Corliss Steam Engine
Encyclopedia
A Corliss steam engine is a steam engine
, fitted with rotary valve
s and with variable valve timing
patented in 1849, invented by and named after the American engineer George Henry Corliss
in Providence, Rhode Island
.
Engines fitted with Corliss valve gear offered the best thermal efficiency
of any type of stationary steam engine
until the refinement of the uniflow steam engine
and steam turbine
in the 20th century. Corliss engines were generally about 30 percent more fuel efficient than conventional steam engines with fixed cutoff. This increased efficiency made steam power more economical than water power, allowing industrial development away from millponds.
Corliss engines were typically used as stationary engines to provide mechanical power to line shaft
ing in factories and mills and to drive dynamos to generate electricity. Many were quite large, standing several stories tall, and developing several hundred horsepower
, albeit at low speed, turning massive flywheels weighing several tons at about 100 revolutions per minute. Some of these engines had unique roles as mechanical legacy systems and because of their relatively high efficiency and low maintenance requirements, some remain in service in early 21st century (see, for example, the engines at the Hook Norton Brewery and the Distillerie Dillon in the list of operational engines).
s for each cylinder, with steam and exhaust valves located at each end. Corliss engines incorporate distinct refinements in both the valves themselves and in the valve gear
, that is, the system of linkages
that operate the valves.
The use of separate valves for admission and exhaust means that neither the valves nor the steam passages between cylinders and valves need to change temperature during the power and exhaust cycle, and it means that the timing of the admission and exhaust valves can be independently controlled. In contrast, conventional steam engines have a slide
or piston valve
that alternately feeds and exhausts through passages to each end of the cylinder. These passages are exposed to wide temperature swings during engine operation, and there are high temperature gradients within the valve mechanism itself.
s with variable cutoff
under governor
control that characterize Corliss Engines. Unlike later engines, most of which were horizontal, this patent describes a vertical cylinder beam engine
, and it used individual slide valves for admission and exhaust at each end of the cylinder.
The inlet valves are pulled open with an eccentric-driven pawl
; when the pawl trips
, the rapid closure is damped using a dashpot
. In many engines, the same dashpot acts as a vacuum spring to pull the valves closed, but Corliss's early engines were slow enough that it was the weight of the dashpot piston and rod that closed the valve.
The speed of a Corliss engine is controlled by varying the cutoff
of steam during each power stroke, while leaving the throttle wide open at all times. To accomplish this, the centrifugal governor
is linked to a pair of cams, one for each admission valve. These cams determine the point during the piston stroke that the pawl will release, allowing that valve to close.
As with all steam engines where the cutoff
can be regulated, the virtue of doing so lies in the fact that most of the power stroke is powered by the expansion of steam in the cylinder after the admission valve has closed. This comes far closer to the ideal Carnot cycle
than is possible with an engine where the admission valve is open for the length of the power stroke and speed is regulated by a throttle
valve.
The Corliss valve gearing allowed more uniform speed and better response to load changes, making it suitable for applications like rolling mills and spinning, and greatly expanding its use in manufacturing.
. Initially, Corliss used slide valves with linear actuators, but by 1851, Corliss had shifted to semi-rotary valve actuators, as documented in U.S. Patent 8253. In this engine, the wrist plate was moved to the center of the cylinder side, as on later Corliss engines. This was still a beam engine
, however, and the semi-rotary valve actuators operated linear slide valves inside the four valve chests of the engine.
Corliss valves are in the form of a minor circular segment
, rotating inside a cylindrical valve-face. Their actuating mechanism is off along the axis of the valve, thus they have little "dead space" such as the stem of a poppet valve
and the entire port area can be used efficiently for gas flow.
As the area of a Corliss valve is small compared to the port area, the effects of gas flow generate relatively little torque on the valve axle compared to some other sorts of valve. These advantages have led to the Corliss form of valve being used in other roles, apart from steam engines with Corliss gear.
