Hi,
I would like to present my third beam engine.
It is again a Grashopper type, but this time following a historical exemplar. It was built by the american engineer Oliver Evans around 1801. In 1805 Evans published a book "The Abortion of the Young Steam Engineer's Guide" (available
online). In this book Evans described "a Steam Engine on new principles". Simply spoken his engine was using high pressure steam. Another outstanding feature was the linear guide for the piston rod, which later became known as Evan's linkage. There is only one drawing in the book showing the machine:
The engine was used to drive a plaster mill. You may find
further details here.
Digging deeper into the history of Evan's machines I found the term "The Columbian Engine". This the first relevant drawing I found:
This was published in "The Emporium of the Arts and Sciences", Vol. II. presumably in 1812. The significant difference between the two drawings is the valve gear. In Evan's book dedicated intake and outlet valves are described, while on the drawing from 1812 no such valves can be seen. Matschoss mentions Evans using a rotary valve since 1812. I think such a rotary valve can be seen on the above drawing from "The Emporium of the Arts and Sciences".
Other sources mention that Oliver Evans destroyed his own plans in 1809, after a court case with the American Patent Office. Plans submitted to the Patent Office were lost 1836 in a fire.
So the two pictures are the only sources for the two machines, which are the first not atmospheric steam engines designed and built in the US as far as I know.
I finally decided to make a model of the very first machine described by Evans in his book. In the sources this machine usually does not have a name, only D. and G. Bathe referred to it as "Drop Valve Engine" in 1935. So this is the name I'm going to use.
I did not find any hints about currently existing models of the "Drop Valve Engine". So I really would appreciate any hints.
This is the base frame unfinished:
Now the carpenter has finished:
The valve gear:
So long for now !
Greetings
Gerd