The "Snow" Engine at Florida Flywheelers 2017
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- Опубліковано 27 жов 2024
- The 1914 Snow gas compression engine. This engine is preserved and displayed by the Florida Flywheelers Antique Engine Club; in South Florida. Please see www.floridaflyw...
I took a trip to the Flywheelers park to see this and other amazing engines today.
The Snow engine is a natural gas compressor unit. It was used to move wellhead gas from the gas fields to the consumer sites.
The engine has 4 combustion chambers, two double-acting pistons, one crank journal and conn rod.
Amazing machinery to be 105 years old.
![Start up squence of the River Don 12000 HP steam engine {Sheffield]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/MrcIBSm2mB8/mqdefault.jpg)
Simply a work of art from a very unique era in American history. Simply Awesome. Worked and started gas compressors myself back in the oilfields of the 80"s. Nothing like that.
Yes it is an amazing machine! I do commissioning on oilfield generator systems myself. We don't have anything like this for sure!!!
I just love the rhythmic tune these monster engines create, and the quality that went into manufacturing machines like this is phenomenal!
Thanks for the comment! Yep - these engines definitely have a really nice sound. I can only imagine the time and skill which went into making it back in the day.
Thanks for filming the exhaust...I was there a few years ago and needed a refresher.
The ignition cutoff device is astoundingly stupidly simple and it WORKS, it's easily seen visually and maintained, even a child could understand it's workings unlike modern electronic "sensors" electric "eyes" and all the rest.
I didnt realize until the narrative at the end that it has 4 combustion chambers, I guess I thought it was more like a steam engine with one chamber for the steam to enter and exhaust, so that explains the 4 rocker assemblies and the sounds we hear int he video, so hard to tell what's actually happening with so many parts turning and moving what the sequence is, but the narriation at the end helps a lot.
Was wurde mit dieser Maschine angetrieben?👍👍👍👍👍😃😃😃😃 Viele Grüße aus Germany
Hi there. This engine provided power to a gas compressor. The compressor was driven by a connecting rod attached to the same crank journal as the enigne connecting rod. The compressor cylinder, and the engine cylinders are in a "horizontally opposed" configuration.
I have a video of some of these in PA and now learning more detail . don`t forget to mention a 4 bolt mains on this engine along with the roller rockers
Thanks. I would love to see more of them.
@@davida1hiwaaynet Wonder if any collectors save a Cooper Bessemer 1,600 HP twin double acting tandem engine compressor ( has 2 sets of double acting tandem cylinders witch is 8 cylinder unit with 2 compressors
That would be epic! Those are HUGE as well!
26,000 lb-ft of torque.
Just let that sink in !!
Those "valve" springs, look like front
suspension springs on a Chevy truck!
I have always liked the Snow engine!
Only 600 HP, but about 9 MILLION pounds
of torque. And then, we have the design.
usually a compressor is driven by an engine
that has a crankshaft, that drives a crankshaft
in the compressor pump. Reciprocating to
rotary, driving rotary back to reciprocating.
Here, recip driving recip, with a rotary flywheel
to take care of the rest. (Timing, oiling, ignition,
you know, all that other stuff an engine needs.)
About 12 minutes in. Listen to the exhaust.
That is how they run it at half speed. Only
one cylinder running. Don't fret, Coolspring
does the same thing.
steve
Thanks. I'm glad that people really appreciate this engine as much as I do!
How many skipped over the history of it and went straight to start up?
As an enthusiast and one who loves seeing our history preserved, I encourage anyone to watch the video from any point you find most interesting. The engine is amazing when it runs, so many will want to start the video there.
However, even if you start at that point, please go back and listen to the history. These guys are some of the only ones who know this machine inside and out and it's their passion to tell us about it and teach about it. Lots to be said for their dedication and devotion.
watch at 2x so you can listen/watch it run at working speed
The flywheel looks like it is a one piece casting, what a monster, bigger than any steam locomotive driver wheels I have ever seen. I suppose it doesn't matter if it is perfectly balance as it turns so slow.
That flywheel is very impressive! But, I believe it is two pieces bolted together. You're probably right, they more than likely didn't dynamic balance it. But it had to be balanced somewhat. Remember that the demonstration here is running much slower than the rated speed for the engine when it was running in use.
tim mayer the flywheel is a two piece unit. You can see the black" bow tie" tennon on the rim that holds the two halves together.. very nicely made bit of kit.
