Amazing video. My fav locomotive was produced from 1895 & came out with kero lighting. The whole fleet of 24 locomotives were converted to Pyle National turbo gens to serve out their time to around the mid 60's. Two are still running today. Love the wine of the P-N. Thank you for your video.
Actually, if properly designed, a a low pressure turbine steam engine could run off of the exhausted steam from a reciprocating steam engine for additional energy recovery.
I worked on one of these dynamo's on a steam loco once, the dyno was powering a 32 to 12v dc to dc converter to supply power for the communication radio, someone had serviced the dyno but didn't know that the output was dc and swapped the wires around. when the loco was fired up the wrong polarity blow up the dc to dc converter.
The loco was in the service yard and there was enough steam and we drove down the line a bit, the engineer aloud me to open the throttle and apply the brakes. it was so cool to feel the power and be in charge of the train( with the engineer telling me what to do). a real high light of my career as a radio tech.
@@lineshaftrestorations7903 yep, the radio gear was installed by someone else, i did put in some sort of current protection, i just cant remember want though... it was 15 years ago.
That was a good questions - my grand father was an early machanic electrician he all ways had something to say about the 32 volt systems and rail mail cars were the first to have wheel generators & electric lights and how the wheel genretor brush assembly shifted to maintain the correct polarity when the cars switched directions, he also talked about the Edison's rail road iron battery's and how the plates had to be scrubbed every 10 yrs - also a 6 &12 volt battery was 6 & 12 volts because the acid was around a 1.190 gravity - that's considered a dead today, they didn't sulphate also with a low gravity acid mix - at 1.190 gravity acid they were 2 volt cells - power houses were often hybrid plants and they would run the gens 1-3 times a day for an hour & 20 minutes for each run to charge power house battery's - fuel was considered expencive adjusted for inflation fuel was around 17-20 dollars a gallon - he mentioned the DC power houses burned 1/6th of the fuel that the AC power houses burned for the same kw out put so there power was cheap compared to AC power - also with 1.190 acid battery were designed for 70- 80.yrs of serves - if they did sulphate they just removed the acid and filled them with baking soda and water - when they quit foaming they pumped that water out and rinsed the cell and added acid back in the cases - I've seen some of those battery's as a kid in old power houses they were 5ft high 5ft wide and 10 ft long I think they were 100000 amp cells - they charged from 95volts at start and at finish was 125 volts if i remember right some areas like French Quarter in N.O. - had four different voltages, from four different companies serving them power - the railroad brought on the 32 & 64 volt farm lighting and small town electrification as a result of having power at railroad depots and ice houses for rail car refrigeration - my grand father mentioned all that - many of the old oil engines ran at a speed slow enough to burn most of the fuel also they used oil as a coolant and ran the engines at 250° so the engines burnt all the fuel so they were 60% fuel efficent
Very neat machine! I am fascinated with all power generation stuff. Need to look up more on this to see how the voltage and speed regulation works on it.
I have one of these too! It works, but it's missing the door on the collector side. I'm located in Belgium. The only way I think this thing got here, is thru the WWII Canadian 2-8-0 locomotives that where shipped to Europe, and after the war they became a part of the rolling stock of the Belgian Railroads up to 1966, when the last one of these did their service. How much are the worth you think?
What was cool is when they let us look around in the cab of the locomotive during a heritage steam train tour and they started the dynamo for us to put on the cab lights while we were there and it’s quite cool as you can hear it spooling up and then the lights gradually fade on! :)
Beautiful little Genny. How well did the Vertical Boilers keep up with her in terms of Steam Demand? I know they can be Steam Hogs. Looks like that smaller VFT was keeping up with her, but was probably at her maximum Steam Rate. With your bigger Boiler there was probably enough Steam left over to roll over some smaller Engines slowly under no load, and to run the Injectors.
The boiler keeps up fairly well on the small K2 turbo. The boiler is only rated at 100psi. Turbines love higher pressures. 125-150 would be much better. For the power generated, a reciprocating engine and a belted dynamo would be a better solution on 100psi.
@@lineshaftrestorations7903 Exactly what I was thinking. I have a similar sized CH Dutton Coal Fired Vertical Firetube that is all welded and very similar to Boiler you utilize most of the time in your videos. So I'm gathering food for thought on how I'd like to set things up.
any pointer to an american english description of dynamo ? Have a bit of a trouble with such a one now - it doesn't wants to regulate itself so it goes full tilt as soon as i can....
75v on a diesel locomotive is the charging voltage for the 64v starting battery. It is also used in the system that excites the main propulsion generator/ alternator.
I wonder what size of boiler and rate of burn is required to actually sustain running this dynamo indefinitely; I'm assuming at the rate of discharge this boiler will drop below min PSI to keep the dynamo running? Or I maybe wrong?
