Help needed to identify vert steam engine

[Michael S.]

An image from the patent document.

[Jasonb]

As they have no drain cocks the spring is a simple way to let the valve lift to let condensate escape without the risk of a hydraulic lock.

[Zephyrin]

I also have repaired one of these little machines some years ago, a simpler model than yours, a Bing "Royal" from 1905-1908, yes that old !

For the seals especially the water level seals, which have to be very thin to pass through the nuts,  it's possible to use rings cut out from the cheap plastic heat shrink tubing largely used for electronics, seems to be sufficent  on these small low-pressure models.

[crueby]

Thats quite an interesting  valve arrangement!   Thanks for  showing the  diagrams of it Michael!

[vtsteam]

Michael, thanks for the patent drawings and advice.

Jason, that makes sense.

Zephyrin, on this model there is a fair amount of clearance in the pass-through hole for the sight glass. In this setup there are flanges on the guard that are screwed into the boiler shell. They trap what was probably once packing or a grommet of some kind (now completely deteriorated). Tightenng the screws probably applied pressure to the packing which then tightened to the glass tube ends, which protrude into the boiler.

[Zephyrin]

I see that this is the water level model with a bent glass tube that goes into the boiler, I had missed this point...
on my little machine I had to redo this bent tube, and there's just a thick rubber disk that's tightened by screws as in the attached photo, and the result is completely watertight.

PS
Alas, I haven't been able to find a way to restore the shiny "steel"-colored metallic deposit on the brass boiler, which is largely gone over time!

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1h2W9FW-4U" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1h2W9FW-4U</a>

[crueby]

Zephyrin, would that have been nickle plated to give it that steel look? Not hard to redo if so.

[vtsteam]

Re colored patina for these engines:

Q. I am trying to reproduce a blued finish on the brass boilers of a collection of antique model steam engines, most made in Nuremburg, Germany between 1870 and 1930. The finish on these engines range from purple to brown to dark blue. These can be seen at: http://John_o.myiglou.com/steammain.html

So far, commercial firearms bluing solutions have gone almost straight from brown to blue. I have heard that the old builders used a salt solution heated to the 80-90 degree (c) range to achieve this finish, but can find no documentation on this method, or the materials used. Can anyone point me to good reference material on this, or shed some light on the solutions used to achieve this finish?
John O'Rear
- Versailles, Kentucky, USA


2003

A. Lustre colours solution:
lead acetate [affil link].......25 gm
sodium thiosulphate [affil link]...240 gm
cream of tartar [adv: item on eBay & Amazon] ....25 gm
H2O..........1 lit

/ for copper and its alloys,iron(only blue), silver, gold, platinum, nickel plate/ Solution produces a series of lustre colours in following sequence(on brass): golden yellow-orange-purple-blue-pale blue-pale grey(cca 10 min.for sequence,40 °C temp.)!
Goran Budija
- Cerovski vrh Croatia