Table of Contents
What does a fireman and stoker do?
A fireman, stoker or watertender is a person whose occupation it is to tend the fire for the running of a boiler, heating a building, or powering a steam engine. Much of the job is hard physical labor, such as shoveling fuel, typically coal, into the boiler’s firebox.
What does the blower do on a steam locomotive?
Modern locomotives are also fitted with a blower, which is a device that releases steam directly into the smokebox for use when a greater draught is needed without a greater volume of steam passing through the cylinders.
What were the two main things steam locomotives carried?
Fuel and water supplies are usually carried with the locomotive, either on the locomotive itself or in a tender coupled to it.
What comes out the top of a steam train?
The Stack. The spent steam from the blast pipe mixes with the gases from the boiler tubes and exits through the stack. The harder the locomotive works, the more gases and steam comes out the stack.
What is a coal stoker?
stoker, machine for feeding coal or other solid fuel into a furnace, usually supporting the fuel during combustion. Power for running a stoker is usually furnished by an electric motor, and control of combustion is achieved by variable speed or intermittent drive.
What were the jobs on a steam locomotive?
A typical steam locomotive had an engine and a tender for carrying fuel and water for the boiler. Two crew members worked in the engine’s cab: the engineer ran the locomotive, and the fireman managed the boiler and helped watch for signals. Both jobs were highly skilled.
What is a blower on a train?
Locomotive blowers typically provide cooling air to critical electrical components, including traction motors, electrical lockers, main generators, and various other electrical equipment.
Who made first steam locomotive?
George Stephenson
Richard Trevithick
Steam locomotive/Inventors
What was the purpose of locomotives?
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. It has no payload capacity of its own and its sole purpose is to move the train along the tracks.
How did the locomotive work?
When heated, water turns to an invisible vapor known as steam. The volume of water expands as it turns to steam inside the boiler, creating a high pressure. The expansion of steam pushes the pistons that connect to the driving wheels that operate the locomotive.
How does coal power a train?
Coal is carried in the tender of the locomotive and is hand-shoveled by the fireman into the firebox. Water surrounds the outside of the firebox. Heat from the burning coal turns water to steam, which rises to the top of the boiler. The area surrounding the firebox and tubes is the “steam generator” of the locomotive.
What is the dome on top of a steam locomotive?
The steam dome is a vessel fitted to the top of the boiler of a steam locomotive. It contains the opening to the main steam pipe and its purpose is to allow this opening to be kept well above the water level in the boiler.
How does a coal stoker work?
The conveying and elevating screws, and the tube opening at the top of the elevator, through which the crushed coal is blown into the fire- box by steam are shown. This discovery led to further diligent investigation of the effectiveness of the stokers in use, and results were found to be corroborative.
Why do we use automatic stokers in locomotives?
Under skilled manual stoking the maintenance of the desired fire conditions is effectively secured. The railways promptly turned to the automatic stoker when it had established a sufficient degree of utility, and locomotives equipped therewith made their appearance upon the various American railways.
How is coal distributed in a coal-fired locomotive?
The basic principle of distributing the powdered coal over the grate area is either by means of a steam- jet, or by mechanically- moving arms, described as shovels. The first- named method is incorporated in the du Pont- Simplex Stoker, one of the oldest mechanical methods of firing the locomotive.
What are the duties of a furnace stoker?
A stoker works four hours at a stretch, and during that time the temperature of his surroundings varies from 120 degrees to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. One stoker usually has four furnaces to attend to, and while feeding one furnace a man has to be extremely careful or his arm may be burned by the furnace behind him.