a Simple Reaction Steam Engine

[WebPilot]

Give it a little time to download. It is a 632480 byte, animated gif.

Later,

-fde

[Mike Everman]

Forrest, you haven't ceased to amaze me yet!

[hinote]

Forrest, you haven't ceased to amaze me yet!

It's an aeolipile--the world's oldest steam engine, designed and built by Hero in ancient Greece.

A wonderfully elegant and simple engine.

Bill H.
Acoustic Propulsion Concepts

".......some day soon we'll be flying airplanes powered by pulsejets."

[Mike Everman]

Hi Bill. I was trying to work "Hero" into a pun at the time, came up dry and gave up. Hey, I'm really looking forward to our day of fire and noise Thursday!

[Mark]

Forrest, you haven't ceased to amaze me yet!

Yes me too, that 100 BC technology is something. You can make a putt putt like one too. Use 1/8 inch copper tubing and cut the bottom of a Coke can for the boat, angle each exhaust properly and it wil spin floating on water with a candle below the tubing. Really, the water version is just a putt putt boat with the thrust vectored differently.
Mark

[steve]

how did you attach it at the top so it would spin freely?

[WebPilot]

Nothing more than a straight pin through a drilled hole.

Later,

-fde

[Hank]

Hello- For a couple of years now I have been considering the impact of the burning of the Library of Alexandria in Egypt by the Romans as one of the events of history with the greatest negative impact. The works of Hero, along with upwards of one million other volumes were reduced to heat and ashe in the conquest.
No doubt in my mind there were other guys out there with the same bent for the natural sciences as Hero, unknown to us now.
Neat little engine, Forrest.
Hank

[Mike Kirney]

Great looking aeolipile, Forrest. Thanks for the gif.

[Mark]

Another way to make one out of a can is to take an ice pick and stab your two holes. After the penetration, lean the ice pick over to one side, this will form a direction for the steam to follow. If you mount your can on bearings and a shaft, you can really get it zinging. I remember seeing "this" design my brother made a very long time ago. With a propane torch for heat, the can spins like mad.
Mark

[WebPilot]

Hey,

Thanks.

The .gif was of relatively small file size which is why I posted it. My .avi's were relatively huge, 2 to 3MB. Unfortunately, I could only show a very small time interval.

I have a philosopy, "less is best".

For those of you who may be interested, here is a WinZipped .avi file (628KB) of the first 22 seconds of its operation. UnCompressed it is 702KB.

http://www.brads.net/forrestde/ForumPosts/MyHeroFP.zip

The little bugger can accelerate with only a simple bearing.

Later,

-fde

[mk]

A picture to the steam jet turner (putt-putt turner) that Mark mentioned.

I made and fired the thing yesterday.

[Bruno Ogorelec]

Years ago there was a rotary pulsejet very similar to the Hero steam turbine on teh Internet somewhere. I made a search today but couldn't find it anymore. If I remember it well, it had a central intake and tangential exhausts on the perimeter of a drum-shaped combustion chamber. I've always wondered at the efficiency of conversion of thrust to rotation in this manner. Reynst explored similar layouts but I can't remember his conclusions.

[larry cottrill]

Years ago there was a rotary pulsejet very similar to the Hero steam turbine on teh Internet somewhere. I made a search today but couldn't find it anymore. If I remember it well, it had a central intake and tangential exhausts on the perimeter of a drum-shaped combustion chamber. I've always wondered at the efficiency of conversion of thrust to rotation in this manner. Reynst explored similar layouts but I can't remember his conclusions.

Bruno -

Welcome back!

Man, I have always wanted to try that - a double-exhaust center-fed rotary pulsejet! Truly "Heroic" if you can make it work! I think this would work wonderfully, and is a shoo-in for a valveless approach. And, it would make a wondrous sound, what with Doppler shifts and all.

L Cottrill

[Mark]

I see a new poster on the horizon.
Mark