This is one of the two generators that serviced the island from first construction to the early 1970s. One was diesel and this one is a rare 3 cylinder Nash gasoline engine powering the second generator. Both output 110 volt DC which was common back when the Castle was built but today special appliances and fixtures need to purchased if one was to use them again. In the room next door racks of huge batteries stored the power so that the generators only needed to be run every two or three days to recharge the batteries. The generators were shunted to use the battery power to start the motor then switched over to charge the batteries. The fly wheels on this Nash are 5 feet in diameter so they aren't a small piece of equipment. In the early seventies the batteries accidentally froze and were rendered useless. It was cheaper to lay a cable from the mainland 2 1/2 miles away than to replace the batteries so the faithful generators fell silent and another era passed into history. The Smithsonian had contacted Dr. Martin about securing the Nash for a display but Dr. Martin decided to keep it in it's home in the Generator Room in the North Boathouse.