johnsmachines

I am back onto the triple expansion steam engine, after putting it aside for most of 2016.  I am guessing that it is about 75% completed.  I have been struggling with this project due to poor plans, no instructions and some lack of skill and knowledge.

When I was well into the project, a colleague pointed out that detailed instructions existed in some articles published in 1985 (Model Engineer, Bertinat).  I obtained the articles, and subsequent progress has been greatly assisted, but unfortunately some errors had already crept into my work, and these have not been easily or completely rectified.

So now I am back into it.  And I would hope to have it finished and working by the end of the year.  Watch for pictures when there is something to show.

I am already thinking about what will follow the triple.  Maybe a Harrison 1 clock? (of “Longitude” fame.)  Looking for some plans.

Or maybe some more artillery?  How about a working  model  trebuchet?  Now that does have some appeal.  There are some plans on the Net, but they look over simplistic.  I am thinking of a more historically accurate model.  The following picture is from an old French encyclopaedia.  But I might have to abandon my preferred scale of 1:10 because the original was about 12 meters long.  But on the other hand……

It does have some interesting features.  The ratcheted windlass, the travelling pulley, the trigger mechanism (“pulling the pin”), and the projectile release mechanism (trying to avoid the projectile going up vertically).