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Steam related discussions.
Re: Trackless Locomotive - Today
As far as a centrifugal pump goes, I may have a couple of suggestions. The most obvious is to inject your cooler feedwater right into the centrifugal pump suction. The cooler water should reduce the chance of flashing (cavitation) and the feed pump discharge pressure should improve the pump suction head. In recent years, it has also been found that shear is a problem with centrifugal pumps, eby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Value in v configuration over flat opposed? - 5 days ago
This partly depends on whether you are using single or double acting cylinders. A vee configuration is great for a double acting two cylinder since you can put each cylinder on just one crankpin -- reducing crank weight, improving stiffness, and simplifying construction. You also get a benefit in that the primary unbalance forces resolve into a rotating force that can be cancelled with a crankshby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Uniflow steamengine at 20% efficiency in a car project - 13 days ago
Here is one of a handful of engines which I think utilizes the theoretically optimum piston for single-acting steam engines. You will see that the piston is dumb bell-shaped, with rings on each end. This is advantageous in the following circumstances: High pressure Low RPM Long cutoff In each of the above conditions, a piston will experience increasing steam blowby with the worst case scby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Uniflow steamengine at 20% efficiency in a car project - 13 days ago
Maybe the best way to approach alloy pistons is to use the same cylinder bore diameter as in an IC engine using the same sized piston.by frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Uniflow steamengine at 20% efficiency in a car project - 19 days ago
Hi Rolly, That's a gorgeous model. Building scale models always seems like a tradeoff. The bigger model is easier to examine and can be more readily handled without fear of breakage. The smaller model is a joy simply because it exists at that scale -- anyone who works in metal appreciates the craftsmanship involved. Regards, Kenby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Thomson Surrey - 19 days ago
Hi Chris, My sincerest thanks for the photos -- I had pretty much given up hope of finding a good depiction of a GE vehicle. My e-mail is: kenatgm@aol.com Warmest Regards, Kenby frustrated - SteamStuff
Flash Steam hydroplane - 20 days ago
Hi Anybody: I received some photos that look just like one of the tether boats illustrated in that "Flash Steam" booklet. It appears the builders were a little off on the scale and neglected to fit a tether. Does anyone know anything about this boat? Regards, Kenby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Uniflow steamengine at 20% efficiency in a car project - 20 days ago
Hi Rolly, That is a beautiful engine. It's too bad that he didn't listen regarding the valves. An automotive-style poppet would have virtually no leakage, if fitted properly. Being a scale model, he didn't need to have a valve in proportion to the engine. As far as valves go, the square-cube rule works in their favor since the volume that needs to be filled decreases much more rapidly thanby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Uniflow steamengine at 20% efficiency in a car project - 22 days ago
This design seems to need an interstage receiver between the HP and LP pistons. If the HP piston is single-acting, it can only deliver steam to the LP stage once per revolution. A double-acting LP stage needs to accept steam twice per revolution. Since the HP can only feed the LP half of the time, a receiver is necessary to ensure a smooth and steady delivery to the LP cylinder. Such a receiverby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Uniflow steamengine at 20% efficiency in a car project - 23 days ago
I was just looking up the requirements to license an "Assembled Vehicle" in the state of Michigan (see new discussion topic). For an automobile, it clearly states that the car must have differential gear. It would seem to be a good idea to find out is that is a requirement in your area. Regards, Kenby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Assembled Vehicles - 23 days ago
I was able to download the vehicle inspection form. It's less stringent than I feared.by frustrated - SteamStuff
Assembled Vehicles - 23 days ago
It occurs to me that we almost never hear anyone talk about what it takes to build a vehicle and place it on the road. So, I did a little research and found the Michigan rules for "Assembled Vehicles" (attached). Some of this makes me wonder -- if you build the engine, how do you deal with questions like proof of ownership, cost, and so on? I filled out an information request form onlby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Uniflow steamengine at 20% efficiency in a car project - 25 days ago
OK, lots of stuff here to address. Let's start with the really easy one -- compound engines apparently have no efficiency advantage over uniflow expanders. Marks Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers, 1923 edition, gives efficiencies for various steam engines. As noted, "These unjacketed simple engines are thus about equal in economy to our best compounds. Tests on 100-h.p. condensinby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Uniflow steamengine at 20% efficiency in a car project - 29 days ago
