At 10:48 AM 9/7/01, you wrote:
That sounds like a lot of work to boost the record 20MPH from 1907. Bob on
connecticut
howdy,
yup it is, the Lear turbine was about 7 inches in dia. if I recall
correctly, but you gotta have a GREAT BIG boiler, I think he ran 5000 PSI
in it.
The Stanley Steamer weighed in at 1200 LBS but it was a lot of
wood, including parts of the frame, such as it was....also running
something like 1400 PSI in a fire tube boiler, looked like a 60's Soap Box
Derby car, flat bottom, canoe ends. it later crashed heavily on the sands
of Daytona at possibly over 150, the Stanley Brothers stopped racing after
that.
The Lear car had a single pass boiler, there are lots of systems
control problems in a steam engine, too much water into the boiler and the
pressure drops, too little and either the engine gets damaged from too high
a temp or pressure, or the boiler gets damaged from same....both cars, I
think, were dump engines, no condensing of the exhaust steam, so you had to
carry enough water to finish the run...the Stanley did not carry any extra
water, Lear had to, as the boiler didn't hold much volume at all....I'll
look up the facts this weekend, and post them, even though the technology
has been passed by, there are guys out there who are still trying to
perfect a road vehicle that equals or surpasses the internal combustion
engine. One guy has been building/driving a steam powered 2 cylinder bash
valve VW engine for 20 years or so, slowly fixing the bits that
fail...Barnet is the guy's name, outa CA. good performance and fuel
mileage, just a lot of maintenance, like most things powered by steam. I
have a copy of the plans he developed for his engine, some exotic materials
in it....but all straight forward machine work, nothing extraordinary.
John Robinson, Mechanician
Mechanical Engineering University of Wisconsin
1513 University Ave.
Madison, Wi. 53706
608-262-3606
FAX 608-265-2316
Current World Land Speed Record Holder
Bonneville Salt Flats
H/GCC 92 cu.in. 1980 Dodge Colt
131.333 MPH set 1995
136.666 MPH set 1996
140.292 MPH set 2000
144.396 MPH set 2000
MPS-PG 441 c.c. 1967 BSA Victor Motorcycle
95.193 MPH set 2001
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