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Hello Rick,
With 3 million BTU combustion input, how much horse power are you after?
I thought 2 million BTU would be enough to develop a bit over 200HP.
Thank You,
Bill G.
by
Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
OK,
I'll draw it out and post it when I can get to it. I don't think what I was talking about was well understood.
And now I have a new scanner! So look out!
Something to do during the coming snow storm. I woke up yesterday with a voice in my head that said "The snow man is coming." My daughter later told me about the weather report. I stashed away some extra groceries.
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Well Gosh Ken,
I just didn't know.
So how many people have been killed or injured because an Ofeldt boiler tank exploded?
Also the same for "Lamont" tanks?
You know, built by craftsmen, with professional welding, pressure tested and all?
It just seems a strange time in the history of the steam club that this info comes out. We've been promoting and discussing Lamont boile
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hi,
That is a beautiful bike. "Steam Punk"? I always liked motorcycles. That one is gorgeous.
Bet Regards,
Bill G.
by
Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hello Ken,
I like it. Now put an Ofeldt tank in the middle of the generator coils for some reserve capacity. I wouldn't consider an Ofeldt tank as a Lamont tank because it is too close to the fire and wouldn't operate the same. Its formation there though helps in the assembly of multiple circuit generator tubes. Multiple circuits keep the pressure differential down on your pump.
Best Reg
by
Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Seven Years Ago?
Yup I've worked with single pipe heating systems. What do you want to know about em? They are just as efficient as two pipe systems as far as getting heat into a building. Two pipes are much more expensive and twice the radiating area so it depends on how much building is to be heated by the mains.
Bill G.
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Bill Gatlin
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Miscellaneous Technical
Hi Ken,
OK, Like the freeway analogy then, if we add some pressure to the incoming water before it enters the pump inlet it would be like having the on ramp higher than the freeway thus accelerating the water into the pump inlet. That's why the recirculation pump inlet should be at the bottom of the Lamont tank. The small head of water above would add some extra pressure to limit boiling.
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hello Ken,
I was just kidding about the Egyptians, I know they have more than sand there. They've got the Nile river and crockydials and everything modern civilization could want. Even we have an alligator swimming around in Orlando somewhere. That hurricane blew em right out of the swamp.
Anyway, Your big semi truck analogy is a good one. Now if instead of a truck it was a streamlined s
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hi Ken,
Well Egypt is covered with sand. I wouldn't expect too much water technology out of it.
Why would, other than to make a cheap rotor, someone design one where the impeller blade meets the incoming water at a right angle? If you ever tried to plane wood with the blade perpendicular to the wood you would soon see that your just grinding on it. A wood planer blade is at an angle. It
by
Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hello Ken and Rick,
I woke up thinking about this. Such a system would seem to require a high volume/ low pressure pump. Hopefully this would avoid cavitation and survive through surging from a sudden drop in pressure from a suddenly open throttle.
The Ofeldt system does come to mind. With it's use of many steam circuits it is naturally a high volume/ low pressure recirculating system. O
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hello Steve,
Steve, what kind of rings work against the ceramic you have found?
True that the sweet spot is not all of it.. generally that is in mid stroke and much boundary and mixed lubrication is at T.D.C. and B.D.C. Also drag due to media pressure is not much until high pressures are present. Much of the ring drag is from the rings spring pressure against the cylinder wall. Oil rings
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Thank You Rolly,
I've yet to look up some specifications on piston rings. It seems obvious, as you just mentioned, that rings made for a Diesel engine would be best. This because Diesels run at quite higher pressures than Otto cycle engines as do steam engines.
In a ring pack multiple compression rings are used, the higher the pressure the more rings required. Each ring leaks just enough
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Ken,
I am interested, but just can't travel. I e-mailed Mr. Kimmel about that. Perhaps he would share that e-mail with you.
I am hoping to be able to give you some material that would make a few Bulletin articles on how to build a modern and competitive engine for both cars and small ships. Interesting that the folks here have come up with an Ofeldt boiler as the new boiler design of ours
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hello Everybody,
It's been a while. I hope everyone is doing fine, even though some are gone, and missed.
So, eighteen years later;
Cylinders, I am told, would do well if made from a low alloy steel like RR track. 0.6 Carbon 0.4Nickel 1.3 Mo. Tempered, quenched and annealed then hard chromed.
Piston is same steel and molly coated as is common in modern IC engines. Rings are all
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hi Ken,
What to keep in mind with this type of gun is it's destructiveness.
