Steam Engines

The Museum has several steam driven engines and the Corliss engine featured here has been on television many times. The History Channel's Modern Marvels, along with other programs, has shown this model in its programs.

The Corliss engine. The boiler is the black verticle object with the smoke stack going out through the roof.

Flywheel, connecting rod, and cylinder.

Heating the cylinder before starting. It takes a lot of heat to get the cylinder and piston hot enough so the steam does not condense into water when steam is applied.

The flywheel is 18 feet in diameter.

Starting the Corliss engine requires the cylinder to be hot. If the cylinder is cold, as soon as you allow the steam to enter the cylinder it will condense immediately into water. This water interfers with the movement of the piston and if there is enough water it could damage the cylinder and piston.

Rich Eckert is shown starting the Corliss in this video short.
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