On 28 Oct 2006, at 12:25, [log in to unmask] wrote:
> In the area where I currently work (Chillagoe, North Queensland) one
> of the old mines (Girofla) was notably wet and pumping was conducted
> in the 1920s by means of a vertical pump rod attached to a 'balance
> bob' which sat in line with a horizontally acting steam engine. I
> presume there was a connecting rod between the fly-wheel and the top
> of the 'balance bob'.
There was not necessarily a flywheel as such. I seem to remember that
on the east side of Cambridge there is a sewage pumping station (now
disused but in preservation) with a pair of horizontal 'semi-rotary'
steam engines. Each engine has a piston-rod, crosshead and connecting
rod and what appears to be a flywheel - but the 'flywheel' is actually
a bell-crank or angle-bob, the pump rod going down vertically (I can't
remember the exact arrangement of the linkage to the pump rod). The
'flywheel' makes only about a quarter of a revolution on each stroke as
I recall.
See http://www.museumoftechnology.com/hathorn.html for details and
picture of the engine.
Dave
--
Dave Linton
01341 280901
http://www.hendrecoed.org.uk/
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