A Catechism of the Steam Engine

by C. E. John Bourne

A.--Should the piston rod or connecting rod break, or the cutters fall out or be clipped off--as sometimes happens to the piston cutter when the engine is suddenly reversed upon a heavy train--the parts should be disconnected, if the connection cannot be restored, so as to enable one engine to work; and of course the valve of the faulty engine must be kept closed. If one engine has not power enough to enable the train to proceed with the blast pipe full open, the engine may perhaps be able to take on a part of the carriages, or it may run on by itself to fetch assistance. The same course must be pursued if any of the valve gearing becomes deranged, and the defects cannot be rectified upon the spot.

755. Q.--What are the most usual causes of railway collisions?

A.--Probably fogs and inexactness in the time kept by the trains. Collisions have sometimes occurred from carriages having been blown from a siding on to the rails by a high wind; and the slippery state of the rails, or the fracture of a break, has sometimes occasioned collisions at terminal stations. Collision has also repeatedly taken place from one engine having overtaken another, from the failure of a tube in the first engine, or from some other slight disarrangement; and collision has also taken place from the switches having been accidentally so left as to direct the train into a siding, instead of continuing it on the main line. Every train now carries fog signals, which are detonating packets, which are fixed upon the rails in advance or in the rear of a train which, whether from getting off the rails or otherwise, is stopped upon the line, and which are exploded by the wheels of any approaching train.

756. Q.--What other duties of an engine-driver are there deserving attention?

A.--They are too various to be all enumerated here, and they also vary somewhat with the nature of the service. One rule, however, of universal application, is for the driver to look after matters himself, and not delegate to the stoker the duties which the person in charge of the engine should properly perform. Before leaving a station, the engine-driver should assure himself that he has the requisite supply of coke and water. Besides the firing tools and rakes for clearing the tubes, he should have with him in the tender a set of signal lamps and, torches, for tunnels and for night, detonating signals, screw keys, a small tank of oil, a small cask of tallow, and a small box of waste, a coal hammer, a chipping hammer, some wooden and iron plugs for the tubes, and an iron tube holder for inserting them, one or two buckets, a screw jack, wooden and iron wedges, split wire for pins, spare cutters, some chisels and files, a pinch bar, oil cans and an oil syringe, a chain, some spare bolts, and some cord, spun yarn, and rope.

INDEX.

Accidents in steam vessels, proper preparation for.
Admiralty rule for horse power.
Adhesion of wheels of locomotives to rails.
Air, velocity of, entering a vacuum,
required for combustion of coal;
law of expansion of, by heat;
Air pump, description of,
action of;
proper dimensions of.
Air pump of marine engines, details of.
Air pump of oscillating engine.
Air pump of direct acting screw engines.
Air pumps made both single and double acting,
difference of, explained.
Air pumps, double acting valves of,
bad vacuum in;
causes and remedy.
Air pump rods, brass or copper, in marine engines.
Air pump bucket, valves of.
Air pump, connecting rod and cross head of oscillating engine.
Air pump rod of oscillating engine.
Air pump arm.
Air vessels applied to suction side of pumps.
"Alma," engine of, by Messrs. John Bourne & Co.
"Amphion," engines of.
Amoskeag steam fire engine.
Angle iron in boilers, precautions respecting.
Apparatus for raising screw propeller.
Atmospheric valve.
Atmospheric resistance to railway trains.
Auxiliary power, screw vessels with.
Axle bearings of locomotives.
Axle guards.
Axles and wheels of modern locomotives.
"Azof," slide valve of.

