Steam Engines facts

While investigating facts about Steam Engines Crossword and Steam Engines Crossword Clue, I found out little known, but curios details like:

James Watt calculated horsepower by measuring the output of an actual horse in order to quantify how many horses his steam engines could replace.

how steam engines work?

Balls out" or "balls to the wall" has nothing to do with testicles. It refers to the governor a steam engine uses when running at full speed.

What steam engines are used for?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what steam engines are used for today. Here are 50 of the best facts about Steam Engines For Sale On Ebay and Steam Engines Trains I managed to collect.

where do steam engines sleep at night?

Ancient Greek mathematician Hero of Alexandria invented the first vending machine which dispensed holy water after you put in a coin. He also invented the first steam engine and the first wind powered machine, 2000 years before the industrial revolution.
James Watt needed to convince skeptics to ditch their draft horses&buy his steam engine. To prove its superiority, he measured a horse walking in circles to turn a grindstone in a mill. He multiplied distance it walked by its ~180 pounds of pulling force&came up with a new measure: horsepower
The Chernobyl disaster would have been a lot worse if three engineers hadn't volunteered to swim through radioactive water to open valves and drain the liquid to prevent a steam explosion
The oldest subway tunnel in the world has had its only entrance welded shut, and it contains a 100+ year old steam engine.
A 3 mile journey on a steam train, which would have taken 1,000 gallons of water and a tonne of coal, can be replaced by a diesel engine burning 18 gallons of fuel; that's a 98% fall in energy use between the two technologies.
A single Boeing 777 Engine delivers twice the horsepower of all the Titanic's steam engines combined.
Benjamin Bradley in 1856 invented the first steam engine powerful enough to fuel a naval ship, but he was unable to patent his invention because he was a slave
About steam train driver Wally Oaks who heroically gave his life to stop his train after an accident engulfed the engine in flames. He saved all passengers and was posthumously awarded a George Cross for bravery.
One of the last types of steam locomotive was maintained while the boiler was still in steam, by men in asbestos clothes entering the 220°F firebox and repairing the engine, while it was still under pressure. This was done to reduce downtime and allow a 6-day-a-week schedule.
the first Steam Engine was invented in Alexandria,Egypt in the 1st century AD. The Egyptians couldnt find any practical use to it and the tecnology was lost in history until beeing re-invented in the 17 century!

steam engines facts — What steam engines do?

Why were steam engines replaced?

You can easily fact check why were steam engines invented by examining the linked well-known sources.

The U.S. put strict regulations on steam engines because they were dangerous to operate. To get around this law, one company made boilers full of boiling gasoline instead of water.

First diesel ships were confusing to other captains, as there was no steam exhaust to signify a ship was under movement (say, from a steam engine), causing ships to unintentionally cross paths. - source

The Confederate States of America created explosives disguised as pieces of coal. Saboteurs mixed the "coal torpedoes" with regular coal and when workers shoveled them into the steam engines they detonated, damaging or destroying the ship.

As an adult he managed the family brewery and in 1840 he became interested in replacing the brewery's steam engines with ones driven by electric motors.

When were steam engines invented?

Some WW2 steam powered battleships were "turbo charged" by pressurising the boiler rooms and everyone working in them [Chris Barrie's Massive Engines]

How steam engines work animation?

Herber Valley Railroad in Utah has a popular steam engine and passenger railroad cars. They are so popular they were featured in 31 movies in 20 years.

The diesel engine was developed further and replaced the steam engine in most applications.

He studied bookkeeping at Goldsmith, Bryant & Stratton Business College in Detroit and was hired by Westinghouse to service their steam engines.

Submarines use a variety of power sources including batteries, nuclear power, and engines. Early submarines used gas, steam, and even human power.

The first vending machine was constructed by Hero of Alexandria (c. 10 AD - c.70 AD); when a coin was introduced via a slot on the top of the machine, a set amount of holy water was dispensed. His other inventions include a fire engine pump, a wind operated organ, and the first steam engine.

When did steam engines stop being used?

Machines such as steam engines can convert mechanical energy into other forms of energy.

It’s illegal to operate a cow or steam engine while intoxicated, under section 12 of the Licencing Act 1872 (England).

Daimler spent two years at Stuttgart Polytechnic Institute studying steam engines.

Scurvy killed more than two million sailors between the time of Columbus’s transatlantic voyage and the rise of steam engines in the mid-19th century. The problem was so common that shipowners and governments assumed a 50% death rate from scurvy for their sailors on any major voyage.

In 1888,Brighton Beach Hotel (5000tons/460'x150') was moved 500 feet inland. 13 hydraulic jacks lifted the hotel on 112 flat railcars, which rolled on 24 lines (1.5mi) of fresh railroad track, pulled by a team of 6 steam engines. It was the largest move of the 19th century, completed in 9 days.

How steam engines changed the world?

That, Charles Babbage designed two new kinds of mechanical calculators, which were so big that they required the power of a steam engine to operate, and that were too sophisticated to be built in his lifetime.

The term Horsepower was adopted by Engineer James Watt, it's a measurement of power or the rate of which work is done, there are many different standards and types of Horse Power, he originally compared the output of steam engines to draft horses and at one point a pony.

In 1886 Diesel published a paper titled Theory and Construction of a Rational Heat-engine to Replace the Steam Engine and Combustion Engines Known Today.

In 1882 he returned to the farm where he learned to operate the Westinghouse portable steam engine.

There are operating triple-expansion steam engines in existence and the largest is in the UK.

The steam engine was invented in the 1st century, but it wasn't practical because of the huge supply of physical labor at the time.

BMW has developed a combination gasoline & steam engine and called it; The Turbosteamer.

The United States Ram Fleet. In March 1862, the U.S. Army authorized a civil engineer, Charles Ellet Jr., to establish a flotilla of steam rams for employment on the Western Rivers. Ellet converted several powerful river towboats, heavily reinforcing their hulls for ramming.

High-test peroxide (HTP) is a highly concentrated (85 to 98%) solution of hydrogen peroxide. In contact with a catalyst, it decomposes into a high-temperature mixture of steam and oxygen. It was used as a propellant of rockets and torpedoes, and has been used for high-performance vernier engines

In 1780 James Watt did not wish to pay to license the use of James Pickard's mechanical crank patent and instead invented the sun-and-planetary gear assembly to transfer reciprocating steam engine motion into rotary motion.

Not James Watt invented the steam engine but Thomas Newcomen. Watt only made it more efficient which then caused the industrial revolution.

About Elijah McCoy, a Canadian born inventor and engineer who created an oil lubricator for steam engines. The term "the real McCoy" was coined as railroad engineers wanted to avoid inferior copies of the lubricator and would ask if the locomotive was fitted with "the real McCoy".

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