Steam roller

“ The steepest gradient upon which a roller will act appears to be 1 in 9 in Blackburn, with a 15-ton roller, but this must require a very heavy pressure of steam, and 1 in 14 seems to be a gradient that gives no trouble to roll either up or down; in going down hill, of course it is a mere question of sufficient break power. ”

“ The goods are drawn across the top of the box beneath the roller nap side up, and the brush roller is made to revolve so as to lay the nap in the proper direction while it is softened by the steam. The motion of both roller and goods should be steady and continuous from beginning to end, and should be slow or quick according to the amount of steam passing through the fabric. ”

“ They are made in a great variety of forms, to enable them to deal with articles of different shapes, but they may be described generally as consisting either of a polished metal roller, heated by steam or gas, which works against a blanketted or felted surface in the form of another roller or a flat table, or, as in the Decoudun type, of a felted metal roller rotating against a heated concave bed of polished metal. In cases where hand-ironing is resorted to, time is economized by the employment of irons which are continuously heated by gas or electricity. ”

“ The cloth is then delivered at the far side of the machine in Fig. 44. If necessary, the surface speed of the middle or steam-heated roller may differ from the others so that a glazed effect--somewhat resembling that obtained by ordinary ironing--is imparted to the surface of the fabric. The faster moving roller is the steam-heated one. For ordinary calender finish, the surface speed of all the rollers is the same. ”

“ Thus a load of water is continually pressing down one side of the wheel, from which the other side is free, and a continued motion of rotation is produced.
(p. 20) In every machine, therefore, there are three objects demanding attention:—first, The power which imparts motion to it, this is called the prime mover; secondly, The nature of the machine itself; and thirdly, The object to which the motion is to be conveyed. In the steam engine the first mover arises from certain phenomena which are exhibited when heat is applied to liquids ”

“ The engine imparts a swinging to the whole length of the leg from the hip; a second swinging motion, from the knee downward, is accomplished by a similar system of levers and connections; and, finally, a true ankle motion is given to the foot by the rod running down through the lower leg. The heels of the figure are armed with calks, or spurs, which catch on the surface on which it is walking and give it its power. As exhibited, the steam man is connected to the end of a horizontal bar about waist high, which is fastened to a vertical standard in the center of the track. ”

“ Imagine the effect on an engine which is putting out its whole strength and getting full charges of fuel, if the belt suddenly slipped off and it were "allowed its head." A burst fly-wheel would be only one of the results. The steam-engine is easily controlled by the centrifugal action of a ball-governor, which, as the speed increases, gradually spreads its balls and lifts a lever connected with a valve in the steam supply pipe. Owing to its elastic nature, steam will do useful work if admitted in small quantities to the cylinder. ”

“ If we constantly keep up this alternating motion, the piston now rising and now falling, we are in a position to profit by the force of steam. For if the lever, attached to the rod of the piston at its lower end, is fixed by its upper to a crank of the rotating axle of a workshop or factory, is it not clear that the continuous action of the steam will give this axle a continuous rotatory movement? And this movement may be transmitted, by means of bands and pulleys, to a number of different machines or engines all kept at work by the power of a solitary engine. ”

“ It is a singular fact, that in the history of this invention considerable time and great ingenuity were vainly expended in attempting to overcome a difficulty, which in the end turned out to be purely imaginary. To comprehend distinctly the manner in which a wheel carriage is propelled by steam, suppose that a pin or handle is attached to the spoke of the wheel at some distance from its centre, and that a force is applied to this pin in such a manner as to make the wheel revolve. ”

“ The place to be assigned to a fly-wheel relatively to the other parts of the machinery is determined by the purpose for which it is used. If it be intended to equalise the action, it should be near the working point. Thus, in a steam-engine, it is placed on the crank which turns the axle by which the power of the engine is transmitted to the object it is finally designed to affect. On the contrary, in handmills, such as those commonly used for grinding coffee, &c., it is placed upon the axis of the winch by which the machine is worked. ”

“ The steam-engine itself, which supplies us with such unbounded power, owes its present perfection to this most admirable means of giving to metallic objects the most precise and perfect geometrical forms. How could we, for instance, have good steam-engines if we had not the means of boring out a true cylinder, or turning a true piston-rod, or planing a valve face? ”

“ The steam-engine is the finest example of the mechanical art. A thousand parts make up the whole, all of which move together in harmony. The most violent storm never disorders them. The piston moves, the crank turns, the steam rises, and is condensed. It is nothing but the Marquis of Worcester's kettle boiling over, Papin's rod or piston, Watt's crank, improved by later inventors. ”

“ The end rollers guide the table when making any portion of a revolution, and carry such part of the weight as may not be taken up by the centre. A recess is shown in side wall to facilitate the inspection of end rollers. In the earlier forms of engine turn-tables, the revolving movement was effected by attaching to the upper portion of the girders a strong winch, which acted upon gearing fixed either to the end rollers, or direct on to a toothed ring forming part of the roller-path. ”

“ The distance between the centres of the rollers is regulated by screws, furnished with wheels on their upper ends, similar to what is seen in the drawing dies at C. The two rollers have pinions on their axes, which make them revolve together; they are set in motion by an endless strap passing round a drum, upon whose axis is a pinion working into the teeth of a wheel fixed upon the axis of the lower roller. ”