Babbitt's metal, how to compound.
Balance piston to take pressure off slide valve.
Ball valves.
Barrel of boiler of modern locomotives.
Beam, working of land engine,
main or working strength proper for.
Bearings of engines or other machinery,
rule for determining proper surface of.
Bearings, heating of, how to prevent or remedy,
journals should always bottom, as, if they grip
on the sides, the pressure is infinite.
Beattie's screw.
Belidor's valves might be used for foot and delivery valves.
Bell-metal, composition of.
Blast pipe of locomotives, description of.
Blast in locomotives, exhaustion produced by,
proper construction of the blast pipe;
the blast pipe should be set below the root of
the chimney so much that the cone of escaping steam shall just fill the
chimney.
Blast pipe with variable orifice, at one time much used.
Blow-off cock of locomotives.
Blow-off cocks of marine boilers, proper construction of.
Blow-off cocks, description of.
Blowing off supersalted water from marine boilers.
Blowing off, estimate of heat lost by,
mode of.
Blow through valve, description of.
Blowing furnaces, power necessary for.
Bodies, falling, laws of.
Bodmer, expansion valve by.
Boilers, general description of: the wagon boiler,
the Cornish boiler;
the marine flue boiler;
the marine tubular boiler;
locomotive boiler--see Locomotives.
Boilers proportions of: heating surface of,
fire grate, surface of;
consumption of fuel on each square foot of fire bars in wagon,
Cornish, and locomotive boilers;
calorimmeter and vent of boilers;
comparison of proportions of wagon, flue, and tubular boilers;
evaporative power of boilers;
power generated by evaporation of a cubic foot of water;
proper proportions of modern marine boilers both flue and tubular;
modern locomotive boilers;
exhaustion produced by blast in locomotives;
increased evaporation from increased exhaustion;
strength of boilers;
experiments on, by Franklin Institute;
by Mr. Fairbairn;
mode of computing strength of boilers;
staying of.
Boilers, marine, prevented from salting by blowing off,
early locomotive and contemporaneous marine boilers compared;
chimneys of land;
rules for proportions of chimneys;
chimneys of marine boilers.
Boilers, constructive details of: riveting and caulking of land boilers,
proving of;
seams payed with mixture of whiting and linseed oil;
setting of wagon boilers;
riveting of marine boilers;
precautions respecting angle iron;
how to punch the rivet holes and shear edges of plates;
setting of marine boilers in wooden vessels;
mastic cement for setting marine boilers;
composition of mastic cement;
best length of furnace;
configuration of furnace bars;
advantages and construction of furnace bridges;
various forms of dampers;
precautions against injury to boilers from intense heat;
tubing of boilers;
proper mode of staying tube plates;
proper mode of constructing steamboat chimneys;
waste steam-pipe and funnel casing;
telescope chimneys;
formation of scale in marine boilers;
injury of such incrustations;
amount of salt in sea water;
saltness permissible in boilers;
amount of heat lost by blowing off;
mode of discharging the supersalted water;
Lamb's scale preventer;
internal corrosion of marine boilers;
causes of internal corrosion;
surcharged steam produced from salt water;
stop valves between boilers;
safety or escape valve on feed pipe;
locomotive boilers consist of the fire box, barrel for
holding tubes, and smoke box;
dimensions of the barrel and thickness of plates;
mode of staying fire box and furnace crown;
fire bars, ash box, and chimney;
steam dome used only in old engines;
manhole, mudholes, and blow-oft cock;
tube plate, and mode of securing tubes;
expanding mandrels;
various forms of regulator.
Boilers of modern locomotives.
Boiler, the, proper care of, the first duty of the engineer.
Bolts, proper proportions of.
Boring of cylinders.
Boulton and Watt's rules for fly wheel,
proportions of marine flue boilers;
rule for proportions of chimneys of land boilers;
of marine boilers;
experiments on the resistance of vessels in water.
Bourdon's steam and vacuum gauges.
Bourne, expansion valves by.
Bourne, Messrs. J. & Co., direct acting screw engines by.
Brass for bearings, composition of.
Brazing solders.
Bridges in furnaces, benefits of.
Burning of boilers, precautions against.
Bursting velocity of fly wheel,
and of railway wheels.
Bursting of boilers,
causes of;
precautions against;
may be caused by accumulations of salt.
Butterfly valves of air pump.

