[modeleng] Re: Wooden boiler
- From: "alanjstepney" <alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 20:50:41 +0100
It was built from scratch, and won a medal at the ME exhibition.
According to the sales blurb on Ebay:
=======================
Tom Walshaw better known as "Tubal Cain" was one of the greatest or at any
rate most influential model engineers of all time.
Tom could be pretty well relied on to produce a model in the competition
classes at the Model Engineer exhibition every year. There would be some
unusual engineering problem that he solved or some unusual feature in the
prototype. Often they would be later be written up in the model engineering
press.
This model is the last one that he exhibited (in the 1996/7 show). It won
him a Bronze Medal but the judges said that it was so unusual that it could
easily have been worth more but they simply did not know how to mark it.
Tom had picked up a reference in an old volume of Engineering to an American
boiler with a wooden shell. That reference was an historical one. The late
Jerome Greenbaum helped him find some further information. Tom then built a
workable model of the boiler which is thus historic in the sense that all
Tom's work is but also that it is a unique record of a now almost forgotten
boiler design and worthy, in my opinion of exhibition.
The prototype was built for the Philadelphia Waterworks in 1801. At that
time in the USA there was little good quality wrought iron available
(whereas now there is probably no new wrought iron available!) and what
there was was only available in small sheets. There was plenty of good wood
and the Waterworks which already used wooden pipes decided to build a wooden
shelled boiler with a metallic firebox and flues. It ran at 2.5 psi gauge
which was fine for a Watt type engine.
The shell is made of yellow pine rather than the white pine of the original.
Having found that white lead caulking would not work he used
melamine-urea-formaldehyde glue. The inside of the shell was then varnished
with a thin layer of epoxy resin. Experiment revealed that the joints were
stronger than the wood at working temperature and pressure.
The boiler flue caused Tubal Cain major difficulty not least because he
wanted to make the flue oval and serpentine like the prototype even though
no one would ever see it after construction was complete. Photographs were
taken however. One is shown and other are also included. Simply squeezing a
length of copper pipe did not work so Tom made a flue up as a fabrication.
The firebox and flue fabrication contains 88 pieces, weighs 19lbs and took
14 heats to braze up!
Some well-modelled fitting including a working stop valve, working safety
valve and working damper are present. As you would expect from Tom the
fasteners are prototypically square headed.
Like the trooper he was Tom then tested the boiler. He performed a hydraulic
test at 9psi and an air test at 4.5psi. There is no boiler certificate but
in principle you could take it to your local model engineering club and ask
them for a certificate. If you steam it please don't do it near me but
please do send me pictures. He said that a coal fire would not live in the
firebox but that a gas one would. For that reason there is no grate but I
understand that a 3.5" gauge loco one would fit. Not too sure which loco
tho'.
Tom had a miniature person made and dressed in clothing of the period to add
a context of scale.
Tom recorded 609 hours in the building of the boiler and estimated a further
200 hours unrecorded. Since he reckoned he could make a Stuart Turner No 10
in 10 hours that is a lot of work and comparable with the work involved in
making a live steam loco.
The quality of Tom's craftsmanship goes without saying. The photos have
accentuated the (removable) dust on the model (it has been in my loft for a
while) and toned down the blueing and blacking of some of the metal work.
The photos also fail to show the models undoubted presence: it looks much
better in the flesh.
The boiler is around 18" high x 18" long x 12 wide. Unpacked weight is of
the order of 30lbs.
The lot includes the boiler with fittings and person, Tom's illustrated
Notes for Judges (complete with manuscript amendments), some of Tom's
research documentation and a photocopy of the medal certificate.
================================
I reckon that sums it up nicely. Someone is going to get a unique piece of
craftsmanship.
alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.alanstepney.info
Model Engineering, Steam Engine, and Railway technical pages.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Wells" <oaksfield@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, October 03, 2004 5:40 PM
Subject: [modeleng] Re: Wooden boiler
Now, this is tempting! Has anybody any idea where I can get some plans from,
or was it built completely from scratch?
Tony Wells.
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