0:00 History
4:49 Startup
11:40 Exhaust
17:30 Shutdown
18:12 Overspeed
19:00 Ignitor System
19:37 exh. Valve
20:37 Air startup
21:30 Piston rod sealing
Does anyone know what these engines are for? obrigado BR
Yes! I know what this was used for. This engine was an integrated compressor-engine. There is a horizontally opposed connecting rod which operates a double-acting compressor cylinder. That cylinder is to the right of the engine cylinders on this engine.
Boa tarde Deus abençoe Grnd invent union pacifc e Fundamentals Energy parabens toda equipe.
Does the position of the flywheel at startup determine it's direction of rotation.?
Actually, the position of the flywheel has to be set in a position so that the cylinder receiving starting air is in the expansion (power) stroke. It always run in the same direction. :)
When the engine starts, if the piston was at TDC, the connecting rod would be horizontal and locking the engine from starting. Therefore the starting position would be a few degrees after TDC. What I thought, was if the starting position was changed to a few degrees before TDC, the flywheel would kick off in the opposite direction. Perhaps not a good idea to try out, since the flywheel lubrication system may be designed to correctly pump oil through its bearings in the direction of rotation marked up in the starting procedure. Depending on the design, pushing the piston back before TDC, could also reverse the rotation of the camshaft and alter the valve timing. These old engines are great to watch and are very educational to young people.
It's an interesting system. There is an "air distributor" which is turning with the camshaft. It will open valves to injece air into the combustion chambers at just the right position in the cycle to spin the engine in the correct direction. I'm pretty sure that when any combustion chamber is in the compression stroke, that starting air valve would not be open from the starting air distributor. The only way it could start spinning backwards is if the starting air was injected during the compression stroke.
Some of the older systems are far better than today's technology. Adding modern electronics to them would produce amazing results, but sadly it rarely happens. I have a pair of sewage ejectors working on the principal of this video, except that the control was mechanical. A block of stone at the bottom of the tank and a 60cm brass float were fitted to a vertical shaft with an external rocker and balance weight keeping them in exact balance, As the tank filled, the float lifted and an alternating piston shut off the vent and released compressed air into the system. Since the control rod was in balance, ejection continued until the weight was above the waterline and increased in mass ending the cycle. Each of the 2 tanks ejects 600 gallons of sewage up to the sewer 50 feet above within 10 seconds. The direction of ejection was determined by a pair of cast iron with leather seat reflux valves at the bottom of the tank. These old machines which are almost silent were installed in 1926 and are still working perfectly today. They are in a London theater, where the stalls are below ground and hence below the public sewer. Their are still several of these systems working in London including at the houses of parliament. Modern buildings now install pumps that fail on an almost weekly basis. The most amazing story was of a building that was refurbished and the new owners did not even know that the ejectors existed in an underground chamber. They ran for 7 years before the building flooded when someone did not know what the air tank in the boiler house did and shut down the air compressors. With the external balance weight now under water, they could not complete a cycle and divers had to enter the chamber and lift the weights up and down. Once the weights were above the water line, normal operation restarted.
ua-cam.com/video/8ROFfOxypno/v-deo.html
This video shows one of these ejectors. At 0:47, You can see the bracket that originally guided the vertical shaft and carried the balance arm. In this video, it have been replaced with an electronic water full detector and a timer to determine the eject duration. In my opinion, this would have made them a lot less reliable. Although simple, few engineers can work out how to set the original balance weight to obtain a complete cycle. It was just a matter of the friction in the bush seals holding the shaft in the eject operation until the weight at the bottom of the tank came out of water and became heavier.
ua-cam.com/video/JoYXuQcGlPo/v-deo.html
26k lb.ft. is impressive, but it got nothing on the RTA96-C's 5,608,310 lb.ft@102rpm.
What was its purpose?
It was a gas pipeline compressor. It collected natural gas from a field of gas wells, and then pumped it down a pipeline to the town which was some distance away.
I hate these videos with narrators... let me hear the engine only.
I'm sorry you don't like the narrator.
He is one of the engineers who has helped to keep this old engine alive and working, as a volunteer, and is one of only a few people left who can work on them. I respect his dedication to our engineering heritage; and feel that his knowledge is valuable enough to include in the video.
@@davida1hiwaaynet I dont mean that i dont like him... i just want to hear the engine of its pure glory. :)
@@KillerJoeFIN Thanks for the reply! I do understand that as well. If I had been able to set up a microphone closer to the engine; it would have been a lot better.