The Mike Brown steam engine: Simple, and elegant!Mike Brown teamed up with Skip Goebel (and McGregor Manufacturing, known for its accurate machine work) to produce a reliable and affordable homestead-size steam engine. This unique 1 horsepower engine is the result. It combines the most basic design (the proven "mill type" engine) with modern materials and superb craftsmanship. It features a roller bearing roller bearing One of the two types of rolling, or antifriction, bearings, the other being the ball bearing. Like a ball bearing, a roller bearing has two grooved tracks, but the balls are replaced by rollers. The rollers may be cylinders or shortened cones. crankshaft, needle bearings in the cross head, and precision machining. It's a delight to the eye, of extremely high quality, weighs 50 lbs. and it runs like a sewing machine sewing machine, device that stitches cloth and other materials. An attempt at mechanical sewing was made in England (1790) with a machine having a forked, automatic needle that made a single-thread chain. In 1830, B. . It's also simple. In the top photo the steam chest has been removed to show the D valve D´ valve` 1. (Mech.) A kind of slide valve. See See also: Exhaust . Compare this with the illustration on page 39 and you'll see how it works. This engine lists for $995 FOB FOB 1) adj. short for Free on Board, meaning shipped to a specific place without cost. 2) Friend of Bill (Clinton). (See: Free on Board) Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in Missouri. On July 1, 2006, its estimated population was 150,797, of whom 150,790 lived in Greene County and 7 lived in Christian County[1]. It is the county seat of Greene County. . The firm also offers a custom-made 2 hp engine, at $2150. But a 3-5 hp engine is planned ... and Mike Brown's goal is "to add larger engines to our line until we put the steam car back on the road." Mike offers blueprints for a 1 hp engine ($30), but cautions the do-it-yourselfer that it can take months to build one. Also available are plans for a 20-50 kw induction generator In`duc´tion gen´er`a`tor 1. A machine built as an induction motor and driven above synchronous speed, thus acting as an alternating-current generator; - called also asynchronous generator ltname>. , built mostly from junkyard parts. He is the author of How to Build a Junkyard Still and Brown's Alcohol Motor Fuel Cookbook (programming) cookbook - (From amateur electronics and radio) A book of small code segments that the reader can use to do various magic things in programs. One current example is the "PostScript Language Tutorial and Cookbook" by Adobe Systems, Inc (Addison-Wesley, ISBN . Build your own steam engine ... from a junk 4-cycle gas engine! The fact that you remove and throw away lots of parts -- and add just one (shown above) -- demonstrates how simple steam is compared to internal combustion. Plans for the conversion are available ($15) from The Steam Outlet. For further information: Basics of Steam Engineering, by Skip Goebel; 50 pages; $20: Sensible Steam, 152 Von Goebels Lane, Branson, MO 65616; 417-336-2869. (Videos also available: Home Scale Steam, and Building a Prototype Boiler; $30 each, both for $50.) The only other books on steam we could find are very old ... but these have been reprinted by Lindsay Publications: Boilers; Types & Design (1907) 133 pp; The Modern Steam Car (1932) 145 pp; Injectors: Their Theory, Construction & Working (1893) 188 pp. Check Lindsay's catalogs (they have several and all are worth having) for current availability and prices. PO Box 12, Bradley IL 60915; 815-935-5353; www.lindsaybks.com For a directory of 1999 events where old steamers can be seen, send $9 to Stemgas Publishing Co., PO Box 328, Lancaster PA 17608; ph 717-392-0733. |
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