This machine was sitting at a thrift shop, a handwritten note suggested it was a steam engine. Hmmm. two single action cylinders of different diameters, no valve gear at all.
It's almost certainly not a steam engine but possibly an homemade experimental heat engine of some sort? There is a propane burner in a rusty box (below) that fits around half of the larger cylinder, the other half of the cylinder is surrounded by a metal trough, maybe with cold water?
We applied a few pounds of air through the valve on the small cylinder and the flywheel turned a few degrees but no joy...
Any ideas?
5 comments:
Hit & Miss engine ? Mesmerising to watch in operation if that's what it is...
It sure seems like a steam engine of some sort. Could the large cylinder be the boiler and the spindly linkage operate some sort of steam valve at the boilers end? I don't understand what the water tank would do? Can we see inside of it?
It does look like a live steam engine to me, but I'm not sure about the steam routing into the cylinder. I would start by figuring out what that smaller connecting rod controls, and apply air upstream of that. If that doesn't help I would open up the cylinder and figure out how it works...it may be missing something.
I would also remind myself that it may never have worked.
Stirling engine?
Get back if it starts
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