The Rolls-Royce Merlin
aero-engine used a rectangular butterfly valve
as a throttle. Gas-flow forces acting asymmetrically on this butterfly could lead to poor control of the power in some circumstances. Late models, from the 134, used a Corliss throttle valve instead to avoid this problem.
. These teeth allow the flywheel to be barred, that is, turned with the aid of a crowbar
. This may be needed during engine maintenance, for example, to set the cutoff and admission valve timing, and it may be needed during engine starting.
The need for barring the engine during starting is most obvious on single-cylinder engines, where a careless engine operator might stop the engine with piston in dead center. Once stopped in dead center, the engine cannot be started under its own power, so it must be barred to a more favorable position for starting.
Large Corliss engines cannot be safely started cold, so it is common to admit low-pressure steam to both sides of the cylinder to warm up the metalwork. Turning the engine slowly during this process ensures that the entire engine is uniformly warmed, and it ensures that oil is uniformly distributed through the mechanism before applying power. Again, barring may be used to do this, although operators sometimes do this by careful manual manipulation of the valves.
For large engines, muscle powered barring is sufficiently difficult that barring engine
s are frequently installed. These are small engines with gear teeth cut to mate with the teeth on the flywheel. Generally, the drive gears of the barring engine are designed to automatically disengage if the engine begins running under its own power while the barring gears are engaged.
.
In 1857 the company was renamed for the last time to Corliss Steam Engine Company. By 1864 Corliss bought out his partners and was the sole owner of the company. In 1900 the Corliss Steam Engine Company was purchased by the International Power Company. In 1905 it was purchased by the American and British Manufacturing Company. In 1925 the company merged into Franklin Machine Company. By then Franklin Machine Company was already owned by the William A. Harris Steam Engine Company.
By 1859, all of the key features of what we now know as the Corliss engine were in place. Patents granted to Corliss and others incorporated rotary valves and crank shafts in-line with the cylinders. See, for example, Corliss' U.S. Patent 24,618, granted July 5, 1859. Competing inventors worked hard to invent alternatives to Corliss' mechanisms; they generally avoided Corlis's use of a wrist plate and adopted alternative releasing mechanisms for the steam valves, as in Jamieson's U.S. Patent 19,640, granted March 16, 1858.
Corliss' 1849 patent expired in 1870; the term of this patent had been extended by U.S. Patent reissue 200 on May 13, 1851 and U.S. Patent reissues 758 and 763 on July 12, 1859. After 1870, numerous other companies began to manufacture Corliss engines. Among them, the William A. Harris Steam Engine Company http://www.newsm.org/steam-engines/harris-steam-engine-co.html, the Worthington Pump and Machinery Company 2,
and Allis-Chalmers
3. In general, these machines were referred to as Corliss engines regardless of who made them.
in Philadelphia in 1876 through shafts totaling over a mile in length. Switched on by President Ulysses Grant and Emperor Dom Pedro
of Brazil
, the engine was in public view for the duration of the fair.
The engine was configured as two cylinders side-by-side. Each cylinder was bored to 44 inches (1.1 m) with a stroke of 10 feet (3 m), making it the largest engine of the nineteenth century. The Centennial Engine was 45 feet (13.7 m) tall, had a flywheel 30 feet (9.1 m) in diameter, and produced 1,400 hp
. After the fair it was disassembled and shipped back to Corliss's plant in Providence. Seven years later it was sold and powered a Chicago
factory owned by George Pullman
until 1910, when it was sold as scrap.
This engine became a cultural icon, so much so that to many modern historians the term Corliss Engine (or Corliss Steam Engine) refers to this specific engine and not to the broad class of engines fitted with Corliss valve gear.
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
, fitted with rotary valve
Rotary valve
A rotary valve is a type of valve in which the rotation of a passage or passages in a transverse plug regulates the flow of liquid or gas through the attached pipes. The common stopcock is the simplest form of rotary valve...
s and with variable valve timing
Variable valve timing
In internal combustion engines, variable valve timing , also known as Variable valve actuation , is a generalized term used to describe any mechanism or method that can alter the shape or timing of a valve lift event within an internal combustion engine...
patented in 1849, invented by and named after the American engineer George Henry Corliss
George Henry Corliss
George Henry Corliss was an American mechanical engineer and inventor, who developed the Corliss steam engine, which was a great improvement over any other stationary steam engine of its time. The Corliss engine is widely considered one of the more notable engineering achievements of the 19th...
in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
.
