off topic...steam pressure verses air pressure..

[doug68hoss]

hi..my dad likes to tinker around, has been for awhile trying to make his own working steam engine..small one of course..he is using the crank shaft out of a sewing machine.also the flywheel and connecting rod off a sewing machine as well...and he has been working making the cylinder out of cast aluminum drilled .bored ect.. you know every thing that would be needed..
in the past he has used compressed air to run the things which is sorta like cheating i guess...so he is running piping and such to a pressure cooker and hopes the thing will run on like 10 lbs of steam pressure....
he keeps asking me and others if 10 lbs of steam pressure is the same as 10 lbs of air pressure....
sounds like pressure would be pressure...

are there anything thoughts on this..more power with steam etc?
or other benefits or problems involving steam...? thanks

 

[WORTH]

10 lbs is 10 lbs.

 

[krash kendall]

Steam pressure is generated within the pressure vessel by a heat source which requires fuel, but no outside power source. Air pressure is usually generated by an external device requiring auxilliary power to produce the pressure. In other words, the steam powered engine is its own self contained, single fueled device, whereas substituting compressed air requires a seperate mechanism that consumes its own fuel to provide the power for the steam/air engine.

 

[mudbilly]

please remember that the numbers you are refering to are:

Pounds per square inch

10 psi on a 3 inch round piston will create 70 pounds of force....

10 psi inside the pressure cooker creates ALOT of force


this is starting to get into the serious area, and could get dangerous, not to mention that steam is instant burn (212 degrees F) if it hits your flesh

be careful....