The Accelerating Robey Cross Compound Steam Engine At Bolton's Steam Museum

HD 720p This cross compound engine has one of the typical designs of mill engines, although it was installed primarily for teaching purposes at the Manchester College of Technology. It dates from 1935 and has a modern design with tripping inlet valve gear at both cylinders, bores 8.5" (216 mm HP), 16" (406 mm LP), stroke 22" (559 mm) and is developing about 80 hp at 120 rpm. Engine speed is controlled by a governor on the high pressure side, which changes the steam cutoff point and thus admits less fresh steam. Further details you can find at the NMES homepage of Bolton Steam Museum http://www.nmes.org/ . Since steam pressure at Bolton's steam days is usually difficult to keep due to low gas pressure for the boiler, some big engines mostly run with electrical support, but sometimes they get full steam for some minutes. I could film such an interval, showing the rather modest acceleration of steam engines - caused by the high mass of flywheel, pistons and connecting rods - and the governor's controlling of steam cutoff, to keep the engine's speed constant -- very interesting (for you too, I hope). I want to say special thanks to Mr.Carney, Mr. Auty and the other friendly NMES volonteer's staff. Enjoy the video and thanks for watching!