Engines fitted with Corliss valve gear offered the best thermal efficiency
Thermal efficiency
In thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency is a dimensionless performance measure of a device that uses thermal energy, such as an internal combustion engine, a boiler, a furnace, or a refrigerator for example.-Overview:...
of any type of stationary steam engine
Stationary steam engine
Stationary steam engines are fixed steam engines used for pumping or driving mills and factories, and for power generation. They are distinct from locomotive engines used on railways, traction engines for heavy steam haulage on roads, steam cars , agricultural engines used for ploughing or...
until the refinement of the uniflow steam engine
Uniflow steam engine
The uniflow type of steam engine uses steam that flows in one direction only in each half of the cylinder. Thermal efficiency is increased in the compound and multiple expansion types of steam engine by separating expansion into steps in separate cylinders; in the uniflow design, thermal efficiency...
and steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
in the 20th century. Corliss engines were generally about 30 percent more fuel efficient than conventional steam engines with fixed cutoff. This increased efficiency made steam power more economical than water power, allowing industrial development away from millponds.
Corliss engines were typically used as stationary engines to provide mechanical power to line shaft
Line shaft
A line shaft is a power transmission system used extensively during the Industrial Revolution. Prior to the widespread use of electric motors small enough to be connected directly to each piece of machinery, line shafting was used to distribute power from a large central power source to machinery...
ing in factories and mills and to drive dynamos to generate electricity. Many were quite large, standing several stories tall, and developing several hundred horsepower
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
, albeit at low speed, turning massive flywheels weighing several tons at about 100 revolutions per minute. Some of these engines had unique roles as mechanical legacy systems and because of their relatively high efficiency and low maintenance requirements, some remain in service in early 21st century (see, for example, the engines at the Hook Norton Brewery and the Distillerie Dillon in the list of operational engines).
Corliss engine mechanisms
Corliss engines have four valveValve
A valve is a device that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically pipe fittings, but are usually discussed as a separate category...
s for each cylinder, with steam and exhaust valves located at each end. Corliss engines incorporate distinct refinements in both the valves themselves and in the valve gear
Valve gear
The valve gear of a steam engine is the mechanism that operates the inlet and exhaust valves to admit steam into the cylinder and allow exhaust steam to escape, respectively, at the correct points in the cycle...
, that is, the system of linkages
Linkage (mechanical)
A mechanical linkage is an assembly of bodies connected together to manage forces and movement. The movement of a body, or link, is studied using geometry so the link is considered to be rigid. The connections between links are modeled as providing ideal movement, pure rotation or sliding for...
that operate the valves.
The use of separate valves for admission and exhaust means that neither the valves nor the steam passages between cylinders and valves need to change temperature during the power and exhaust cycle, and it means that the timing of the admission and exhaust valves can be independently controlled. In contrast, conventional steam engines have a slide
D slide valve
The slide valve is a rectilinear valve used to control the admission of steam into, and emission of exhaust from, the cylinder of a steam engine.-Use:...
or piston valve
Piston valve
A piston valve is a device used to control the motion of a fluid along a tube or pipe by means of the linear motion of a piston within a chamber or cylinder.Examples of piston valves are:...
that alternately feeds and exhausts through passages to each end of the cylinder. These passages are exposed to wide temperature swings during engine operation, and there are high temperature gradients within the valve mechanism itself.
