Originally Posted by
Alan Schaffter
I have been a member here since 2003 and Badger Pond before that, as well as a number of other woodworking forums. I can proudly say, like many in the day, I was also temporary banned from Badger Pond by the sawdust Nazi who ran that site (In my case it was for trying to help a fellow woodworker.) I have corresponded with Jim Halbert (despite the Oneida patent which came years later, he was the one who really invented the mini-cyclone, which he posted about, and which was therefore in the public domain and technically not patentable!) and Bill since those early days. I was one of the (the) first to incorporate the spiral inlet ramp and a longer cone into the Wood cyclone design before building Bill's design. I have corresponded with Bill on and off since those days. We, along with Michael Standish, a woodworking author, were in the early stages of writing the definitive dust collection book, which included our bios. which I have.
All I can say is NOBODY posting here knows Bill's full story and more than a few have made incorrect assumptions and flat out wrong statements and timelines. And, if you have followed the development of the Oneida cyclone from their early disastrous filter in the middle design to their current designs, it is clear they and to some degree Grizzly, years later eventually incorporated all of the improvements Bill introduced, e.g. longer cone, neutral vane, spiral inlet ramp, angled rectangular inlet. As to the relationship with ClearVue (first with Ed Morgano and then the Bushey Brothers), since Bills design is not patented, they were under no obligation to compensate him for his design- but they valued his participation so have done so anyway. As to Bill's problems with forums, you can debate that all you want, but what is fact, is that while Bill is arguably a bit of a zealot and not always politically correct, he has posted more useful dust collection information than any other hobby or professional woodworker (initially at his personal expense), most of what he claimed has eventually been proven correct, his design works, and no small point- the forums involved are partially supported by advertising dollars from his competition/critics.