The New England Wireless and Steam Museum
1300 Frenchtown Road
East Greenwich, RI 02818 USA
Telephone: 401-885-0545
Robert W. Merriam, Director
1300 Frenchtown Road
East Greenwich, RI 02818 USA
Telephone: 401-885-0545
Robert W. Merriam, Director
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This De La Vergne oil engine is the same as used to power the Marconi transmitters on Cape Cod Massachusetts in 1902. It is similar to a Diesel but depends on the heat of a large combustion chamber to ignite the air/fuel mixture, not high compression. It has fuel injection that sprays oil into the combustion chamber.
The Thursday crew recently picked this engine as a project. They spent
many hours cleaning the rust from the water jacket, remanufacturing the
fuel injection nozzle, and adding plumbing and tanks for fuel and cooling
water. Star Gas installed a propane preheater for the combustion chamber.
The crew also removed the piston, unstuck the piston rings, replaced a
broken piston ring, and reassembled the engine. |
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A 6" diameter exhaust pipe was run from the engine to a precast concrete tank burried in the ground. As unusual as this might seem it is historically accurate.
The photo at the left shows the engine running at a November, 2000 open house. The engine was not particularly loud, but it really shook the ground
at every power stroke. The governor regulated very nicely at 200 RPM.
Photo courtesy of Richard Anderson. |
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The Thursday crew built a very nice roof to protect the engine. |