# An engine by a different Elmer



## mklotz (Oct 25, 2007)

Elmer Wall

http://web.mac.com/lilenginebob/iWeb/Site/AN ELMER WALL TRIBUTE.html

 was the Elmer Verburg of the early part of the twentieth century.  While many of his engines were IC (a flawed concept that will never catch on), he did design a number of steam engines.

In the April 1986 edition of "Modeltec", Dave Farmer posted plans* for Elmer's "Pretty Little Three Poster".  The engine struck my fancy because it incorporates some interesting features that I hadn't tried before.  Here are two overall views of the engine...












The design incorporates a banjo steam valve which allows one to adjust the angle of the steam inlet pipe as well as control the speed of the engine.  Also, blowcocks with their own tiny valves are fitted.  The crosshead is an unusual design, consisting of two 1/8" square rods threaded into the bottom of the cylinder.  This is shown more clearly with the engine lying on its side.










This was a fun engine to build and it's a good runner after a bit of tinkering to correct problems arising from the poor plans.

If the pictures appear to have a slight reddish cast, chalk it up to the fires here in Sourthern California.  Normally, the sunlight reflected from our concrete driveway appears white.  For the last three days it's had an orange-red color due to all the ash in the atmosphere.  The upside of this is that, for the last several days, we've had highs in the 90s and humidity around 20% - perfect conditions for working in Garaj Mahal.

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* These plans are truly awful.  Apparently, the original plans no longer exist and Dave drew up the plans by measuring the surviving model.  His skill at deriving plans leaves a lot to be desired.  Dimensions are "as machined" so one gets oddities like a block that's dimensioned 1.590 x 1.070 x 0.878.  In addition, some dimensions are missing and there are numerous glaring errors (like a 10-32 gland specified to thread into a 1/4-32 hole).  Obviously Dave never built an engine from his derived plans.


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## 1Kenny (Oct 25, 2007)

Marv,

Neat looking little engine. I do have a question. After doing a Google search for _blowcock_ to know what they do I find a whole different discription from how you are useing them. What do they do?

Thanks
Kenny


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## shred (Oct 25, 2007)

Neat engine.  Somebody (not naming names, but well, they built one.. ) should write up a better set of plans..

Searching for steam-related terms on Google is always risky..


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## 1Kenny (Oct 25, 2007)

Ok, when I put _steam engine _in front of _ballcock_ on a search it explanes it.

 Kenny


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## mklotz (Oct 25, 2007)

They're used to get the condensate out of the cylinder.  Opening the small valves vents the portions of the cylinder above/below to the atmosphere so that the condensate can be blown out.

Somebody who is familiar with model locomotives can probably explain the logic and use better than I can.  If I'm not mistaken (and I often am), the blowcocks on a locomotive can be operated via a control in the cab.  Any good movie featuring a steam loco arriving at the station will show it stopping and then venting a blast of steam from the cylinder area.  I'm guessing that's the blowcocks operating.  Similar effect when the train begins to pull out.  (I await correction on this.)

I doubt they serve any real useful purpose on this tiny engine but they're nice eye candy and they do give me a chance to see the ladies giggle when I respond, "Blowcocks" to their "What are those cute little things?" question.


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## Capt Turk (Oct 27, 2007)

Cylinder drains are manadatory on a piston valve steam engine.  Without them, the condensation in the cylinders will fluid lock the piston and end up blowing the head off the engine.
In a slide, or D valve engine, the valve will lift and let the condensation flow past the valve and exit the exhaust.

Capt Turk


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