Synopses & Reviews
If you are looking for projects to build, you'll enjoy this reprint. Originally published simultaneously in London and New York in 1897, this unusual book contains thirteen chapters: tools, boilers and fittings, the steam engine, fitting up the engine, reversing gears, stationary engines, traction and portable engines, locomotive engines and tenders, railway cars, compound marine engines, engine proportions, patterns and castings, and the last chapter covers a hot-air engine, small power engine, and notes. The illustrations from the 25 large and crumbling foldout plan sheets glued into the back of the original book have been reprinted on pages following the text.
You can build for instance, a beam engine with a 5/8" bore and 7/8" stroke with a 3 1/2" flywheel. The plans for the traction engine locomotive, marine engine, and the rest are of comparable size.
You must realize, of course, that each project could be a whole book rather than a chapter as it is here. The plans are fairly detailed, but not quite to the degree you see in modern model magazines. Many of these models are based on castings which are not commercially available.
Despite these shortcomings, there is a wealth of information and ideas for the person with a lathe itching to build a working model.