STEAM ENGINE QUESTIONS.

[crash325]

Steam engines will run in either direction. How are they started to go forward or reverse.

How is water added to the boiler. More presser is needed to get the water in.

Maybe someone on TBN will know.

There were steam tractors, must have needed to back up some times.

 

[mddorange]

I have seen small engines where someone started the flywheel in the direction they wanted it to turn.

On old trains they used reversing the steam flow in the pistons to make it go backwards.

 

[MossRoad]

 

[MossRoad]

I don't think they reversed the flow of steam. They operated a reversing gear. The steam still travels the same direction, but the reversing gear moves an eccentric to make the wheels go in the opposite direction....

Reversing gear - Wikipedia

 

[Industrial Toys]

I always wondered about that too.

I guess for the water, they just use a small displacement pump.

 

[mddorange]

This is the one I was talking about where the steam flow in the piston is reversed: Animated Steam locomotive linkage system - YouTube

 

[MossRoad]

Here's a really old movie with no sound, that explains it really well! It shows the reversing gear. The steam always travels in the same direction. They don't reverse the flow of the steam to make it go in reverse....

 

[MossRoad]

This is the one I was talking about where the steam flow in the piston is reversed: Animated Steam locomotive linkage system - YouTube

The steam flow isn't reversed. Watch at about 23 seconds, they operate the reversing linkage. That changes the direction. The flow of steam stays the same.

 

[MossRoad]

It gives the appearance that the steam is flowing in the opposite direction, but it isn't. It's still going back and forth as before. It's where the linkage pushes on the eccentric that determines the initial start of which direction the wheels are gonna turn, not the direction of steam flow. The steam just goes back and forth back and forth regardless of which direction the train is moving.

 

[MossRoad]

As for how they add water.... they use the pressure of the boiler to push water into the boiler. Sounds impossible, doesn't it? How can one force overcome itself?