Rough and Tumble Engineering Part 4

You may ask "how am I to know when I am getting a good grade of oil."

The best way is to ascertain a good brand of oil then use that and nothing else.

We are not selling oil, or advertising oil. However before I get through I propose to give you the name of a good brand of cylinder oil, a good engine oil as well as good articles of various attachments, which cut no small figure in the success you may have in running an engine.

It is not an uncommon thing for an engineer (I don't like to call him an engineer either) to fill his sight feed lubricator with ordinary engine oil, and then wonder why his cylinder squeaks. The reason is that this grade of oil cannot stand the heat in the cylinder or steam chest.

If you are carrying 90 pounds of steam you have about 320 degrees of heat in your cylinder, with I20 to I25 pounds you will have about 350 degrees of heat, and in order to lubricate your valve and valve-seat, and also the cylinder surface, you must use an oil, that will not only stand this heat but considerable more so that it will have some staying qualities.

Then if you are using a good quality of oil and your link or reverse begins to knock, it is because some part of it wants attention, and you must look after it. And here is where I want to insist that you teach your ear to be your guide. You ought to be able to detect the slightest sound that is unnatural to your engine. Your eyes may be deceived, but a well trained ear can not be fooled.

I was once invited by an engineer to come out and see how nice his engine was running. I went, and found that the engine itself was running very smooth, in fact almost noiseless, but he looked very much disappointed when I asked him why he was doing all his work with one end of cylinder. He asked me what I meant, and I had some difficulty in getting him to detect the difference in the exhaust of the two ends, in fact the engine was only making one exhaust to a revolution. He was one of those engineers who never discovered anything wrong until he could see it. Did you know that there are people in the world whose mental capacity can only grasp one idea at a time. That is when their minds are on any one object or principle they can not see or observe anything else. That was the case with this engineer, his mind had been thoroughly occupied in getting all the reciprocating (moving) parts perfectly adjusted, and if the exhaust had made all sorts of peculiar noises, he would not have discovered it.

The one idead man will not make a successful engineer. The good engineer can stand by and at a glance take in the entire engine, from tank to top of smoke stack. He has the faculty of noting mentally, what he sees, and what he hears, and by combining the results of the two, he is enabled to size up the condition of the engine at a glance. This, however, only come with experience, and verges on expertness. And if you wish to be an expert, learn to be observing.

It is getting very common among engineers to use "hard grease" on the crank pin and main journals, and it will very soon be used exclusively.

With a good grade of grease your crank will not heat near so quickly as with oil and your engine will be much easier to keep clean; and if you are going to be an engineer be a neat one, keep your engine clean and keep yourself clean. You say you can't do that; but you can at least keep yourself respectable. You will most certainly keep your engine looking as though it had an engineer. Keep a good bunch of waste handy, and when it is necessary to wipe your hands use the waste and not your overalls, and when you go in to a nice dinner the cook will not say after you go out, "Look here where that dirty engineer sat." Now boys, these are things worth heeding. I have actually known thres.h.i.+ng crews to lose good customers simply because of their dirty clothes. The women kicked and they had a right to kick. But to return to hard grease and suitable cups for same.

In attaching these grease cups on boxes not previously arranged for them, it would be well for you to know how to do it properly. You will remove the journal, take a gouge and cut a clean groove across the box, starting in at one corner, about I/8 of an inch from the point of box and cut diagonally across coming out at the opposite corner on the other end of box. Then start at the opposite corner and run through as before, crossing the first groove in the center of box. Groove both halves of box the same, being careful not to cut out at either end, as this will allow the grease to escape from box and cause unnecessary waste. The chimming or packing in box should be cut so as to touch the journal at both ends of box, but not in the center or between these two points. So, when the top box is brought down tight, this will form another reservoir for the grease. If the box is not tapped directly in the center for cup, it will be necessary to cut other grooves from where it is tapped into the grooves already made. A box prepared in his way will require but little attention if you use good grease.

A HOT BOX

You will sometimes get a hot box. What is the best remedy? Well, I might name you a dozen, and if I did you would most likely never have one on hand when it was wanted. So will only give you one, and that is white lead and oil, and I want you to provide yourself with a can of this useful article. And should a journal or box get hot on your hands and refuse to cool with the usual methods, remove the cup, and after mixing a portion of the lead with oil, put a heavy coat of it on the journal, put back the cup and your journal will cool off very quickly.

