Small steam boiler plant.

Here is a small steam boiler plant I've recently finished for use with my smaller steam engines. Actually what I've done is combined a few of the odd items I had laying around and combined them into an operable steam plant minus the steam engine.This way I can use it for different purposes.

Learning much about steam boilers from Joe Michaels I took this one slow and easy. This boiler is 6" in diameter standing about 20" to the top of the stack so it is a substantial boiler capable of running larger bore small steam engines at a slow speed.This is all I want it to do. Testing will be this weekend.

The boiler is a proper fire tube boiler with a gas burner in the firebox.It has been hydrostatically tested to 80 psi and will be operating at 35 psi.The smoke box was missing.If you look closely you will see an old pressure gauge case and bezel "I made do".

Two ways of water feed..a Simplex pump and a hand pump. I believe both are very old as well as the boiler. I dislike using compression fittings with steam ( it's a no no ) but toward the end my collection of small 1/8" npt fittings ran sparse. As a somewhat temporary measure I used a bit of new with the old.Eventually I hope to change these lines to match the Victorian look I was trying to achieve.

There is a bit more to do..a proper Displacement lubricator for the steam pump and some minor odds and ends.

That is beautiful, very nice work.

A few more detailed pictures. This plant is far from perfect. I know the pressure gauge has too high of a pressure spectrum for this small boiler plus it is too large. But the little gauge is too small! The little gauge came with the boiler and the bigger one I had just laying around waiting to be damaged so... on it went.

The base all this sits on is a cast iron griddle from my Mom's estate. Yes..I destroyed it as a griddle plate. But I figured when I'm dead it'll just be sold for a few bucks so "engineered" a bit of my Mother's memory into this plant.

One of the pics show the repair I did to the gas burner. Somebody had drilled the orfice out to 1/8" and when I experimented with it a ball of flame resulted.Consequently I fitted a proper orfice resulting in nice blue flames.

Just a few pics to warm the heart on these cold winter days

If any can identify the Maker or manufacturer of any of these items I would appreciate it.

Work of art

Hello Lester:

Thank you for the kind words. I am glad you are getting more familiar and comfortable around small firetube steam boilers. Obviously, a copper boiler is less likely to have to corrosion issues an old steel one would have.

It is a beautiful old boiler. Perhaps a tad large for a model, maybe a teaching aid in a technical school "back in the day". We can only speculate. I am glad the boiler is in your capable and appreciative hands. It is in the best possible place where it will neither be regarded as "steam punk" or used as a "decorator item" in some trendy bar or similar, nor will it be put into static preservation in someone's collection where it will be put "under glass" never to steam again. You are just the person to have this boiler.

The boiler and its appurtances are true works of art. I share your sentiments about modern compression fittings vs the original look of the Victorian era steamfitting practice. A compromise that might look a bit better and also be a much safer and more substantial and sounder type of fitting are the "Swagelok" fittings. These are made of brass, stainless or carbon steel and are made to close tolerances (called "gaugeable fittings"). Swagelok uses a two-piece ferrule to really swedge and grip the tubing with a much more positive hold than the "olives" (to use the British term for compression ferrules). With their heavier look, the Swagelok fittings might also be a bit more in keeping with the era of the boiler.

I am sure that, over time, you will re-pipe where needed to get the piping all consistent with the times when that boiler was made. I am also sure you have a lineup of engines, like that little launch engine in one of your threads (with the "porcupine boiler"), awaiting their turn to run on steam.

In an interesting twist, I had gone through life thinking copper kettles and pressure vessels were- barring abuse or worse- likely to last "forever". We were visiting a small brewery in Minneapolis with our son a couple of years ago. They had brought the equipment from a small German traditional brewery to Minneapolis and put it back into use. In talking with the people who run this brewery, they told us that they wanted to grow into a traditional brewery with copper mash tun and copper brew kettle. They located a closed small brewery in Germany and negotiated to buy the equipment. One of the things they did was to have the copper vessels ultrasonically gauged to determine remaining thickness. They explained that over time, some of the copper leaches into the wort (a liquid cooked in the brew kettles) and thins the copper. The UT showed an actual loss of material, but plenty of life still left, so the kettles and mash tun came to Minneapolis and are back in use.

My guess is your boiler saw occasional steaming, maybe for demonstration/class purposes, maybe for hobby/model use. Barring bad water chemistry with scaling in the boiler and on the tubes, I doubt there was any serious loss of material. I am sure you gave the boiler a thorough visual inspection before, during, and after the hydrostatic test. You are prudent and I know you will do just fine with this boiler.

