|
Title: |
1904 Article-W. Foster & Co., Ltd., Steam Traction Engine |
|
Source: |
English and American Steam Carriages and Traction Engines 1904 pgs 325-327 |
|
Insert Date: |
9/1/2011 8:45:50 PM |
MESSRS. W. FOSTER AND CO. — A single-cylinder traction engine is illustrated by Fig. 202. The special feature consists of an awning covering the whole of the engine from end to end. The cylinder is cast from close-grained tough iron of special hardness; the starting-valve is placed in the highest part of which the working of the engine can be changed from compound to a double-cylinder high-pressure engine, useful for starting with a heavy load behind, for mounting a steep gradient, or passing over rough ground. In order to make a change from compound to high-pressure working, both cylinders exhaust into one common exhaust-pipe. By means of the auxiliary valve it is possible to admit high-pressure steam to the low-pressure cylinder only, and thus work as a single cylinder engine. The arrangement of the spring mounting is illustrated and described in Chapter VII. The gearing is proportioned for giving three speeds, of 2½, 4, and 6 miles an hour, when the engine is running at 250 revolutions a minute. A single clutch lever puts any of the speeds out of gear, or into mesh, without the possibility of two sets of gearing being put into gear at the same time.
From the illustration it will be seen that the engine is supplied with a supplementary water-tank mounted beneath the boiler barrel, fitted with a filling pocket, a water-lifter, and a hose-pipe, and a Moore steam pump as a duplicate feeding arrangement. The steering chain barrel is placed beneath the tank; the chains are attached to an angle-iron ring on the front axle, to which a round box is hung. The front axle is provided with a plate spring. Side plates are fitted to the engine for screening the working parts; a disc flywheel and an awning form part of the equipment. |
|
1904 W. Foster & Co., Ltd., Steam Traction Engine
1904 W. Foster & Co., Ltd., Compound Steam Road Locomotive
|
|