000 per month if engines were not delivered within nine months.
December 9, 2009 Cyclone Power Technologies promises a high performance Mark V engine[5] to Chuk Williams who was building a race car to break the land speed record for steam powered cars.[6]
December 11, 2009 A license is provided to Great Wall Alternative Power Systems Ltd, to produce Mark V engines for the China market. Technology was to be transferred "Upon the completion by Cyclone Power Technologies of its initial pre-production prototype Mark V engine in the United States, anticipated to be in mid to late 2010".[7]
October 18, 2010 Contract with Phoenix Power Group amended to substitute the delivery of two "WHE-25" (a small, simple steam engine) for the two Mark V engines in the original contract. However, the contract continues to state "Cyclone continues to use its best efforts to deliver two Mark V working prototype engines to Phoenix as soon as possible."[8]
April, 2011 The Raytheon company orders "multiple" Mark V engines.[9] Two engines were delivered to Raytheon in June 2012, although the delivered engines were "MantaRay 36" engines rather than Mark Vs.[10] The MantaRay engine did not have the burner, steam generator, condenser or combustion air preheaters of the Mark V engine.[11] There has been no news of these engines since the announcement of that delivery.
May, 2011 Cyclone Power Technologies builds a speedboat, the 'GG Mom', to break the water speed record for steam powered boats using the Mark V engine.[12] Although they state record attempts will be made that summer, the boat never appears to have been run.
September 12, 2011 The Combilift corporation in Ireland orders two Mark V engines. The contract specifies the engines will be "Run at Cyclone for a minimum of 50 hours prior to delivery to Combilift".[13] Delivery was to be in July, 2012.[14] March 23, 2012 After numerous delays in the promised delivery of the Mark V engine for the land speed car, Chuk Williams announces the collaboration with Cyclone has ended.[15] Chuk obtains a steam engine and runs his car on the Bonneville Salt Flats in October, 2012[16]
April 2012 The contracted engines were not yet delivered to Phoenix Power group and "As of April 2012, the maximum $400,000 contracted penalty has been provided" for the late delivery.[17]
January 2, 2013 James Landon, CEO of Cyclone Power Technologies issues Letter to Shareholders and states: "To assist us in moving this project towards completion, we have recruited contractors with expertise in certain areas such as condensing systems. We are confident that we can start delivery of engines to our customer in the first half of 2013.[18]
February 2013 James Landon resigns as CEO and Director of Cyclone Power Technologies.[19] There is no further mention of contractors assisting in overcoming development problems with the Mark V engine.
September 2013 Great Wall Alternative Power Systems terminates Mark V engine license agreement with Cyclone Power Technologies.[20]
September 30, 2013 Contract with Phoenix Power Group amended to say "No other engines including the Mark V engines, other than as specifically stated herein, are required to be delivered", ending the order from Phoenix for Mark V engines.[21]
January 2, 2015 Cyclone Power Technologies reports "Our R&D team is moving towards completion of the Mark 5 project in Quarter 1 of 2015. These engines are to be delivered to Combilift for use as a clean-burning power supply in material lift equipment."[22]
February 23, 2015 Cyclone Power Technologies posts a video[23] of the Mark V engine undergoing testing. This engine differs considerably from previous descriptions of the Mark V. In particular:
There is a large automotive radiator and fan mounted externally to the engine acting as a condenser rather than the integral condenser that was the subject of US patent 7798204.[24] There is no preheating of the combustion air. (See Schoell Cycle below.) The admission valve system has changed from a cam and linkage operated poppet valve on each cylinder head to a central rotary valve. The cam and linkage valve control mechanism was the subject of US patents 7730873[25] and 7784280[26]
This version of the engine is not protected by the basic Cyclone Power Technologies engine patents US 7856822[27] and 7080512[28] (as well a variety of similar patents in other countries) because the patents only cover an engine with an integral condenser and that preheats combustion air. The version of the Mark V engine in this video does not have these features.
The two Mark 5 engines for Combilift are now 33 months behind schedule. The original two engines for Phoenix are 63 months behind schedule. Pretty serious when the quoted delivery times in each case were 9 months for Combilift and 6 months for Phoenix.
Cyclone has never given any reason for these delays. Weird, huh?
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