Building a Small Trunk Marine Engine

[Florence Locomotive Works]

I decided to post this here, instead of Modeling Musings & Miscellany, it just seemed to obscure for that.

 

You may have seen my slightly useless thread asking about Stuart oscillator inlet port thread sizes, and maybe wondered what I fate I had contrived for this engine. And here before you is the answer. I am imbarking on a quest to build a small live steam plant.

 

It currently consists of one main part, the boiler. This is off a not to terribly new Wilesco D6, and will be more than capable of supplying steam for the engine. It’s a bit cruder than I want, but I had it and I don’t really have $450 spare dollars laying about for a more “accurate” boiler. ( i.e. one with a clack valve and proper water gauge) I considered building a twin drum boiler, similar to the old Stuart 496, but decided against it as the drawings I possessed are only half done. So this one will have to do. I spent several happy hours polishing it and the two brass engines I have, which did my hands no good favors, but the chimney looks much nicer now. 
 

The other main part will be a Stuart “S.T.” Oscillating Engine. Which means the cylinder doesn’t have a valve and it just rocks over the port faces. And as of this morning, it’s just arrived in NYC so all going well it will be here by Saturday. 
 

After my polishing spree I decided to do a steam test. The boiler passed with flying colors, while attached to the crude Meccano base I nocked together for it. Eventually the engine and boiler will be on a nice piece of wood, hopefully with a copper surface. I’m not sure whether or not to have it powering something, as the PM Research dynamos seems a bit big, but I’ll measure everything when I get the engine. I still need to order a replacement flywheel and a regulator valve from Stuart models, after which everything should go together. 
 

stay healthy,

Douglas

Edited June 20, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works
Incorrect title name

[Happy Hippo]

Will you be firing the boiler with spirit or the solid fuel tablets -  which are probably compressed bat droppings?

[Florence Locomotive Works]

38 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Will you be firing the boiler with spirit or the solid fuel tablets -  which are probably compressed bat droppings?

The compressed bat droppings, which I believe are actually derived from bat guano and mixed with paraffin, making them burn, and suffocate the operator. At some point I’ll get around to buying a meths burner or something. 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Post No. 2

 

Been performing tests on the boiler the past couple o’ days. These have consisted of trying to get it to run my MSM Avon engine, which it almost does, but sadly can’t get enough steam through the displacement lubricator, and without the lubricator, there’s no seal on the pistons. I might try and get it to run my Microcosm Q1, but I’m not entirely sure if the timing is correct on that and have no way of figuring out of it is, my home compressor is useless. The Stuart is still currently held up in Customs, so no news there. I’ve drawn up a design for the condenser, and really must get around to ordering the materials for it. I have decided on mounting the engine and boiler to a pice of wood, and something else will also be mounted there. I’ve found a suitably ancient looking dynamo which will be powered by the S.T. Hopefully I’ll buy a Lionel street lamp which can be powered by this arrangement.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Post No. 3

 

Yesterday, to the accompaniment of much rejoicing in the streets, the S.T. Oscillator arrived. After the merriment had died down, I took both cylinder covers off to do a thorough inspection. I found all to be satisfactory except for a two things I’ll get on to later. It appears both the cylinder cover and bottom gland cover have been replaced recently, meaning it has modern gaskets. One thing that did disturb me however was the piston sticking at the bottom of the stroke, but this was later remedied by copious oiling, as the engine arrived completely devoid of said liquid. The other thing that disturbed me was the spring which holds the cylinder onto the port face looked like it had just been dragged up from the Titanic, so I replaced it with the copper one seen in the photos. The cylinder cladding was in a bit of a state, it appeared that someone was halfway through sanding the old paint off it when it was sold. I also found out that this cladding is very very friendly with the cylinder casting, so much so it took me a good half hour to finally evict it. After this eviction, I repainted it in matte black, as I can’t get any gloss black right now.  The new flywheel and regulator are still on their way, and should be here by Tuesday. I would perform a steam test on the engine, but I currently don’t have any 1/4 - 32 tpi unions so it would be very difficult to do so. 
 

 

 

Edited June 19, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Florence Locomotive Works]

You’ve all been tricked!!! Hoodwinked even!!!

 

The plan for most of this time has actually been to lay the engine horizontally and make into a semblance of a trunk engine. But as it’s an oscillating engine it will never really be a trunk, but it gives one the basic look and feel. As those who know what a trunk engine is will know that the condenser is an integral part of the engine. Unfortunately for my condenser to be scale to the engine it would be completely useless, so I’ve begun making a much simpler cosmetic one. This currently consists of two copper pieces with a brass lid on top, and will be improved. 
 

A trunk engine was one of the first main forms of steam propulsion for early screw ships, and is fitted to HMS Warrior. It’s main distinctive feature is the connecting rod going directly from the crank to the piston, without any piston rod and cross head assembly. I won’t go into all the details of how it works, as google does a far better job than me. 
 

The base of the engine is made to look like the bottom portion of a ship, one that still has a wooden internal structure but has an iron plated hull. Keep in mind that it’s nowhere near finished, and will also be improved. 
 

The engine has been affixed to a Meccano angle bracket, enabling it to be mounted horizontally. On said bracket will be soft soldered the cosmetic condenser, making the engine look much more balanced. I’m thinking of putting the real condenser in between the two beams underneath the base, out of sight. The current paint livery will be replaced with a light grayish blue color, similar to that applied and some Myford lathes. 
 

I’m also thinking about adding a fake propellor shaft, but the crankshaft seems to be to short to add a universal joint. The flywheel might also be replaced with a gear wheel that the imaginary barring engine would have used to bar over the engine when starting.  

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Well the condenser has been fitted. And the engine has been painted and mounted to its own base. The boiler has been somewhat polished and mounted to the main base. Both bases I’ve been stained and varnished, making them look slightly ancient. The globe valve and flywheel have yet to arrive, but should be here soon.  The fake propeller shaft has been ruled out on the grounds of cost, and size of baseboard. I did some test lagging of the main steam feed so I can cut the correct length of string, which will mask rather unsightly steel pipe that Wilesco uses.