My first model with a beam was in fact my first model with a non oscillating engine. I built it quite a few years ago after the well known plan, which was published by Rob van Dort and Joop Oegema in their book “Handbuch Modell-Dampfmaschinen” ¹. Unfortunately I was not able to make the model run smoothly. So I had it (partly demounted) for a long time in my workshop. Then I found time to readjust it. A few parts I had to build new, but mainly I took time to assemble and adjust with real patience.

• Watt’s Linkage [here is a nice animation]
• Shell valve
• All parts made of metal, no wood

The model is very good beginner’s engine. Powered by steam or compressed air it will run smoothly. On exhibitions I connect it to a bicycle pump and have the children play with it.

Basically for the same engine but much more detailed is a design for which Julius de Waal has prepared drawings here (bar stock, metric) ². The drawing has are numerous 3D-sights, helpful for beginners without training in reading a technical drawing.

A prominent original

1811 Friedrich Krupp established his Gußstahlfabrik in Essen. After his death in 1826 his son Alfred (14 years old at that time) inherited a factory in trouble. The first profitable product were spoon mills in 1830. When the “Deutscher Zollverein” was founded in 1834 and many customs barriers were teared down, Krupp’s Gußstahlfabrik could benefit from these changes. So in 1835 the first steam engine of the Gußstahlfabrik could be bought. This engine was in productive use until 1873. Now the Betriebsdampfmaschine der Gussstahlfabrik Friedrich Krupp may be viewed in the “Deutsches Museum” in Munic.

The engine was made by the Gutehoffnungshütte (GHH) in Oberhausen-Sterkrade, a neighbour town of Essen. In 1819 they had built the first engine without any foreign components (a Newcomen type). The engine produced for Krupp was steam engine no. 43 of the GHH ³. In 1986 GHH became part of the MAN SE (Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg).

Version: 25.12.2016