Rough and Tumble Engineering Part 6

After attaching a lubricator, all valves should be opened wide and live steam blown through the outer vents for a few minutes to insure the openings clean and free. Then follow the usual directions given with all lubricators. Be particular in getting your lubricator attached so it will stand perfectly plum, in order that the drop can pa.s.s up through the gla.s.s without touching the sides, and keep the drop-nipple clean, be particular to drain in cold weather.

Now, I am about to leave you alone with your engine, just as I have left any number of young engineers after spending a day with them in the field and on the road. And I never left one, that I had not already made up my mind fully, as to what kind of an engineer he would make.

TWO WAYS OF READING ____

Now there are two ways to read this book, and if I know just how you had read it I could tell you in a minute whether to take hold of an engine or leave it alone. If you have read it one way, you are most likely to say "it is no trick to run an engine." If you have read it the other way you will say, "It is no trouble to learn how to run an engine." Now this fellow will make an engineer, and will be a good one. He has read it carefully, noting the drift of my advice. Has discovered that the engineer is not expected to build an engine, or to improve it after it has been built. Has recognized the fact that the principle thing is to attend to his own business and let other people attend to theirs. That a monkey wrench is a tool to be left in the tool box till he knows he needs it. That muscle is a good thing to have but not necessary to the successful engineer. That an engineer with a bunch of waste in his hand is a better recommendation than an "engineer license." That good common sense, and a cool head is the very best tools he can have. Has learned that carelessness will get him into trouble, and that to "forget" costs money.

Now the fellow who said "It is no trick to run an engine," read this book another way. He did not see the little points. He was hunting for big theories, scientific theories, something he could not understand, and didn't find them. He expected to find some bright scheme to prevent a boiler from exploding, didn't notice the simple little statement, "keep water in it," that was too commonplace to notice. He was looking for cuts, diagrams, geometrical figures, theories for constructing engines and boilers and all that sort of thing and didn't find them.

Hence "It is no trick to run an engine."

If this has been your idea of "Rough and Tumble Engineering" forget all about your theory, and go back and read it over and remember the little suggestions and don't expect this book to teach you how to build an engine. We didn't start out to teach you anything of the kind. That is a business of itself. A good engineer gets better money than the man who builds them. Read it as if you wanted to know how to run an engine and not how to build one.

Study the following questions and answers carefully. Don't learn them like you would a piece of poetry, but study them, see if they are practical; make yourself thoroughly acquainted with the rule for measuring the horse-power of an engine; make yourself so familiar with it that you could figure any engine without referring to the book. Don't stop at this, learn to figure the heating surface in any boiler. It will enable you to satisfy yourself whether you are working your boiler or engine too hard or what it ought to be capable of doing.

SOME THINGS TO KNOW

Q. What is fire?

A. Fire is the rapid combustion or consuming of organic matter.

Q. What is water?

A. Water is a compound of oxygen and hydrogen. In weight 88 9-I0 parts oxygen to II I-I0 hydrogen. It has its maximum density at 39 degrees Fahr., changes to steam at 2I2 degrees, and to ice at 32 degrees.

Q. What is smoke?

A. It is unconsumed carbon finely divided escaping into open air.

Q. Is excessive smoke a waste of fuel?

A. Yes.

Q. How will you prevent it A. Keep a thin fire, and admit cold air sufficient to insure perfect combustion.

Q. What is low water as applied to a boiler?

A. It is when the water is insufficient to cover all parts exposed to the flames.

Q. What is the first thing to do on discovering that you have low water?

A. Pull out the fire.

Q. Would it be safe to open the safety valve at such time?

A. No.

Q. Why not?

A. It would relieve the pressure on the water which being allowed to flow over the excessive hot iron would flash into steam, and might cause an explosion.

Q. Why do boilers sometimes explode just on the point of starting the engine?

A. Because starting the engine has the same effect as opening the safety valve.

Q. Are there any circ.u.mstances under which an engineer is justified in allowing the water to get low?

A. No.

Q. Why do they sometimes do it?

A. From carelessness or ignorance.

Q. May not an engineer be deceived in the gauge of water?

A. Yes.

Q. Is he to be blamed under such circ.u.mstances?

A. Yes.

Q. Why?

A. Because if he is deceived by it it shows he has neglected something.

Q. What is meant by "Priming."

A. It is the pa.s.sing of water in visible quant.i.ties into the cylinder with the steam.

Q. What would you consider the first duty of an engineer on discovering that the water was foaming or priming A. Open the cylinder c.o.c.ks at once, and throttle the steam.

Q. Why would you do this?

A. Open the c.o.c.ks to enable the water to escape, and throttle the steam so that the water would settle.

Q. Is foaming the same as priming?

A. Yes and no.

Q. How do you make that out?

A. A boiler may foam without priming, but it can't prime without first foaming..

Q. Where will you first discover that the water is foaming?

A. It will appear in the gla.s.s gauge, the gla.s.s will have a milky appearance and the water will seem to be running down from the top, There will be a snapping or cracking in the cylinder as quick as priming begins.

Q. What causes a boiler to foam?

A. There are a number of causes. It may come from faulty construction of boiler; it may have insufficient steam room. It may be, and usually is, from the use of bad water, muddy or stagnant water, or water containing any soapy substance.

Q. What would you do after being bothered in this way?

A. Clean out the-boiler and get better water if possible.

Q. How would you manage your pumps while the water was foaming.

A. Keep them running full.

Q. Why?

A. In order to make up for the extra amount of water going out with the steam.

Q. What is "cushion?"

A. Cushion is steam retained or admitted in front of the piston head at the finish of stroke, or when the engine is on "center."

Q. What is it for?

A. It helps to overcome the "inertia" and momentum of the reciprocating parts of the engine, and enables the engine to pa.s.s the center without a jar.

Q. How would you increase the cushion in an engine?