Trains, ships, cars , trucks (or lorries according to which side of the Atlantic you are) boats, pumps, motorbikes, aircraft, factories, mills, machinery, ploughing,
lawnmowers, sewing machines, and even dentists drills.
All these and many others can be preceded by the word STEAM, for that is what was used to power them in the past.
But was it only in the past?
There is an increasing number of people who are realising that steam also has a place in the future, and that there are some circumstances which make it a viable alternative to other sources
There is still some research being conducted on steam engines, and we might even see a resurgence of steam power.

If you don't know how a steam engine works, CLICK HERE.

                            STEAM IN THE FUTURE.
There are lots of experiments being conducted on steam engines , and their close
relatives, the hot-air engine.
There are some situations where it can provide an economic source of power and may be more energy-efficient than other power sources.
It may also cause less pollution.
One site which contains information on some of the latest research on steam locomotives is:-
                                                       The ultimate steam page.

MISCELLANEOUS STEAM INFORMATION.

A commercial engine rated at 3 HP, produced 1500 watts electrical output plus 150,000 btu from the exhaust, using 20 lbs. wood / hour fuel.

90% of USA power is generated by steam.

One steam engine in the UK ran from 1800 to 1950 for 24 hours per day.

This is just to show that steam can be long-living, is still used,
and what a small modern plant will do.

There are some excellent computer programmes available for calculating a various parts of a steam engine (see the LINKS page).

Some allow you to make changes in the design and see the effects before you start cutting metal.

Before the days of computers, the calculations were tedious, time consuming, and often the results
uncertain. (Some of the "old" formulas have been found to be erroneous.)
Usually people used figures based upon the limited lengthy calculations, plus a wealth of knowledge from the past, and often, plain old trial and error.
From this prior knowledge, tables were produced to give the required dimension.
They are surprisingly accurate, or can be used as a starting point for subsequent calculation or experiment.

To these are added some modern findings and formulas, plus notes from my own experience.

NOTE. All dimensions are Imperial unless otherwise stated. That is UK Imperial, so it includes the UK gallon not the little US one. (That is why we get such good mpg from our cars!)

1 UK gallon = 1.20095 US gallons
1 UK gallon = 8 UK pints =4 UK quarts.
(For those who only understand, or prefer, metric measures, 1 UK gallon = 4.454 litres.)

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