[SEL] The Rice & Sargent Lives!

[Rick Rowlands]

Arnie,

The Tod Engine Project doesn't need much encouragement.  Things are already 
working on a full head of steam since the arrival of the last of the big 
parts last September.

I accepted delivery of the hemlock 6x6 columns for the pole building.  10 of 
the 20 concrete building piers are done, the other 10 piers will be poured 
as weather permits.

A professional engineer is assisting in the design of the Tod's foundation, 
to design something that will support the slow speed no load operation of 
the engine while not cost me a fortune to put in.  To that end I am 
fabricating some pedestals that will support the castings and be embedded in 
the concrete.

I am fortunate to be working at a start up machine shop that has equipment 
large enough to work on Tod sized parts.  I can use whatever machines I need 
but in most cases have to set the machines up first.  For example I will be 
turning/polishing the Tod's piston rods next spring but before I can do that 
I had to set up and wire in our 40" Skoda lathe. (our LP rod is 11" dia. x 
18' long).  So setting up machines and making preparations have been taking 
a good deal of time as well.

In my free time I've been cleaning Tod grease off of literally buckets of 
bolts of all shapes and sizes. These bolts now go back into buckets with 
rust preventative applied and will be ready to go when we start putting 
parts back together next year.

On Saturdays I have a volunteer come in to help sort through 10,000 
engineering drawings from the mill the Tod came from.  That project will 
last all winter.  And on Sundays I am at home doing various DIY projects at 
our new place.

To get back to the topic of this thread I am very excited that Jim has the 
Rice and Sargent running, and can't wait to get back up there to see the 
engine operate.  I am sure Jim can't wait for me to get back up there as 
well since he is storing half of the Ames horizontal uniflow which is coming 
to Youngstown.

Rick Rowlands

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Arnie Fero" <fero_ah at city-net.com>
To: "The SEL email discussion list" <sel at lists.stationary-engine.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 9:44 AM
Subject: Re: [SEL] The Rice & Sargent Lives!


> Hi Jim,
>
> I can remember those heady days when you first announced this project.
> WELL DONE!!!!!  As I said then, I'll say again now, be sure to invite us
> all to the first steam up.  We can bring our own champaign.  8-))
>
> Ya know getting her turning on compressed air might just serve as
> "encouragement" for the Tod Engine project too.  What goes around comes
> around as they say.
>
> See ya,  Arnie
>
> On Mon, 27 Nov 2006, James Mackessy wrote:
>
>> Some of you will remember posts dating back into the late '90's of a 
>> corliss steam engine rescue from the old L.C. Smith Typewriter plant in 
>> Syracuse, New York, when that building was demolished. It was through 
>> this list that we learned of the Tod engine, and learned that we really 
>> could rescue a comparatively small engine. Many times when we hit a snag, 
>> the folks on this list gave suggestions, explanations and encouragement, 
>> and kept us headed in the right direction.
>> Well, after 8 years of work, we finally got to a point where we could 
>> test her on compressed air. We only have enough air for about 3 power 
>> strokes on this 18 x 36" cylinder, but to see her under power for the 
>> first time in over 56 years was, well, ....AWESOME! For those who don't 
>> know, 450 horsepower @ 150 RPM on 145 PSI steam, 7 ton 11' flywheel. We 
>> have a lot of small details to attend to, such as a leaky packing on the 
>> piston rod, oiler line piping, indicator pipes, etc., but we're almost 
>> there. The boiler is about 85% complete, and we hope to be done by 
>> spring. We took a few videos, less than 15 seconds each so they should 
>> not be too much to download. Here are the links:
> <snip>
>> Thanks to all of you who helped, some indirectly by sharing your 
>> restoration and recovery knowledge in discussing other projects here, and 
>> some who took the time to answer our many questions. I don't think we 
>> would have had the nerve to try this without your inspiration!
>
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