Online Catalogue last updated 17th of September 2023
You can build simple steam engines from castings or stock material, make them run, and have a lot of fun. But just because your engine runs does not mean that it is a quality engine. If you want something more than just an engine that runs, one that provides reliability, power and efficiency, you need to learn how to design one from an 1896 engineer.
In the first section you'll learn the basics: all the components, how they fit together, and how they work. Then you'll learn about the choices and trade-offs that must be made concerning expansion, valving, boiler pressure, piston speeds and more. Then you start plugging numbers into the formulas to come up with back pressure and point of exhaust closure for simple engines and engines with single swinging eccentrics.
Work through calculations for simple, non-condensing engines, high speed automatic cutoff engines, hoisting and locomotive engines, and multiple-expansion engines.
Calculate in detail the proportions of the cylinders, steam ports and passages, dimensions of the steam chest, Corliss engine cylinder proportions, diameters of the drive shaft, size of the journals, crankpins, crankshaft counterbalances, and so on.
The last section will show you how to design cross heads for a variety of engines, eccentric rods, stuffing boxes, flywheels, sample proportions for existing successful engines and more. There is so much detail here, that it will take you days and weeks to work the design out on your calculator, think about it, revise it, and build it.
Don't expect to become an expert engine designer just by reading this book. But you will learn secrets and techniques that haven't been taught in almost a century.
Code No. 001730, 192 pages, $16.99