Corliss valve gear
George Corliss received US Patent 6162 for his valve gear on March 10, 1849. This patent covered the use of a wrist-plate to convey the valve motion from a single eccentric to the four valves of the engine, and it covered the use of trip valveTrip valve
Trip valve mechanisms are a class of steam engine valve gear developed to improve efficiency. The trip mechanism allows the inlet valve to be closed rapidly, giving a short, sharp cut-off. The valve itself can be a drop valve or a Corliss valve....
s with variable cutoff
Cutoff (steam engine)
In a steam engine, cutoff is the point in the piston stroke at which the inlet valve is closed. On a steam locomotive, the cutoff is controlled by the reverser....
under governor
Centrifugal governor
A centrifugal governor is a specific type of governor that controls the speed of an engine by regulating the amount of fuel admitted, so as to maintain a near constant speed whatever the load or fuel supply conditions...
control that characterize Corliss Engines. Unlike later engines, most of which were horizontal, this patent describes a vertical cylinder beam engine
Beam engine
A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newcomen around 1705 to remove water from mines in Cornwall...
, and it used individual slide valves for admission and exhaust at each end of the cylinder.
The inlet valves are pulled open with an eccentric-driven pawl
Ratchet (device)
A ratchet is a device that allows continuous linear or rotary motion in only one direction while preventing motion in the opposite direction. Because most socket wrenches today use ratcheting handles, the term "ratchet" alone is often used to refer to a ratcheting wrench, and the terms "ratchet"...
; when the pawl trips
Trip valve
Trip valve mechanisms are a class of steam engine valve gear developed to improve efficiency. The trip mechanism allows the inlet valve to be closed rapidly, giving a short, sharp cut-off. The valve itself can be a drop valve or a Corliss valve....
, the rapid closure is damped using a dashpot
Dashpot
A dashpot is a mechanical device, a damper which resists motion via viscous friction. The resulting force is proportional to the velocity, but acts in the opposite direction, slowing the motion and absorbing energy. It is commonly used in conjunction with a spring...
. In many engines, the same dashpot acts as a vacuum spring to pull the valves closed, but Corliss's early engines were slow enough that it was the weight of the dashpot piston and rod that closed the valve.
The speed of a Corliss engine is controlled by varying the cutoff
Cutoff (steam engine)
In a steam engine, cutoff is the point in the piston stroke at which the inlet valve is closed. On a steam locomotive, the cutoff is controlled by the reverser....
of steam during each power stroke, while leaving the throttle wide open at all times. To accomplish this, the centrifugal governor
Centrifugal governor
A centrifugal governor is a specific type of governor that controls the speed of an engine by regulating the amount of fuel admitted, so as to maintain a near constant speed whatever the load or fuel supply conditions...
is linked to a pair of cams, one for each admission valve. These cams determine the point during the piston stroke that the pawl will release, allowing that valve to close.
As with all steam engines where the cutoff
Cutoff (steam engine)
In a steam engine, cutoff is the point in the piston stroke at which the inlet valve is closed. On a steam locomotive, the cutoff is controlled by the reverser....
can be regulated, the virtue of doing so lies in the fact that most of the power stroke is powered by the expansion of steam in the cylinder after the admission valve has closed. This comes far closer to the ideal Carnot cycle
Carnot cycle
The Carnot cycle is a theoretical thermodynamic cycle proposed by Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot in 1824 and expanded by Benoit Paul Émile Clapeyron in the 1830s and 40s. It can be shown that it is the most efficient cycle for converting a given amount of thermal energy into work, or conversely,...
than is possible with an engine where the admission valve is open for the length of the power stroke and speed is regulated by a throttle
Throttle
A throttle is the mechanism by which the flow of a fluid is managed by constriction or obstruction. An engine's power can be increased or decreased by the restriction of inlet gases , but usually decreased. The term throttle has come to refer, informally and incorrectly, to any mechanism by which...
valve.
The Corliss valve gearing allowed more uniform speed and better response to load changes, making it suitable for applications like rolling mills and spinning, and greatly expanding its use in manufacturing.
Corliss valves
Corliss valves open directly into the cylinder. The valves connect the cylinder to separate steam and exhaust plenumsPlenum chamber
A plenum chamber is a pressurised housing containing a gas or fluid at positive pressure . One function of the plenum can be to equalise pressure for more even distribution, because of irregular supply or demand...
