Subject: Re: Sterling Engine kits

From: [email-masked] (Jonathan M. Elson)
Date: 2 Oct 1995 04:53:58 GMT

[email-masked] wrote:
: Does anyone know of a firm selling casting kits for 1/6 to 1/2 horsepower 
: sterling engines?

StIrling Engines!!! Please!

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From: [email-masked] (Larry Smith)
Date: 3 Oct 1995 14:08:53 GMT

What is the quietest type of engine aside from
a spring or electric motor?  I am contemplating
several projects where it would be nice to motor-
ize them with something other than electricity,
but which it would be nice not to have to wind up.
-- 
Larry Smith - My opinions only.  Killfile [email-masked] & [email-masked]
The attempt to justify an evil deed has perhaps more pernicious consequences
than the evil deed itself. The justification of a past crime is the planting
and cultivation of future crimes. - Eric Hoffer  Digital Unix: 64 bit _now_.

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From: WG=van=[email-masked] (wg van doorn winfried)
Date: 3 Oct 1995 23:31:07 GMT

>but which it would be nice not to have to wind up.

In my experience that would have to be either a steam engine or a stirling 
engine.For both types are model kits available.In the UK there is the stewart 
company which produces unmachined casts for several types of steam engines and 
I think I have read something about a stirling engine in the models-newsgroup.

Good luck,  winfried.

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From: WG=van=[email-masked] (wg van doorn winfried)
Date: 3 Oct 1995 23:33:45 GMT

>but which it would be nice not to have to wind up.

Addition 1: a bit further down in this group are some articles on stirlings!!!
winfried.

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From: [email-masked] (Paul Probus)
Date: 4 Oct 1995 01:57:05 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] 
says...
>
>In article <[email-masked]>,  <[email-masked]> wrote:
>>Does anyone know of a firm selling casting kits for 1/6 to 1/2 horsepower 
>>sterling engines?

Actually most are less than 100 watts, which is less than what you (and I) are 
looking for.  

>
>That's a pretty big Stirling engine, requiring something like a 10
>inch bore and a 6 inch stroke for that 1/6 horsepower.  You sure that
>you want to use a Stirling engine for your application?
>
>-- 
>Russ Kepler posting from home  [email-masked]
>
>                      Please don't feed the Engineers

Or you could build a multicylinder engine (say a 4 power and 4 displacement 
cylinder engine, it'd be very compact and neat as well), if it really takes 
that large of an engine to acheive 1/6 hp. Which I have my doubts.  Is this 
using a compressed gas or just air at atmospheric pressure (both in the "cold" 
sense)?  I would think that using air at atmospheric pressure would require a 
large engine, but using a compressed gas (like hydrogen or helium) I'm sure 
you'd be able to use a much smaller engine to get that kind of horsepower.  

However, I might be wrong.  I'm currently building a 40 something cc dual 
cylinder for experimenting with (run it with atm air, 25psi, 50psi, 75psi, ... 
200psi compressed air).  So hopefully, I'll be better able to do a better job 
judging.  

Paul Probus
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Mark Kinsler )
Date: Wed, 4 Oct 1995 03:27:32 GMT

>but which it would be nice not to have to wind up.

An interesting question.  Probably a fluid turbine, I would think.  Some 
very early phonographs were powered by a water turbine that hooked to the 
kitchen faucet.  In fact, I think the old ad I saw had an office 
dictating machine powered this way.  The waste water went down the drain; 
this was before the days of conservation.  

Random thoughts:

   Any motor or engine or whatever that uses a gas as a working fluid is
likely to hiss or pop.  There are some very low power schemes that use a
flame to expand wheel spokes made of materials with very high
sensitivities to heat, like rubber bands and "memory metals".  How much
noise does a true squirrel-cage motor make, provided one uses a fairly
quiet squirrel who won't chatter while he's running around in there? 
Now I see why electricity is so useful...

                                   Mark Kinsler

                                  out of ideas

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From: [email-masked] (Jim Harvey)
Date: Mon, 02 Oct 1995 21:31:08 GMT

>StIrling Engines!!! Please!

No, No, NO! Stirling Engines....get it right!!!!! Sheesh!

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From: [email-masked] (Russ Kepler)
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 1995 00:44:53 GMT

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From: [email-masked] (David Grensing)
Date: 4 Oct 95 16:40:08 CDT

In article [email-masked], [email-masked] (Mark Kinsler ) writes:
=>In article <[email-masked]>,
=>Larry Smith <[email-masked]> wrote:
=>>
=>
<SNIP>
=>An interesting question.  Probably a fluid turbine, I would think.  Some 
=>very early phonographs were powered by a water turbine that hooked to the 
=>kitchen faucet.  In fact, I think the old ad I saw had an office 
=>dictating machine powered this way.  The waste water went down the drain; 
=>this was before the days of conservation.  
=>

neat idea! I remember an episode of (I think) This Old House
where they were touring sound old mansions in the deep south. 
The ceiling fans were run with water turbines before they had
electricity. 

Dave

=>>
=>>What is the quietest type of engine aside from
=>>a spring or electric motor?  I am contemplating
=>>several projects where it would be nice to motor-
=>>ize them with something other than electricity,
=>>but which it would be nice not to have to wind up.
=>
=>                                   Mark Kinsler
=>
=>                                  out of ideas

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From: [email-masked] (Paul Probus)
Date: 4 Oct 1995 02:16:31 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] says...
>but which it would be nice not to have to wind up.

I'd suggest a Stirling or steam engine.  I have a small Stirling engine model 
that is nothing more than a toy, but it's pretty quite, although it vibrates 
like hell.  Steam would be more powerful, but I don't know about how quiet it 
would be, but I'd imagine that'd it be fairly quiet.

At this point in time, I can't think of anything else that would be as quiet or 
more quiet than either of these, aside from an electric motor (which you are 
trying to rule out.)

Hope this helps,
Paul Probus
[email-masked]

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From: Doug Cutler <[email-masked]>
Date: 5 Oct 1995 16:25:13 GMT

I don't really know about small steam engines but if anybody has seem the huge
mill engine in the South Ken. Science Museum running they will know that the
only noise is the quiet clack-clack of the valve gear!!  Now I know that an
engine of this size isn't under discussion here
 but I think the major noise from any stean engine, especially a slow running
one is the steam exhaust which is at a minimum on a multiple expansion type. 
-- 
   Douglas Cutler                            [email-masked]
   Systems Administrator                     University of North Carolina
   Project Isis                              Chapel Hill, NC 27514
   http://www.unc.edu/~cutler/               (919)-962-4291

  "In any field, it is easy to see who the pioneers are -- they are
   the ones lying face down with arrows in their backs."  (Anon.)"