I have a 5000 watt generator powered by a 10 hp gas engine, normal running rpm of around 2500. The engine is blown and I got wondering if I could hook the generator part up to a steam engine. Do you think that's feasible and what size steam engine do you think it would take ? I'd appreciate any suggestions
Almost no steam engine with reciprocating pistons will run very long near 2500 rpm... for those speeds you are likely needing a steam turbine. (or set of nearly 10x step-up gears )
This is fine for directly powering 32v incandescent lamps. You would need about 40v to charge a 32v battery. It's possible you could make changes to adapt to a 24v system but there are likely better ways to do it.
@@lineshaftrestorations7903 we will be building a house in the near future, I wanted to create a steam generating system because my power grid allows two way metering. Create the power and sell it now, then use the grid later
If the boiler was carrying 125psi or greater the efficiency would be fairly good. Since this is running at 90-100psi a well tuned reciprocating steam engine an a belted dynamo would be a better system.
With a DC system low. Voltage it takes 1 HP to genrate 380 watts as a rule - at 64 volts and higher it's takes 1 HP to generate 416 watts AC or DC - small air cooled Chinese generators have all kinds of kw ratings - to get a true out put it's the engine HP x 416 - the smaller 2 kw sets use a R frame generator most cases those are normally set a 64 hz or 3900. RPMs to get an average 120 volt reading also so induction motors will run
One of my favorite sounds on a steam locomotive
Very Neat! Those old dynamos sure are cool to watch operate, they were an ingenuous idea that seems to have worked pretty well!
Amazing video. My fav locomotive was produced from 1895 & came out with kero lighting. The whole fleet of 24 locomotives were converted to Pyle National turbo gens to serve out their time to around the mid 60's. Two are still running today. Love the wine of the P-N. Thank you for your video.
Oh the sounds, what music to the ears. What quality products were made in America back then. Not like all the junk today.
Today its all made in china crap.... doesn't last much
Excellent! Now plumb the exhaust to the engine running the cordwood saw and you can cut firewood (or boiler fuel) all night long.
Actually, if properly designed, a a low pressure turbine steam engine could run off of the exhausted steam from a reciprocating steam engine for additional energy recovery.
Very interesting! Thanks!
Very cool!
That's awesome
Happy sound, means it's time to start the trip.
I worked on one of these dynamo's on a steam loco once, the dyno was powering a 32 to 12v dc to dc converter to supply power for the communication radio, someone had serviced the dyno but didn't know that the output was dc and swapped the wires around. when the loco was fired up the wrong polarity blow up the dc to dc converter.
The loco was in the service yard and there was enough steam and we drove down the line a bit, the engineer aloud me to open the throttle and apply the brakes. it was so cool to feel the power and be in charge of the train( with the engineer telling me what to do). a real high light of my career as a radio tech.
A reverse current cutout relay or simply a suitable diode would solve the reverse current problem.
@@lineshaftrestorations7903 yep, the radio gear was installed by someone else, i did put in some sort of current protection, i just cant remember want though... it was 15 years ago.
awesome history, i'd have to build an underground vault to contain the dB noise level though.
Thank you very much for the video
Out of curiosity what is the approximate rpm of the dynamo? and if it's as fast as it seems to be what type bearings were used? Thanks great video
These operate in 3000 to 3600 rpm range. This model has ring oiled ball bearings.
That was a good questions - my grand father was an early machanic electrician he all ways had something to say about the 32 volt systems and rail mail cars were the first to have wheel generators & electric lights and how the wheel genretor brush assembly shifted to maintain the correct polarity when the cars switched directions, he also talked about the Edison's rail road iron battery's and how the plates had to be scrubbed every 10 yrs - also a 6 &12 volt battery was 6 & 12 volts because the acid was around a 1.190 gravity - that's considered a dead today, they didn't sulphate also with a low gravity acid mix - at 1.190 gravity acid they were 2 volt cells - power houses were often hybrid plants and they would run the gens 1-3 times a day for an hour & 20 minutes for each run to charge power house battery's - fuel was considered expencive adjusted for inflation fuel was around 17-20 dollars a gallon - he mentioned the DC power houses burned 1/6th of the fuel that the AC power houses burned for the same kw out put so there power was cheap compared to AC power - also with 1.190 acid battery were designed for 70- 80.yrs of serves - if they did sulphate they just removed the acid and filled them with baking soda and water - when they quit foaming they pumped that water out and rinsed the cell and added acid back in the cases - I've seen some of those battery's as a kid in old power houses they were 5ft high 5ft wide and 10 ft long I think they were 100000 amp cells - they charged from 95volts at start and at finish was 125 volts if i remember right some areas like French Quarter in N.O. - had four different voltages, from four different companies serving them power - the railroad brought on the 32 & 64 volt farm lighting and small town electrification as a result of having power at railroad depots and ice houses for rail car refrigeration - my grand father mentioned all that - many of the old oil engines ran at a speed slow enough to burn most of the fuel also they used oil as a coolant and ran the engines at 250° so the engines burnt all the fuel so they were 60% fuel efficent
@@able880 Amazing pieces of American History. Thank you.
Great information!What are we hearing running in the background earlier in the video?
