General Information

Serial #

14279

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Cast iron, bronze

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

N/A

Width

N/A

Height

N/A

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Industrial Technology

Category

Power sources

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

RIDER ERICSSON

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Quebec

Period

1910-1946

Canada

Engine was donated by Mr. D. Angus, grandson of Richard Angus. Richard Angus was the chairman of BMO in 1870 and was also responsible for financing the Canadian Pacific Railway, partnering with George Stephen. This engine was used on Mr. Angus' farm, La Chatte Blanche, for domestic purposes.

Function

Solar powered hot air engine used for pumping water. Contained a working gas that was alternately heated and cooled so that the change in pressure could exert work on a piston, which would in turn perform the task of pumping water. The engine pumped water into elevated tanks from which the water would flow by gravity.

Technical

This type of engine is presently being investigated as a pollution-free power source. John Ericsson developed solar powered hot air engine for pumping water; this was modified to use conventional fuel source & in commercial production began in 1881 (ref. 1). Can run directly on any heat source (eg. biomass, biowaste, etc.) as long as the temperature is high enough. Produces no CO and produces very low levels of nitrogen oxides. This engine could work as efficiently as a gas engine on a smaller amount of fuel for approximately 10 hours. Flywheel, cylinder, pump and crank assembly are mounted atop stove into which the lower part of the cylinder extends. External combustion, 8 inches. Under favourable conditions, 500gal/hr could be pumped to 50 ft with a coal consumption of 3.5 lbs/hr.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

N/A

Missing

Nil; but unassembled Ammendment by Dave Elliott@26/10/2005: I'm not sure what the foregoing statement means or is referring to. The artefact is complete and assembled and has been operated both prototypically (fired) and also with an electrical drive system (with some parts removed). I am not aware of any missing or extra parts related to this artefact, other than some pump parts that were replaced (fabricated from bar stock) and the originals were retained (to the best of my knowledge).

Finish

Base black/ engine red

Decoration

COMPRISES A DOUBLE WALLED CYLINDER, THE LOWER END OF WHICH ADJACENT TO THE Heat source is filled with charcoal which acts as a heat sink. Concentric with this is a moveable sleeve called the displacer, which surrounds the piston. Through a system of linkages, the displacer and piston travel vertically within the cylinder, and in doing so, the displacer transfers the hot air from the lower end to the upper, where it is cooled by the water jacket surrounding the cylinder. In passing from one end of to the other, the expanding air acts upon the piston, which being connected to a crank, enables useful work to be performed.