Marmaduke Surfaceblow is a fictional engineer. His globe-girdling engineering adventures written by
Steve Elonka first appeared in ''Power Magazine'' in 1948.
Marmaduke is a marine engineer with vast knowledge of machinery. He works out of an office over O'Houlihan's Machine Shop in the
Hells Kitchen area of
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. His imposing 6 ft 4 in stature is described in every story along with his steelbrush moustache and size 16 "canal boat" shoes. Surfaceblow smokes Ringelmann #5 cigars
[Ringelmann is an opacity measurement used to determine if urban chimneys produce too much smoke. The scale is 0–5, thus Ringelmann #5 is all black.]
Ringelmann Smoke Chart
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, Information Circular 8333, 1967 May:1–12.) that produce acrid clouds leaving others teary-eyed.
The stories often start with Marmaduke gathered with other engineers. One will relate an interesting anecdote, say about a hard starting diesel engine. Marmduke will impatiently "foghorn 'Bilgewater on balky diesels! I'll tell you about the time I ran a boat engine on water!' '" The story continues with "that did it. Everyone turned to Marmaduke as he revved up his induced draft fan and filled the room with Ringelman #5 smoke". The real story then begins relating his exploit. His adventures often place him in a foreign port with poor repair facilities requiring brilliantly simple solutions to problems that have stumped others.
Other times Marmaduke will be "on the beach without a berth" and need money. Another engineer will present a difficult technical problem that has eluded resolution. Marmaduke then proposes to fix the problem for a sizable consulting fee, which may be money and/or his favorite drink of Sandpaper Gin. After successfully resolving the problem Marmaduke will "ballast his double-bottoms with Sandpaper Gin."
Marmaduke's knowledge comes from hands-on experience operating
steam power plant
A thermal power station, also known as a thermal power plant, is a type of power station in which the heat energy generated from various fuel sources (e.g., coal, natural gas, nuclear fuel, etc.) is converted to electrical energy. The heat ...
s and all manner of machinery. Later in the series a son, Guy Newcomen Surfaceblow, was introduced. He is a university-trained engineer who also has field experience that gives him credibility when working with hard-boiled characters in the boonies.
The character's name was coined from Marmaduke, a Scottish name, and Surfaceblow, which is the action of removing impurities from a steam boiler. Marmaduke Surfaceblow predates
Star Trek's Scotty
Scotty is a common nickname for a Scottish people, Scottish man, or for a Scottish Terrier dog.
Scotty may also refer to:
People Given name or nickname
*Scotty Alcock (1885–1973), American baseball player
*Scotty Allan (1867–1941), American ...
by 17 years.
James Doohan
James Montgomery Doohan (; March 3, 1920 – July 20, 2005) was a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the television and film series ''Star Trek''. Doohan's characterization of the Scottish chief engineer of t ...
explained he proposed a Scottish accent for the character of ''Enterprise'' chief engineer because they were the best engineers.
While not stated it is apparent many of the stories were inspired by actual events.
Surfaceblow's adventures were consolidated by Elonka into a single volume "Marmaduke Surfaceblow's Salty Technical Romances", R. E. Krieger Pub. Co, 1979. Copies are rare and highly sought.
Notes
References
''Power Magazine''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Surfaceblow, Marmaduke
Fictional engineers