March 6, 2020

The Search for a Boiler – #6

And the scroungers were sent out into far reaches to find a boiler.

And the scroungers were sent out into the far reaches of the Museum to find a boiler. 

We found a carcass! And it is an exact match for our engine! Serendipity visits again...

This Capt. Nat designed boiler is a three drum bent-tube boiler. These are water/ steam tube boilers unlike a railroad engine which has fire tubes inside a water jacket. This boiler also has natural circulation. Water enters into the top drum called a “steam drum.” When operating, lower half of this drum would contain water and top half steam, separated by a plate with tiny holes to separate steam from water droplets as rises through water and through the plate. Water naturally flows down the cooler outer tubes to the bottom “mud” drums and then up the hotter inner tubes which are closer to the coal fire. Mud drums collect any sediment/ particles in the water. Only fresh water, as pure as possible, is used.

Our exhibit of engine and boiler would of course be without a fire in the boiler. We’d need a qualified engineer to run it and because the boiler is missing some tubes and has leaks in tubes perhaps from effect of minerals in water or tubes running dry...