1904 #4 Jewell Steam Engine Evaluation

#4 Jewell Automatic Cutoff Steam Engine. On 80 pounds steam pressure at the engine, it is rated at 15HP at 220 RPM and 18HP at 280 RPM. Rites Patent Governor. Some Frank M. Rites steam engine patents are available from Google Patents. The governor only has one moving part, the bow-tie shaped iron casting. It has a pivot point that is offset from the center line of the casting. When in motion the forces tend to rotate the governor weight so it is is close to the center of mass. A spring opposes the action and such forces are balance when the governed speed is reached. If more load is applied the flywheel tends to slow down. The governor weight will tend to overtake the flywheel and changes the position of the valve eccentric which admits steam longer in the cylinder.

The earliest catalog information I have been able to find for the Jewell line of horizontal steam engines is 1908. Not much is known who actually made these. Some internet antique machinery forum discussion s have suggested it was a company named Clark Machinery at location unknown. If you go by the flute styling of the cast iron cylinder jacket plates, it can be concluded they also made conventional throttle governed engines as well. I have a 5X8 horizontal engine that has the exact same styling on its jacket cover plates. This engine has stamped on its steam chest 1904 and shop number 850. It was acquired it in 2004 or 2005. It supposedly was used in a Louisana sugar mill. As I remember it was not stuck but has spent its post-industrial life outdoors. Covered in mold, moss and lichens it was a mess. I did run on air but a 1/4" air hose did not prove much. In 2006 a steam test was made using a 3/4" steam hose. This proved much the same as the air test. Having never worked with an automatic cutoff engine I did not know what to expect. It ran and it reached a governed speed. The exhaust had a rather wheezy or asthmatic sound to it. Little more was done for the next 11 years except to oil it and occasionally rotate the flywheel. In November 2017 the engine was connected to the Brownell boiler seen in previous videos using a 1-1/2" steam hose which is the max steam outlet size of the boiler. New to the Brownell boiler is a cover to the smoke stack.

This video is compiled from three days of testing in November 2017 to evaluate the condition of the engine.

Video 13. Please like and subscribe Notifications are good too. Thanks.