Thread: Steam - the power of the future?

Those will give you a quarter of a horsepower, which, frankly, is useless if you factor in losses over your belt.
to do anything useful, you'll need ATLEAST half a HP available at the machines themselves.
and that's an absolute minimum.

but ofcourse, since we're talking about steam engines, that just means you've got to scale things up a bit

When I flip the switch to turn on my belt sander with a 2 hp electric motor, it is powered by electricity from a generator powered by a steam turbine with steam supplied by a nuclear reactor.

Now beat that!

If you want cool and safe why not to thing about water wheel. One wheel moving main shaft with all appropriate wheels and pulleys. No electricution, no explosion, no high pressure hoses flying mid air, no smashed solar panels, green energy and fun.

Originally Posted by 32t

When I flip the switch to turn on my belt sander with a 2 hp electric motor, it is powered by electricity from a generator powered by a steam turbine with steam supplied by a nuclear reactor.

Now beat that!

Bah! My aether accumulator will produce way more steam that that old fashioned fission device when I build it.

Originally Posted by adrspach

If you want cool and safe why not to thing about water wheel. One wheel moving main shaft with all appropriate wheels and pulleys. No electricution, no explosion, no high pressure hoses flying mid air, no smashed solar panels, green energy and fun.

I've been looking for a house with a river streaming beside it to do exactly this, sadly that's impossible to find 'round here

Well ... you could use a windmill to pump water into a large elevated tank and then use that head of water to drive a water wheel, draining into another large tank underneath so as to not waste water. I don't know how large the tanks would have to be but I'd expect the term "rather" may be appropriate.

haha yeah :P they'd have to be quite large to provide power for a prolonged period of time.

best option here is to retire and take your time doing things :P

Does anyone know how it was done 200 years ago?

Originally Posted by sidmind

Does anyone know how it was done 200 years ago?

A whole lot of elbow grease.

Originally Posted by Theseus

A whole lot of elbow grease.

You're correct, however man learned many years ago to harness the power of the wind, water, animal and human power! This post is about making a 'power supply'. I believe that it was an Amish woman who was using a foot powered sewing machine and looked out the window and observed the men using a large cross cut saw cutting through a log and came up with a human powered wood saw.

While I'm a little off topic here my Great Grandfathers homestead still stands, but is abandoned. the Root Cellar is constructed of 2' by2' by2' 'Davis Red Rock' the rock was removed from the quarry in the spring while it was saturated with water. This allowed the rock to be sawed into precise squares. The stone was soft enough to be decorated with garden rack marks! after the stone had dried, it would stay that way. This same stone is still in place at the old homestead and is also still the foundation of the Garfield County Courthouse in Pomeroy Washington USA.

All of the work was done by men using horses, levers, pulleys, sleds, etc

I guess you could say that all of that effort did indeed take a lot of elbow grease!