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The pressure in the cylinder declines after cutoff as the steam pushes the piston down its bore. Cutoff is one of the four valve events. Early cutoff is used to increase the efficiency of the engine by allowing the steam to expand for the rest of the power stroke, yielding more of its energy and conserving steam. This is known as expansive working.
The first kind is the steam lap, which is the amount by which the valve overlaps the steam port on the live steam side of the piston or slide valve (i.e. the distance the valve needs to move to just begin to uncover the port).
The reversing lever has a catch mechanism which engages with a series of notches to hold the lever at the desired cut-off position. This means that the operator does not have a full choice of cut-off positions between maximum and mid-gear, but only those which correspond with the notches.
In the simple case, this can be a relatively simple task as in the internal combustion engine in which the valves always open and close at the same points. This is not the ideal arrangement for a steam engine, though, because greatest power is achieved by keeping the inlet valve open throughout the power stroke (thus having full boiler pressure, minus transmission losses, against the piston ...
The cut-off point determines the moment when the valve blocks a steam port, "cutting off" admission steam and thus determining the proportion of the stroke during which steam is admitted into the cylinder; for example a 50% cut-off admits steam for half the stroke of the piston. The remainder of the stroke is driven by the expansive force of ...
Cross compound engine, with an expansion valve (top) on the high-pressure cylinder. An expansion valve is a device in steam engine valve gear that improves engine efficiency. It operates by closing off the supply of steam early, before the piston has travelled through its full stroke. This cut-off allows the steam to then expand within the ...
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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.