Thread: Steam - the power of the future?

Back in ye olden days they used:
- Dogs powered treadmills (seriously)
- water
- steam
- elbow grease/treadles (like you can see on the antique sewing machines)
Don't know if they had people powered treadmills for cutlery works as treadmills were used as punishment for convicts.

whats that show on PBS with the guy doing everything olde school *(i think ye olde workshoppe or something).........

he had a foot powered lathe.... and did everything with a buttload of hand tools.......... granted he was working with wood BUT it will translate....

as for the steam.... i don't see why not.... mind your P's and Q's to keep things safe.........

is there a possibility of blowing it up?? yeah... but i am fairly sure its not that high.....

as far as worrying about burns.... put pipe wrap on it.... as a teen i worked in a slaughter house in illinois that had raw steam running through pipes all over the place..... 1 burn.... on my arm cause i touched somewhere the insulation wasn't....

question....... why is everyone so paranoid about this form of power?? hell steam built this country....

just be careful... take photos.... it will be uber cool.... and when the zombies come and there is no electricity you will be ahead of the game...

People are afraid of it because of the huge number of accidednts that have happened with it in the past. Exploding boilers can rip buildings apart quite easily. I did a repair job in a unit where the water heater, a very small inline unit, exploded. It embedded chunks of ceramic from the housing in the wall fifteen feet away and sprayed the bathroom with boiling water. If a child had been in that room, which was a distinct possibility in this case, they would probably have died and definitely suffered severe burns.
Big industrial boilers have multiple layers of safety mechanisms built into them to prevent incidents. Even small ones like several I used to maintain for some honey extrators have two or more redundant safeties to prevent explosions. A home built or antique unit ... not so much.
There are plenty of antique stationary engines that would do the job just as well and have far less risk.

Originally Posted by paco664

whats that show on PBS with the guy doing everything olde school *(i think ye olde workshoppe or something).........

he had a foot powered lathe.... and did everything with a buttload of hand tools.......... granted he was working with wood BUT it will translate....

question....... why is everyone so paranoid about this form of power?? hell steam built this country....

just be careful... take photos.... it will be uber cool.... and when the zombies come and there is no electricity you will be ahead of the game...

That would be "The Woodwright's Shop". Seeing what he uses in place of a modern router is cool. I'd also like to get my hands on his tredle powered scroll saw when I have the money to get a small shop together.

hmmmmm.... i am starting to work on my design for the military..... i am gonna build them a steam powered bomb..... the timer will be difficult but if i can work it out it will be worth billions.....

just have to figure out how to keep the pilot light lit when they push it out the airplane....

Most boilers are electric these days. Just make sure the extension lead is long enough and you're good to go.

Originally Posted by sidmind

Does anyone know how it was done 200 years ago?

As written somwhere above. Water and wheel.

Water Heater explosion - YouTube