Steam & Preservation

This weekend, the restoration crews from the Friends of the East Broad Top www.febt.org returned the Steam Engine that provided power to the overhead belt and shaft system to operation. The engine was running with no belting attached, and was powered from an air compressor, but after 50+ years of slumber, lots of lubrication, and much playing with the steam valves, the engine came back to life. Although not the best quality, a video I shot from on top of the boilers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94BiqQIanHk

 very cool, I noticed the spinning regulator so common on steam traction engines. This regulator helps keep a steady steam to the operatiing machinery despite the variables of steam pressure.

dinwitty:

 very cool, I noticed the spinning regulator so common on steam traction engines. This regulator helps keep a steady steam to the operatiing machinery despite the variables of steam pressure.

The flyball governor was rebuilt over the winter by one of the FEBT members, the one in the grey t-shirt you see tinkering around the steam chest in the video. It's driven by a 2 inch wide belt that runs to a small pulley next to the big flywheel. The two balls are cast weights that will start to lift by centrifical force as the speed increases. As they lift, they raise a lever that will slowly close the throttle valve, directly below the governor. It will also compensate for varying loads on the engine, since the machines in the shop can be shifted in and out of gear.

A better look at the governor and the machinist who rebuilt it.

I was waiting for this. One of our members had an actual video camera there and got a much better quality video of the first run, as well as some of the final problems leading up to the run:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKgGomZKeaw