Building a short-notice power plant around an 1887 Scotch Marine boiler A. E. Karnes 2023-09-28 | Details about the design and fitup of the power plant seen in previous videos. I had to come up with this in two weeks and had only one of those weeks to assemble and test it. Thank you Elijah for all the help and the filming.Part 2, covering the steam test and operation of this plant, can be found here: youtu.be/_lQ8h_gMTck
The Smallest (and perhaps first) Harris-Corliss Engine. A. E. Karnes 2024-01-05 | My oldest living mentor Dick Everett of East Haddam Connecticut explains the history of this beautiful Harris Corliss engine I just bought from him. The WIlliam A. Harris steam engine company begun in the 1860s and for a short time made single slide valve engines before obtaining licenses for George H Corliss's patents for the Corliss four-valve gear and releasing mechanisms. This machine was built at the Harris works and may be the first ever Corliss engine to leave their works as a prototype model. It will run on steam.
Continued Wall Railway Adventures A. E. Karnes 2023-11-24 | Just more of beautiful English steam locomotives in unlikely places. You may catch us some day if you show up at the right time...
Block Instrument Practice A. E. Karnes 2023-11-24 | I haven't got any block instruments or bells yet so I replaced them with mugs and birdssorry if the codes are gibberish
Abaco group flash A. E. Karnes 2023-11-24 | Some of my work in the Bahamas that I am very proud of, 2017.
Details of Merryweathers Self-contained firefighting engine A. E. Karnes 2023-10-27 | This superb little power plant on wheels was built by Merryweather in London to fight fires on everything from large British Estates to industrial yards. Merryweather built firefighting pumps and fire engines, and also steam trams and tram locomotives using similar boilers and engines for various city street railway networks. This boiler is a hybrid fire tube-water tube, and bolts together from two halves for ease of maintenance and overhaul, and can raise steam from cold in 15 minutes without damaging itself. This video details getting it into commission for Alex Ellsworth.
Crosshead Pump Bad A. E. Karnes 2023-10-15 | Before anyone asks, this was shot before we polished the boiler jacket.Dispelling an incredibly pervasive American myth about steam engine feedwater apparatus, where claims continue to be made that engine driven feedwater pumps as fitted to railway locomotives were unreliable and could not work at high speeds. I decided to make this video using my engine after having this argument for about the eighth time with someone who claimed to be an authority in history. Of course, engine-driven feedwater pumps were and continue to be in use on every roller, traction engine, road locomotive and steam car on the road, very nearly every steam power plant on the water, most of the stationary power plants that have not been reduced in functionality by museums, etcetera. It just so happens that operational railway locomotives with these pumps fitted are rare at the present time.The field of modern engineering has imploded due to many ills, but the field of historic engineering is arguably even worse as it is filled with myth and rumor and superstition. There are a lot of fakers out there, and a lot of people who have declared themselves experts using books and anecdotes or by acquiring degrees as their credentials. Do not listen to any of them, most of them have never turned a wrench. There is only one truth in Engineering. The machinery and apparatus will show you this truth if you let them and operate them correctly.
French Compound Scotch-Marine Overtype Testrun A. E. Karnes 2023-10-15 | An extremely fine European engine that made its way to me, somehow without getting damaged in shipping. It was a museum piece for many decades and as such I had to carefully un-stick the check valves and clean them of built-up verdigris that was preventing them from operating correctly. All other fittings worked perfectly besides a sticky governor.
PART 2: 1887 Scotch Marine boiler and plant steam test and operation A. E. Karnes 2023-10-06 | Details about the design and fitup of the power plant seen in previous videos. I had to come up with this in two weeks and had only one of those weeks to assemble and test it. Thank you Elijah for all the help and the filming.Some of the fitup and setup of this plant can be found here: youtu.be/7It69UQpMfUThis plant was created to demonstrate various engines, both for sale and not. Links to these machines are below.youtu.be/QSIXH2uoXaAyoutu.be/hpKQIF176c8youtu.be/Oh9LpKAodxsyoutu.be/vUCy-cAiEKQyoutu.be/4NXsHz8Mbwgyoutu.be/PwUraWcnfw4youtu.be/MsEs4c-KUE4youtu.be/doJIzYoUp-U
Apprentice A. E. Karnes 2023-10-03 | Neighborhood kid helped me get the engine ready for the day and then wanted to run it and began asking questions so that was that. Incidentally, one of the few people in the US now young or old who can say hes worked with an all original 143 year old steam engine, which I am out to change. I shot a low effort film showing how children are generally a lot smarter than Western society makes them out to be and why they shouldn't be shown the grotesque plasticworld nonsense that the world usually tries to spoonfeed them. Think twice before you permanently damage their minds with the likes of blippi.The big Italian family on my street held a block party and roast, so I brought up the French machine for its public debut to do my part. I picked up yet more apprentices. Elias is 8 and had this engine figured out in fewer minutes than he is years old. It was nice to be able to let them work and sit down and snap pictures. Before I snagged this engine, it was set to have ended up back in a museum where it would have never run again. After this I am reminded of just how unthinkable that would have been. I am also reminded that this tight knit and stable neighborhood with its lack of busybodies is a rarity in New England and why I've been able to achieve what I have with my power machinery.
French machine Sorted..... A. E. Karnes 2023-09-23 | All the small kinks of sitting still in a museum for many decades sorted out, and the brass polished. A marked improvement.
Racing New York City style A. E. Karnes 2023-09-23 | 1890's-1900's Brooklyn Union motorized gate cars racing with R68s, with some A/B standards thrown in in the opposite direction.
Friday morning surprise... A. E. Karnes 2023-08-18 | Excitement at the power plant I operate full time.
Remember kid, bones are wet. A. E. Karnes 2023-08-10 | Going back to Coney Island with my friend Omar, he reminded a kid filming us on the platform of a universal truth. This moment in history was preserved for posterity.Video footage credit to the kid with the wet bones
Thomson G3Y recording wattmeter, DT3 Totalizing Relay and C4 curve-drawing voltmeter Salvage A. E. Karnes 2023-06-04 | My friends and I went and salvaged this important and rare equipment from a 1920's power plant in imminent threat of demolition that for the moment shall remained un-named. Under my care this equipment will not be destroyed or suffer the indignity of becoming living room curiosities. I am always looking for more, especially the Thomson system family of instruments in the brass cases from the first era of power generation. I need a pen carriage and crossbar for the C4 as they were missing when I salvaged it. Contact me if you can be of assistance.
A tribute to the Stoneham and Arlington Waterworks Engines A. E. Karnes 2023-05-26 | Prints showing the Leavitt inverted beam side-crankshaft opposed compound engine that once inhabited the Spot Pond pumping station, and the high speed Laidlaw Dunn-Gordon cross compound engine at Arlington Waterworks.
Woburn Engine Particulars A. E. Karnes 2023-05-24 | Lunkenheimer Sentinel oilers of various sizes, and a dear old friend of mine came to visit. No, he isn't a doctor.
Woburn Waterworks Engine 8 A. E. Karnes 2023-05-10 | We are in steam Sat/Sun 9AM to 4PM, May 13th, 14th and May 20th and 21st. 2023. Please come and see a part of my life's work.
Woburn Waterworks Engine 7 A. E. Karnes 2023-05-10 | We are in steam Sat/Sun 9AM to 4PM, May 13th, 14th and May 20th and 21st. 2023. Please come and see a part of my life's work.
Woburn Waterworks Under 3 A. E. Karnes 2023-05-10 | We are in steam Sat/Sun 9AM to 4PM, May 13th, 14th and May 20th and 21st. 2023. Please come and see a part of my life's work.
Woburn Waterworks Under 2 A. E. Karnes 2023-05-10 | We are in steam Sat/Sun 9AM to 4PM, May 13th, 14th and May 20th and 21st. 2023. Please come and see a part of my life's work.
Woburn Waterworks Under A. E. Karnes 2023-05-10 | We are in steam Sat/Sun 9AM to 4PM, May 13th, 14th and May 20th and 21st. 2023. Please come and see a part of my life's work.
Woburn Waterworks Engine 6 A. E. Karnes 2023-05-10 | City Engineer Jay Corey with the machine he helped preserve.We are in steam Sat/Sun 9AM to 4PM, May 13th, 14th and May 20th and 21st. 2023. Please come and see a part of my life's work.
Woburn Waterworks Engine 5 A. E. Karnes 2023-05-10 | We are in steam Sat/Sun 9AM to 4PM, May 13th, 14th and May 20th and 21st. 2023. Please come and see a part of my life's work.
Woburn Waterworks Engine 4 A. E. Karnes 2023-05-10 | We are in steam Sat/Sun 9AM to 4PM, May 13th, 14th and May 20th and 21st. 2023. Please come and see a part of my life's work.
Woburn Waterworks Engine 3 A. E. Karnes 2023-05-10 | We are in steam Sat/Sun 9AM to 4PM, May 13th, 14th and May 20th and 21st. 2023. Please come and see a part of my life's work.
Woburn Waterworks Engine 2 A. E. Karnes 2023-05-10 | We are in steam Sat/Sun 9AM to 4PM, May 13th, 14th and May 20th and 21st. 2023. Please come and see a part of my life's work.
Woburn Waterworks Engine 1 A. E. Karnes 2023-05-10 | We are in steam Sat/Sun 9AM to 4PM, May 13th, 14th and May 20th and 21st. 2023. Please come and see a part of my life's work.
Woburn Waterworks Front Door A. E. Karnes 2023-05-10 | We are in steam Sat/Sun 9AM to 4PM, May 13th, 14th and May 20th and 21st. 2023. Please come and see a part of my life's work.
Woburn Waterworks A. E. Karnes 2023-05-10 | We are in steam Sat/Sun 9AM to 4PM, May 13th, 14th and May 20th and 21st. 2023. Please come and see a part of my life's work.
Henry Ford Merlin Engine comes home A. E. Karnes 2023-04-21 | Heavy Haulage with a Toyota Tacoma pulling about 8 times its rated load....
US Navy Cutter No. 873 power plant test A. E. Karnes 2023-02-12 | United States Navy cutter No. 873 is finally alive. This was the Captain's cutter of the original battleship New Jersey BB-16, and saw service with the Great White Fleet. Here is the first ever test run of the restored power plant. The engine is her original Navy "E2" type compound. I have been waiting to do this for five years. Sea trials will be in June.
Feedwater pump Eccentric for NER A2 Polaris A. E. Karnes 2023-01-16 | My dear friend and railway driver Erik Schmidtke in Germany built for me an eccentric I designed and could not build. Taking the wheels off the axle of a locomotive unless it is absolutely neccessary can be destructive to axle bosses and also ruins the phase positioning of crank pins if no way to jig them into the proper place exists. To that end the eccentric had to be made split at the disc in order to mount to the axle.
Herreshoffs Lightweight, High Performance Triple Expansion Engine A. E. Karnes 2023-01-15 | A very sadly non-condensing and unloaded demonstration of the incredibly elegant, futuristic and artistic engineering of Nathaniel Greene Herreshoff. I decided to obtain this engine for myself due to how similar Herreshoff's engineering sensibilities are with my own.Video filming and editing by Elijah Jackson and used here with permission.
Ashworth Parker Engine & DC Dynamo A. E. Karnes 2023-01-14 | I have been commissioned to service, operate, film and sell off the Ellsworth Collection. This engine is FOR SALE. Please contact me if you wish to buy it. AEKarnes@gmail.com Video filming and editing by Elijah Jackson and used here with permission.
Wards Radial Triple Expansion Engine, remembering my friend Richard Gibbens A. E. Karnes 2023-01-13 | It has been 11 years since I lost my friend Dickie Gibbens. I still miss him just as much. Thank you for all the knowledge and help in my younger years.I have been commissioned to service, operate, film and sell off the Ellsworth Collection. This engine is FOR SALE. Please contact me if you wish to buy it. AEKarnes@gmail.com Video filming and editing by Elijah Jackson and used here with permission.
US Navy G and K type Engines A. E. Karnes 2023-01-13 | I have been commissioned to service, operate, film and sell off the Ellsworth Collection. The G type engine will be retained. The K type engine is FOR SALE. Please contact me if you wish to buy it. AEKarnes@gmail.com Video filming and editing by Elijah Jackson and used here with permission.
Merryweather Steam Firefighting Pumps A. E. Karnes 2023-01-13 | I have been commissioned to service, operate, film and sell off the Ellsworth Collection. These engines are not currently for sale but may be in the future. For clarification, the two engine driven pumps I mention on the large 2HP are additional boiler feedwater pumps, not the firefighting water cylinders.Video filming and editing by Elijah Jackson and used here with permission.
Edwards type Wet Air Engine A. E. Karnes 2023-01-13 | I have been commissioned to service, operate, film and sell off the Ellsworth Collection. This engine is FOR SALE. Please contact me if you wish to buy it. AEKarnes@gmail.com Video filming and editing by Elijah Jackson and used here with permission.
Donkin Steering Engine A. E. Karnes 2023-01-12 | I have been commissioned to service, operate, film and sell off the Ellsworth Collection. This engine is FOR SALE. Please contact me if you wish to buy it. AEKarnes@gmail.com Video filming and editing by Elijah Jackson and used here with permission.
Reid Steam Windlass A. E. Karnes 2023-01-12 | I have been commissioned to service, operate, film and sell off the Ellsworth Collection. This engine is FOR SALE. Please contact me if you wish to buy it. AEKarnes@gmail.com Video filming and editing by Elijah Jackson and used here with permission.
Steaming up the Ellsworth Collection A. E. Karnes 2022-11-21 | An Ashworth Parker marine Dynamo, a Donkin steering engine, a Reid Windlass, an 1887 scotch marine boiler and a lot more you will see soon.
Common Schoenner/Falk feedwater pump problems A. E. Karnes 2022-11-07 | Schoenner, Falk, Ernst Plank, etcetera feedwater pumps are machine seal, there are typically no packing glands. All feedwater pumps are water lubricated, but this type is most prone to damage if you run them dry. Too many people with these antique engines run them on air, or steam, without using the pump and as such the bores and rams get slowly destroyed.
A second (damaged) Undertype Engine A. E. Karnes 2022-10-08 | Another undertype arrived today and it was smaller than I expected.Fedex destroyed the feedwater heating system of this engine.This engine will be passed on to whichever one of my friends wants it in the timeframe they are able to pay for it, but it will be repaired and tested in the mean time.
Caulking bad seam on George Whitneys Ida F boiler A. E. Karnes 2022-10-07 | Impact caulking is a process as old as boilermaking itself, and one that does not get talked about enough. In fact I have heard too many young people who weld everything as their solution claim that this technique "is impossible and does not exist" so here you are.
Wardenclyffe with Greg Leyhs resonator A. E. Karnes 2022-09-19 | My friend Greg Leyh brought his 3 million volt Tesla coil to the base of the original Wardenclyffe tower, and we tested a few experiments.You can find out more at lod.org 3 million volt air arc breakdown, and a successful test of a small Wirelessly driven vehicle using the near-field effect, apparently the only one ever built and tested in history. Apologies for the terrible music being blasted in the background, thankfully our electric field managed to screw it up some. It should be noted that this vehicle is operating at sub 1% efficiency and would stop working completely another hundred feet away from the tower due to the inverse square law. Of the 200+ horsepower being put through the tower, less than 0.15 horsepower could be developed by the electric motor. This is why non-resonant wireless power transmission is essentially a useless technology. Fun to experiment with however!
Sealing new Boiler/cylinder stay-studs on George Whitneys Ida F A. E. Karnes 2022-08-23 | The old studs were broken off long ago and needed to be removed and remade. Here I go over how I put in copper ferrlules around these studs to make a steam seal, and why this is neccessary.
