Stephenson's Rocket

[awake]

Looking forward to this. I haven't said much but I enjoyed Thumper.

I'm back down in the bat cave now

Is that where all this business started? 

Zee, I can't speak for Brian, but a lot of my projects start with the statement, "I'm guano do such-and-such" - so "bat cave" seems appropriate.

[crueby]

I recall reading somewhere that the original Rocket had wooden front wheels and a ball and socket joint from one spoke to the connecting rod each side. Making wood wheels might be less difficult than metal ones.

Another thought if making metal ones - have a waterjet or laser cutting firm cut all the spokes and the hub and rim/felloes in one part, and add "washer" shaped parts to each side of it for rims and flanges and crank plate protrusions. Just food for thought. A few rivets through the stack and some Loctite could hold the laminations together.

I've been reading through the Bailey and Glithero book on the Rocket, and the larger drive wheels did have wood spokes and rims, with metal hubs and tires. The smaller rear wheels were swapped out very early on, so its not clear if they had wood spokes or not. They were swapped with cast iron wheels off of a mine cart since the axle and bearings were mismatched, and they needed a quick resolution before the trials.  As for the crank pin, that appears to have changed over the years as well, between being mounted on a long flat strap running between hub and rim, and in an elongated section of the hub. Fascinating book, still reading....

[marcel]

https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co26970/sectioned-conjectural-model-of-rocket-steam-locomotive-model-steam-locomotive

[crueby]

https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co26970/sectioned-conjectural-model-of-rocket-steam-locomotive-model-steam-locomotive

Brilliant! The plan views are terrific, as is the model. Thanks!!!   

[Brian Rupnow]

Marcel---Thank you. I hadn't seen that before.---Brian

[crueby]

Playing around on that site, if you click on the link towards the lower right corner of the page, "View  manifest in IIIF viewer", you can see all the images and plan sheets in full high resolution. Awesome detail. Looks like they have 8 of the 9 or 10 pages of the original plans that Stuart Turner did for that model.

[Jasonb]

Chris, the way you are talking I can see a new project taking shape

[Jo]

Playing around on that site, if you click on the link towards the lower right corner of the page, "View  manifest in IIIF viewer", you can see all the images and plan sheets in full high resolution. Awesome detail. Looks like they have 8 of the 9 or 10 pages of the original plans that Stuart Turner did for that model.

They used 64ths 

Jo

[crueby]

Playing around on that site, if you click on the link towards the lower right corner of the page, "View  manifest in IIIF viewer", you can see all the images and plan sheets in full high resolution. Awesome detail. Looks like they have 8 of the 9 or 10 pages of the original plans that Stuart Turner did for that model.

They used 64ths 

Jo

If you only had one of those newfangled compooter thingies that could convert units... 

[crueby]

Chris, the way you are talking I can see a new project taking shape

Its a good bet that its on the list....

[Jasonb]

They used 64ths 

That's because even if they had been able to get thousandths on their steel rules it would have been difficult to set their firm leg callipers to the divisions

Maybe you should invest in one of these Jo

[Jo]

They used 64ths 

That's because even if they had been able to get thousandths on their steel rules it would have been difficult to set their firm leg callipers to the divisions

Maybe you should invest in one of these Jo

If I need to use dividers I use one of these Imperialist tools

All of my calipers: dial, digital or vernier, are modern they have metric measurements available on them

Jo

[Brian Rupnow]

chris--i thought about what you said in regards to both sets of levers operating off a common shaft, and decided to change it to this. I will in effect have two completely "stand alone" engines and the eliptical cams on the front axle will be offset 90 degrees.

[crueby]

I found a diagram in that book which shows details of the the shaft where the handles are. It was actually two shafts, one with a hollow end that slipped over the other. The Rocket had one eccentric per cylinder, and used a slip system with drive dogs for forward and reverse. It also mentioned that the reason the steam chests were under the cylinder on the original layout was to drain water better, since the boiler at first had no steam dome so it tended to siphon water from the boiler at times. They had a spring to hold the slide valve against the valve port face when stopped.

[Jasonb]

The tube and shaft is quite common. also found on engines with Wolfe valve gear like my Easton & Anderson