Posted 4 years ago
hotairfan
(385 items)
This is a a drip oiler that I have for my model steam engine plant. It is used to lubricate the cylinder piston by vaporizing the oil into the steam flow from the boiler.
Steam alone has no lubricating qualities. A drip of steam oil every 30 seconds or so, will sufficiently lubricate the piston and the steam chest in the engine.
There is only one problem with using this drip oiler. How do I know the setting of the valve that allows the steam oil to drip every 30 seconds? So I made a Pyrex sight glass to visually gauge how often the oiler will drip in a given time period.
They always say that lubricating oil is a lot cheaper than replacing a non oiled part, still, steam oil is expensive, so this way I can be assured of the necessary lubrication without wasting steam oil.
Is that cyl. on top the only oil reservoir or does it have a supply line running to it ? Assuming the steam side is under pressure, is the oil under pressure ?
Hi bb2, the reservoir is the section between the two black knobs. The black knob on the top of the oiler is where you fill oil into the reservoir. The black knob on the side is the flow adjustment of the oiler.
The steam pressure will equalize on to both the top and the bottom of the reservoir, thus allowing the steam oil to drip down via gravity into the flow of steam and carry the steamed oil into the steam chest and the steam valve in the steam chest will carry the steam oil into the cylinder with the steam, where it can lubricate the piston.
You will get to know if there is more steam oil needed to flow by the sound of the engine running.
Steam oil is different than normal lubricating oil. It can stand the hi heat of steam )400 deg. F and above) and not burn. It also mixes with the steam in a sort of homogeneous state. Other lubricating oils can not do this. This is why steam engines running under steam must use oil made for this purpose.
Early forms of steam oil were made from animal fat. Newer, synthetic steam oil is mixes much better with the steam and will not become rancid as animal fat oils tend to become over time.
So you can't add oil to the reservoir while it's running ?
To answer bb2's question, can oil be added to the reservoir while the engine is running. Yes, you can add oil anytime that you please and fill up the reservoir.
The valve on the side of the oiler, as I identified as the black knob which adjusts the flow (see pic #4), can be adjusted to be fully open or fully closed. Fully open will allow all of the oil to drip at a constant flow and empty the reservoir in a mater of seconds, or the black knob of the valve can be fully closed and allow no oil to drip from the reservoir. If the valve is fully closed, no oil can come out and no steam can come in. The reservoir than returns to atmospheric pressure and the top black knob can be opened counterclockwise until it unthreads completely. You than take the top black knob off and you can add fresh oil to the reservoir. After you refill the reservoir, you replace the top cap (black knob), tighten it up, and you can than reopen the regulating valve on the side of the oiler (see pic #4) and set the flow (drip) that you desire.