. Initially, Corliss used slide valves with linear actuators, but by 1851, Corliss had shifted to semi-rotary valve actuators, as documented in U.S. Patent 8253. In this engine, the wrist plate was moved to the center of the cylinder side, as on later Corliss engines. This was still a beam engine
Beam engine
A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newcomen around 1705 to remove water from mines in Cornwall...
, however, and the semi-rotary valve actuators operated linear slide valves inside the four valve chests of the engine.
Corliss valves are in the form of a minor circular segment
Circular segment
In geometry, a circular segment is an area of a circle informally defined as an area which is "cut off" from the rest of the circle by a secant or a chord. The circle segment constitutes the part between the secant and an arc, excluding the circle's center...
, rotating inside a cylindrical valve-face. Their actuating mechanism is off along the axis of the valve, thus they have little "dead space" such as the stem of a poppet valve
Poppet valve
A poppet valve is a valve consisting of a hole, usually round or oval, and a tapered plug, usually a disk shape on the end of a shaft also called a valve stem. The shaft guides the plug portion by sliding through a valve guide...
and the entire port area can be used efficiently for gas flow.
As the area of a Corliss valve is small compared to the port area, the effects of gas flow generate relatively little torque on the valve axle compared to some other sorts of valve. These advantages have led to the Corliss form of valve being used in other roles, apart from steam engines with Corliss gear.
The Rolls-Royce Merlin
Rolls-Royce Merlin
The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled, V-12, piston aero engine, of 27-litre capacity. Rolls-Royce Limited designed and built the engine which was initially known as the PV-12: the PV-12 became known as the Merlin following the company convention of naming its piston aero engines after...
aero-engine used a rectangular butterfly valve
Butterfly valve
A butterfly valve is a valve which can be used for isolating or regulating flow. The closing mechanism takes the form of a disk. Operation is similar to that of a ball valve, which allows for quick shut off. Butterfly valves are generally favored because they are lower in cost to other valve...
as a throttle. Gas-flow forces acting asymmetrically on this butterfly could lead to poor control of the power in some circumstances. Late models, from the 134, used a Corliss throttle valve instead to avoid this problem.
Barring and barring engines
A common feature of large Corliss engines is one or two sets of narrow gear teeth in the rim of the flywheelFlywheel
A flywheel is a rotating mechanical device that is used to store rotational energy. Flywheels have a significant moment of inertia, and thus resist changes in rotational speed. The amount of energy stored in a flywheel is proportional to the square of its rotational speed...
. These teeth allow the flywheel to be barred, that is, turned with the aid of a crowbar
Crowbar (tool)
A crowbar, a wrecking bar, pry bar, or prybar, or sometimes a prise bar or prisebar, and more informally a jimmy, jimmy bar, jemmy or gooseneck is a tool consisting of a metal bar with a single curved end and flattened points, often with a small fissure on one or both ends for removing nails...
. This may be needed during engine maintenance, for example, to set the cutoff and admission valve timing, and it may be needed during engine starting.
The need for barring the engine during starting is most obvious on single-cylinder engines, where a careless engine operator might stop the engine with piston in dead center. Once stopped in dead center, the engine cannot be started under its own power, so it must be barred to a more favorable position for starting.
Large Corliss engines cannot be safely started cold, so it is common to admit low-pressure steam to both sides of the cylinder to warm up the metalwork. Turning the engine slowly during this process ensures that the entire engine is uniformly warmed, and it ensures that oil is uniformly distributed through the mechanism before applying power. Again, barring may be used to do this, although operators sometimes do this by careful manual manipulation of the valves.
For large engines, muscle powered barring is sufficiently difficult that barring engine
Barring engine
A barring engine is a small engine, usually a steam engine, that forms part of the installation of a large stationary steam engine. It is used to avoid the problem of the main engine stopping on its dead centre and so being unable to re-start....
s are frequently installed. These are small engines with gear teeth cut to mate with the teeth on the flywheel. Generally, the drive gears of the barring engine are designed to automatically disengage if the engine begins running under its own power while the barring gears are engaged.
