I was watching an artist show this morning. This artist and wife were at the "Miracle of America" museum in Polsen Montana.
They had a treasure trove of old equipment there. They showed his wife riding on one of those old huge steam tractors, except they said the correct name was a steam traction engine. The artist later painted a picture of this machine.
The big tractor was towing something behind it that I couldn't figure out as far as what it was. Anyway, the driver of the tractor later explained that for safety reasons they don't run those old machines on steam. They run them on compressed air. That explains what the tractor was towing behind it. It was a very old looking rust colored air compressor.
They guy said that any steam engine can be run on compressed air. That thought just never entered my mind before. While the big tractor was running, they showed the face of a very large gauge which I figured to be the steam pressure. But that must have been the air pressure. It read 90 pounds if I remember correctly.
I just wonder what all they had to do to get that thing to run on air like that? I didn't realize until they explained that the thing was running on compressed air that while the thing was running I didn't see any steam exhaust even when they blew the whistle!
I wonder about the power difference between running on steam and running on air?
They had a treasure trove of old equipment there. They showed his wife riding on one of those old huge steam tractors, except they said the correct name was a steam traction engine. The artist later painted a picture of this machine.
The big tractor was towing something behind it that I couldn't figure out as far as what it was. Anyway, the driver of the tractor later explained that for safety reasons they don't run those old machines on steam. They run them on compressed air. That explains what the tractor was towing behind it. It was a very old looking rust colored air compressor.
They guy said that any steam engine can be run on compressed air. That thought just never entered my mind before. While the big tractor was running, they showed the face of a very large gauge which I figured to be the steam pressure. But that must have been the air pressure. It read 90 pounds if I remember correctly.
I just wonder what all they had to do to get that thing to run on air like that? I didn't realize until they explained that the thing was running on compressed air that while the thing was running I didn't see any steam exhaust even when they blew the whistle!
I wonder about the power difference between running on steam and running on air?