Stationary steam engines provided the power for the Industrial Revolution which changed the shape of the world. Victorian engines that have been preserved now provide the model engineer with examples to turn into fascinating models. This book provides the plans and instructions to make three models of actual steam engines. The projects have been designed around a set of common components. The first project is the simplest and will form the backbone for the manufacture of the other two, which are slightly more challenging and introduce some advanced techniques. The book is suitable for those with limited machining experience and a modestly equipped workshop, and has over 380 illustrations, including scale plans and colour photographs,

An Unabridged, Digitally Enlarged Printing With All Figures, Including, But Not Limited To: STEAM ENGINE MECHANISM - Elements Of The Steam Engine - The Four-Link Slider Crank - The Plain Slide-Valve Engine - The D Slide-Valve And Steam Distribution - Relative Position Of Valve And Piston - Effects Of Lap - Lead - Positions Of Eccentric For Opposite Directions Of Rotation - Rocker Arms - Dead Centers - Clearance - Real And Apparent Cut-Off And Ratio Of Expansion - Corliss Valve Gear - Relative Motions Of Piston, Crank, And Valves - STEAM ENGINE DESIGN - Data And Calculations - The Boiler Pressures For Different Types Of Engines - Economical Ratio Of Expansion - Piston Speed - Clearance - Engine Calculations - Back Pressure And Point Of Exhaust Closure - Calculations For Simple Non-Condensing Engine - Calculations For High-Speed Automatic Cut-Off Engine - Hoisting And Locomotive Engines - Cylinders And Steam Chests - Steam Ports And Passages - Engine Shafts And Cranks - Crankpins For Overhung Crank - Hollow Pistons - Built Up Pistons - Solid Pistons - Marine Pistons - Piston Packing - Piston Rod - Connection Of Rod To Piston - Proportions For Connecting Rods (Solid And Open) - Strap-End Connecting Rod - Crossheads - Valves, Valve Steams, And Eccentric Rods - Eccentric Sheaves And Straps - Stuffing Boxes - Engine Flywheels - Calculations For Built-Up Flywheels - Flywheel Rim Joints - Stress In Rim Flange, And In Bolts Fastening Arm To Rim - Engine Frames, Or Beds - Examples Of Engine Proportions With Tables -

An enlightening history of 19th-century technology, focusing on the connections between invention and cultural values. Victorian Technology: Invention, Innovation, and the Rise of the Machine captures the extraordinary surge of energy and invention that catapulted 19th-century England into the position of the world's first industrialized nation. It was an astonishing transformation, one that shaped—and was shaped by—the values of the Victorian era, and that laid the groundwork for the consumer-based society in which we currently live. Filled with vivid details and fascinating insights into the impact of the Industrial Revolution on peoples' lives, Victorian Technology locates the forerunners of the defining technologies of the our time in 19th-century England: the computer, the Internet, mass transit, and mass communication. Readers will encounter the innovative thinkers and entrepreneurs behind history-making breakthroughs in communications (the transatlantic cable, wireless communication), mass production (the integrated factory), transportation (railroads, gliders, automobiles), and more.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The Victorians risked more than just delays when boarding a steam train . . . Victorian inventors certainly didn't lack steam, but while they squabbled over who deserved the title of 'The Father of the Locomotive' and enjoyed their fame and fortune, safety on the rails was not their priority. Brakes were seen as a needless luxury and boilers had an inconvenient tendency to overheat and explode, and in turn, blow up anyone in reach. Often recognised as having revolutionised travel and industrial Britain, Victorian railways were perilous. Disease, accidents and disasters accounted for thousands of deaths and many more injuries. While history has focused on the triumph of engineers, the victims of the Victorian railways had names, lives and families and they deserve to be remembered . . .

Di Drummond's concise and informative guide to Britain's railways will be absorbing reading for anyone who wants to learn about the history of the industry and for family history researchers who want to find out about the careers of their railway ancestors. In a clear and accessible way she guides readers through the social, technical and economic aspects of the story. She describes in vivid detail the rapid growth, maturity and long decline of the railways from the earliest days in the late-eighteenth century to privatization in the 1990s. In the process she covers the themes and issues that family historians, local historians and railway enthusiasts will need to understand in order to pursue their research. A sequence of short, fact-filled chapters gives an all-round view of the development of the railwaysIn addition to tracing the birth and growth of the original railway companies, she portrays the types of work that railwaymen did and pays particular attention to the railway world in which they spent their working lives. The tasks they undertook, the special skills they had to learn, the conditions they worked in, the organization and hierarchy of the railway companies, and the make-up of railway unions - all these elements in the history of the railways are covered. She also introduces the reader to the variety of records that are available for genealogical research - staff records and registers, publications, census returns, biographies and autobiographies, and the rest of the extensive literature devoted to the railway industry.