Engines

External Combustion

Walking beam engine project coming together. Eleven years in the works.

Walking Beam Engine Recreated

This newly constructed nineteenth century wooden "A" frame walking beam marine steam engine, lives at Yankee. Of the hundreds and hundreds built on both coasts, this is now the sole full size example of the type.

It is also thought to be the largest reciprocating steam engine yet constructed in the 21st Century.

Two giant eight-foot, 850 lb paddle wheels are now complete and ready to be connected to the engine. The valving, with all its complexity, is well under way and is the last major hurdle before the engine is ready to run.

Created using original plans and materials, the engine has been an ongoing project at Yankee for over a decade. While full completion may be sometime off, initial running on steam is scheduled for the spring.

What's next for the big engine? Stay tuned.

Standing with the 11ft. engine to give a sense of scale. One year later, wet-air pump / hot well and valve tubes fitted.

Designed in the early 1840's, this eleven foot high walking beam marine engine will power a 65 to 70 ft. paddle steamer. Two radial paddle wheels, 8 ft. in diameter, have a total of 40 buckets. At 30 rpm, that's 1200 paddles going in the water every minute.

Cylinder bore: 13.5" Stroke: 27", which equates to an astonishing displacement of 3,865 cu. in. At 65 psi saturated steam the engine will produce 75 hp. (Shown with the wet air pump / hot well installed.)

Upper valve chest being installed

Valve tower expansion joints

Wet air pump valve

Wet air pump cylinder in hotwell base

High pressure boiler feed pump

Eight foot diameter / 850 lbs. paddle wheels nearing completion

Preliminary fitting of valve assembly

Upper valve chest being fabricated

Valve actuating eccentric

Wipers and toes on a rocker shaft (run by the eccentric) actuate the valves

Forward / Reverse and Throttle handles

Patterns

Patterns created to produce the iron and bronze castings for the walking beam engine.

Made primarily of wood and wax, the "beam" pattern (shown here) is an enormous match plate. The iron casting weighs in at almost 300 lbs.

A total of 35 patterns have been made to date, with more in the works, as the recreation of this historic engine type continues.

One of the two beam engine front (cast ductile iron) connecting rods in process.

Countless hours of machining are required for a project like this. How the originals were made over a century and a half ago, with the rudimentary tooling available at the time, is something of a mystery.

Combination Wet-air pump/hot-well nearing completion. Two high-pressure feed pumps, one either side (one shown), are activated by piston rods passing through the hot-well.

Recently rebuilt launch engine, Circa 1860's, is scheduled to replace the current engine in the steam launch YANKEE. Note double pulls on the Stevenson link and engine driven high pressure feed pump.

Various steam car engines stacked up like cord-wood.

Making it's debut at Yankee, a 16 foot keel "Zip" sailboat from the late 30's, cuts it's way up the center with "Wraith" of bygone days at the helm. Zips were designed and built in Clinton, Connecticut by Brainerd, beginning in 1933.

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Internal Combustion

Franklin 32 hp. air cooled six cylinder engine. Circa 1922

496 cu. in. A.V.W. six cylinder, 100 hp., Diesel bus engine

1932 Auburn Model 8-100 Lycoming straight eight 100 hp engine

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Extra Stuff

Extra stuff for a work in progress. Still trying to figure out how to invert and add vertical photos. Any tips would be appreciated.