Yep, Mr Wade certainly advocated opening the TP up.
And, YES, as above re The Airgun from Trigger to Target.....Revolutonary and eye-opening in its day. I have read and re-read it many times in the past. And we can all be grateful for Mr Cardew's work and insight.
But times move and technology has moved with it, especially with the advent of the synthetic seal.
Jim Tyler and Dr Mike have dis-proved some of the Cardew work. For example, the reliance of the springer on a controlled burn in order to make power.
Not having a go at the book or theories. As I say, we can all be grateful for this insight. With every generation of new tuner, we now have a wealth of previous work and information to tap into to. Many of the basics are in place for the modern tuner to just tweak and, step by step, make small, incremental improvements. So we all owe much to Mr Cardew, Mr Bowkett, Messrs Hancock and Popes, Jim Maccari, Ken Turner etc. And, in AGW and right here on the BBS, the many expert tuners such as your good self, Mick, Bigtoe, Wonky Donky and many, many more.......
But the ones who I'd also loved to have really met are those earlier pioneers. The guys that came up with the original theories and ideas. How did they work out or guess at the bore and stroke dimensions, for example? I assume that, firstly, it was down to handling/size/weight to arrive at an aesthetically pleasing layout that was portable, dictating the outer cylinder diameter, thus the internal. Then lengthen the stroke to up the power.
I remember in one of John Milewski's excellent little write ups of an early 1900s rifle (can't remember the make/model right now), where the maker fitted an aluminium piston in the target version to reduce recoil.
Without digging books out, someone remind me of which was the earliest springer. Was it the Quackenbush design? And, I know they were a little later (post WW1?), but those Lincoln Jeffries rifles were beautiful, no?