This image is released under a Willans central-valve high speed steam engine 1901
Central-valve high speed steam engine, working model, scale 1:4, sectioned through one cylinder and crank case, Willans and Robinson Limited, Rugby, Warwickshire, England, 1901
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This is a working model, built in 1891, of a compound engine developed by Peter Willans in 1884. Willans' design employed two pairs of high and low pressure single-acting cylinders mounted on the same vertical shaft, with a shared central valve spindle for each pair to control the flow of steam. It also came as a triple-expansion design, with three cylinders (high, intermediate, and low pressure) each sharing a single valve spindle. THe advantages of this design were that it could run quietly and at high speeds. Connected to a Crompton dynamo, it was widely used to generate electricity.
- Measurements:
-
overall: 590 mm x 440 mm x 362 mm, 42 kg
- Materials:
- wood (unidentified) , steel (metal) , brass (copper, zinc alloy) , paint and glass
- Object Number:
- 1901-17/1
- type:
- models , steam engines and highspeed steam engines
