# Enough of This Little Stuff



## rake60 (Aug 13, 2009)

Have you ever wondered what the biggest steam engine ever
built was? To the best of my knowledge this is it:
*
"# Engine was built by the Geo. H. Corliss Company in 1895.
# Double action 20 inch bore x 48 inch stroke produces 350-400 horsepower.
# 16 foot flywheel turned at 100 RPM.
# Unique rope drive: approximately 1600 linear feet of 1 ½" Manila rope.
# Single cylinder with double-action piston.
# 120 pounds per square inch steam pressure.
# Weight: 32 tons. (Wheel alone weighs 15 tons)"*

Here's a link to the whole story:

http://www.eng.mu.edu/corlissg/gc_engine.html

Model that! 

Rick


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## Davyboy (Aug 13, 2009)

Rick, that's a cool link, (thanks for the tip,) and some romantic prose. I would love to have seen that big beam engine running.
There's some big iron in the U.P. of Michigan. I went to see it last summer. Check out my post. 

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=2541.0

Their website says 40 feet diameter flywheel, 160 tons. It's huge. IIRC the stroke is like 10 feet. Bore on the larger cylinder is ( 54 inches ?? ) I'm sure someone will show bigger yet.

Davyboy


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## hammers-n-nails (Aug 13, 2009)

i believe i remember reading about an engine being built for the 1893 chicago worlds fair that produced in excess of 1000hp. i cant seem to find anything more than a mention of it now though.


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## steamer (Aug 13, 2009)

The Engines in the "Duetchland" were 30000 HP...... each! ( Port and Starboard)

Supposedly the largest Marine Recips ever built.....over 4 stories tall

I have a set of prints for the main engines of the USS Ohio...BB12 commissioned into the navy in 1904.

They were 8000 HP each.  Port and Starboard and where "4 legged Triples"

1 35.5" HP cylinder  x 1 53" IP cylinder x 2 63" LP cylinders. x 48" stroke 

Running at 125 RPM!
Keep in mind the cross heads were about the size of a compact car!
The purpose of this 4 cylinder arrangement was engine balance. With a single LP the bore would have to have been 89 inches in diameter and the steam passages would have had to have been enormous! By splitting it and putting the cranks at 180, the balance between these two cylinder was pretty well taken care of.

I have some pictures of me at the throttle a 750 HP Compound 19.5 x 39.5 x 30.

The HP and HP piston valve have no rings! It's just a big plug of iron!.


Dave


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## rake60 (Aug 13, 2009)

I'm loving this stuff!
Find the pictures! 
 th_wwp

Rick


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## Blogwitch (Aug 13, 2009)

Because of very low steam operating pressures at the time, I.K.Brunel had installed for the main paddle wheel propulsion for the Great Eastern steam ship, two, four cylinder oscillators, each cylinder with a bore of over 6 feet and stroke of 14 feet. 
For driving the propellor he went for a much smaller and faster over square four cylinder engine, with only 7ft bores and 4 feet stroke.

Blogs


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## steamer (Aug 13, 2009)

Oh you non believers! ;D :big:






As you can see I am very distraught.... ;D


It's kinda like having T-rex on a leash....better make sure you feed her first....

The bull gear in the vice is half of the turning gear for the engine....we were replacing teeth..or should I say, my friend Greg was...

Dave


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## steamer (Aug 13, 2009)

Oh My Blog...that was a beast of an engine brunell put together now wasn't it.


Dave


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## Blogwitch (Aug 14, 2009)

Steamer,

It isn't the actual size that amazes me, but the way they went about doing anything.

To make such engines nowadays, if they could, would cost billions of bucks and countless man hours.

In those days, it was basically, scratch it in the sand and get it done.

No complicated machining procedures or specialist materials, it was all done by the skill of individual people, getting their hands dirty, and bringing the job in on time.
There must have been massive failures in the beginning, but they kept their heads and got on with it.

The craftsmanshipship couldn't have been all that bad either, because a lot of these old engines still survive in fully working condition, and a lot of them were still in full use up to the 1950's, 60's and even the 70's. It is only because of the attempts to get rid of smoking chimneys that a lot of them had to stop. How many engines made today could survive over one and a half centuries, and still be in full working condition? A simple little electronic component could stop them dead with the stuff they churn out nowadays.
Nowadays, everything is given a working life span, in those days, they were made to last until they were no longer required.

Steam is a wonderful source of power, and very few people realise that nuclear power stations and even submarines still rely on it to produce the energy we all need to survive and make war, and even the lowly Stirling engine, even though not steam, keeps the astronauts bits cool in outer space.

We have a lot to thank those old visionaries of the past for. 


Blogs


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## ChooChooMike (Aug 14, 2009)

There's some HUGE pumping engines in England. I just ran across the web site and now gotta find it again. I believe one of them had a bore of something like 96" ?? 8 feet ??? Puts those already mentioned to shame


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## ChooChooMike (Aug 14, 2009)

Blogwitch  said:
			
		

> Steam is a wonderful source of power, and very few people realise that nuclear power stations and even submarines still rely on it to produce the energy we all need to survive and make war, and even the lowly Stirling engine, even though not steam, keeps the astronauts bits cool in outer space.
> 
> We have a lot to thank those old visionaries of the past for.