Be careful to keep all grit or dust out of your can of lead. Look after this part of it yourself. It is your business.

PART SEVEN __

Before taking up the handling of a Traction Engine, we want to tell you of a number of things you are likely to do which you ought not to do.

Don't open the throttle too quickly, or you may throw the drive belt off, and are also more apt to raise the water and start priming.

Don't attempt to start the engine with the cylinder c.o.c.ks closed, but make it a habit to open them when you stop; this will always insure your cylinder being free from water on starting.

Don't talk too much while on duty.

Don't pull the ashes out of ash pan unless you have a bucket of water handy.

Don't start the pump when you know you have low water.

Don't let it get low.

Don't let your engine get dirty.

Don't say you can't keep it clean.

Don't leave your engine at night till you have covered it up.

Don't let the exhaust nozzle lime up, and don't allow lime to collect where the water enters the boiler, or you may split a heater pipe or knock the top off of a check valve.

Don't leave your engine in cold weather without first draining all pipes.

Don't disconnect your engine with a leaky throttle.

Don't allow the steam to vary more than I0 or I5 pounds while at work.

Don't allow anyone to fool with your engine.

Don't try any foolish experiments on your engine.

Don't run an old boiler without first having it thoroughly tested.

Don't stop when descending a steep grade.

Don't pull through a stockyard without first closing the damper tight.

Don't pull onto a strange bridge without first examining it.

Don't run any risk on a bad bridge.

A TRACTION ENGINE ON THE ROAD

You may know all about an engine. You may be able to build one, and yet run a traction in the ditch the first jump.

It is a fact that some men never can become good operators of a traction engine, and I can't give you the reason why any more than you can tell why one man can handle a pair of horses better than another man who has had the same advantages. And yet if you do ditch your engine a few times, don't conclude that you can never handle a traction.

If you are going to run a traction engine I would advise you to use your best efforts to become an expert at it. For the expert will hook up to his load and get out of the neighborhood while the awkward fellow is getting his engine around ready to hook up.

The expert will line up to the separator the first time, while the other fellow will back and twist around for half an hour, and then not have a good job.

Now don't make the fatal mistake of thinking that the fellow is an expert who jumps up on his engine and jerks the throttle open and yanks it around backward and forward, reversing with a snap, and makes it stand-up on its hind wheels.

If you want to be an expert you must begin with the throttle, therein lies the secret of the real expert. He feels the power of his engine through the throttle. He opens it just enough to do what he wants it to do. He therefore has complete control of his engine. The fellow who backs his engine up to the separator with an open throttle and must reverse it to keep from running into and breaking something, is running his engine on his muscle and is ent.i.tled to small pay.

The expert brings his engine back under full control, and stops it exactly where he wants it. He handles his engine with his head and should be paid accordingly. He never makes a false move, loses no time, breaks nothing, makes no unnecessary noise, does not get the water all stirred up in the boiler, hooks up and moves out in the same quiet manner, and the onlookers think he could pull two such loads, and say he has a great engine, while the engineer of muscle would back up and jerk his engine around a half dozen times before he could make the coupling, then with a jerk and a snort he yanks the separator out of the holes, and the onlookers think he has about all he can pull.

Now these are facts, and they cannot be put too strong, and if you are going to depend on your muscle to run your engine, don't ask any more money than you would get at any other day labor.

You are not expected to become an expert all at once. Three things are essential to be able to handle a traction engine as it should be handled.

First, a thorough knowledge of the throttle. I don't mean that you should simply know how to pull it open and shut it. Any boy can do that.

But I mean that you should be a good judge of the amount of power it will require to do what you may wish to do, and then give it the amount of throttle that it will require and no more. To ill.u.s.trate this I will give an instance.

An expert was called a long distance to see an engine that the operator said would not pull its load over the hills he had to travel.

The first pull he had to make after the expert arrived was up the worst hill he had. When he approached the grade he threw off the governor belt, opened the throttle as wide as he could get it, and made a run for the hill. The result was, that he lifted the water and choked the engine down before he was half way up. He stepped off with the remark, "That is the way the thing does." The expert then locked the hind wheels of the separator with a timber, and without raising the pressure a pound, pulled it over the hill. He gave it just throttle enough to pull the load, and made no effort to hurry ii, and still had power to spare.