All About Engines

ALL ABOUT ENGINES CHAPTER I How a Modern Engine Works by Steam NOBODY, from the oldest to the youngest among us, unless he possess not a grain of intellect or a spark of imagination, can look at a steam engine work- ing without thinking of more than is apparent to the eye. To those whose life is lived away from workshops the number of pipes, levers, wheels, and quickly moving rods only bewilders, and simple facts are obscured by complexity of detail. And yet there is nothing very intricate about the engine. The man who has lived among engines could almost manage one blindfold. True, he would not get the most out of it, but he would make it work. The principles are the same in all engines, and as they can be learnt as easily from a simple one as from the most elaborate one ever built, we shall devote this chapter to an examination of the parts and of the duties they perform. THE BOILER The first necessity for a steam engine is a boiler which will supply as much steam as the engine re- quires. What sort of boiler shall we choose—vertical,