Projects In Metal

This vertical upside down steam engine is one of the earliest models that I have built. A required requisite when I took machine shop at the Assiniboine Community College in Brandon Manitoba, was the completion of a vertical steam engine that each student had to build over the course of a year. The idea was that while you were building this engine, you would be learning how to use the various machine tools required to complete the engine. The engine that I built while in school resides somewhere within the one shown here. What I am telling you is that I took the original engine that I built while in school and re-vamped it. The original engine had the cylinder mounted at the top with the crank at the bottom of the engine. I must have been bored one day, and tore it down and rebuilt it into the engine that you see here. I believe that I had been reading about the steam engines that were typical in factories of the 1700-1800's and decided to remake my model over into a type of engine that would have been belted to a line-shaft in a machine shop of the period, that was used to power the machine tools of the day. This engine is quite powerful, having a bore of 2" and a 3" stroke. This engine is capable of making usable power, and I have a friend who uses a similar sized (upright) steam engine to power a full-sized 16 ft steam boat that he built. This engine is close to 24 inches high, and the flywheel is 10 inches in diameter.

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