A short guide to some of the many variations of stationary steam engines
(still under construction * indicates not yet linked)
Over the years that the stationary steam engine was in use, a large number of variations evolved to satisfy a wide variety of purposes to which they were put, here, using period engravings we embark on attempting to illustrate some of these.
Due to the number involved, I have attempted to break them down into a number of seperate pages - some of the divisions used may be considered arbitrary as there were no solid divisions between types and it is easy to find examples which could be considered to fall into more than one category.
Atmospheric and early beam engines
Double acting or multiple cylindered beam engines
Oscillating cylinder, Rotary and other 'oddball' engines
Vertical engines (with cylinder below and crankshaft above)
Inverted vertical engines (with cylinder above and crankshaft below)*
Horizontal engines*
Multiple cylinder engines*
I am hoping to produce a set of animated pictures showing the motion of some of the more interesting or obscure types - as an experiment here is an animation of Murray's hypocycloidal engine but bewarned it is a large file (about 500K) and as yet a bit 'rough and ready'
The images used in these pages are much reduced in resolution from the originals to reduce download time. Numerous engravings feature in the facsimilie books and catalogues available on CD ROM from Phoenix Publications
