What was the economic purpose for the engine being constructed in the first place?
Stanley Steamer
Municipal waterworks (located in Kempton)
It was a municipal water supply pumping station. They also built some behemoth steam engines for sewer system pumping as well.
Love the song, and that straightforward slogan. If the early steam cars didn’t require almost an hour of work to starting, they would have been more popular. I guess.
What makes you think it took anywhere near that long?
As early as 1911, White (which used a blue-flame gasoline burner arrangement) would take no more than a very few minutes to get up steam from ‘cold’ – limited mostly by minimizing differential expansion effects. When warm I believe steam would be raised for running within a minute (I have seen this done during steam-car ‘meets’).
A good Doble monotube, of course, would have steam raised within a few seconds of firing, and this will be true of other flash systems. The fact that the steam generator is throttled on and off to maintain pressure in a reservoirless setup will tell you that initial steaming will not require much more time.
Naturally this presumes a fuel that hasn’t frozen or gelled in the tank or lines, and that you have warm feedwater. These could be difficult requirements to meet in many places turn-of-the-century cars would be garaged.
Just for the record: I prefer the idea of a LaMont steam generation setup to any kind of once-through ‘critical’ monotube setup, in part because turndown can be made so simple. This has a fairly large (can be very large if desired) reservoir of overcritical water, which has to be heated in circulation before you get effective throttle steam at the separators. For this I propose an analogue of a locomotive direct-steaming setup, which is essentially a pressure-rated water heater with electric or gas heating that is brought up to pressure before the car would be used (by timer, for example) and is then connected to the car under nitrogen pressurization to transfer the treated water at reasonable pressure. Heating from there to working pressure (in a proper LaMont) is very rapid, and of course steam stripping is continuous as a function of
That was it Mr. Jones. According to Jay Leno and others as good as the steam cars were they couldn’t get around the time it took to build up steam pressure before you could start driving.
Not like a gasolene car where all you did was turn a crank or later push a starter button.
So, that was the end for Stanley Steamer and others.
Steam Calliope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKjFFBhFAocr
Not Stompin Tom. But it’s the Good Old Hockey Game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne3OIg1LI2k
From Mike, of course!
Joshua Stoddard
https://www.keyboardmag.com/miscellaneous/joshua-c-stoddardinventor-of-the-steam-calliope
Ah, the calliope!
The original Stoddard patent is notable because it references not the instrument, but the controllable valve that was used to produce the music … those of us who are interested in Franklin System or British Caprotti valve gear will note that he refers to these valves as “puppet” valves, this only slightly more than half a decade after Corliss used snap-action rotary valves for comparable action…
Just for the record, the air-driven version (‘invented’ by Norman Baker) which has less tendency to go out of tune due to heating when played for the requisite annoyingly long time, a bit like the Yale Whiffenpoofs, has a distinct name: it is a Calliaphone. I believe there are still people that make these; think of a player piano with whistles instead of hammers.
I do have to say that I had a bit of a hand in calliaphone history: when I was a high-school student, I hit upon the idea of controlling the temperature of the air going to the individual whistles so that its expansion would hold the metal at close to ambient atmospheric temperature, thereby keeping both the relative pitch and the partials where the designer intended them to be. This gets around a GREAT deal of the actual reason why the calliope started to have the timbre of the rackett family of instruments (look it up, and yes, that’s where the expression got started) once it had been played, and the calliaphone can have similar issues although from cold when driven properly loud – if proper is the word for it.
Note that some constructions of organ pipe (for example those using spotted metal) can be adapted to be blown on steam, and as with locomotive whistles a very large percentage of the ‘driving air’ column is atmosphere and not admitted steam. Some very pretty effects can be made … although I think steam-blown reeds are right there in the rackett family right out of the box…
Stoddard Inventions and Calliope Music : from Mike
A video from Jay Leno’s youtube channel Jay Leno’s Garage [~]
Starting from 2:05, it took him 45 mins to get the car ready. [U]
[quote user=“Miningman”]
Stoddard Inventions and Calliope Music : from Mike
There is an exchange in “The Music Man” in which Prof. Hill’s former partner asked him why he stopped selling steam automobiles. Hill’s reply: “Somebody actually invented one.” [(-D]
Those early steam-powered cars were exotic, especially after the driver successfully starting it. It probably only takes 5 mins or less using a device like a 5000w induction stove, to generate enough steam pressure for a small size modern automobile. Accompany with solar energy, battery, an app that the driver could start heating the water in the boiler in advance, a simple computer that monitors and control the temperature, water level, and all index relate to safety. I don’t know if it is economically viable or not.
Another thing that I want to see on my fantasy train or steam-powered ocean liner: Kerosene operated steam fan [Y]
Just for decoration…
Kerosene powered fan?
Here 'ya go…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t8LEKf04TA
It that “cool” or what?
Steam clock in Gastown, downtown Vancouver, British Columbia:
Very hot, and sexy. Not sure how it could lower indoor temperature, it could have been used as a bathroom or kitchen exhaust fans, where electricity was unavailable.
Another masterpiece! I have been to there serval times and thought that it is a historic clock completely powered by steam.
It’s my turn:
Jay Leno’s 1914 Christie Fire Engine
Steam Powered Spider by I-Wei Huang
deleted