So what are these engines for?

[zeeprogrammer]

I'm new to nearly everything machining and steam related.
I jumped into it a few months ago and recently built a single-action oscillating steam engine (and I'm still amazed I can say...single-action oscillating steam engine).

Now people at work have started asking me questions. That's great but I don't know the answers. The big one is..."what's it for?"...the engineering friends state this question as "in what applications is it used?".

Tried some googling for 'oscillating steam engine applications' but didn't get much.

So here I am...

mill engine - in a factory (a mill)
launch engine - in a launch (a boat)
marine engine - in a boat (ship?)
oscillating engine ?
radial engine ? airplane?
beam engine ? pump?
other types...what are they?

Any/all help is appreciated.

 

[Maryak]

Carl,

Some paddle steamers had Oscillating Cylinder engines driving the paddles.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[DavesWimshurst]

Carl,
I Googled oscillating steam engine and got:

http://www.asme.org/Communities/History/Landmarks/John_Penn_Sons_Oscillating.cfm

http://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51804

among others
Dave

 

[Tin Falcon]

Z:
welcome to the HMEM world. I wish I had a nickle saved for every time I heard what is it for or what does it do. For one thing they get little boys of all ages and girls too to ask questions!!
Seriously though I tell folks the oscillator has been used to power steam toys ov various types for over 100 years . The radials were early aircraft engines used in WW1 and WW2 in IC of course although there have been some steam powered aircraft engines
IIRC Beam engines were used in factories marine applications and possibly pumping at mines.
Tin

 

[Bernd]

Goes to show you not to many people know their history very well, or remember when they studied Histroy how the industrial revolution started. The mill engine was the power source in a factory to run lathes, mills, shapers, grinders and other such equipment. It was ran by line shafts through out the factory and then powered the individual machines. This is a rather short discription for the mill engine, but you get the idea.

A mill engine is also the power source for a lumber mill and some early electrical power plants.

Bernd

 

[Bluechip]

I believe the Great Eastern had very large oscillating engines, built by Brunell.

And some marine steam engines wre not quite sure what they were

http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/POWER/still/still.htm

Dave

 

[rickharris]

The steam engine has been used to provide power since 1698 when Thomas Savery did experiments to develop a way to pump water out of mines.

Through Thomas Newcomen ( Atmospheric engine ) and James Watt (improvement on Newcomen's work) and others the beam engine became the standard for pumping action until electric motors took over.

The use of a steam driven piston to provide power was not lost on the Victorian engineers who quickly realised that the linear motion could be converted into rotary motion with a crank allowing wheels to be driven.

Powering boats, traction engines and trains and later cars and bikes was an obvious extension to this idea.

Early traction engines were used in fields to pull ploughs but not directly the steam power was applied to a wire rope that pulled the plough whilst the heavy traction engine sat still at the top and bottom of the field. Other farm machinery could be belt driven from the same engine reducing the need for labour and increasing yield and speed of operation.

Mill engines replaced water power in the textile mills of the UK during our industrial revolution - 1800's Many manufacturing machines could be run from a single steam engine via long overhead shafts allowing great productivity compared to hand working the cotton, wool or other natural fibres. The birth of the factory allowed increased profitability and productivity putting products into the reach of many more people than previously possible.

The improved transportation system with steam trains allowed these goods to reach a larger market making it worth while investing in the machinery needed to make them.

The steam engine lead to various forms of internal and external combustion engine - Stirling and others , Various atmospheric engines (flame lickers) and eventually the internal combustion engine. The convenience and immediacy of the internal combustion engine eventually lead to the death almost of the steam engine. the last Steam trains in the Uk were scrapped in the 1960's being replaced with Diesel trains.

Light weight IC engines could be used in aircraft where experiments with steam aircraft engines had not been as successful as hoped. The rotary engine allowed for a reduction in weight by disposing of the flywheel and air cooling removed the need for the heavy radiator etc.

The complexity of making rotating fittings, fuel supply etc lead to a move to more powerful multi cylinder engines for later aircraft. IC engines have been almost totally replaced by gas turbines which are mechanically simpler and very reliable.


Your list of uses is more or less how it was, although man applications and engine types crossed over. Thus rotary engines were put into cars, versions of a beam engine onto railway trains etc.

As far as a model engine is concerned - For me they just are - and don't need an application.


History is a wonderful thing

 

[Tin Falcon]

Z; More than you wanted to know or not look below for a google book download.


A history of the growth of the steam engine, Robert Thurston
Tin

 

[zeeprogrammer]

I thought I had replied to some posts on this thread but I don't see it. Too bad. I had some real 'change the world comments' in there. Now I can't remember what they were.

But seriously, this was very helpful. Lot's of good reading too. Thank you all.