Rough and Tumble Engineering Part 5

A locomotive engineer makes a run for a hill in order that the momentum of his train will help carry him over. It is not so with a traction and its load; the momentum that you get don't push very hard.

The engineer who don't know how to throttle his engine never knows what it will do, and therefore has but little confidence in it; while the engineer who has a thorough knowledge of the throttle and uses it, always has power to spare and has perfect confidence in his engine. He knows exactly what he can do and what he cannot do.

The second thing for you to know is to get onto the tricks of the steer wheel. This will come to you naturally, and it is not necessary for me to spend much time on it. All new beginners make the mistakes of turning the wheel too often. Remember this-that every extra turn to the right requires two turns to the left, and every extra turn to the left requires two more to the right; especially is this the care if your engine is fast on the road.

The third thing for you to learn, is to keep your eyes on the front wheels of your engine, and not be looking back to see if your load in coming.

In making a difficult turn you will find it very much to your advantage to go slow, as it gives you much better control of your front wheels, and it is not a bad plan for a beginner to continue to go slow till he has perfect confidence in his ability to handle the steer wheel as it may keep you out of some bad sc.r.a.pes.

How about getting into a hole? Well, you are not interested half as much in knowing how to get into a hole as You are in knowing how to get out. An engineer never shows the stuff he is made of to such good advantage as when he gets into a hole; and he is sure to get there, for one of the traits of a traction engine is its natural ability to find a soft place in the ground.

Head work will get you out of a bad place quicker than all the steam you can get in your boiler. Never allow the drivers to turn without doing some good. If you are in a hole, and you are able to turn your wheels, you are not stuck; but don't allow your wheels to slip, it only lets you in deeper. If your wheels can't get a footing, you want to give them something to hold to. Most smart engineers will tell you that the best thing is a heavy chain. That is true. So are gold dollars the best things to buy bread with, but you have not always got the gold dollars, neither have you always got the chain. Old hay or straw is a good thing; old rails or timber of any kind. The engineer with a head spends more time trying to give his wheels a hold than he does trying to pull out, while the one without a head spends more time trying to pull out than he does trying to secure a footing, and the result is, that the first fellow generally gets out the first attempt, while the other fellow is lucky if he gets out the first half day.

If you have one wheel perfectly secure, don't spoil it by starting your engine till you have the other just as secure.

If you get into a place where your engine is unable to turn its wheels, then your are stuck, and the only thing for you to do is to lighten your load or dig out. But under all circ.u.mstances your engine should be given the benefit of your judgment.

All traction engines to be practical must of a necessity, be reversible.

To accomplish this, the link with the double eccentric is the one most generally used, although various other devices are used with more or less success. As they all accomplish the same purpose it is not necessary for us to discuss the merits or demerits of either.

The main object is to enable the operator to run his engine either backward or forward at will, but the link is also a great cause of economy, as it enables the engineer to use the steam more or less expansively, as he may use more or less power, and, especially is this true, while the engine is on the road, as the power required may vary in going a short distance, anywhere from nothing in going down hill, to the full power of your engine in going up.

By using steam expansively, we mean the cutting off of the steam from the cylinder, when the piston has traveled a certain part of its stroke.

The earlier in the stroke this is accomplished the more benefit you get of the expansive force of the steam.

The reverse on traction engines is usually arranged to cut off at I/4, I/2 or 3/4. To ill.u.s.trate what is meant by "cutting off" at I/4, I/2 or 3/4, we will suppose the engine has a I2 inch stroke. The piston begins its stroke at the end of cylinder, and is driven by live steam through an open port, 3 inches or one quarter of the stroke, when the port is closed by the valve shutting the steam from the cylinder, and the piston is driven the remaining 9 inches of its stroke by the expansive force of the steam. By cutting off at I/2 we mean that the piston is driven half its stroke or 6 inches by live steam, and by the expansion of the steam the remaining 6 inches; by 3/4 we mean that live steam is used 9 inches before cutting off, and expansively the remaining 3 inches of stroke.

Here is something for you to remember: "The earlier in the stroke you cut off the greater the economy, but less the power; the later you cut off the less the economy and greater the power."

Suppose we go into this a little farther. If you are carrying I00 pounds pressure and cut off at I/4, you can readily see the economy of fuel and water, for the steam is only allowed to enter the cylinder during I/4 of its stroke; but by reason of this, you only get an average pressure on the piston head of 59 pounds throughout the stroke. But if this is sufficient to do the work, why not take advantage of it and thereby save your fuel and water? Now, with the same pressure as before, and cutting off at I/2, you have an average pressure on piston head of 84 pounds, a loss of 50 per cent in economy and a gain of 42 per cent in power. Cutting of at 3/4 gives you an average pressure of 96 pounds throughout the stroke. A loss on cutting off at I/4 of 75 per cent in economy, and a gain of nearly 63 per cent in power. This shows that the most available point at which to work steam expansively is at I/4, as the percentage of increase of power does not equal the percentage of loss in economy. The nearer you bring the reverse lever to center of quadrant, the earlier will the valve cut the steam and the less will be the average pressure, while the farther away from the center the later in the stroke will the valve cut the steam, and the greater the average pressure, and, consequently, the greater the power. We have seen engineers drop the reverse back in the last notch in order to make a hard pull, and were unable to tell why they did so.

