Steam Engine Row
Written by Chuck Goebel
Steam Engine Row is a collection of operating steam engines, most of which were built before 1940, and several of which were built before 1900. All of these engines were built for and used in many different industrial, commercial, and institutional installations where they provided the principal source of power for the operation of machinery, generation of electricity, pumping liquids, compressing air, providing vacuum, and for large scale refrigeration.
Steam engines were also used for the propulsion of all size of boats and ships, railroad locomotives, mining machinery, construction machinery, farm machinery, every imaginable sort of manufacturing, and were even used by watchmakers for turning their lathes, and by peanut and popcorn vendors for turning their roasters. In short, one may say that steam engines were used everywhere that power was needed. To get some idea of the universality of steam engines, think about the present applications of electric motors and gasoline and diesel engines. Steam engines were doing the work long before these other power sources were invented.
Many people believe that steam power is obsolete. That is not true. Steam was the first form of power developed by man to supplant and/or replace the power of animal and human muscles, flowing water and the wind. It became the prime mover for the Industrial Revolution, and remains to this day, the most important source of power in the world. Engineering data sources tell us that 97% of the energy and power used in the world is generated by burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas. The remaining 3% are mostly provided by hydroelectric power and other minor sources such as wind and tidal movements. Over 80% of the electric power generated in the world is from generators driven by steam turbines. Nuclear power plants are no exceptions. They use heat provided by nuclear fission to heat the water in boilers to make the steam required for powering the turbines.
Steam power is the simplest way to convert the energy provided by heat of burning fuel into mechanical power. Without the energy from the burning fuel, heating the water in the boiler to generate the steam, the steam engine would be a assembly of parts, just as automobiles without gasoline, or an electric motor without a source of electricity. The important thing to realize is that all sources of mechanical power depend basically on the conversion of heat energy to mechanical energy.
Steam power has a very long history. It was first put into practical use in 1712 when Thomas Newcomen installed a crude and simple, steam-powered, atmospheric pumping engine at a mine near Dudley Castle in Staffordshire, England. That engine, and those that followed, were used to remove water from mines, and from that humble beginning, the Industrial Revolution started, and ultimately led to the development of the machinery that makes and provides us with everything that we need and use. The Industrial Revolution is a fascinating subject, much too complex to be covered in a short time. If you are interested in it, you can find many excellent books on the subject.
James Watt is commonly known as the "Father of the Steam Engine." He didn't come into the picture until 1765 when, as the Mathematical Instrument Maker to the University of Glasgow, he was given a model of Newcomen's engine to put back into working order for the Department of Physics. His investigation led him to discover the reasons for the low efficiency of the Newcomen engines, and the invention of a separate condenser that made a great improvement in the performance of the engine. After that, he went on to invent many other improvements, and in partnership with Adam Boulton, became the world's leading builder of steam engines. From that time forward, the progress in engine development became rapid and widespread, and the great "snowball" of experience and knowledge became larger and faster growing.

The largest engine in our collection is a 300 hp 1910 Allis-Chalmers Corliss engine that was installed in the Holly Sugar "factory" in Santa Ana to operate sugar beet pulp conveyors and dryers. It was in use from 1911 until the plant closed down in 1978. It has a cylinder bore of 20" and a stroke of 36". It is, as are all of our engines, double-acting, which means that the steam power is supplied to both sides of the piston alternately, thus giving two power strokes per revolution. The engine is equipped with the Corliss valve system, which proved very high thermal efficiency. The engine weighs about 40 tons and it has a belt-driving flywheel 12 feet in diameter that weighs 18,000 pounds. In service, the engine was operated at a speed of 80 rpm. It drove a "line shaft" about 125 feet long by means of a 42 inch wide leather belt that was wrapped around the flywheel. The line shaft was provided with driving pulleys that were connected to the driven machinery. Visitors are impressed by its smooth and quiet operation, and especially by the motion of the intricate linkage of the Corliss valve operating system.
Our second Corliss engine is combined with an ammonia compressor for refrigeration of wine in "weathering" cellars at the Brookside Winery in Guasti, California. It was built in about 1900 by the Vilter Manufacturing Company. The steam cylinder has a 12" bore and 30" stroke, and it drives one end of the crankshaft in the center of which is mounted a 10 foot diameter flywheel. At the opposite end of the crankshaft is the crank that operates the compressor. The compressor has a cylinder bore of 10" and a stroke of 24". The engine is particularly interesting to see in operation because of its many visible moving parts.
Our oldest engine is an 1873 Ferrar and Trefts that was one of the many built for the Standard Oil Company of California for use in drilling oil wells in the Pico Canon oil field. It was shipped from the East Coast via sailing ship and came around Cape Horn to California. It is in excellent operating condition, and is a fine example of a simple and reliable reversible engine.
We have twelve engines, a simplex pump, and two duplex pumps in operation. We also have an 80 hp Skinner Unaflow engine and a Worthington tandem engine compressor that are ready to be connected to the steam line. We also have seven other engines to be restored and several duplex steam pumps in larger sizes that are presently in storage.
Steam in generated by an oil-fired, 35 hp 1945 Dutton Vertical fire-tube boiler. At the present time a new firebox furnace is being built for the boiler by members of the volunteer operating crew.

Our crew is composed of the following members of the California Early Day Gas Engine and Tractor Association:
Leonard Scholl, Encinitas, Calif., Retired tool and die maker. Owner of LSI, Inc.
David Denny, Orange, Calif., Retired refrigeration engineer and maintenance mechanic.
Chuck Goebel, Hawthorne, Calif., Retired excavating contractor. Civil engineer.
George Trahan, Lancaster, Calif., Retired power plant and marine engineer.
George Bohn, Highland, Calif., Former vocational arts teacher, adult school principal.
Slim Ostrander, Oceanside, Calif., Retired engineer.
Jerre Hawk, Playa del Rey, Calif., Retired engineer.
Fred Rathbun, Phoenix, Arizona. Retired pumping service owner.

We would welcome anyone interested in working with steam engines to join our crew. We especially need YOUNG PEOPLE so we can pass on the knowledge about this fascinating form of power.

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