2,000 to 3,200 psi is a lot more ball velocity (haven't figured it out) than 100 psi. While working on airplanes back in the sixties, we got to horsing around with an air hose. I would load a rivet into a 1\2" dia plastic tube and a friend would aim it. Then I would hit it with the air nozzle. It was a long
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hello People,
Ken, I am proud to admit that I invented this type of gun way after they did! Fun to find out that. I was thinking of the IRS at the time as a well chosen target. This after they had stolen money out of my bank account after I had already paid them and then refused to credit my little company for it. Money gone!
I was motivated.
Anyway to make a long barrel short. Nine
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Peter,
I did an analysis of the efficiency, carbon wise, of electric and electric hybrids, based on what data I could gather in a day on the internet.
Carbon wise for grid charged cars, of course, depends upon the percentage of renewable electricity to fuel derived electricity and this varies from country to country.
For all electric vehicles the energy conversion from grid to wheels i
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hello,
And,to think I used a 60 watt light bulb in my very low pressure boiler. Why not? A light bulb will take the heat of boiling water, maybe higher and it won't water-log. It worked fine.
Old Navy and other research with explosives under water showed that glass floats can withstand a lot of shock and pressure. The deeper the better. This as long as the pressure is pretty much equa
by
Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Goodbye Ben,
I wish I could have gotten to know you.
Like others who have passed in the club, I somehow feel they are watching us to see what we come up with. I believe they are forming their own little steam club up "up there" as like minded people may.
Comfortable chairs to lean back in, coffee and other refreshments and lots of paper and pencils and such as good conversations
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hi Peter,
Yeah, the Texas comment was meant just for you. By the way, did you listen to the boat?
OK, now about those mean old electric cars that are inconveniently in our way. This is admittedly an area in which I lack enough knowledge. But let's look at them in the context of green house gasses only, and see where on the efficiency curves the lines might cross. In other words pound to
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hello Rick,
At the time I came up with the 'whimsical' idea about using a Pruis, it wasn't known if the battery would really last that long. So factor in saving a Pruis into the money part, as back then the battery replacement cost was high or was thought it would be. The batteries have more than proven themselves since.
As far as using the regenerative braking electricity to store energy
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hello Peter and All,
Maybe it is time to bring up an idea I posted about long ago.
Convert an older hybrid IC-electric car like a Pruis to steam.
This would replace the IC engine with a steam engine which would run the rear wheels and use an inflow turbine/generator as a second stage expander which would keep the electric part running.
Toyota would fall in love.
Now is this an idea be
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hello Peter, Rolly and others,
Thinking back, didn't Jay Carter come up with an oiling system that injected oil directly onto the rings when the top of the piston was occulting the exhaust port? For high heat above 650 deg F. oil injection directly into the steam line might end up carbonizing the oil.
What I never did get was the data as to if oil would carbonize or degrade at a higher temp
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
OK,
Let's let it be dead then, hoping that what needed to be said has been said. The whole Cyclone affair turned out to be a sad one for many. As far as somebodys true motives concerning any endeavour, that is often a difficult enough thing to dicern for that person themselves, let alone for others to mind read.
As far as the damage caused to light steam or the club it'self, that is a thin
by
Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Ken,
I think you are doing a great job. The presidents notes are interesting and I like your style. Good work, and I know it isn't that easy.
I am glad you like the V4 triple compound. I had thought that the future for the compound had been killed off for automobiles and relegated to only boat engines or anchors. You know I protest that. (:}|)
Best Regards,
Bill G.
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Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Thanks George,
One might remember that classical thermodynamics involves large systems of material, as in macro to micro size groups of molecules. Carnot's laws all apply here. So much heat into an engine and so much a percentage of that heat rejected.
When one gets to the nano size level things can change. Still conserving energy according to the first law but not always operating accor
by
Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hi,
Neat video, good going. Also, similar to a model airplane engine might be an engine out of a weed eater or leaf blower. A safety note; copper flair fittings can fail from vibration at the flair. When running with these make sure that the tubing is secured from vibrating there. I had a gas line on my car do that, so I remember.
Best Regards,
Bill G.
by
Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Why wouldn't one use a capacitive probe to sense water in a tube or tank? The probe would be nothing more than an insulated electrode close to the tube or tank wall and the capacitance between the probe and tube or tank wall would change according to what and how much fluid was between them. If the water was clean it would act as dielectric and if it was conductive it would act against the prob
by
Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hello Lohring,
You mentioned that GE probably spent hundreds of thousands on their limited investigation of automotive steam power back in the 70's. I can't comment on GE but I can comment on Ford.
Back in 1969 I returned to Michigan having my patent application for my rotary steam engine going. Ford advertised with a press release that they were spending $100,000,000 on ste
by
Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
Hi,
My rotary only had two moving parts too. I have to admit I like the inventiveness of their mechanism. It is cool. Some sealing for it might be possible, but then it would need oil.
Best,
Bill G.
by
Bill Gatlin
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SteamStuff