Now, as far as doing the work is concerned, it is not absolutely necessary that you know this; but if you do know it, you are more likely to profit by it and thereby get the best results out of your engine.

And as this is our object, we want you to know it, and be benefitted by the knowledge. Suppose you are on the road with your engine and load, and you have a stretch of nice road. You are carrying a good head of steam and running with lever back in the corner or lower notch. Now your engine will travel along its regular speed, and say you run a mile this way and fire twice in making it. You now ought to be able to turn around and go back on the same road with one fire by simply hooking the lever up as short as it will allow to do the work. Your engine will make the same time with half the fuel and water, simply because you utilize the expansive force of the steam instead of using the live steam from boiler. A great many good engines are condemned and said to use too much fuel, and all because the engineer takes no pains to utilize the steam to the best advantage.

I have already advised you to carry a "high pressure;" by a high pressure I mean any where from I00 to I25 lbs. I have done this expecting you to use the steam expansively whenever possible, and the expansive force of steam increases very rapidly after you have reached 70 lbs. Steam at 80 lbs. used expansively will do nine times the work of steam at 25 lbs. Note the difference. Pressure 3 I-5 times greater.

Work performed, 9 times greater. I give you these facts trusting that you will take advantage of them, and if your engine at I00 or I00 lbs.

will do your work cutting off at I/4, don't allow it to cut off at I/2.

If cutting off at I/2 will do the work, don't allow it to cut off at 3/4, and the result will be that you will do the work with the least possible amount of fuel, and no one will have any reason to find fault with you or your engine.

Now we have given you the three points which are absolutely necessary to the successful handling of a traction engine, We went through it with you when running as a stationary; then we gave you the pointers-to be observed when running as a traction or road engine. We have also given you hints on economy, and if you do not already know too much to follow our advice, you can go into the field with an engine and have no fears as to the results.

How about bad bridges?

Well, a bad bridge is a bad thing, and you cannot be too careful. When you have questionable bridges to cross over, you should provide yourself with good hard-wood planks. If you can have them sawed to order have them 3 inches in the center and tapering to 2 inches at the ends. You should have two of these about 16 feet long, and two 2x12 planks about 8 feet long. The short ones for culverts, and for helping with the longer ones in crossing longer bridges.

An engine should never be allowed to drop from a set of planks down onto the floor of bridge. This is why I advocate four planks. Don't hesitate to use the plank. You had better plank a dozen bridges that don't need it than to attempt to cross one that does need it. You will also find it very convenient to carry at least 50 feet of good heavy rope. Don't attempt to pull across a doubtful bridge with the separator or tank hooked directly to the engine. It is dangerous. Here is where you want the rope. An engine should be run across a bad bridge very slowly and carefully, and not allowed to jerk. In extreme cases it is better to run across by hand; don't do this but once; get after the road supervisors.

SAND.

An engineer wants a sufficient amount of "sand," but he don't want it in the road. However, you will find it there and it is the meanest road you will have to travel. A bad sand road requires considerable sleight of hand on the part of the engineer if he wishes to pull much of a load through it. You will find it to your advantage to keep your engine as straight as possible, as you are not so liable to start one wheel to slipping any sooner than the other. Never attempt to "wiggle" through a sand bar, and don't try to hurry through; be satisfied with going slow, just so you are going. An engine will stand a certain speed through sand, and the moment you attempt to increase that speed, you break its footing, and then you are gone. In a case of this kind, a few bundles of hay is about the best thing you can use under your drivers in order to get started again. But don't loose your temper; it won't help the sand any.

Now no doubt the reader wonders why I have said nothing about compound engines. Well in the first place, it is not necessary to a.s.sist you in your work, and if you can handle the single cylinder engine, you can handle the compound.

The question as to the advantage of a compound engine is, or would be an interesting one if we cared to discuss it.

The compound traction engine has come into use within the past few years, and I am inclined to think more for sort of a novelty or talking point rather than to produce a better engine. There is no question but that there is a great advantage in the compound engine, for stationary and marine engines.

In a compound engine the steam first enters the small or high pressure cylinder and is then exhausted into the large or low pressure cylinder, where the expansive force is all obtained.

Two cylinders are used because we can get better results from high pressure in the use of two cylinders of different areas than by using but one cylinder, or simple engine.

