Show all posts by user
Hmm, 33 1/3 rpm LP vinyl phonograph records. In the 1980s they were "officially declared" to be an obsolete dead technology, gone forever, replaced by modern/new/superior CD's and Internet downloads, never to return. Fast forward to 2019, where vinyl record production has been increasing every year for the past decade, along with vinyl record player production. Even Mr. Pete has equi
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
The ultimate "get thru tough times" song for me.
Imagine a 1920s Art Deco SoCal Spanish stucco mansion, in the early 1980s, way way way late at night, with a dreamy kid listening to his musician brother's old 33LP vinyls on studio-grade headphones in a dark corner of the huge barrel-vaulted living room...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZKuzwPOefs
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Hey Jeremy,
If you can't "find" a way, then _make_ a way to do it.
Peter Frampton...
uh, Brow...
feeling the way you do...
"'Twas ever thus"...
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
None of my foregoing comments should be interpreted as an attempt to discourage building/testing the original idea in this thread, a steam turbine driving an automobile via an electric/hybrid drive system. Design/build and test it, and let's see the results.
My "grumpy old steam car guy" opinion that a Stanley-like steam engine, by virtue of its inherent advantages, will eventually
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Thanks Ed, yep, the 5 mpg Stanley water/fuel mileage report which you read was probably completely honest, actual results. But I bet a bunch of experienced Stanley operators here could tune up that old chuffer to 10 mpg or better -- or the owner could, with a bit of info and advice.
Said info implying "join SACA and get to know/chat with knowledgeable/experienced Club members on the topi
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
https://www.changingworld.com/mr-natural-says-twas-ever-thus-farming-on-happy-smiling-tractor-r-crumb-classic-postcard.html.html
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Hi Ed & Lohring,
I agree, except for the bit about "the Stanley's 5 mpg". There are probably Stanleys -- especially pre-1914 models with lower superheat, and most with no "hookup"/early-cutoff, stuck at ~63% cutoff -- that get 5 mpg, but almost all reports from 1920s Stanley [700F steam temp, ~28% early-cutoff setting] operators which I have seen come in around 10 mpg.
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Hi Jeremy,
Maybe independent development is worthless. I think that now and then too. So do all independent developers. It's called
"critical thinking". But maybe it is not worthless, With the right idea?
Peter
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
IC cars, and battery-electric cars, and ,IC-electric hybrid cars, will become extinct. Traditional steam cars, with Stanley-like engines, will replace them.
Peter
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
I agree. Automotive subsidies suck; Musk takes them. Musk is accomplished, but no saint.
EV's would disappear without the $7500+ per car government subsidy. If it were viable tech, it wouldn't need the handout. Working poor paying extra taxes to subsidize expensive EV's/hybrids which only the smugly/preachy "environmentally-correct" affluent can afford to drive, is a ticking po
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Whimsical supernatural nonsense aside, Elon Musk has accomplished several orders of magnitude more than everyone on this forum combined, and more than all of us combined plus all the bosses of those among us who have bosses. What does the top guy at the company you work for, earn? Musk earns way more. Snickers about how Musk ran afoul of some arbitrary government regulatory false gods is, IMO,
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
"One of my staff owns 3 horses. I'm afraid steam cars are in the same category with IC cars soon to follow."
Yet lots of farms make a living breeding and selling horses, many shops make a living producing horse-related equipment; there are even profitable shops which build & sell "long totally obsolete" horse carriages. Hot air balloons, propeller airplanes, sailplanes,
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
I agree with Ron; as Tony Grzyb says, "you don't know till you build it".
Two things to add to that. One, as Ken said once, even if it's built and tested, we still might not know absolutely for sure. Some relatively small mistake in design or fabrication could give bad results, which would not necessarily be inherent to the design concept. I read in the SACA magazine recently that
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
You know me too well Jeremy; yeah I liked that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EPwRHrs3lQ
"The Truth Is Out There"; "Roswell! Roswell!"
LOL
Getting back on topic for a moment , I think Ed's idea might have some promise for _high-performance_ sports cars. Nobody cares about powerplant cost or efficiency with those. Maybe big turbine, compact/powerful steam gener
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Then again Ken, who's to say that various billionaires today are not psychics, or descended from/heirs of psychics... or perhaps secret masters of supernatural magical arts?
Not that I necessarily buy that, just an entertaining mind-bender...
Back in the old days, the SACA Storeroom sold a reprint of a circa-1918 Stanley Company reprint of an interesting article by Waldemar Kaempffert, about
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
I have never seen any evidence of somebody trying a steam turbine/electric/battery hybrid drive system in road vehicles. Steam turbines have a scale issue; big ones can be way more efficient than comparable piston engines; small steam turbines are actually less efficient than reciprocating steam engines.
But maybe it's worth trying?