Most of our electricity is still generated by steam, probably with hydro in 2nd place and everything else (wind/solar/thermal/wave/etc) a very distant 3rd. The main difference is the source of the heat - burning coal, natural gas, methane, nuclear fission, etc.

I believe all of our current aircraft carriers are nukes running steam turbines for propulsion. I think the last conventionally powered carrier was the Midway which is now a wonderful museum in San Diego.

All our the ships from WWI & WWII were steam powered and probably those used in Korea/Vietnam/etc were too. Most of the early large commercial ships were steam too, as were the cruise ships. Were do you think the term "tramp steamer" originated ? (and we're not talking about an old ship full of floozies :big

I just read somewhere that there are about 20 ships (possibly Merchant Marines) still in commercial use that are steam powered. Of course much of the work is now automated, but still using boilers and turbines.

And the list goes on ....

True dat on Blogs other comments. Many of those "old" steam engines were in use for 100+ years and still would operate perfectly if used today.

Mike


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## Bluechip (Aug 14, 2009)

There's this thing just a few miles from me. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/3614503632/

Whether the comments are valid is anyone's guess.

Its official site don't work for some reason. .... Best Pic. I could find.

12,000 ihp apparently.. 

Dave


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## rickharris (Aug 14, 2009)

http://www.todengine.org/home claims 4000Hp

"One of the largest engines built was at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philedelphia. The highlight of the Machinery Hall was the, 1,400-horsepower steam engine that powered all the exhibits in the building through 5 miles of overhead line belts, shafts and pulleys. It was built by the George H. Corliss Co. (Providence, RI). The following refers to this engine;

The 70-foot tall machine weighed more than 650 tons and was the largest steam engine ever built. It had two 40-inch diameter cylinders, with a 10-foot stroke, connected with two large walking beams to a spur gear between the cylinders. The gear was the heaviest cut wheel ever made. It had a 24-inch diameter face and weighed 56 tons.

After the world's fair, the steam engine was purchased by the Pullman Co., dismantled and moved to the South Side of Chicago. It served the company's railroad passenger car assembly plant for 30 years until Pullman switched to electricity in 1910."


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## nemt (Aug 14, 2009)

If it you talk about size of steamengines, the biggest one, that is the one with the biggest cylinder bore, is the Cruquius, a pumping engine in the Netherlands used for pumping water from a polder. There have been 3, only one survived.
The link for the site is http://www.museumdecruquius.nl/en.
Maybe worth a visit. By the way, the next biggest one is in England, at Kewbridge Pumping station, with a bore of 100".

Nemt


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## steamer (Aug 14, 2009)

Blogs,

Couldn't agree more my friend, couldn't agree more.

Dave


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## lathe nut (Aug 14, 2009)

Rick, thanks for the info. on the Corliss, I can remember how quite it was to run that engine, the most nice it made was when the dashpots would start to pound in the floor because the catch blocks would wear and it would drop the valve to soon, the first night I ran the unit by my self it started that, learned how to change them while the unit was running, that was an art, we had the continuous rope, ran the snail pump with two four foot suctions, wish I would have had a camera to film it running, don't every discuss it during the day or work week with anyone else, most people would not have a clue what I was talking about, that was the days when there were real mechanics, machine shop that would make what we needed, so glad I lived to see that, Lathe Nut


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## ChooChooMike (Aug 14, 2009)

> By the way, the next biggest one is in England, at Kewbridge Pumping station, with a bore of 100".



That's the one I'm thinking of. I'll post the link later today. Amazing !!


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## ChooChooMike (Aug 14, 2009)

Here's the links :

Kew Bridge Steam Museum (England)

VERY interesting web site with a LOT of steam engines pictured and profiled.

100" (bore) engine :

http://www.kbsm.org/exhibits/100-inch








> *The Grand Junction 100 inch Engine*
> 
> The 100" engine is the largest surviving single cylinder beam engine in the world. Built by Harvey & Co of Hayle in 1869, it first pumped water in 1871. It was one of only six engines of this size built in Cornwall, five of them being built by Harvey & Co. At one time 70% of London's water was pumped by Harvey engines and the company maintained an office at Nine Elms. When running the engine was synchronised with the 90 inch engine so they stroked alternately.
> 
> ...



That's an *8' 4" bore* and an *11' stroke*.

90" engine :

http://www.kbsm.org/exhibits/90-inch








> *The Grand Junction 90 inch Engine*
> 
> The 90" engine is the largest working beam engine in the world.
> It was built in 1846 by Sandys, Carne & Vivian of Copperhouse Foundry, Hayle, Cornwall and was the first engine built in Cornwall specially for waterworks duty.
> ...



That's an *7' 6" bore* and an *11' stroke*.

Now them's thar's some HUGE engines !!

Mike


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