Cabrey, expansion valve by.
Calorimeter of boilers, definition of.
Cams, proper forms of.
Cast iron, strength of,
proportions of cast iron beams;
effects of different kinds of strains on beams;
strength to resist shocks not proportional to strength to resist
strains;
to attain maximum strength should be combined with wrought iron.
Casting of cylinders.
Case-hardening, how to accomplish.
Cataract, explanation of nature and uses of.
Caulking of land boilers.
Cement, mastic, for setting marine boilers.
Central forces.
Centre of pressure of paddle wheels.
Centres of gravity, gyration and oscillation.
Centres for fixing arms of paddle wheel.
Centres of an engine, how to lay off.
Centrifugal force, nature of,
rule for determining;
bursting velocity of fly wheel;
and of railway wheels.
Centrifugal pump will supersede common pump.
Centripetal force, nature of.
Chimney of locomotives.
Chimney of steam vessels, what to do if carried away.
Chimneys of land boilers,
Boulton and Watt's rule for proportions of;
of marine boilers.
Chimneys, exhaustion produced by,
high and wide chimneys in locomotives injurious.
Chimneys of steamboats,
telescope.
Clark's patent steam fire regulator.
Coal, constituents of,
combustion of air required for;
evaporative efficacy of;
of wood, turf, and coke.
Cocks, proper construction of.
Cog wheels for screw engines.
Coke, evaporative efficacy of.
Cold water pump, description of,
rule for size of.
Combustion, nature of.
Combustion of coal, air required for.
Combustion, slow and rapid, comparative merits of,
rapid combustion necessary in steam vessels, and enables less heating,
surface in the boiler to suffice.
Conchoidal propeller.
Condensation of steam, water required for.
Condenser, description of,
action of;
proper dimensions of.
Condenser of oscillating engine.
Condenser of direct acting screw engine.
Condensing engine, definition of.
Condensing water, how to provide when deficient.
Conical pendulum or governor.
Connecting rod, description of,
strength proper for.
Connecting rod of direct acting screw engines,
of locomotives.
Consumption of fuel on each square foot of fire bars in wagon, Cornish,
and locomotive boilers.
Copper, strength of.
Corliss's steam engine.
Corrosion produced by surcharged steam.
Corrosion of marine boilers,
causes of.
Cost of locomotives.
Cotton spinning, power necessary for.
Counter for counting strokes of an engine.
Crank, description of,
unequal leverage of, corrected by fly wheel;
no power lost by;
action of;
strength proper for.
Crank of direct acting screw engines.
Crank pin, strength proper for.
Crank pin of direct acting screw engines.
Cranked axle of locomotives.
Cross head, description of,
strength proper for.
Cross head of direct acting screw engines.
Cross tail, description of.
Cylinder, description of,
strength proper for.
Cylinder of oscillating engine,
of direct acting screw engine.
Cylinders should have a steam jacket, and be felted and planted,
should have escape valves.
Cylinders of locomotives should be large,
proper arrangement of.
Cylinders, how to cast,
how to bore;
how to grind.
Cylinder jacket, advantages of.

Damper.
Dampers, various forms of.
Deadwood, hole in, for screw.
Delivery valve, description of.
Delivery or discharge valves, proper dimensions of.
Delivery valves might be made on Belidor's plan.
Delivery valves in mouth of air pump,
of india rubber.
Direct acting screw engines should be balanced.
Direct acting screw engine by Messrs. John Bourne &, Co.,
cylinder;
discs;
guides;
screw shaft brasses;
air pump;
slide valve;
balance piston;
connecting rod;
piston rods;
cross head;
air pump arm;
feed pump;
crank pin;
screw shaft;
thrust plummer block;
link motion;
screw propeller.
Discharge valves.
Disc valves of india rubber for air pumps.
Discs of direct acting screw engine instead of crank.
Dodds, expansion valve by.
Double acting engines, definition of.
Double acting air pumps,
valves of;
faults of.
Draw bolt.
Dredging earth out of rivers, power necessary for.
Driving wheels of locomotives.
Driving piles, power necessary for.
Duplex pump, Worthington's.
Dundonald, Earl of, screw by.
Duty of engines and boilers,
how the duty is ascertainable.
Dynamometer, description of.
Dynamometric power of screw vessels.