Starting torque is not a problem with properly-designed c
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Hi Ron,
I like your pilot-heated mixing tube/vaporizer setup. Kind of a combination "pre-mix" and "post-mix" vaporizing burner. It looks like it could give a faster fire-up from cold, and it is on my list of possible future designs.. Have you measured the peak firing rate? I am aiming for about 4 gallons per hour of gasoline. The "23 inch" Ottaway will do that
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Thanks for the information, Ron & Rick. Neat designs, drawings, workmanship, and equipment/pictures; verrrry interesting... hmmm....
I think my current burner design, closely based on the Ottaway dimensions for mixing tube bore, jet bore, and grate opening area, will eliminate or at least minimize the liquid-in-pan and other problems found in some vaporizing burners, but it will still be a
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
With future easy reference in mind, I am starting a new thread on the topic of liquid fuel accumulating in vaporizing burners, downstream from the fuel jets. In the "Doble Boiler" thread, Rick H. said that some liquid fuel in the mixing tubes and elsewhere under the fire slots/grate(s) is an inevitable part of warming up a "pre-mix vaporizing" burner. He has designed a burner
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Thanks for the encouragement, Chuk. Yep, chain and toothed belt drives are the real thing for serious HP, as in your great-running steam cars. I still plan on toothed belt for alternator drive, really efficient and long-lasting.
Hi Ron, steam car engine design is a complicated topic for another time and thread. For me, anyway. Long lists of pluses and minuses to sort through for every desig
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Hi Mike,
A few experienced industrial/plant folks have told me that timing belts are OK in oily conditions. It's the installation/replacement issue that bugs me. Remove both crankshaft from engine, and diff from axle, to fit the one-piece belt around timing wheels on both of them, then re-assemble, versus leave crankshaft and diff in place, wind a split chain around them, then install a conne
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Hi Ron,
Hope you build your futuristic steam dream one of these days. Mine includes "silent" timing belts too, nearly identical to spur gear final drive efficiency & various advantages. But belt installation/replacement with a Stanley-ish engine and close-coupled rear axle is a big job. With chain drive, it's loop in a new chain and replace a coupling link, then adjust with nut
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Hi Ron,
Huh, chain drive maths out pretty good. Why didn't I think of that? And for bigger more torquey engines there's bigger chains/sprocket wheels than "#60H". Heck, I've seen multi-ton-payload 1920's Mack trucks with chain drive. And about a gazillion different passenger & sports/racing cars used chain drive back in the early days. And the chains, Spacely sprockets, etc,
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
McMaster.com has good professional bimetal dial thermometers which go up to, I believe, 1000F. Thermocouple setups are great for remote reading, but reportedly need calibration; best for folks with a strong background in electronics. Me & electronics have a love/hate relationship, so for remote readings during tests I have considered fitting bimetal thermometers with cheap/tiny webcams aimed
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
The Herb Schick Stanley Model 740 (20hp) engine blueprints show the piston rod and crosshead as a single forging, with a generous radius as Mike describes where the rod meets the crosshead. The bearing surfaces on the crosshead, and the matching surfaces on the stationary slides/guides, are cylindrical in shape, so that the crosshead/piston can pivot/rotate up to about 3 degrees while reciprocati
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Hi Rick,
The 1905 E & 1906 EX used 40:80 gear ratio. Adding a tooth or 3 to one gear, if possible, gives "hunting gears", with better distribution of wear and longer lasting/quieter operation. Looking through the specs pages in Kit Foster's book, Stanley used hunting gears in quite a few models around that time.
Yep, they used 48:79 in the 1905 G, "Light Two-Passenger Ru
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Boston Gear's website:
https://www.bostongear.com/ecatalog?page=search&cid=open_gearing
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Hi Rick,
I think that this is the trickiest part of building a direct-drive steam car. There are lots of "Mickey Mouse" lash-ups which are easier to build than a true direct drive, but they usually involve redundant drive components, weak points, and potential problems with a "luggy" high-torque engine of the Stanley type. My current plan is to use a Ford "Nine-Inch&q
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Thanks Jeremy,
I gotta do some down time now and then, so it's just a matter of time till I check it out. Next thing is crossing the i's and dotting the T's on my "Easy-Clean" vaporizing burner cleanout system, which went to the back burner some time back. I'm glad for problem point-outs from Ron etc that got me re/blueprinting automatics -- a useful "distraction". I lik
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
Insanely good Y2 playlist Jeremy! After my last week of intensive/manic "Stanley Automatic DIY design craziness", I was looking for some recreational music distractional videofication, then figured wtf check out Jeremy's playlist on the SACA Forum, and was not disappointed. How it ain't Admin'd outa here as "off topic", IDK, but I'm glad for it!
60% net thermal efficiency
by
Peter Brow
-
SteamStuff