Company history
The Corliss Steam Engine Company was originally known as Fairbanks, Clark & Co. in the 1830s. In 1843 it was renamed Fairbanks, Bancroft & Co. when Edward Bancroft joined the company. In 1846 it was renamed Bancroft, Nightingale & Co. when George H. Corliss joined the company, and in 1847 it was renamed Corliss, Nightingale and Co. In 1848 the company moved to the Charles Street Railroad Crossing in Providence, Rhode IslandProvidence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
.
In 1857 the company was renamed for the last time to Corliss Steam Engine Company. By 1864 Corliss bought out his partners and was the sole owner of the company. In 1900 the Corliss Steam Engine Company was purchased by the International Power Company. In 1905 it was purchased by the American and British Manufacturing Company. In 1925 the company merged into Franklin Machine Company. By then Franklin Machine Company was already owned by the William A. Harris Steam Engine Company.
Corliss' 1849 patent expired in 1870; the term of this patent had been extended by U.S. Patent reissue 200 on May 13, 1851 and U.S. Patent reissues 758 and 763 on July 12, 1859. After 1870, numerous other companies began to manufacture Corliss engines. Among them, the William A. Harris Steam Engine Company http://www.newsm.org/steam-engines/harris-steam-engine-co.html, the Worthington Pump and Machinery Company 2,
and Allis-Chalmers
Allis-Chalmers
The Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co. of West Allis, Wisconsin, is an American company known for its past as a manufacturer with diverse interests, perhaps most famous for their bright Persian Orange farm tractors...
3. In general, these machines were referred to as Corliss engines regardless of who made them.
Centennial Engine
The Corliss Centennial Engine was an all-inclusive, specially built rotative beam engine that powered virtually all of the exhibits at the Centennial ExpositionCentennial Exposition
The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. It was officially...
in Philadelphia in 1876 through shafts totaling over a mile in length. Switched on by President Ulysses Grant and Emperor Dom Pedro
Pedro II of Brazil
Dom Pedro II , nicknamed "the Magnanimous", was the second and last ruler of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. Born in Rio de Janeiro, he was the seventh child of Emperor Dom Pedro I of Brazil and Empress Dona Maria Leopoldina and thus a member of the Brazilian branch of...
of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, the engine was in public view for the duration of the fair.
The engine was configured as two cylinders side-by-side. Each cylinder was bored to 44 inches (1.1 m) with a stroke of 10 feet (3 m), making it the largest engine of the nineteenth century. The Centennial Engine was 45 feet (13.7 m) tall, had a flywheel 30 feet (9.1 m) in diameter, and produced 1,400 hp
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
. After the fair it was disassembled and shipped back to Corliss's plant in Providence. Seven years later it was sold and powered a Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
factory owned by George Pullman
George Pullman
George Mortimer Pullman was an American inventor and industrialist. He is known as the inventor of the Pullman sleeping car, and for violently suppressing striking workers in the company town he created, Pullman .-Background:Born in Brocton, New York, his family moved to Albion,...
until 1910, when it was sold as scrap.
This engine became a cultural icon, so much so that to many modern historians the term Corliss Engine (or Corliss Steam Engine) refers to this specific engine and not to the broad class of engines fitted with Corliss valve gear.
See also
- D slide valveD slide valveThe slide valve is a rectilinear valve used to control the admission of steam into, and emission of exhaust from, the cylinder of a steam engine.-Use:...
- Piston valvePiston valveA piston valve is a device used to control the motion of a fluid along a tube or pipe by means of the linear motion of a piston within a chamber or cylinder.Examples of piston valves are:...
- Poppet valvePoppet valveA poppet valve is a valve consisting of a hole, usually round or oval, and a tapered plug, usually a disk shape on the end of a shaft also called a valve stem. The shaft guides the plug portion by sliding through a valve guide...