I agree with Rolly, I worked with turbines onboard ship. The main propulsion turbines were quite efficient, but they were also large as they each produced 70,000 shp. The standby lubeoil pump, main circ water pump, and steam driven fire pumps were sort of wasteful but had the advantage of being independent of electrical supplies -- which is an important consideration on a warship where you mightby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Thomson Surrey - 29 days ago
Hi Chris, I would have responded to your post earlier but I was out in an area without cell coverage during the holiday weekend. The original reason for asking about the Thomson machine is that I have been writing a book on General Electric steam cars for Tom Kimmel to accompany other books such as the Yuba steam tractor, Baker, Scott-Newcomb, Winslow, Brooks, Delling and other makes. Thereby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Uniflow steamengine at 20% efficiency in a car project - 4 weeks ago
William, As I said, Tom has the Gary Hadden engines. These have nothing to do with steam busses. They are a double acting, poppet valve, uniflow steam engine designed by SACA member Gary Hadden for steam buggies, boats, and so on. I don't think he realized that he was essentially duplicating the Scott-Newcomb engine, minus aux. exhaust valve, but he did. ALL steam engines have heat losses,by frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Uniflow steamengine at 20% efficiency in a car project - 4 weeks ago
If you are looking to build a double acting, uniflow steam engine, I would suggest visiting Tom Kimmel. He has a few of the Gary Hadden engines, along with the patterns. Gary's engines have sliding camshafts for variable cutoffs and very closely resemble the Scott-Newcomb steam engine, except that had an auxiliary exhaust valve and was semi-uniflow. Achieving 20 percent efficiency in a steam cby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: start up times - 4 weeks ago
Actually, steam plants can change speed quite readily. Central power stations are designed to run at a fairly constant output, but that's hardly the only kind of steam plant out there. Consider an aircraft carrier. Maybe not as big as a central generating plant, but it still packs 280,000 horses in the main engines along with 64 megawatts of electrical generating capacity, along with providing hby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: start up times - 5 weeks ago
I'm honestly puzzled by the heat transfer fluid surrounding a tank of water. While I can think of some effective binary fluid systems, and some systems with water heated by water, none of them seem to fit the bill. In any case, producing steam without later adding more heat to raise the steam temperature well into the superheat region will not allow the builder to fabricate an engine capable of aby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Chicagoland Mini Meet - 5 weeks ago
I added a few videos of the mini-meet to the club Facebook page. Oscillating Engine Tom Kimmel on Tangeman Steam Tractor Rick Weber Steam Trikeby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Chicagoland Mini Meet - 5 weeks ago
The mini-meet came and went ... everyone seemed to have a good time. A few new people arrived, which is always encouraging. We ran a large oscillating engine connected to a generator, which could not provide enough juice to light a small bulb -- this had to be about the worst powerplant efficiency yet seen! It was loads of fun, however. Jason Alford and I stayed over Monday and spent part of tby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: start up times - 5 weeks ago
Honestly, economy is going to be dictated primarily by three factors, which in order of increasing importance are: 1. Rolling friction 2. Aerodynamic resistance 3. Powerplant thermodynamic efficiency Rolling friction will be controlled by the properties of the road surface, the properties of the tires, and the vehicular weight. So, it is true that adding mass will increase friction and reby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: start up times - 6 weeks ago
Certainly, that was a significant factor that inhibited the adoption of steam automobiles -- but it was far from the only one. Regards, Kenby frustrated - SteamStuff
Chicagoland Mini Meet - 2 months ago
The 2022 Chicagoland Mini-Meet will be held at Tom Kimmel's steam shop on May 14 and 15. Looking forward to seeing whoever can show up!by frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Cruban burner and the Empire Pilot - 2 months ago
Hi Rolly, I am more or less finished with the Baker book, there is one control on Jay Leno's car that I simply cannot identify. This is a bit surprising in that just about everything but the boiler and burner is pretty much pure Stanley. In MS Word, the thing comes out at a bit over 450 pages, but will probably be about half that in book form. I suspect that I have spent more time lookinby frustrated - SteamStuff
Re: Cruban burner and the Empire Pilot - 2 months ago
Hi Rolly, I think I can add something to this, see attachments in this and following post. I like the word "EMPIRE" drilled into the pilot flame holder. Regards, kenby frustrated - SteamStuff