As an aside, in England and Europe, it was fairly common practice on some steam locomotive to make the fireboxes out of copper, and sometimes copper firetubes as well. I did the boiler calculations on some Swedish steam locomotive brought into the USA. These had the copper fireboxes. I believe copper was used for the fireboxes for several reasons:
-easier to form than steel
-better able to absorb thermal stresses and resulting flexure than steel sheets (I've seen steel firebox flue sheets in steam locomotives that were rippled and had
cracks from thermal stresses and stress cycling causing an "oil canning" or flexure of the sheet)
-better heat transfer

The copper fireboxes were used on mainline express locomotives with coal firing, so obviously were up to the job. One engine whose drawings I looked over had actually gotten a new welded copper firebox in the 40's or early 50's. The other engine had a riveted copper firebox with wrought iron staybolts. Copper was definitely a common "engineering material" for steam service, used for piping as well as some boilers or boiler parts.

I'm sure you have an appropriate whistle picked out to liven up this boiler, aside from having engines to steam with it. Enjoy it !

mllud22 said:

Work of art

Click to expand...

Looks like something out of H.G. Wells.



Joe in NH

Thank you Joe..kind words there Everything you have said about the piping is absolutely correct and I couldn't agree more. I've just finished the thread on Fred Dibnah and how so many people commented on gathering things together thinking someday.. Well someday never comes but rather they found time to die. Some people are like this..the best intentions. As things become harder to find (especially vintage stuff) it is sometimes better to finish something than let it sit while "waiting" for the right parts to come along.

I knew a collector of old cars like this. Had some really rare cars but none ever got finished because of the search. I often think he enjoyed the search better than finishing up a car.He died and the executor of his estate stole the estate blind. So it goes.

Ah..Swageloc. I should have went to a good hydralic house and looked into that type of fitting.Very good advice and a good plan. How I wish I could find a jar of those early beaded fittings! I guess I'll just keep searching It will be right eventually. Mostly I just wanted to play with it and couldn't wait.

I also incorporated your "Quasi Superheater"..a coil of 3/8" copper tubing within the smoke box itself. However I took the steam feed for the Simplex off the "wet" side as it has a bronze shuttle valve assembly on top of the Pump steam cylinder. I was a bit concerned about lubrication issues and distortion.

Joe..these tubes are all rolled in properly and you guessed correctly that this boiler hasn't seen much use. Learning from you..I used a little camera and inspected the boiler internally. It is a wet leg boiler and had a bit of deposit there but it cleaned out nicely after a good soaking with vinegar.

I appreciated what you have written about copper fireboxes and the wrought iron stays.Interesting as this boiler has iron rivets.This boiler is also soldered with a high tin content solder...at least I assume this because it is difficult to scratch. However it is not silver soldered or brazed.

It had one small problem. At around 40 psi water would seep from a small pin hole near the top of the crown sheet where it is riveted to the firebox wrapper.I never could see a hole..just the smallest of seeps.

I used a diluted solution of Sodium Silicate within the boiler covering the bottom tube sheet.I brought this up to boiling point with the upper boiler orfices open.Then I let it cool slowly to a point I still needed to wear gloves dumping the solution. After it cooled down I again repeated this procedure but this time brought it up too 20 psi and let it cool down to where I could handle it with gloves. I dumped this solution and let it cool.

I was trying not to let Waterglass solidify in the wet leg.I was successful which I think was due to dumping the solution while still in a state of solution. Afterward I flushed the boiler and did another Hydrostat test to 80 psi and the seep is gone.

I have a whistle.. an alarm whistle off a "low water alarm" system which probably came off a water gauge column. A bit too big for this plant and much to small for the boiler you so generously ran the calculations on But yes..a whistle will come even if I have to make it.

I guess the British got away with copper due to low sulfur "Welsh steaming coal". Sulfur and copper do not get along well in a structure. Even alloys like nickel-silver can be a problem.

A copper firebox and a high sulfur coal seem like a problem waiting to happen. But I know it was done.

Lester: I am not getting a good impression of the size of the boiler. All I have to judge by is that handle showing in one or two of the pics. I am thinking maybe 5 or 6 inch diameter? Overall with stack, maybe 18 inches tall?