That there is a gain in a high pressure, can be shown very easily:

For instance, 100 pounds of coal will raise a certain amount of water from 60 degrees, to 5 pounds steam pressure, and 102.9 pounds would raise the same water to 80 pounds, and 104.4 would raise it to 160 pounds, and this 160 pounds would produce a large increase of power over the 80 pounds at a very slight increase of fuel. The compound engine will furnish the same number of horse power, with less fuel than the simple engine, but only when they are run at the full load all the time.

If, however, the load fluctuates and should the load be light for any considerable part of the day, they will waste the fuel instead of saving it over the simple engine.

No engine can be subjected to more variation of loads than the traction engine, and as the above are facts the reader can draw his own conclusions.

FRICTION CLUTCH

The friction clutch is now used almost exclusively for engaging the engine with the propelling gearing of the traction drivers, and it will most likely give you more trouble than any one thing on your engine, from the fact that to be satisfactory they require a nicety of adjustment, that is very difficult to attain, a half turn of the expansion bolt one way or the other may make your clutch work very nicely, or very unsatisfactory, and you can only learn this by carefully adjusting of friction shoes, until you learn just how much clearance they will stand when lever is out, in order to hold sufficient when lever is thrown in. If your clutch fails to hold, or sticks, it is not the fault of the clutch, it is not adjusted properly. And you may have it correct today and tomorrow it will need readjustment, caused by the wear in the shoes; you will have to learn the clutch by patience and experience.

But I want to say to you that the friction clutch is a source of abuse to many a good engineer, because the engineer uses no judgment in its use.

A certain writer on engineering makes use of the following, and gives me credit: "Sometimes you may come to an obstacle in the road, over which your engine refuses to go, you may perhaps get over it in this way, throw the clutch-lever so as to disconnect the road wheels, let the engine get up to full speed and then throw the clutch level back so as to connect the road wheels." Now I don't thank any one for giving me credit for saying any such thing. That kind of thing is the hight of abuse of an engine.

I am aware that when the friction clutch first came into use, their representatives made a great talk on that sort of thing to the green buyer. But the good engineer knows better than to treat his engine that way.

Never attempt to pull your loads over a steep hill without being certain that your clutch is in good shape, and if you have any doubts about it put in the tight gear pin. Most all engines have both the friction and the tight gear pin. The pin is much the safer in a hilly country, and if you have learned the secret of the throttle you can handle just as big load with the pin as with the clutch, and will never tear your gearing off or lose the stud bolts in boiler.

The following may a.s.sist you in determining or arriving at some idea of the amount of power you are supplying with your engine:

For instance, a I inch belt of the standard grade with the proper tention, neither too tight or too loose, running at a. maximum spead of 800 ft. a minute will transmit one horse power, running 1600 ft. 2 horse power and 2400 ft. 3 horse power. A 2 inch belt, at the same speed, twice the power.

Now if you know the circ.u.mference of your fly wheel, the number of revolutions your engine is making and the width of belt, you can figure very nearly the amount of power you can supply without slipping your belt. For instance, we will say your fly wheel is 40 inches in diameter or 10.5 feet nearly in circ.u.mference and your engine was running 225 revolutions a minute, your belt would be traveling 225 x 10.5 feet = 2362.5 feet or very nearly 2400 ft. and if I inch of belt would transmit 3 H. P. running this speed, a 6 inch belt would transmit 18 H.P., a 7 inch belt, 21 H.P., an 8 inch belt 24 H.P., and so on. With the above as a basis for figuring you can satisfy yourself as to the power you are furnishing. To get the best results a belt wants to sag slightly as it hugs the pulley closer, and will last much longer.

SOMETHING ABOUT SIGHT-FEED LUBRICATORS

All such lubricators feed oil through the drop-nipple by hydrostatic pressure; that is, the water of condensation in the condenser and its pipe being elevated above the oil magazine forces the oil out of the latter by just so much pressure as the column of water is higher than the exit or outlet of oil-nipple. The higher the column of water the more positive will the oil feeds. As soon as the oil drop leaves the nipple it ceases to be actuated by the hydrostatic pressure, and rises through the water in the sight-gla.s.s merely by the difference of its specific gravity, as compared with water and then pa.s.ses off through the ducts provided to the parts to be lubricated.

For stationary engines the double connection is preferable, and should always be connected to the live steam pipe above the throttle. The discharge arm should always be long enough (4 to 6 inches) to insure the oil magazine and condenser from getting too hot, otherwise it will not condense fast enough to give continuous feed of oil. For traction or road engines the single connection is used. These can be connected to live steam pipe or directly to steam chest.

In a general way it may be stated that certain precaution must be taken to insure the satisfactory operation of all sight-feed lubricators. Use only the best of oil, one gallon of which is worth five gallons of cheap stuff and do far better service, as inferior grades not only clog the lubricator but chokes the ducts and blurs the sight-gla.s.s, etc., and the refuse of such oil will acc.u.mulate in the cylinder sufficiently to cause damage and loss of power, far exceeding the difference in cost of good oil over the cheap grades.