“ The modern engine, which now claims our attention, is the result of numerous successive improvements. The application of steam as a motive power was probably originally made by Hero, who, 150 B.C., constructed, or at least described, an Æolipile. This was a hollow sphere with hollow bent arms attached; when water placed inside the sphere was heated, and steam generated, it issued from the arms, and reacting on the air caused the sphere to rotate. A model of this, the primogenitor of the modern steam-engine, can be bought at many opticians’ shops for about one shilling. ”

“ It has been said that we are indebted for the important invention in the steam-engine, termed hand gear, by which its valves or cocks are worked by the machine itself, to an idle boy of the name of Humphrey Potter, who, being employed to stop and open a valve, saw that he could save himself the trouble of attending and watching it, by fixing a plug upon a part of the machine which came to the place at the proper times, in consequence of the general movement. ”

“ If a weight were hung to the other end of the rope it would be raised as the piston was forced down. In that way the air pressure did the work of lifting the weight, and the necessary vacuum was obtained by forming steam and then condensing it in the cylinder. This was a very primitive device, requiring several minutes for the engine to make one stroke, but it was the beginning of the practical use of steam as a motive power. ”

“ The detaching portion of the mechanism consists of the three rollers Q S and T, but the fluted segment N1 also aids in this portion of the work. The roller S is known as the “steel detaching” roller, and receives an intermittent motion in both directions from a cam at the end of the machine. The roller Q is known as the “top detaching” or the “leather” roller, and is covered with leather, being borne by levers R, to which the necessary oscillation is given by a cam and the connecting rod R1. ”

“ The top of the piston-rod is attached to a crosshead, from each end of which hangs a great rod, which is hinged to the end of the side-beam. The other ends of the two beams are united by a cross-bar, to which is attached the connecting-rod that gives motion to the crank. Another favourite form of engine for steam-ships is that with oscillating cylinders. The paddle-wheels are constructed with an iron framework, to which flat boards, or floats, are attached, placed usually in a radial direction. ”

“ The hand of man is now too slow for the demands of his curiosity, but the power of steam comes to his assistance. Ink is rapidly supplied to the moving types, by the most perfect mechanism;—four attendants incessantly introduce the edges of large sheets of white paper to the junction of two great rollers, which seem to devour them with unsated appetite;—other rollers convey them to the type already inked, and having brought them into rapid and successive contact, re-deliver them to four other assistants, completely printed by the almost momentary touch. ”

“ The legs of this extraordinary mechanism were fully a yard apart, so as to avoid the danger of its upsetting, and at the same time, there was given more room for the play of the delicate machinery within. Long, sharp, spike-like projections adorned those toes of the immense feet, so that there was little danger of its slipping, while the length of the legs showed that, under favorable circumstances, the steam man must be capable of very great speed. ”

“ The axle of the driving wheels had a motion up and down, to allow for imperfections in the road; and the cogged wheel and pinion were kept at the requisite distance in gear by the supports of the cranked axle being fixed over and connected with those of the driving wheels, and thus moving in conjunction with them. Two eccentrics on the cogged wheel axle worked the slides with the usual levers and hand-gear, and the exhaust steam from the cylinders was discharged into the chimney. ”

“ Whilst in our first dejection, I thought I saw a place where a flat roller would remedy the whole misfortune; but a flat roller at Cape Spartivento, hard, easily unshipped, running freely! There was a grooved pulley used for the paying-out machinery with a spindle wheel, which might suit me. I filled him up with tarry spunyarn, nailed sheet copper round him, bent some parts in the fire; and we are paying-in without more trouble now. ”

“ A crank is used to fix the length of the stroke, and to obtain a rotary motion with which to work the slide valve by an ‘eccentric,’ as in the ordinary steam-engine: a small fly-wheel is used in their single vertical, but none is required in their double or treble cylinder, nor in the patent horizontal engines. A great advantage, in Messrs. Shand’s opinion, attending the use of a rotary motion for steam fire-engines is, that it can be put in motion by hand in the engine-house as often as is necessary to prevent any of the working parts getting fixed through being out of use. ”

“ Among the various ways in which the steam engine has ministered to the social progress of our race, none is more important and interesting than the aid it has afforded to navigation. Before it lent its giant powers to that art, locomotion over the waters of the deep was attended with a degree of danger and uncertainty, which seemed so necessary and so inevitable, that, as a common proverb, it became the type and representative of everything else which was precarious and perilous. ”

“ I desired to try my powers in making a more powerful steam-engine than I had as yet attempted to construct, in order to drive the large turning-lathe and the other tools and machinery of his small foundry. I accordingly set to work and constructed a direct-acting, high-pressure steam-engine, with a cylinder four inches in diameter. I use the term direct acting, because I dispensed with the beam and parallel motion, which was generally considered the correct mode of transferring the action of the piston to the crank. ”

“ On the top of the detaching roller is a large steel fluted roller carried at each end by a small arm called a "horse tail." In the original machine this roller simply kept its place upon the detaching roller by its weight, and when the machine came to be run at high speeds it was found that owing to its lightness the contact thus obtained was not reliable, the flutes or ribs of the roller slipping upon those of the detaching roller, which for good work is undesirable. ”

“ LOCOMOTIVES AND STEAM ENGINES IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM
Probably no museum collection better illustrates the development of the steam engine, particularly the locomotive, than the exhibit of the U. S. National Museum. It possesses a model of a very early machine designed by Sir Isaac Newton in 1680, which was propelled by a jet of steam projected backward against the air, and a model of Denis Papin's invention of about the same time. ”