There’s big and then there is BIG. When it comes to engines the massive triple compound steam engines at Kempton Park in England are among the most massive ever built. Weighing 800 tons, these things produced 1,000hp but likely somewhere around 30-40,000 lb/ft of torque and were used to pump water from the Thames river to various parts of England. Millions and millions of gallons of water per year were moved by these things from the early part of the 20th century right up into the 1980s! This not only proves that they were well built also that steam is one of the neatest and most powerful forces that human beings have ever stumbled across.
As one would expect, after the engines were put out of service, they were not given whole lot of attention but thankfully a nonprofit group was started and they raised enough money to refurbish one of the monsters and get it back into working order. You can now tour the pump building and watch the big machine run at various times of the year. Churning away at about 16 RPM, it is weirdly quiet but it is also nearly beyond comprehension when the topic of size comes about. The engines are over six stories high when you measure them from the very top to the very bottom. When you see the connecting rods alone your jaw will drop a bit. Huge beyond huge. Many believe that these were the largest engines of their type ever built in England and that is saying something. England really had a handle on steam and in many ways was the world leader in the field through its heyday.
This is a triple compound steam engine. What that means is that the steam is used three times before it runs out of energy. In super basic terms, imagine using the same combustion from one cylinder of an engine multiple times before it ran out of heat and “push” and headed out the exhaust. In a triple compound steam engine there are basically three cylinders, a high pressure cylinder, an intermediate pressure cylinder, and a low pressure cylinder. As the steam loses…steam, it works its way from the high pressure to the low pressure cylinder. The discovery of compounding steam was a huge breakthrough a couple of hundred years ago and changed the way people thought about steam engines and their applications.
Yes, turbines replaced these huge piston driven monsters for various reasons of efficiency and stuff but they’ll never surpass them for cool, that we know for sure.
Boulton and Watt, yes, James Watt… (1795-1895) how cool !!! Someone should create a “steam engine” tour of GB…would sign up in a flash. 🙂
“The Most Powerful Idea in the World” by Rosen is a good read.
The first steam engines were used to pump water from mines, and oddly they didn’t use steam for it’s pressure, rather it’s heat. The cylinder would be filled with steam, then the valve closed and water sprayed in, the resulting cooling would create a vacuum that would lift the piston, plus the water would help seal the piston and the cylinder wall.
Impressive! I would like to see it run in person!
The oldest known steam engine circa 1750, a Newcomen Engine is at the Henry Ford Museum on campus where I work. There is also a 72 inch bore, 72 inch stroke 80 rpm 6000 hp internal combustion steam engine there too that was one of nine used to power the Highland park Ford plant from 1919 to 1926. There are quite a few steam powered displays there. A great museum!