Author Topic: Another "What engine is this?"  (Read 1400 times)

Offline tomherb

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Another "What engine is this?"
« on: July 23, 2020, 09:04:18 PM »
More than twenty years ago, I picked up a partially-finished twin compound engine with a condenser, pump and thrust bearing.  It has been languishing in a box in my shop for the majority of that time, absent the times when I come across it again, and pull it out to stare at it.  I'm in the process of relocating my shop into the house and air conditioning, because I'm tired of having to clean the rust from my tools on a regular basis.  Here in the Houston, Texas area, it's always humid, except for the two weeks of autumn and two weeks of spring we're allowed each year.  And so I came across it again.

I've always liked marine engines, and I've had it in the back of my mind that I would like to finish this engine one day, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to see if any of you good folks could offer some insight into its origins.

A good deal of the work has been done to it, although some of it is of questionable quality.  It has a piston valve on the high-pressure cylinder, and a slide valve on the low-pressure end.  The bores of the cylinders are 7/8" and 1 1/2 " respectively, and the bore of the piston valve is 1/2".  The fasteners are neither Imperial nor metric, so I infer that they must be BA.

It's very similar to Rivergypsy's engine in this thread, but smaller:  http://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,3650.0.html.

If you recognize it, or could give me some clues as to where to find a set of prints with which to finish it, I'd appreciate it very much.

Thanks,
Tom
Tom

Offline Jo

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Re: Another "What engine is this?"
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2020, 07:29:47 AM »
It is the Compound Condensing Steam Engine that was published by "Axle" in Model Engineer in 1923, but at a smaller scale. A 1/4 scale model of it was shown in the Model Engineering Website here: https://www.modelengineeringwebsite.com/Axle_compound_engine.html

I know castings were available for the engine from Historic Models and Reproductions which is now run by Jeff L: http://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,7080.0.html

There is a 3D model of the full sized model here: https://grabcad.com/library/condessed-compound-steam-engine-1 and it includes the article from ME which you can download.

Jo
« Last Edit: July 24, 2020, 04:47:47 PM by Jo »
Enjoyment is more important than achievement.

Offline Jasonb

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Re: Another "What engine is this?"
« Reply #2 on: July 24, 2020, 08:24:29 AM »
I thought Jo would have also included the drawings done by Julius De Waal for those that can only work in metric, he also has the 1924 compound on his site.

http://www.vapeuretmodelesavapeur.com/telechargements4/mccse.pdf

Offline tomherb

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Re: Another "What engine is this?"
« Reply #3 on: July 24, 2020, 03:17:39 PM »
Thank you Jo and Jasonb. 

It's interesting the things that you never notice, for some reason.  I just noticed that the crank throws are 180º apart, rather than 90º, which means that it would not be self-starting in all positions.  You'd think that I would have noticed that before this, given how long I've had it!
Tom

 

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