Elvas Tower: 19th Century: Winans "camel" valve gear - Elvas Tower

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19th Century: Winans "camel" valve gear Rate Topic: -----

#1 User is offline   Frank Musick 

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Posted 28 January 2022 - 09:14 PM

I was finally able to decipher most of the drawings ilustrating odd valve gear Ross Winans used on the "camels". It was actually simpler than I thought, at least from the animationn. There are 6 eccentric cranks with corresponding rods, but only the "forward" set need motion. I cannot tell from the drawings exactly how it was done, but I did surmise how the camshaft came into play. The cams control which "hook" engages the rocker that drives the valve rods. Unllike the expansionn linnk in a Stephenson, which hss a somewhat simpler up or down position, Winans connects his reverser to a rack and gear. Moving the reverser causes the rack to move a gear that rotates the camshaft. The cams lift or lower the eccentric rod "hooks" over the the lower rocker shaft. Going forward, for instance, the cams for reverse and cutoff lift those correspondinng rods so their hooks do not engage the same shaft.

The valve gear is modeled in the forward position with the forward eccentric rod engaged on the lower rocker shaft. This rotates the rocker back and forth which in turn drives the valve rod. I made no attempt to be precise, the model is rudimentary at best, but it does approximate the valve gear operation. The one thinng I couldn't see in the drawings was how the cams on the camshaft were actually operating against the eccentric rods. The camshaft is shown directly beneath the lower rocker shaft. The cams could not touch the rods because the lower rocker shaft interferes. If the drawingg is correct it would seem Winans had some manner of making this work. To me, moving the canshaft closer to the axle would have enabled the cams to operate the rods without worrying about any interference.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/06/3a/82/063a8242d1e0856cb9aa99c819f7a4b8.jpg


Anyway, I did make a video of the thing assembled and operating in B&O 170. You'll notice that one lever is swinging back and forth, possible maimingg or kiilling the engineer. That lever is the "starter bar" described by a fellow who actually operated a camel. Thhe starter bar was used to positiion the rocker to engage the eccentric rod hooks. I;m supposingg the engineer had to work both until the proper eccentric was engaged and the locomotive could move. Thhe starter bar was removable. During operation it was kept stored so it wasn't actually flailinng back and forth in the cab. I left it "on" in the video just to illustrate how wonky this design could be. In practice ioperatinng these engines was relatively conventional and they performed as intended. The camels were workhorses of the time and quite capable of handling their usual assignment, hauling lots of coal at very low speeds.

https://youtu.be/a7rjOIwahr0

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