one of the instructive displays at the Brooks Steam Fest is a hand fabricated collection of a working scale model of about 105 different TYPES of steam engines, all run by little clear plastic tubes of compressed air from a small compressor.

A retired machinist built it IIRC something over 30 years ago.

I had no idea of the range of design differences. The board they are all mounted on I would guess is something around 36"x36". You could open or close miniature valves to control which model you wanted to watch.

Link to original video: https://youtu.be/WVjOQw84thc

There's a club or two around here. They are cool to watch but get pricey.

quote:

Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:



Link to original video: https://youtu.be/WVjOQw84thc

I recall helping Granny many times circa 1950ish, getting her Maytag with a similar motor, ready for action out in the side yard....

Are those washer motors hit and miss engines? They don't sound like it.

this one looks like a small 2 stroke;

'hit & miss' belies the effect yet simple control of power output of the older steam engine by an rpm limiting device. Some of these relied on a whirling set of weights that would spin outward as rpm increased, resulting in holding open a valve in the compression cylinder. As the missed power stroke slowed down the flywheel rotation a bit, there was a point at which such control was quite adequate for the purpose.

No electronic anything, just relatively simple mechanical linkages.