Crossness Pumping Station at east London ( http://www.crossness.org.uk/ ) near river Thames contains four big sewage pumping engines, one of them -- Prince Consort -- restored to working condition. Besides their pure size -- length overall approximately 68 ft (20.4 mtrs) and height 72 ft (22 mtrs) they show two features of special interests: grasshopper counter beam and Corliss valve gear. The engines are three-cylinder triple expansion engines - upgraded from single cylinder Watt engines (1865) in 1899. This means, that the steam is now used three times in the cylinders, always with decreasing steam pressure. Therefore the cylinders have different diameters (the low pressure cylinder is the largest in diameter) to compensate this fact and to develop the same force ( force equals steam pressure times piston area). The Corliss valve gear can be seen in detail in my video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3QvNTWUOds . The grasshopper counter beam allows parallel motion for the low pressure cylinder's piston rod. For the other two rods (air- and waterpump) exact parallel motion is not more guaranteed by the grasshopper principle and so these devices are fitted with additional crossheads. I have built an engine model with a Märklin metal set for a better understanding of the grasshopper kinematics. My grasshopper animation was done with the well priced German program Cinderella 2 (Math in Motion). Enjoy the video!
Comments
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This is indeed a beautiful work of art, and a tribute to human invention. How a youtube movie like this can have 24 thumbs down baffles my mind. Even if you are a bad kind of ecoterrorist, I still assume that you can realize this is a museum, not an all day round, full speed ahead, coal fume spewing doomsday machine.
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All they need is to build a little pub, and this place would be perfect!
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Really well edited and I appreciate the annotations
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stunning!
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Where's Fred Dibnah when you need him? R.I.P
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gentlemans please the name of the beautyful song
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it's a thing of outstanding beauty,like so many things from the Victorian Era...Hats off to the men who restored it and maintain it,it must take a lot of dedication and hard work...thank you gentlemen
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said before but, it's amazing!
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This is incredible. That decoration is awesome too. Is this the one that Fred dibnah took his lads to
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thankyou for a very good video, this place and machine are absolutely spectacular to see . I've found a new item for the bucket list now ,looking forward to seeing this beautiful machine in action :-) yours sincerely , Simon Davis.
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Wow!
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Funny how a massive machine like this last for generations. But here in the states. We can't even get a car or truck to make it 20 years.
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Just plain awesome!!
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"Dishonored" game designers definitely visited this place in their childhood!
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Awesome - thanks for the video.
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Steampunk oozing out of every pore.
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Back in the days when engines built for pumping sewerage warranted such ornate ironwork and being named after members of the Royal Family. The Victorian era had many faults bit god I love it.
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The fact there is a bazillion Bond films and they never picked this as a movie set is crazy.
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please, please, please can someone identify the lovely baroque Music for me. I would really, really like to get a recording of the whole piece. It sounds very Handelian, to me but i expect I'm wrong about that]. The video is a great Work - and makes me want to visit the Crossness Engines as soon as might be, on a trip to London, next year.
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Nice video, thanks!
What was the purpose of this machine?