First steaming on land

Well I needed to check which way the Toledo slightly runs better so I could make that forward. So I fired up the boiler.

-AKJ

A brace full of new friends: James Watt, John Fitch, and Brunel

James Watt invented/perfected the first practical steam engines. He is on the Left. The albino/white one is Poor John Fitch, who was pivotal in the history of steam boats.  On the Right Brunel.

-AKJ

A new Gauge

My main pressure gauge was weeping the tiniest hint of steam that would condense on the inside of the glass. I bet you ask, well wait - what if it broke completely?? There is an isolation valve between the gauge and the boiler in case of gauge breakage. And I already have two gauges - so I could carry on safely with just the one. I love redundancy in Nyitra's steam plant.

This is my new pressure gauge. It's high temp, shock resistance and quite accurate: +/- 0.5% @ Middle of the Scale and +/- 1% along the full scale. 200 is the boiler's MAWP (Max Allowable Working Pressure) under steam. I plan to operate somewhere between 100 and 200PSI. But I imagine as low as 30-50PSI Nyitra will be able to start moving under power. The Toledo as a twin can't stall as easily as a 1 cylinder steam engine and it has a lot of torque. (Estimated 10 times the torque of an equivalent diesel with the same horse power.) And it has power virtually at a every crank angle.

-AKJ

Haiku to a bracket

machine a plate wrong

just a flip of an axis 

corrected by drilling

-AKJ

Propellor Bracketry Continued...

Some good progress, but you have to understand that I am a self ascribed "hack machinist" So this is on the boundary of what I am comfortable with doing in some respects.

Today I took the strut, put it roughly were it should be, and basically stared at it until I had some semblance of how I might construct the pieces necessary to mount the propeller roughly where it should go. I described it to my mom, "Trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle that is changing as you go along."

I think planning is a very good thing and somethings when they get too complicated must be painstakingly planned.

But this is how I'm letting the metal and hull unfold. Future testing may reveal that alterations or a new plan is necessary.

-AKJ

Hydro Test

One of the yearly things to do for a steam boiler is a hydro-static test.

You fill the boiler 100% full with water, and water isn't compressible - hence the term hydraulic. So you put a little more water to bring up the pressure to 1.25 times the Maximum Allowable Working Pressure(MAWP). No. 176 (nyitra's boiler) has a MAWP of 200 PSI [~14bar]. So I filled it with water at 250 PSI[~17 bar] and it held that pressure. So Safety nuts - there is your hydro test for the next year: Pass.

 And I threw the Toledo engine on Deck in preparation for the transmission installation. Boiler + Steam Engine + Hull = Steamboat! The boiler has it's bonnet and stack again. The bucket on top of that is to keep water from falling into the boiler when not in use.

-AKJ

Toledo Engine

So Nyitra's Engine is a 1902 Toledo Steam Car Engine. You've probably heard some old guy say "They don't make them like they used to." - I think that guy was talking about my engine.

I think the folks at the American Bicycle Company Automobile Department would be proud to hear me say - Nyitra has "THE ENGINE USED IN TOLEDO STEAM CARRIAGES":

 

Nyitra's 6 Horse Power Twin Cylinder Toledo Engine. 114 years old (as of 2016).

 "6 Horse???" I hear you say. Yes, but 10 times the torque of a comparable 6HP diesel. It has the same number of power strokes per revolution as a V8 Gasoline engine.

I live in Ohio, so I am especially proud to operate this venerable old engine and give it a new life as in a steamboat for it's well deserved retirement.
 
-AKJ

Work on Transmission - The Propellor Strut

I am giddy reading a well written technical document like when I read ITT Basic at the age of 10. 

ABYC P-06 Propeller Shafting Systems is a set of logical engineering guidelines that explain and give equations for proper sizing, placement, materials, type of fastening mechanisms, etc - but sometimes it says - or you can do it another way if you are achieving the same result. :)

Center of a 15HP 2-stroke gasoline loaner motor.

Fill the holes with Quik-Steel(like JB Weld). 

Fill it with Great Stuff expanding foam so it doesn't get water logged.

Sand it to bare aluminum!

Prime it with Self Etching Primer.

Paint it Black!

Paint it with Coats of Clear Coat!

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors any more, I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by, dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

-AKJ

As of July 24th 2016

I'm playing catch up because I have been posting on the steamboating forum until now...

No. 176 the 2015 Lund Machine Works ASME Steam Boiler was placed on the deck in July 2016.

-AKJ

Wait - what about sugarbeets? Steam? Isn't that Dangerous?

That's right. My ancestors grew sugarbeets amongst other things. And I grew one myself. It was tastey. Although in Hungary at the time they were not eaten. They were for making sugar or animal feed.

Steam is inherently dangerous, just like driving a car. You can die using either, but because the general public no longer typically knows about Steam they think it is scary.

The steamboat Nyitra I am building has a 2015 Built ASME Code and Stamped Boiler by Lund Machine Works made with specific grades of steel which are traceable back to USA Steel Foundries. It's paperwork is filed with the National Boiler Board of the United States and Canada.

What about automatic safeties on the boiler? 
The Boiler has an ASME Code Safety Relief valve and an ASME Code Fusible Plug.

What experience do you have with Steam?
I have over 5 years of experience.

Is it legal?
Yes, it is. Nyitra is a steam boat registered with the state Ohio and complies with all applicable laws.

What is most important part of operating Steam equipment safely?

1. Water
2. Water
3. Water - WHERE IS YOUR WATER

If you don't know your water level for sure, you need to put out the fire right away and call it a day.

Nyitra has 2 independent ways to check the water level, 1 more then required currently.

Nyitra has two steam injectors to add water back into the boiler in case one fails.

-AKJ

A Stately Ancestry and a Humble Beginning

I am building a steamboat. No wait, Let's start at the beginning!

My Great grandfather Fricke Emil had a steamboat named Nyitra in Hungary around 1910.

"With this boat they hauled the sugar beet harvest to Acs. In 1914 it was commandeered for war service. The boat's name was Nyitra."

In Acs there was a sugar making factory.

"Sugar beet loading at Győr." (On the Rábca River)

-AKJ