"Mary" beam engine

[gbritnell]

This is a model of the "Mary" beam engine. The castings are by Reeves. I think they are still available. The finished engine is 10x14 with an 8 inch flywheel. The majority of the castings are bronze with an aluminum baseplate. I made all the steel parts from stainless steel. It makes a very "pretty" engine with all of its arms and links. The drawings leave a little to be desired but anyone who knows a little trig can figure out what needs to be done with the parallel linkage. I built this many years ago but thought that everyone might be interested in seeing it. Along with the pictures I am including a link to YouTube with it operating.
gbritnell

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmBgGAN-7aE[/ame]

 

[rake60]

You thought we might be interested in seeing it? ???

Gorgeous Work! :bow:

Rick

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Very, very pretty engine.

 

[hitandmissman]

That is a lovely engine. Great work you done on it. I just got a copy of the book on the mary engine by Tubal Cain. I will have to see if castings are still availble.

 

[Brass_Machine]

Very very nice engine!

Eric

 

[Groewrs]

WOW

Very nice ;D

Gordon

 

[Philjoe5]

A museum piece :bow: What a pleasure to see it, thanks for the photos,

Cheers,
Phil

 

[potman]

Got everything I love in an engine !
Lots of moving parts and mechanisms and architectural detail.

Great job ! :bow:

earl

 

[Maryak]

Gordon,

That is simply stunning

Congratulations on a most beautiful piece of work

I am gobsmacked

Best Regards
Bob

 

[compound driver 2]

I have a set of the Mary castings in the workshop, had them maybe 25 years its one of Reeves old ones.
I machined the bed plate and beam but got side tracked by work and family. I may have to dig it out and have a go.

Good looking engine!

 

[gbritnell]

Thank you gentlemen for all the gracious comments. Next to a marine type engine with open columns and reverse mechanisms I think the beam engine is a great looking mechanical device. Reeves also made another beam called the ME Beam or something like that. In all the shows that I have ever attended I have never seen one, but for that matter I have only ever seen one other "Mary" For anyone contemplating building Mary check the location of the pump mounting hole on the base. As I remember it's in the wrong spot. They also have a crude way of dimensioning the connecting point for the pivot link on the parallel motion. They want you to assemble all the linkage then swing an arc with a scriber in the link hole and use that to drill the mounting hole. As I said in my first post, I just trigged it out. Much easier and more accurate.
gbritnell

 

[kvom]

With apologies to every other engine I've seen on this site, yours is my favorite. :bow:

How long did it take to build?

I looked up the Reeves site, and here is the page for "Mary": https://vault1.secured-url.com/reeves2000/shop_item.asp?sub_cat_id=176

Looks like ~$700 for castings/plans etc.

 

[b.lindsey]

Exquisite model and workmanship!! There are many things to admire in the finished engine, but I particularly like the elegans contour for the flywheel's outer rim. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Bill

 

[compound driver 2]

The ME beam engine is a really nice one to machine. My brother built one many years ago but has never run it past a few minutes on air.

There awas one at the ME exhibition a couple of years ago and theres also one that turns up from time to time at the smaller shows.

 

[max corrigan]

Superb a very elegant victorian engine i would imagine the casting from reeves would cost an arm and a leg, "reeves" are not known for cheap prices! i don't know if "blackgates" do castings for that engine as they would be cheaper! that said beautifully constructed engine, well done :bow:
Max.............

 

[Bluechip]

Hi

Very well executed model. :bow: I've always liked that engine. My old mate Stu. made one, together with a 'Lady Stephanie', although his was named 'Lady Judith' after a niece, I think. I often wonder what happened to them ??
Anyone in UK ever seen one with 'Lady Judith' cast on it ??

https://vault1.secured-url.com/reeves2000/images/model/lady_steph.jpg

Dave

 

[Orrin]

Thank you for posting the pictures, GB. Your craftsmanship is top-notch.

Does anyone know if the Reeves catalog links are current? The Reeves "2000" makes me wonder if it is eight years old.

For sure, there was a long time when Reeves castings were not available. ISTR some other outfit purchased the business, but I've not heard anything about it, since.

Best regards,

Orrin

 

[compound driver 2]

Reeves are still going but the owner seems to be a bit of a...... (il edit it myself).
From what I know the castings are made in south africa to save money
But are I understand a reasonable quality.
That said the last lot of castings I had off them were a load of shite, full of hard spots and genraly not great. That was a couple of years ago.

I should say that I now regard Reeves as being a new company and not what it once was.

 

[Jasonb]

Orrin

The Reeves site is upto date, the 2000 refers to the year in which the original company went belly up and a new one was formed, click on teh "history" tab at the top of the page for details.

Jason

 

[compound driver 2]

Jason who supplied your 1 inch Minnie castings?