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Title: |
1908 Article-Port Huron Engine & Thresher Co., Steam Traction Engine |
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Source: |
The Traction Engine, Its Use and Abuse, 1908, pgs. 161-165 |
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Insert Date: |
3/19/2014 9:57:26 PM |
THE POET HURON TRACTION ENGINE.
This engine is built by the Port Huron Engine and Thresher Co., and belongs to the same class as the one just described; that is, it has all its machinery mounted on the boiler and also a short wheelbase.
The boiler belongs to the locomotive type with smokestack in front. The firebox has a circular bottom and is water-jacketed all around. The waist seam, connecting the firebox to the boiler, is double riveted and the tubes are lap-welded with a copper ferrule for tightener between the tubes and the tube sheet. The furnace door and its frame are of cast-iron and bolted to the firebox, allowing it to be removed for repair. The smoke-box is relatively long.
A cross-head pump with condensing heater and an injector furnish the boiler with water. The engine is of the side crank type with a girder-like frame and bored guides. Instead of the usual slide valve of the D type this company makes use of four independent valves of the poppet type, resulting in a square cut-off very similar to the cut-off of the Corliss engine. The valve (see Fig. 45) consists of a hollow cylindrical body with circular discs on each end fitting the valve seats. The disc on the boiler side is of a little larger area than the one on the cylinder side, thus keeping the valve seated by the excess of steam pressure due to this difference in area and assisted by a light spring. The valves are operated by cams on a cylindrical rotating shaft deriving its motion from the crankshaft by means of bevel gears. (See Fig. 46.) This shaft opens and closes the valves at the right time by the cams operating on the stems of the valve. The reversing as well as the regulating of the engine is accomplished by shifting this shaft along its own axle by means of a lever in the cab.
A key-way in the bevel gears and a key in the shaft keeps them always in the right position relatively to each other. This valve gear allows the valves to be kept wide open as long as wanted and then cuts off very quickly, preventing all wire drawing of the steam.
A train of spur gears connects the crankshaft with the driver. Each driving-wheel axle is supported on a bracket fastened on the side of the firebox. The bracket is connected with the bracket on the opposite side of the firebox by a tie rod under the bottom (see Fig. 47). The driving wheels are solid, no springs being interposed between them and the boiler. The same is the case with the front wheels. In fact, absence of springs is a notable feature about this engine. |
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1908 Port Huron Engine & Thresher Co., Steam Traction Engine
1908 Port Huron Engine & Thresher Co., Steam Traction Engine (Details)
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