# Stationary engines



## dronai (Apr 11, 2011)

That's pretty cool ! The big one is run off of what fuel ?


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## frenchelectrican (Mar 15, 2007)

dronai said:


> That's pretty cool ! The big one is run off of what fuel ?


That large unit is a steam driven engine and to run the steam the oringal boiler were used to be coal fired and that place they did set up a smaller more moden boiler which it burn on Diesel fuel instead of coal due it quicker to build up pressure and can control better.

By the way that is triple expandison engine.

Merci,
Marc


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## Going_Commando (Oct 1, 2011)

I love steam. I worked at an old mill building with steam heat for about a year full time, and part time for 5 years. In the 80s the old coal boilers had been converted from being coal fired to saw dust. There was a silage wagon that dump trucks emptied the sawdust into, and then it went through a blower system into a silo, and then there was an auger at the bottom of the silo that went to another blower system to blow the sawdust into the firebox. Those old Dillon boilers (out of Fitchburg, Mass) hummed right along heating the 100,000 square foot mill building humping at ~20 lbs, with the steam pipes clanging and banging away. I loved that sound. I can't remember how many horsepower they were though, but the pressure vessel was about 6' high, and a bit over 20' long. Guess who the lucky guy was that got to climb into the firebox underneath those beasts and shovel out the ash? :laughing: We then switched over from sawdust to dried fuel chips (crushed pallets for the most part), and what a bear that was! The tired old pipe that had been worn away by sawdust for years starting giving way, and we had to repipe most of it, and have the blowers rebuilt. That system was where I started learning about electrical work and motor control, along with the attached 180 kW hydro-electric power plant that used to run the motors for shafts to run the shoe making equipment. It was a beautiful vertical Francis turbine, with a GE generator and an 8 or 10kW exciter on top of it. Just beautiful craftsmanship. We even had to have the generator, and later the exciter, rewound when I was there, so that was a heck of an experience taking that beast apart to truck it down to Everett Mass to get rewound. The bearings were also either lead Babbit, or, for the thrust bearings, made out of wood! The wood was some really hard stuff from South America somewhere. I think it was called Lignum Vitae if memory serves me right. Can you imagine that? The weight of the turbine, stator, and exciter all resting on some wood blocks? 

When electricity first starting getting used in manufacturing, since most of the shops were run on water power with belts and shafts, instead of having individual motors for each machine, they put a giant motor at the end of each shaft to run that line of equipment, and there were wood clutches to engage and disengage the leather belts from the shaft. Really awesome stuff, and I find it absolutely fascinating. If only the walls of that place could talk. If any of you guys in New England get the chance, I highly recommend you go to the old Springfield Armory. They have some really great exhibits of how things were done pre-electricity as well as after. Really neat stuff. 

One of these days I am going to build a mini steam engine, just for fun. Maybe have it spin a 3 phase motor to use as a generator or something, I dunno.


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## etb (Sep 8, 2010)

Going_Commando said:


> I love steam. I worked at an old mill building with steam heat for about a year full time, and part time for 5 years. In the 80s the old coal boilers had been converted from being coal fired to saw dust. There was a silage wagon that dump trucks emptied the sawdust into, and then it went through a blower system into a silo, and then there was an auger at the bottom of the silo that went to another blower system to blow the sawdust into the firebox. Those old Dillon boilers (out of Fitchburg, Mass) hummed right along heating the 100,000 square foot mill building humping at ~20 lbs, with the steam pipes clanging and banging away. I loved that sound. I can't remember how many horsepower they were though, but the pressure vessel was about 6' high, and a bit over 20' long. Guess who the lucky guy was that got to climb into the firebox underneath those beasts and shovel out the ash? :laughing: We then switched over from sawdust to dried fuel chips (crushed pallets for the most part), and what a bear that was! The tired old pipe that had been worn away by sawdust for years starting giving way, and we had to repipe most of it, and have the blowers rebuilt. That system was where I started learning about electrical work and motor control, along with the attached 180 kW hydro-electric power plant that used to run the motors for shafts to run the shoe making equipment. It was a beautiful vertical Francis turbine, with a GE generator and an 8 or 10kW exciter on top of it. Just beautiful craftsmanship. We even had to have the generator, and later the exciter, rewound when I was there, so that was a heck of an experience taking that beast apart to truck it down to Everett Mass to get rewound. The bearings were also either lead Babbit, or, for the thrust bearings, made out of wood! The wood was some really hard stuff from South America somewhere. I think it was called Lignum Vitae if memory serves me right. Can you imagine that? The weight of the turbine, stator, and exciter all resting on some wood blocks?
> 
> When electricity first starting getting used in manufacturing, since most of the shops were run on water power with belts and shafts, instead of having individual motors for each machine, they put a giant motor at the end of each shaft to run that line of equipment, and there were wood clutches to engage and disengage the leather belts from the shaft. Really awesome stuff, and I find it absolutely fascinating. If only the walls of that place could talk. If any of you guys in New England get the chance, I highly recommend you go to the old Springfield Armory. They have some really great exhibits of how things were done pre-electricity as well as after. Really neat stuff.
> 
> One of these days I am going to build a mini steam engine, just for fun. Maybe have it spin a 3 phase motor to use as a generator or something, I dunno.


Well, we're of like mind. I'm captivated at what the old timers achieved with what little technology they had. I've always been on to steamers, hot bulbs, big diesels, locos, mining equipment, container ships ... you can spend hours watching that stuff on youtube. I'm also into blacksmithing. You should check out this guy's shop:

http://www.sandersoniron.com/studio/

Does all his work on 100 year old equipment with a line shaft and a petrol engine (oddly, two cycle). Check out his KT wiring and cool ammeters.


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## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

There's a steam show this weekend we're gonna go to:thumbsup:


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## niteshift (Nov 21, 2007)

Water power mills were abundant around this area. Still have quite a few that operate as an tourist attraction. 
Steam power, are those little stationary's run by "hit and miss" engines?


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

Look up Sterling Engines while your checking out Steam Engines. They are pretty cool. Americans are inventive sons a guns and that is no lie. P.S. I know what country Robert Fulton was born in . In case English Ian is still around.


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## niteshift (Nov 21, 2007)

macmikeman said:


> Look up Sterling Engines while your checking out Steam Engines. They are pretty cool. Americans are inventive sons a guns and that is no lie. P.S. I know what country Robert Fulton was born in . In case English Ian is still around.


Ok I did, Sterling Engines are cool too, I have seen on YT, found a solar powered one.


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## etb (Sep 8, 2010)

The most interesting are the low temp differential ones


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## Bipeflier (Jan 16, 2013)

Ooops


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