The valves look good, but I can't trust them, they look full size, but obviously are smaller...... no help on scale.

Definitely a fine looking setup.

You guessed pretty close JST. All the threaded piping, gauge cocks and fittings going into the boiler are 1/8" pipe thread.The copper boiler itself is 6" od x 11.5" tall. The base of the boiler adds to the height as well as the smokebox and stack..pretty close to 20" tall overall. It has nineteen 1/2" diameter flues.

The brass legs are about 4.5" tall. I can just carry it. I put the taller legs on it so I would have room for a water supply tank and some condensate trays. Here are a couple of pics when I first received it.

I was kind of thinking your in the moonshine business. John Law might think so anyway. Very snazzy looking pc of work. I wouldn't want to get it dirty by using it. Nice work. Regards, John.

Eventually those "seeps" on a riveted boiler close themselves in a sort of "rust joint." One of the reasons most riveted boilers are advised to "steam slow" (slow warming) is to not overly work the riveted and caulked joints due to thermal expansion - and possibly undo this "rust seal."

Joe in NH

What 1/8" NPT fittings do you need?

Lester,

If you'd post a list of the 1/8" NPT fittings which you need to finish this project exactly the way you want it, then pretty likely members of this forum would be willing to paw through their junk boxes and offer them to you. Be sure to tell us if iron, steel, or brass material is needed.

(Cast iron fittings are desired in some low-pressure steam applications, notably heating systems, because they can be removed by fracturing them even after the pipe has rusted in place.)

(BTW: I just recently heard an alleged etymology of the term "H___ Box" It's supposed called that because no one knows what the H__ is in it! I have no idea if this is actually correct, but it makes a nice story.)

"Expending" an antique griddle, even one with sentimental connections, for this project does not seem like a mistake. If anything, the sentimental connection makes it more appropriate. Griddles are still in mass production, whereas small steam plants aren't.

Now, it needs an engraved brass plate with your name and the date. This is a masterpiece; it deserves to be signed.

A wonderful success this morning steaming this plant. Well..the little Simplex feed pump isn't shuttling properly so I'll have to pay its shuttle valve a revisit. Other than that and a weak safety valve spring the boiler works perfectly.

So perfectly it even runs my little unknown steam launch engine which is a huge engine for this little boiler. At just a nice slow rpm the steam pressure keeps up with it and seems to be a nice match for it. Also the displacement lubricator is finally working properly.

Besides a few "nips" on leaky gland nuts which I adjusted while bringing it up to operating pressure the plant just works perfectly.The copper boiler and brass piping turned that golden color you get from higher temperature exposure.

The Simplex needs small cylinder drain cocks fitted which I will do.This pump has always been touchy. I will disassemble the steam valve and see what I find.It worked before..it'll work again

Some pics here JST for a better sense of scale..even my wife likes this little steam plant

That's really wonderful!

Nice re-purposing of parts like the griddle. At first I thought you built all of it, but gather it is an antique? Any known history?
Also perceived it to be much larger, last set of pix are great for scale and atmosphere.

smt

The secondary shuttle which operates the "D" valve was rusted up and did't move freely in its bore. I disassembled the Simplex pump valving mechanism cleaning all the parts. I used silver paste polish and lapped the shuttles into their bores and cleaned everything thoroughly. I also resurfaced the bottom of the valve chamber. It went back together nicely but I'm going to fit a drain cock on the steam cylinder before it goes back onto the plant.

This is GENUINE steam punk.
How could it get any better?

As far as I know these three main pieces are from the 1880 to 1910 period. The steam pump is questionable. I haven't been able to document this pump at all as being a model engineering piece. It came from the estate of a well known Boston collector of steam engines. It COULD be a salesman sample or a "one off" by a talented builder. Due to the sophistication of the castings I lean toward the salesman sample but we'll probably never know.

I tried to recreate a Victorian steam plant using early pieces collected over the last five or six years. One piece at a time...like the old Johnny Cash song. Each piece I carefully sympathetically restored back to operating condition. I could have never afforded to buy such a steam boiler plant of this vintage so chose a more interesting approach

Glad you like it.I suppose I'll never stop trying to relive my boyhood and that simple Jensen Steam engine I wore out. It is a very rewarding experience to put together such a small but very complete steam boiler plant using true antiques and older technology.

Here is another similar although smaller vintage plant ( pic courtesy of Ebay) which recently was advertised but didn't sale. I like this boiler as well but I like mine better