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| 3-cylinder design https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4387 |
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| Author: | hankmorris [ Thu Nov 14, 2002 2:20 am ] |
| Post subject: | 3-cylinder design |
I'm looking for details on how 3-cylinder locomotives work, can be quite technical (electromechanical engineer in past life). hankmorris@earthlink.net |
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| Author: | Seth Jackson [ Thu Nov 14, 2002 6:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 3-cylinder design |
Hi Hank. Although it only has general information on 3-cylinder steamers, you might start at Wes Barris' site: http://www.steamlocomotive.com/3cylinder/ Seth > I'm looking for details on how 3-cylinder > locomotives work, can be quite technical > (electromechanical engineer in past life). Wilmington & Western Railroad sethajackson@hotmail.com |
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| Author: | dave [ Thu Nov 14, 2002 6:50 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 3-cylinder design |
Check out the Shay geared locomotive - a marine engine grafted onto a locomotive boiler set on a flatcar and lost in the woods. Wasn't there a great book on UP power called something like 3 Barrels of Steam? Dave irondave@bellsouth.net |
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| Author: | ge13031 [ Thu Nov 14, 2002 7:59 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 3-cylinder design |
> I'm looking for details on how 3-cylinder > locomotives work, can be quite technical > (electromechanical engineer in past life). Try the link below for some info http://www.cwrr.com/Lounge/Reference/baldwin/baldw lamontdc@adelphia.net |
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| Author: | Chris Holombo [ Thu Nov 14, 2002 8:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 3-cylinder design |
> Check out the Shay geared locomotive - a > marine engine grafted onto a locomotive > boiler set on a flatcar and lost in the > woods. > Wasn't there a great book on UP power called > something like 3 Barrels of Steam? > Dave The book, "Three Barrels of Steam", was about the SP's 4-10-2s. It also did mention the UP 4-10-2s (which were converted fairly quickly into conventional 2-cylinder engines) as well as the 4-12-2's, but it really tells the story of the Southern Pacific class 4-10-2s. It would be a good reference to find out how any 3-cylinder rod engine worked. (Sure wish I had been around the SP or UP to hear those things running!) The Shay has a vertical 3-cylinder in-line engine and is nothing like a 3-cylinder rod loco. And one look at a Shay's cylinders is sufficient to tell one how they worked, as they are pretty straightforward. And there are lots of Shays still running in preservation (thank goodness). Chris H. holombo.chris@ssd.loral.com |
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| Author: | Phil Mulligan [ Fri Nov 15, 2002 12:06 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 3-cylinder design |
A Shay has a three cylinder inline engine mounted on one side that drives the wheels through driveshafts and bevel gears. A Shay engine differs from most three cylinder marine engines in that a Shay is a simple engine - all cylinders get full boiler pressure and exhaust to the atmosphere, while most three cylinder marine engines are triple expansion compounds. Three cylinder rod engines generally have two cylinders mounted outside the plane of the driving wheels and the third cylinder inside, between the frames. The inside cylinder drives a crank axle, usually the same axle the outside cylinders drive. Valve control varies but the most common is the Gresley conjugated motion where the valve gear for the outside cylinders drives a set of levers in front of the cylinder saddle that times the inside cylinder. Some engines have an extra set of valve gear mounted either inside or outside (e.g. BLW 60000)to time the inside cylinder. Electric City Trolley Museum Association |
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| Author: | Aarne H. Frobom [ Fri Nov 15, 2002 1:09 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Brit book review |
This seems a good place to mention a new book that Project 1225 members brought back from our last trip to England: How Steam Locomotives Really Work, by P.W.B. Semmens and A.J. Goldfinch, Oxford University Press, 2000. 342 pages, hardbound, illustrated. This is a very basic guide to British steam practice, covering both the theory and engineering of the locomotives and the mechanics and practice of keeping them running. It is aimed at amateurs and beginning steam-locomotive workers, and would be very good for giving a new volunteer at a museum a quick but thorough grounding in old-fashioned railroading. I haven't seen another book with quite this mix of basic stuff. It's more usable for the beginning or general worker than the detailed textbooks from early in the last century. It's illustrated with new simple diagrams and photos of preserved engines. The pictures are well matched to the information. There's about a page on the Gresley (actually Holcroft-Gresley, it says) derived, or conjugated, valve motion, with a plan diagram of the levers. More simple in a drawing than it looks on the front of a 4-10-2. There is information on the peculiarities of setting these valves and what happened when they wore in service. And there's a note on the triple-Walschaerts designs that followed Gresley's. All the basic physics and engineering of steam locomotives are covered. Plus, this is a good book on British practice, and will let you understand how the Brits got by without ashpan hoppers, air brakes, equalizers and hard grease. It even diagrams the crucial function of the corks with the bamboo centers. It's too bad there's no American equivalent to this book, although an indicator diagram knows no borders. This book cost about $30 in pounds, and should be available through any bookstore in the U.S. Aarne Frobom The Steam Railroading Institute P.O. Box 665 Owosso, MI 48867-0665 |
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| Author: | Earl Pitts [ Fri Nov 15, 2002 6:39 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 3-cylinder design |
> I'm looking for details on how 3-cylinder > locomotives work, can be quite technical > (electromechanical engineer in past life). Hank, you need to lay your hands on both volumes of Bill Kratville's book on UP three-cylinder power. Both were published within the past 8 years or so, and both are still in print as far as I know. |
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| Author: | hankmorris [ Fri Nov 15, 2002 7:58 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Brit book review |
Ordered it from Amazon this morning. Thanks for clue. Hank hankmorris@earthlink.net |
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| Author: | hankmorris [ Tue Nov 19, 2002 4:44 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 3-cylinder design |
If the first axle was `U' shaped to rotationally clear the center rod, can I assume it didn't turn with the wheels? If it did, wouldn't there have been a huge vertical wobble plus on the upswing, wouldn't it have destroyed the valve gear there? hankmorris@earthlink.net |
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| Author: | Phil Mulligan [ Wed Nov 20, 2002 12:59 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 3-cylinder design |
US Gresley engines were/are connected on the second axle and there was a U-shaped first axle to clear the main rod on the down swing. The middle cylinder was located above the horizontal so the main rod would be above the first axle most of the time. Valve gear was the conjugated motion derived from the outside cylinders and was in front of the middle cylinder. Electric City Trolley Museum Association |
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