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The main components of a typical steam locomotive. Click or hover over numbers to see names. The diagram, which is not to scale, is a composite of various designs in the late steam era. Some components shown are not the same as, or are not present, on some locomotives – for example, on smaller or articulated types.
In the 20th century, slide valves were gradually superseded by piston valves, particularly in engines using superheated steam. There were two reasons for this: It is difficult to lubricate slide valves adequately in the presence of superheated steam; With piston valves, the steam passages can be made shorter.
There are two fundamental components of a steam plant: the boiler or steam generator, and the "motor unit", referred to itself as a "steam engine". Stationary steam engines in fixed buildings may have the boiler and engine in separate buildings some distance apart. For portable or mobile use, such as steam locomotives, the two are mounted together.
A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure (HP) cylinder , then having given up heat and losing pressure, it exhausts directly into one or more larger-volume low-pressure (LP ...
Dual-phase external combustion engines use a phase transition to convert temperature to usable work, for example from liquid to (generally much larger) gas. This type of engine follows variants of the Rankine cycle. Steam engines are a common example of dual-phase engines. Another example is engines that use the Organic Rankine cycle.
During the 1830s, the most popular valve drive for steam locomotives was known as gab motion in the United Kingdom and V-hook motion in the United States. [3] The gab motion incorporated two sets of eccentrics and rods for each cylinder; one eccentric was set to give forward and the other backwards motion to the engine and one or the other could accordingly engage with a pin driving the ...
Steam locomotive exhaust systems (13 P) Pages in category "Steam boiler components" ... Steam separator; Superheater
The steam generated in the boiler not only moves the locomotive, but is also used to operate other devices such as the whistle, the air compressor for the brakes, the pump for replenishing the water in the boiler and the passenger car heating system. The constant demand for steam requires a periodic replacement of water in the boiler.