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A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be transformed by a connecting rod and crank into rotational force for work.
Collects steam at the top of the boiler (well above the water level) so that it can be fed to the engine via the main steam pipe, or dry pipe, and the regulator/throttle valve. [2] [5] [6]: 211–212 [3]: 26 Air pump / Air compressor Westinghouse pump (US+) Powered by steam, it compresses air for operating the train air brake system.
The way the valve controlled the steam entering and leaving the cylinder was known as steam distribution and shown by the shape of the indicator diagram. What happened to the steam inside the cylinder was assessed separately from what happened in the boiler and how much friction the moving machinery had to cope with.
On leaving the superheater, the steam exits the dry header of the superheater and passes down a steam pipe, entering the steam chests adjacent to the cylinders of a reciprocating engine. Inside each steam chest is a sliding valve that distributes the steam via ports that connect the steam chest to the ends of the cylinder space.
They control the admission of steam into the cylinders and its subsequent exhausting, enabling a locomotive to move under its own power. The valve consists of two piston heads on a common spindle moving inside a steam chest, which is essentially a mini-cylinder located either above or below the main cylinders of the locomotive.
A high-pressure steam locomotive is a steam locomotive with a boiler that operates at pressures well above what would be considered normal for other locomotives. Most locomotives operate with a steam pressure of 200 to 300 psi (1.38 to 2.07 MPa). [1] In the later years of steam, boiler pressures were typically 200 to 250 psi (1.38 to 1.72 MPa).
In a steam engine, the firebox is the area where the fuel is burned, producing heat to boil the water in the boiler.Most are somewhat box-shaped, hence the name. The hot gases generated in the firebox are pulled through a rack of tubes running through the boiler.
Cutaway section of a steam dome, showing the regulator inside. The steam dome is a vessel fitted to the top of the boiler of a steam engine.It contains the opening to the main steam pipe and its purpose is to allow this opening to be kept well above the water level in the boiler.