- Sleeve valveSleeve valveThe sleeve valve is a type of valve mechanism for piston engines, distinct from the usual poppet valve. Sleeve-valve engines saw use in a number of pre-World War II luxury cars and in USA in the Willys-Knight car and light truck...
- Valve gearValve gearThe valve gear of a steam engine is the mechanism that operates the inlet and exhaust valves to admit steam into the cylinder and allow exhaust steam to escape, respectively, at the correct points in the cycle...
- Trip valve gear
- Variable valve timingVariable valve timingIn internal combustion engines, variable valve timing , also known as Variable valve actuation , is a generalized term used to describe any mechanism or method that can alter the shape or timing of a valve lift event within an internal combustion engine...
External links
General
- Chapter 14 of Audel's Engineer's and Mechanic's Guide by Frank D. Graham.
- Animation and Illustration of Corliss valve gear from the Markham Grange Steam Museum.
- Corliss History from the New England Wireless and Steam Museum.
- Corliss Steam Engine Basics from the Stationary Steam Preservation web pages of the Camp Creek Threshers.
- A General-Purpose Technology at Work: The Corliss Steam Engine in the Late-Nineteenth-Century United States by Nathan Rosenberg and Manuel Trajtenberg. The Journal of Economic History, 64, 1 (March 2004).
- Corliss Steam Engine Co. Centennial Engine images at the New England Wireless and Steam Museum website.
USA
- Western Museum of Mining and Industry in Colorado Springs, 1895, 500 hp Corliss horizontal steam engine
- Corliss Steam Engine (Pawnee, Oklahoma)Corliss Steam Engine (Pawnee, Oklahoma)The Corliss Steam Engine on the Pawnee County Fairgrounds in Pawnee, Oklahoma is a Corliss steam engine that was built in 1913. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979....
, listed on the NRHP - Engines at the New England Wireless and Steam Museum in East Greenwich, Rhode IslandEast Greenwich, Rhode IslandEast Greenwich is a town in and the county seat of Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 13,146 at the 2010 census. East Greenwich is the wealthiest municipality within the state of Rhode Island....
- The George H. Corliss engine, 150 hp, probably the only surviving engine designed and built by George H. Corliss that is running under steam today
- William A. Harris engines
- Engines at the The Henry FordThe Henry FordThe Henry Ford, a National Historic Landmark, , in the Metro Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, USA, is a large indoor and outdoor history museum complex...
Museum in Dearborn, MichiganDearborn, Michigan-Economy:Ford Motor Company has its world headquarters in Dearborn. In addition its Dearborn campus contains many research, testing, finance and some production facilities. Ford Land controls the numerous properties owned by Ford including sales and leasing to unrelated businesses such as the...
- 1859 Corliss Steam Engine, built by the Corliss Steam Engine Company, occasionally operated on 5 PSI compressed air.
- 1904 Nordberg 60 HP Engine installed in 2007 at the Amador Sawmill in Plymouth, CaliforniaPlymouth, CaliforniaPlymouth is a city in Amador County, California, United States. The population was 980 at the 2000 census. The town was originally named Pokerville, when it was settled during the time of the Gold Rush...
. - Vilter Tandem-Compound Engine and Ammonia Compressor maintained by the Northern Illinois Steam Power Club (operational)
- 130 Ton Cooper Engine maintained by the Stephenson County Antique Engine Club of Freeport, Illinois (operational)
- Allis-Chalmers Engine maintained by the Hesston Steam Museum of La Porte County, Indiana
- Engines at the Midwest Old ThreshersOld Thresher's ReunionThe Midwest Old Thresher's Reunion was started in 1950 and has taken place every Labor Day weekend since in the small town of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa...
Museum in Mount Pleasant, IowaMount Pleasant, IowaMount Pleasant is a city in and the county seat of Henry County, Iowa, in the United States. The population was 8,668 in the 2010 census, a decline from 8,751 in the 2000 census. It was founded in 1835 by pioneer Presley Saunders.- History :...
