Engines > Your Own Design
Next Build?
crueby:
So, with the Diesbar engine build complete (still playing with it!), its time to decide on my next engine build. Been doing some browsing through my plan sets and CAD models (sort of like fondling castings to see which set is ripe for a build!) to help decide. There are a lot on my want-to-build list, some are still just folders full of plans from places like the National Archives, some have been made into 3D CAD models.
The leading contenders at this time:
A recent find is from an article in The Engineer from 1867 which has a nice description and some usable line drawings for a chain tugboat from the River Seine. Very similar tugs were used across Europe, to haul other ships upriver in places where the current was too strong for them to go by themselves. They laid down a heavy chain for miles, anchored at the ends, and the tug pulled the chain up from the bottom at one end, through a set of winch drums powered by a steam engine, and down off the other end of the tug - sort of a maritime version of a cog railway. I've made a CAD version of it:
Another recent find was from the US National Archives website, which has a lot of old ship blueprints, including some steam engine plans - its where I got the blueprints for my Kearsarge engine models a couple years ago. This one is for a steam powered deck winch/capstan, with the engine down below deck. Neat setup. No CAD of it yet, here is a snippet of the plans (this particular sheet has a lot of background noise).
Another collection of engines I've been researching and draing in CAD are a half dozen (so far) engines from Isambard Kingdom Brunel's ships, using information and drawings from several books and museums. First is the main engine from the steamship Great Western, which is a side lever engine with a Gothic style frame.
Then there is the main engine from the Great Britain, which exists as a museum with a reconstruction of the engine. The engine uses the ships frame as its own main frame, this drawing shows it with the frame hidden. I was able to source period drawings of this engine from the museum, to draw the CAD from.
Next up are a set of engines from the Great Eastern, Brunel's monster ship, biggest thing for decades to come, a bit ahead of its time but with a number of very interesting engines. The builder of the ship, and designer of one of its main engines, John Scott Russel, wrote a patent for an oscillating engine that I was able to locate. This particular design never made it past the patent model stage, though he built others that were similar. One of the main things in his patent is a clever clutch system on the main shaft, a version of which was used in the giant paddlewheel engine in the Great Eastern.
He also designed this Donkey Engine, used for pumping and also driving winches. Neat design, beam down low, cylinder up high, three sets of pumps in the base, a power takeoff on the crankshaft, and the D valve is driven by a rocking lever inside the steam chest. I really like this one.
Here is the paddlewheel engine that Russel designed and built.; Source for this CAD model is from drawings by Russel, pictures of the original I found in the Irish NAtional Library, plus pictures of the model of it in the London Science Museum:
Another engine designed by Russel was the steering engine fitted to the Great Eastern after it was launched. He wrote a very detailed patent for it, that I used to draw the CAD model from. This steering engine also included two winch drums and a clutch, so it could be used during docking the ship as well as moving cargo. A nice early steering engine design - many of you know how much I like steering engines!
The other main engine in the Great Eastern drove a propellor at the stern. It was designed and built by James Watt's company, though long after he passed away. Its a four cylinder opposed piston design. They had a donkey engine on the output shaft to turn the engine/prop over when they were sailing or just using the paddlewheels, to reduce the drag from the prop. The Science Museum has a large model of this engine as well - both engine models were made at the time the ship was built.
The last leading contender is something that I've wanted to build a model of for a long time - a steam engine governor. This is drawn from the patent and pictures of the original patent model, the Porter Governor:
Porter's design with high speed but light weight flyballs and a sliding counterweight was intended to be more responsive than other designs. This model is drawn to be hand cranked as a demonstration model, in the same way that the patent model was.
Right now I am leaning towards the Porter Governor. Something different, not that complex compared to many of the others, and something I've wanted to build for a long time. The CAD model is complete and I've generated the drawing sheets for it, with the model being about a foot tall. I'm getting some other small projects out of the way at the moment, just finished up a set of hardware for the headlights on one of the Lombard tracked trucks up at the Maine logging museum before the event in October. May start the governor model in the next couple days. Unless I change my mind again - that Great Western gothic style engine would be a lot of fun, but would require making most of the framework on the CNC machine.
:cheers:
Kim:
Wow! That's a lot of good options there, Chris! And you've chosen a good one to use as your next subject. Unless you change your mind, then I'm sure it will be a different excellent choice! So many good choices in that list! :popcorn: :popcorn:
I'm drawn to the Great Eastern steering engine. It just looks cool to me. But then, many of the others do too! Hard choices :Lol:
Kim
crueby:
--- Quote from: Kim on August 29, 2026, 11:29:38 pm ---Wow! That's a lot of good options there, Chris! And you've chosen a good one to use as your next subject. Unless you change your mind, then I'm sure it will be a different excellent choice! So many good choices in that list! :popcorn: :popcorn:
I'm drawn to the Great Eastern steering engine. It just looks cool to me. But then, many of the others do too! Hard choices :Lol:
Kim
--- End quote ---
If you are looking for a project I can send you the steering engine plans... :stickpoke:
:Lol:
cnr6400:
:ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: If you do the Porter next Chris, don't forget to buy some nice Stilton cheese and some crusty bread to go with it! :Lol:
crueby:
--- Quote from: cnr6400 on August 30, 2026, 01:50:20 am --- :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: If you do the Porter next Chris, don't forget to buy some nice Stilton cheese and some crusty bread to go with it! :Lol:
--- End quote ---
I'd rather have some dark Belgian chocolate to nibble while sipping the Porter! :DrinkPint:
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