Tether Speed Boats

A pair of carved wooden speed boats powered by miniature glow plug internal combustion engines. On newly made metal display stands.

In the early days of powered models, boats were either straight running or tethered. Competition between tether boats took place where, each boat in turn, was fixed by a steel cable to a central point in the middle of a pond or lake and completed circuits against the clock, typically at high speed, until the fuel was expended. The winner was determined based on the average speed of several laps. Straight running craft were launched from one side of the lake and aimed, across the lake, at a number of marked posts forming gates. One or more catchers would would be positioned at the far side of the lake and would receive the craft, and return it. Scores were accumulated according to accuracy of passing through the gates.

Dimensions: 32 cm12½ inches (length) x 14 cm/5½ inches (width).

Early engines (prior to the 1950s) had spark ignition systems. Later engines use compression ignition engines or glow plug ignition. A 'glow plug' engine, or glow engine, is a type of small internal combustion engine typically used in model aircraft, model cars and similar applications. Glow engine fuel generally consists of methanol with varying degrees of nitromethane content. Compression ignition engines run on diesel.