Would especially like some photos of the turbine wheel with the weights and the yoke with everything else around in that area.
Please.
Very neat machine! I am fascinated with all power generation stuff. Need to look up more on this to see how the voltage and speed regulation works on it.
I believe there is a manual available on the vintagemachinery.org website for Pyle National K2s, if not let your fingers/thumbs do some googling.
@@lineshaftrestorations7903 Thanks, I will look up that manual!
I have one of these too! It works, but it's missing the door on the collector side. I'm located in Belgium. The only way I think this thing got here, is thru the WWII Canadian 2-8-0 locomotives that where shipped to Europe, and after the war they became a part of the rolling stock of the Belgian Railroads up to 1966, when the last one of these did their service. How much are the worth you think?
What was cool is when they let us look around in the cab of the locomotive during a heritage steam train tour and they started the dynamo for us to put on the cab lights while we were there and it’s quite cool as you can hear it spooling up and then the lights gradually fade on! :)
Beautiful little Genny. How well did the Vertical Boilers keep up with her in terms of Steam Demand? I know they can be Steam Hogs. Looks like that smaller VFT was keeping up with her, but was probably at her maximum Steam Rate. With your bigger Boiler there was probably enough Steam left over to roll over some smaller Engines slowly under no load, and to run the Injectors.
The boiler keeps up fairly well on the small K2 turbo. The boiler is only rated at 100psi. Turbines love higher pressures. 125-150 would be much better. For the power generated, a reciprocating engine and a belted dynamo would be a better solution on 100psi.
@@lineshaftrestorations7903 Exactly what I was thinking. I have a similar sized CH Dutton Coal Fired Vertical Firetube that is all welded and very similar to Boiler you utilize most of the time in your videos. So I'm gathering food for thought on how I'd like to set things up.
❤❤❤❤❤❤
any pointer to an american english description of dynamo ?
Have a bit of a trouble with such a one now - it doesn't wants to regulate itself so it goes full tilt as soon as i can....
Wow
Lotsa power left In the steam though
Looks like one off of a locomotive
Is there a way to route the water back to the boiler for re-boil?
It's possible to set up a condenser system. An reuse the water. On a small scale the system complexity would be expensive. I doubt I'll attempt it.
I wonder if the 72 volt dc systems on locomotives originated from these systems one way or another? Anyone know?
75v on a diesel locomotive is the charging voltage for the 64v starting battery. It is also used in the system that excites the main propulsion generator/ alternator.
I wonder what size of boiler and rate of burn is required to actually sustain running this dynamo indefinitely; I'm assuming at the rate of discharge this boiler will drop below min PSI to keep the dynamo running? Or I maybe wrong?
Something in a 5 boiler HP rating would probably work. 8-10 boiler HP still better. 125-175psi would be better than 100psi.
I have a 5000 watt generator powered by a 10 hp gas engine, normal running rpm of around 2500. The engine is blown and I got wondering if I could hook the generator part up to a steam engine. Do you think that's feasible and what size steam engine do you think it would take ? I'd appreciate any suggestions
An 8HP steam engine should be able to run that generator at full load. A common problem is not having enough steam to sustain the load.
Almost no steam engine with reciprocating pistons will run very long near 2500 rpm... for those speeds you are likely needing a steam turbine.
(or set of nearly 10x step-up gears )
Is that spring assembly just inboard of the turbine wheel a governor?
The heavy spring is part of the governor assembly. The flyweights slide a collar that acts on a balanced steam valve. Not very precise but suitable.
Very cool machine, but to do something like charge a home battery, it would need a whole heck of a lot more output. For the lights it was good enough.
This is fine for directly powering 32v incandescent lamps. You would need about 40v to charge a 32v battery. It's possible you could make changes to adapt to a 24v system but there are likely better ways to do it.
@@lineshaftrestorations7903 we will be building a house in the near future, I wanted to create a steam generating system because my power grid allows two way metering. Create the power and sell it now, then use the grid later
4:53
How efficient is this, compared to using a reciprocating steam engine to turn the dynamo?
If the boiler was carrying 125psi or greater the efficiency would be fairly good. Since this is running at 90-100psi a well tuned reciprocating steam engine an a belted dynamo would be a better system.
America was known for top quality items . The whole world wanted America made.now we don't make our own items .Sad😢
Reckon that's a pretty expensive hobby!
500 W is about 2/3 of a horsepower
With a DC system low. Voltage it takes 1 HP to genrate 380 watts as a rule - at 64 volts and higher it's takes 1 HP to generate 416 watts AC or DC - small air cooled Chinese generators have all kinds of kw ratings - to get a true out put it's the engine HP x 416 - the smaller 2 kw sets use a R frame generator most cases those are normally set a 64 hz or 3900. RPMs to get an average 120 volt reading also so induction motors will run
By the book 1 hp equals 746 watts - as a result of electrical magnetic losses in a 32volt system 1hp will only generate 380 watts as a rule
Can I buy one of these?