My excellent nephew gave me for my birthday the other day an admired book on the history of the Royal Navy and a tiny brass steam engine powered by a candle, about 5" tall and 2" across.
Its boiler holds 20ml of water and it takes about ten minutes to come to the boil. A sachet of lubricating oil is provided. Once the pressure is high enough the thing purrs rapidly for ten or fifteen minutes. It's far too small to power anything except itself.
The nephew reminded me that when he was young I once gave him a small steam engine that worked in exactly the same way but wasn't as tiny and jewel-like as this one. It had a power takeoff pulley... but it was a crude little thing, fuelled with meths. Had to be oiled constantly to stop it from seizing.
Cheered me up that. Sweet little machines always cheer me up.
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ahh memories, i had a number of mamod steam engines...i used to fill the boiler with very hot water to speed up the waiting time for the meths burner to turn it to steam
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Mamod are still going. treat yourself!
www.mamod.co.uk/
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Very educational, Mamod steam engines - amongst the things I learnt...
(a) Paraffin and shredded cardboard are no substitute for meths
(b) Placing engine powered by said combination against the shed door, in order to get the draught to accelerate the combustion, may (your circumstances may differ) set fire to the shed door
(c) (b) is not a good idea if said door is the only proper exit
(d) the sound of breaking shed windows may (again, your circumstances may vary) attract the attention of parents
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Well, give somebody a Mamod but don't let them have any meths, how is that ever going to work ?
And I'd swear it's almost easier to get hold of crack than meths these days, good job the old Trangia doesn't get much use now
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>> And I'd swear it's almost easier to get hold of crack than meths these days,
>>
Most chemist shops sell meths, I bought a 500ml bottle recently.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 22 Sep 13 at 20:51
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>> >> And I'd swear it's almost easier to get hold of crack than meths these
>> days,
>> >>
>>
>> Most chemist shops sell meths, I bought a 500ml bottle recently.
>>
and how many street corners do you have to pass to get to the chemist? :)
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Always thought you were a Buckie's man ON?
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There was a Mamod working steam lorry and a steamroller and/or traction engine, and there was a horizontal engine with two oscillating cylinders and pistons, even what you might call a crankshaft. But Mamod were a bit crude in their construction, a bit of bent wire here and there.
My new do-nothing desktop steam engine is German and very small and well-finished. It has no practical purpose or use.
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>> Cheered me up that. Sweet little machines always cheer me up.
>>
What a cracking nephew you have.
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>> What a cracking nephew you have.
Yes, he's exceptional in many ways. Heart and brains.
I once posted his account of being pickpocketed in Soho Square, his pursuit of the thief - he caught him, but the pickpocket had confederates running interference and speaking some exotic Slavic language, perhaps Albanian - and eventual soft-hearted refusal to prefer charges. I think it's called 'making a complaint' now. Wonder if anyone remembers that.
He works for a communications giant that pays him well, although I haven't a clue what he actually does. He seems good at that corporate stuff which has moved on a bit since my day. I bet he's wasted though.
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>> speaking some
>> exotic Slavic language, perhaps Albanian
tsk, tchah, mumble, grumble, albanian isn't slavic, mutter, moan, wibble.................
;-)
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>> albanian isn't slavic, mutter, moan, wibble.................
Aaaargh... sort of knew that, hence the word 'exotic', but sloppily thought no one would really care.
Must try harder (see me after class)...
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>>(see me after class)...
Be afraid, be very afraid!
:o)
Last edited by: Dog on Mon 23 Sep 13 at 13:10
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>> My excellent nephew gave me for my birthday the other day ......... and a tiny brass steam engine powered by a candle, about 5" tall and 2" across.
Made by Wilesco?
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Love Mamod, still got the static engine plus steam engine. I lerned that cleaning the brass tank with some of that Duraglit (?) stuff was a very bad idea with the meths still burning.
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I may have hinted in the past my retirement "job" of the past 7mths is buying & selling stuff... small collectibles and other things.
This exact same Wilesco outfit came up a few months ago but I wasn't brave enough to take the bidding to the upper limits... I chickened out around £250
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Wilesco_D32.jpg
I see Mamod stuff sold most weeks but rarely buy as it often reaches its value with no margin left.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Sun 22 Sep 13 at 20:15
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Depending on the day and the competition they can go £350-£650. In the flesh they are the ultimate engineering inclined 50-75yr old boy's toy.
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Those are very fine. But mine isn't one of those big ones with proper valve gear. It's very small with only 3 moving parts.
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I keep tracking some of the Stuart models when they appear on EBay- but generally the prices go to the point at which I chicken out. My aim is to find a good mill style engine as a wedding anniversary present for daughter. SoniL will not be impressed, but they did have the UK wedding party at www.kbsm.org/engines/dancers-end-engine along with a running engine!
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>> THIS is a steam engine: bestpoems.ucoz.com/_bl/0/58795626.jpg
>>
>> :o}
>>
I think THIS is a steam Engine:-
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuHJBIMj_rs
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Amazing stuff, quite graceful really - poetry in motion!
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>> THIS is a steam engine: bestpoems.ucoz.com/_bl/0/58795626.jpg
There's a guy on the IOM building a steam powered motorbike for an attempt on the land speed record for its class (gawd only knows what that is). He's based here at Jurby airfield: jtmiom.im/
Whatever happened to the Hornby steam loco they launched a few years ago? I recall seeing a demonstration and chatting to a rep who told me what current it was drawing from the rails. I thought it seemed rather a lot - perhaps it was too much.
Some time ago I saw a small model boat powered by a sort of steam powered pulse jet. IIRC a tea light flame heated a bulb which shot a jet of steam out a nozzle, pushing the craft forward, this resulted in a small amount of water being drawn into the bulb which was heated, resulting in a jet of steam etc......................................
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What a great present . Now, as the man who has everything (!), I know what to ask for for Christmas!!
Actually, I don't have everything, but never know what to ask for for Xmas or Birthday.
"Kids" have given me sub to Private Eye for about last 20 years - suits me and them.
Oh, and plus a few bottles of wine and the odd single malt.
Last edited by: PhilW on Sun 22 Sep 13 at 21:54
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Mine ran on Metafuel, a sort of solidified meths in white tablet form, otherwise doubling up as slug pellets for some reason.
I also inherited from my father a much more powerful two-cylinder engine, for which I built a wood-burning boiler and fitted it into a home-made paddle boat. I followed in a rowing dinghy, to retrieve it or rescue from the wash of passing boats.
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That's the sort of thing I mentioned in an earlier post.
Are they still produced?
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>> That's the sort of thing I mentioned in an earlier post.
>>
>> Are they still produced?
>>
Ted will know the answer, but I don't believe so. Apparently they used a fair amount of electricity to run.
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In truth I prefer 12in to the foot scale. I took the youngest to see this running a few weeks ago:
www.ellenroad.org.uk/
Even running on one boiler (out of four originally) and at much reduced pressure it is a very impressive sight.
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>> In truth I prefer 12in to the foot scale.
So do I - you can play with this
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhbhkSlNKkc
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 24 Sep 13 at 10:06
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Charming present - zookeeper