(Alternate web site)- Allis Chalmers cross compound 750 HP water pump
- Murray 600 HP 350kW generator
- Murray 125 HP
- Vilter refrigeration engine
- Chuse non-releasing engine with rotary valves but fixed cutoff.
- Engines at the Rock River Thresheree Museum in Edgerton, WI
- Engines at the Antique Gas and Steam Engine MuseumAntique Gas and Steam Engine MuseumThe Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum is a living-history museum founded in 1969 located on of county-owned land on the outskirts of Vista, California. The Museum is a non-profit 501c organization. It is located at 2040 N Santa Fe Ave. in Vista...
in Vista, CaliforniaVista, CaliforniaVista is a city in north San Diego County, California. It was incorporated January 28, 1963 and became a charter city on June 13, 2007. Located just seven miles inland from the Pacific Ocean in northern San Diego County, the City of Vista has a Mediterranean climate...
- Holly Sugar Mill engine, built by Allis Chalmers in 1910, 300 hp.
- Brookside Winery refrigeration engine, built by Vilter circa 1900.
- Soulé Live Steam Festival 1905 Watts Campbell Co. Corliss engine. Located at the historic Soulé Steam Feed WorksSoulé Steam Feed WorksSoulé Steam Feed Works is a historic business founded in Meridian, Mississippi in 1891 by George Soulé. The complex was listed as a contributing property to Union Station Historic District, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 under the Meridian Multiple Resource...
; maintained by the Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum.
UK
- The Thornley-Corliss engine, installed in 1899, still powers parts of the Hook Norton Brewery in OxfordshireOxfordshireOxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
- Engines at the Bolton Steam MuseumBolton Steam MuseumBolton Steam Museum is a museum in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which houses a variety of preserved steam engines. It is owned and run by the Northern Mill Engine Society .-Overview:...
- McNaught 180 HP tandem compound from the Wasp mill (only the high-pressure cylinder has Corliss valve gear)
- Scott and Hodgson 250 HP vertical cross compound from the Diamond Rope Works (only the high pressure cylinder has Corliss valve gear)
- Agnes, a 700 hp tandem compound engine at the Markham Grange Steam Museum
- Mill Meece Pumping StationMill Meece Pumping StationMill Meece Pumping Station is a pumping station, located in the village of Millmeece in Staffordshire, England. Its function, powered by steam engines, was to pump water from boreholes to a reservoir in Hanchurch, from which it flows by gravity to supply the Potteries area.-Description:Mill Meece...
- a pair of tandem compound engines, Eccleshall, Staffordshire - Ellenroad Ring Mill EngineEllenroad Ring Mill EngineThe Ellenroad Ring Mill Engine is a preserved stationary steam engine in Milnrow, Greater Manchester. It powered the Ellenroad Ring Mill from 1917, and after the mill's closure the engine is still worked under steam as a museum display....
- 3000 hp twin tandem compound engine, Rochdale, Greater Manchester - The Bratch Pumping Station triple expansion engines, Wombourne, Staffordshire
- The Pollit & Wigzell engine at Coldharbour Mill, Uffculme, Devon
Elsewhere
- The Distillerie Dillon, in Fort-de-FranceFort-de-FranceFort-de-France is the capital of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique. It is also one of the major cities in the Caribbean. Exports include sugar, rum, tinned fruit, and cacao.-Geography:...
, Martinique, uses a 1922-vintage engine to run their cane crusher - The Saraya Sugar Factory at Sardanagar, India, still had two Fives-Lille Corliss Engines as of 2004 driving cane crushers
- Frazer & Haughton 100 HP Mill Engine built by Victor Coates & Co in 1900, at the Steam Museum, StraffanStraffanSruthán was mistakenly cited by Thomas O'Connor in the Ordnance Survey Letters in 1837, and adopted as the Irish form of Straffan. Seosamh Laoide used it in his list of Irish names of post-offices published in Post-Sheanchas . An Sruthán gained currency among those involved in the Irish revival...
, Ireland. - Filer and Stowell tandem compound refrigeration engine at the Tokomaru Steam Museum, Tokomaru, New Zealand
