Great video, thanks for such a good explanation. I've been visiting the Science Museum for over 50 years and had always assumed that this engine ran on compressed air. I had no idea that you were actually generating steam to run it!
Lovely to see the engine running again. Was always my favourite part of the museum as a kid to see all the different engines running. When is the engine run these days as the last couple of times I have been none of them have been running and it does make power room feel very dead without them moving.
Those beautiful works of art, as much as I love big old engines, almost caused the extinction of a species. The belts that ran individual machines used, because it was tougher and lasted longer, the leather of the American Bison. US and Britain used a LOT of leather.
I'm surprised that they are still using steam to run it. Most steam museums use compressed air to operate steam engines anymore because it reduces a lot of the equipment required to run it. No boiler, condensor and associated pipework. It also eliminates the possibility of boiler explosion or the potential for fire. All you need is an electric motor and a rotary scroll type air compressor to make the pistons move. It reduces the tendency for the water to rust out all those components also.
And as they said: all the tolerances are only right if the nachine is hot. You can't achieve that easily with air. Moreover, I believe that steam has different properties regarding lubrication that air.
its better cold starting as there is no load, A mill would not have the option to do that as it had load on top of its 20T fly wheel. The addition of the condenser allowed quicker boil up of water but also allowed a vacuum in front of the high pressure steam allowing for a quicker exit of the steam pipe on its route back to a rep tank for boiler refill via a nrv
so do you pre warm the engine before running or just get the boiler up to pressure and then run the engine from cold. to be honest its really bad practice if that is the case I've been in charge of and run quite a few mill engines and we always pre warm the engine to reduce the risk of condense in the cylinders as water doesn't compress does it and gives a very real possibility of blowing a cylinder end cover if the water cant drain out quick enough.
Great video, thanks for such a good explanation. I've been visiting the Science Museum for over 50 years and had always assumed that this engine ran on compressed air. I had no idea that you were actually generating steam to run it!
Lovely to see the engine running again. Was always my favourite part of the museum as a kid to see all the different engines running. When is the engine run these days as the last couple of times I have been none of them have been running and it does make power room feel very dead without them moving.
Why am I so obsessed with steam engines!! Thank you for sharing 🙏
Excellent conservation of this great machine too, like the accent off Anti as well
you are doing timeless and GREAT work Guyz
Complimént‼️👊🔥🥂
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Awesome, thank you. [Australia]
Amazing. Just amazing
I remember watching that steam engine being worked on when I was there (long time ago as i'm from New Zealand). Looking forward to more videos.
There's plenty more coming, stay tuned!
Fascinating.thanks for that!
Glad you enjoyed it
magnificent engineering ‼️👊🔥🥂
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Those beautiful works of art, as much as I love big old engines, almost caused the extinction of a species. The belts that ran individual machines used, because it was tougher and lasted longer, the leather of the American Bison. US and Britain used a LOT of leather.
I'm surprised that they are still using steam to run it. Most steam museums use compressed air to operate steam engines anymore because it reduces a lot of the equipment required to run it. No boiler, condensor and associated pipework. It also eliminates the possibility of boiler explosion or the potential for fire. All you need is an electric motor and a rotary scroll type air compressor to make the pistons move. It reduces the tendency for the water to rust out all those components also.
Not sure why they're using steam but it could be because it's a steam engine.
And as they said: all the tolerances are only right if the nachine is hot. You can't achieve that easily with air. Moreover, I believe that steam has different properties regarding lubrication that air.
What a beautiful engine, so well preserved. I was wondering why the face of the flywheel is grooved like it is ?
The grooves were for the cables which drove the main line shaft, which in turn drove the other line shafts that powered the looms.
its better cold starting as there is no load, A mill would not have the option to do that as it had load on top of its 20T fly wheel. The addition of the condenser allowed quicker boil up of water but also allowed a vacuum in front of the high pressure steam allowing for a quicker exit of the steam pipe on its route back to a rep tank for boiler refill via a nrv
I would really like to see this engine working in person.
When is it running?
Where is the output driveshaft? Is it belted to overhead shaft?
Cool video thanks! What other things do you help maintain at the museum?
We've got a very old electric car that still works but more on that later in the series! Why not subscribe so you don't miss it?
so do you pre warm the engine before running or just get the boiler up to pressure and then run the engine from cold. to be honest its really bad practice if that is the case I've been in charge of and run quite a few mill engines and we always pre warm the engine to reduce the risk of condense in the cylinders as water doesn't compress does it and gives a very real possibility of blowing a cylinder end cover if the water cant drain out quick enough.
Yes we do pre warm the engine. We usually do this before the first run of the day. It takes 30 minutes to get the engine ready.
What kind of boiler is that? Stones Vapour?
Spot on!
Hey guys, I need to talk to some expert about steam engine, where can I ask?
Anti must be Finnish. He looks cute, and he talks cute .)
I guess you didn't see the Estonian flag on his boiler suit?...