looking for a good (and hopefully inexpensive 2nd hand) book describing steam locomotive valve gear.
i'm sure there are many. I already have a couple (white). but i'm looking for one more focused on valve gerar and its evolution.
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
I recommend Alfred W. Bruce's "The Steam Locomotive in America". It has an excellent description of the various elements of steam locomotives, including valve gear.
Ed
The Model Railroader Cyclopedia Vol. 1 Steam Locomotives by Linn Westcott (Kalmbach, 1960) has pretty good descriptions of Stevenson, Walschaerts', Southern, Young, and Baker valve gear. Other aspects of steam locomotive design are also covered, with emphasis on the elements of interest to someone who wants to build accurate scale models. Your problem is finding a copy. I have no idea how frequently they come up for sale, nor do I know current prices.
Gidday, while it's not a book, I wonder if you're aware of this link.....
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/appliances/valvegear.php
...... which contains other links to other moving pictures.
I like animation.
Cheers,the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
i'm glad to hear recomendations for the books I have.
I'm actually interested in "cutoff" which is closing and opening the cyclinder valves early to allow the steam to expand, extracting more energy from it, and using it to slow or cushion piston reversals. Apparently early locomotives wasted a lot of fuel and I'm also wondering if adjusting cutoff was a less recognized skill of the engineer.
The White books inventories early (1800s) valve gear and I thought said most had no cutoff or a limited number of settings before the Stephenson valve gear provided variable cutoff. I also thought White said the limitations of cutoff made it difficult to reverse a steam locomotive.
I'm not satisfied with the simpler explanations.
''JaBear'',
Thanks for the link. Had to save Me that one.
Me like animation too!
Frank
gregcI'm actually interested in "cutoff" which is closing and opening the cyclinder valves early to allow the steam to expand, extracting more energy from it, and using it to slow or cushion piston reversals. Apparently early locomotives wasted a lot of fuel and I'm also wondering if adjusting cutoff was a less recognized skill of the engineer.
Hi, greg
I have several volumes that may help you out in your quest for valve cutoff and timing. All of the different designs of valve gear mechanics are still trying to accomplish the same thing as far as admission and exhaust of steam to the cylinders.
One of the most thorough books (or group of books) I have are the International Correspondence School Steam Locomotive series. I have four books pertaining to valve gear alone. If there is anything in particular that you would like to see let me know and I'll see if I can make a reproduction for you.
Another book of interest I have is a 1901 N.Y.C. & H.R.R.R book called FUEL ECONOMY that has some interesting text.
The opening pages says that the NYC&HR's cost for fuel exceeds $3,000,000.00 yearly! "... coal is the property of the Company and careless or inefficient enginemen who waste fuel are destroying the property of this Company"
So it would seem that the railroads of the day were very concerned with fuel conservation by proper locomotive management including the use of proper and timely cut-off.
Here are some pages reproduced below...
Click and click again to enlarge image. Hope you can read it OK. I'll try to upload a few pages from the ICS books. There's a TON of information out there.
I hope this helps you out a little in your search for information. Ed
gregcI'm not satisfied with the simpler explanations.
Nothing simple here! Quite a dissertation...
Greg, If you can, find a copy the ICS book titled "Locomotive Valves And Valve Gears" ©1924 by J.W. Harding is a good source of information. Additionally "Locomotive Valve Setting" by Frank Williams ©1923 from the same series may have some good information for you as well.
Here are a few sample pages from the former title:
These last two plates have a bit of history about cut-off you might find interesting...
I hope this cures anyone's insomnia! It is a fascinating subject... a lot of engineering went into "making the wheels go 'round" Ed
Hi gregc:
I sent you a PM regarding the Model Railroader Cyclopedia volume 1.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
gmpullmanIf you can, find a copy the ICS book titled "Locomotive Valves And Valve Gears" ©1924 by J.W. Harding is a good source of information.
i can only find a book titled "Locomotive Valves And Valve Gears" by Yoder
This should get you there. This is a very big pdf file and will take a few minutes to load, so, just wait on it.
http://www.icsarchive.org/icsarchive-org/bb/ics_bb_504d_valschaert_and_baker_valve_gears.pdf
.
gmpullmanGreg, If you can, find a copy the ICS book titled "Locomotive Valves And Valve Gears" ©1924 by J.W. Harding is a good source of information. Additionally "Locomotive Valve Setting" by Frank Williams ©1923 from the same series may have some good information for you as well.
Found the ICS book on the website BigJim posted. The books are very thorough and well written. I really enjoyed it and now have a much better understand of various parts of a locomotive. It looks like there are many others that I plan on reading.
I'd recommend them, as you have, to anyone interested in thoroughly understanding steam locomotives.
thank much
Glad it helped you out, Greg. Although the ICS archive website that Big Jim provided is free and easily available, I noticed that there was about 20 pages missing. I don't know if this is an oversight or what.
I was very fortunate to acquire most of my ICS books at a very reasonable cost at train shows and a few from Ebay.
I remember seeing working demonstration models of valve gear at various railroad museums. These were about 1" to the foot scale and you would turn the main driving wheel and could study the valve action at various degrees of cutoff. I have always wanted to make one of these maybe using live steam parts from the big scale suppliers.