Steam engines

[mbrownn]

Well the engines im thinking of are 2 story bohemoths, the ones too big to scrap that are rotting away in forelorn corners of the world. 100bar would be far too much for those though. Always wanted to see on in operation but the largest ive ever seen is still operating is jay lenos civil war era one and its tiny in comparison. Ive only ever worked engines with cylinder diameters smaller than 2ft. What i wouldnt give to see a 10ton conrod move up and down and a 50ft flywheel spin silently!

I'm not talking of the live steam at 100+bar, but the exhaust, probably just a few bar.

No brass but, nice shiny steel. 2100 hp triple expansion

Nice, I love the sound and the oily rag, no steam engine is complete without the oily rag

I agree with the bug out plan, but better to fix the problem if we can.

This is the type of engine I was thinking of The Biggest Operating Triple Steam Engine At Kempton - YouTube Note the starter motor hehehe and later the oily rag. Listen to the sound, this is how a power station should sound, relaxing. its breathing almost as if it was alive.

This beam engine is a nice example too The Biggest Operating Rotative Beam Steam Engine At Crossness - YouTube Again its like it is alive. As shown in the video, even a child can operate them so it can provide good low skill jobs that have real job satisfaction.

With modern materials and methods much of the mass can be eliminated, reducing material and assembly cost, but I believe it is always best to build some character into an engine with functional detail, so that the workers take pride in what they do.

So my interim solution is small conventional power stations with a large triple expansion engine, like the one above, on the exhaust powered by biomass from local coppices.

In industrial west Yorkshire there is a huge amount of land, where wood could be grown, to provide the fuel without the use of farmland. These coppices would sustain a diverse and rich wildlife and would be good for the environment. Even in the third world this makes sense. as communities would build up in the areas where the work is. Each stage from coppicing and producing pellets from the wood, to transportation and the power plant itself would provide work at all levels. It seams like a win win win situation to me.

[dward]

Wow that huge triple is amazing! Gotta love the "caution: this machine has no brain, use your own" sign. classic.

The public works buildings of this era are simply amazing as well. They were clearly very proud of their machines. You have to wonder just how much it would cost to make one new. Where on earth would you even find a place to cast such large parts!

[mbrownn]

Wow that huge triple is amazing! Gotta love the "caution: this machine has no brain, use your own" sign. classic.

The public works buildings of this era are simply amazing as well. They were clearly very proud of their machines. You have to wonder just how much it would cost to make one new. Where on earth would you even find a place to cast such large parts!

The environment and the machine itself, plus the low frequency noise make it a much more pleasant place to work.

The cost of making such a machine today would be huge as we have little of the tooling required, but if they were made in quantity it would not be so bad. The companies that made such machines have mostly gone, but a few remain such as Sheffield Forgemasters Sheffield Forgemasters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (I have stood in the breach of the second Iraqi super gun that was not delivered I could tell you a few tails about that) With modern materials handling and efficient machines to make them, they should be cheaper to produce, in real terms, than they were before.

I looked for a video of their big manipulator (which I have worked on) and the big forge but cant find it so here is a few that i did find sheffield forgemasters - YouTube Im not promoting the company but I know things like this are interesting to people like me

[dward]

Wow thats an amazing place! I thought most of the big operations had gone.

FYI

Jay Leno just posted an update on his E-20 doble formerly the Howard Huges car. This is what i'm really into, I know a lot of guys on here are not too into electronics but this is one area where automatic electronic controls make a huge difference. We could easily automate most of the things that even this doble(few as they are) require to set off. It's strange to think but at the pace of modern driving we really don't need to do anything to this design power wise, it keeps up with modern traffic just fine, and yes, it CAN do a burn out(ever do one on tube tires with wood rims? ;-)

I would buy a car like this in a second but I would absolutely avoid the white/serpollet/stanley types.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUg_...BGW_14DrieamN2

[mbrownn]

Wow thats an amazing place! I thought most of the big operations had gone.

FYI

Jay Leno just posted an update on his E-20 doble formerly the Howard Huges car. This is what i'm really into, I know a lot of guys on here are not too into electronics but this is one area where automatic electronic controls make a huge difference. We could easily automate most of the things that even this doble(few as they are) require to set off. It's strange to think but at the pace of modern driving we really don't need to do anything to this design power wise, it keeps up with modern traffic just fine, and yes, it CAN do a burn out(ever do one on tube tires with wood rims? ;-)

I would buy a car like this in a second but I would absolutely avoid the white/serpollet/stanley types.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUg_...BGW_14DrieamN2

Wow that's the most amazing steam car I have ever seen, I never knew such things existed.

[AstroNod]

1925 Doble E-20 Steam Car

Hi All here Astronod .

WOW thanks for the link indeed dward , thats is one master piece of a car technology hihi .
About 6 months ago i made a copy of a japanese patent and upgade it .
It got me heat and steam and pressure i did nothing with the pressure .
Had no more fundings to get it out . its about 3500% overunity with just the heat and steam and no use of the pressure due to the home build devices and the danger at higher pressure without the right materials.
I do have photo` s of the device i will try to make a short youtube video with the photo` s and audio .
that technology would be perfect for steam engines.

I`ll post when i have the video ready pehaps with in a week and update it here.

Cheerio .

Astronod/PD7Z

[dward]

I wonder about caviation heater/boilers too. about a decade ago there was a texas company producing round billets with bore holes in them designed to cavitate when rotated in a water filled tube. Supposedly they disappeared because they didn't offer enough of a savings over traditional commercial water heaters but I never heard anything about steam production, and I know that they were doing it easily with their apparatus. Ever since I saw that I thought that that would be one cheap and easy way to produce the business end of a steam car, and I envisioned an steam/electric hybrid.

One more option for the preppers out there who want a quick and easy source of steam for their home powerplant.

On the subject of water like substances... and home powerplants. Is there any reason someone could not build Victor Schaubergers machine, only, with materials of sufficient strength to prevent destruction? I think not.

Once again, the wonderful thing about steam is that suction can be used just as easily as pressure.

The last, most famous steam car that I know of was built in Madison wisconsin out of 40s and later 50's "plymouth, willy's, chevy, etc. parts. Called the Keen Steamliner.

It used an old 20hp stanley engine. The rest being a fusion of Mr. Keen and Abner Doble's own creativity. From a cold start to a full head of steam was 45 seconds.

The only surviving car #1 is being restored in england at the moment.

Mr. Keen apparently was able to drive from Madison to Milwaukee on 85 cents worth of oil(1946). From what I've read it was driven daily for 10 years before Mr Keen passed away, and In wisconsin's climate that's saying something. The fact that his car could operate in -25 degree F winters is pretty remarkable. 30yrs previous steam car owners were known to leave the boilers of their cars running day and night in winter to keep their cars operational(and sometimes burning the barn down in the process). The fact that this was a fully automatic set up meant that was not necessary. But how he kept the water from freezing I do not know.

The thing about steam cars is that getting a super efficient vehicle is really only down to your skill as a machinist(or willingness to pay for it!). It's one of the few automotive technologies that does not necessarily need refined oils/fuels to run, meaning that as long as basic machining technology remains it is pretty much apocalypse proof technology.