Placement depends on where you CAN put it.
On our Tom Thumb, it is immediately after the throttle, in the pipe to the cylinders.
On my Hudson, I have one that feeds my feedwater pump - it is in the cab, right off the turret.
Rules of thumb:
Water is heavier than oil.
Steam tends to condense, displacing the oil, out into the stream.
Oil that sits in a line in the smokebox for a long period of time tends to solidify and become non-flowing, so I don't like oil lines in smokeboxes.
The line from steam line to the lubricator should typically not run up-hill to get there. Level is OK, down into the lubricator is my preference.
Other than that, put it some place that you can get to easily. You wil have to fill / drain.
Another option:
Use a piece of copper pipe with an o-ring sealed piston inside it. Needs end-caps that can be removed..
One end of the pipe is fed steam from somewhere, typically the turret.
The other end of the pipe has a needle valve for oil with a line leading to the steam line to cylinders.
Put steam in one end of the pipe, oil comes out the other end.
The principle is that the steam pressure from the turret is always higher than the pressre going to the cylinders, so the oil is pushed out the other end into the cylinders.
Caution must be taken because if you put steam on the lubricator and don't open the throttle (for a long time), there is the possibility of putting a bit too much oil into the steam line.
I take no credit for this...comes from Bill VanBrocklin about the time I got into this hobby.
Dummy it up as an air tank and you are good to go.....
Using this design, you don't have to worry about which way the lines go (up / down / across / zig-zag) because it works on pressure differential.
I have even thought of using feedwater from the pump to push the piston rather than steam (it all turns to water anyway)...
BTW:
Harry is correct...no matter what you do, if you introduce the oil BEFORE the steam line Ts to the cylinders, there will be a tendency for one cylinder to get more oil than another.
Starvation is also a real possibility, so whenever possible, 2 lubricators or injecting before the T is a good idea.
Roscoe Displacement Lubricator
-
Bill Shields
van Brocklin lubricator
I used one for a few years on a loco that I sold...assume it is still running.
Bill vanBrocklin used it on many of his locos long before he did a write up about it in LS....whenever, I cannot remember.
I am quite sure that there are several people up in the Waushakum LS area that are using it.
I know it works....the theory is dirt simple. Just don't make the o-ring so tight that it takes a lot of pressure to move it.
Think of a hypodermic syringe....Steam is the thumb....
It takes a lot of work to think like a blacksmith and make things really simple and functional rather than complex. This is just one tiny step less complex than a standard lubricator.
Bill vanBrocklin used it on many of his locos long before he did a write up about it in LS....whenever, I cannot remember.
I am quite sure that there are several people up in the Waushakum LS area that are using it.
I know it works....the theory is dirt simple. Just don't make the o-ring so tight that it takes a lot of pressure to move it.
Think of a hypodermic syringe....Steam is the thumb....
It takes a lot of work to think like a blacksmith and make things really simple and functional rather than complex. This is just one tiny step less complex than a standard lubricator.
-
4catmom
Bill--
This sounds like a neat idea, but I don't understand...why is the piston needed? If the lubricator is arranged vertically with the feed valve (to the cylinders) at the top, wouldn't the oil float on top of the condensed water and go out through the valve? It seems like the pressure differential would be present whether the oil and water were together in the lubricator or separated by a piston
Dan W
This sounds like a neat idea, but I don't understand...why is the piston needed? If the lubricator is arranged vertically with the feed valve (to the cylinders) at the top, wouldn't the oil float on top of the condensed water and go out through the valve? It seems like the pressure differential would be present whether the oil and water were together in the lubricator or separated by a piston
Dan W
-
Bill Shields
piston
the piston is the separator from steam-wather to oil.
without it, you would get a mix of either coming out the other end.
With the piston, what you get is pure oil....
of course, i have only seen it done with the tank horizontal...the idea is to disguise it as an air tank...
capice?
without it, you would get a mix of either coming out the other end.
With the piston, what you get is pure oil....
of course, i have only seen it done with the tank horizontal...the idea is to disguise it as an air tank...
capice?
-
4catmom
-
tsph6500
- Posts: 1417
- Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2004 3:38 pm
- Location: West of Dunvegan, Ontario CANADA
- Contact:
Re: Lubricators
Originally invented by Elijah McCoy for prototype locomotives (http://tinyurl.com/esdpo). His designs were the best in the industry and lead to the popular term "the real McCoy".Bill Shields wrote:Use a piece of copper pipe with an o-ring sealed piston inside it. Needs end-caps that can be removed..
One end of the pipe is fed steam from somewhere, typically the turret.
The other end of the pipe has a needle valve for oil with a line leading to the steam line to cylinders.
Put steam in one end of the pipe, oil comes out the other end.
The principle is that the steam pressure from the turret is always higher than the pressre going to the cylinders, so the oil is pushed out the other end into the cylinders.
Caution must be taken because if you put steam on the lubricator and don't open the throttle (for a long time), there is the possibility of putting a bit too much oil into the steam line.
I take no credit for this...comes from Bill VanBrocklin about the time I got into this hobby.
Dummy it up as an air tank and you are good to go.....
Bill Van Brocklin successfully scaled this type of lubricator down to 3/4". I have a set of plans somewhere (not much help I know).
Last edited by tsph6500 on Tue Mar 07, 2006 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Best regards,
Jim Leggett
Montreal Live Steamers
www.montreallivesteamers.org
A Founding Member of the Tinkerbell Scale Society - Northern Division
I'm an A.R.S.E. (Association of Railroad Steam Engineers)
Toad Swamp & Punk Hollow Railroad - Head Tycoon
The Juvenile Traction Company - CEO & Apprentice Machinist 3rd Class
White Mountain Central RR - Engineer & Fireman
Jim Leggett
Montreal Live Steamers
www.montreallivesteamers.org
A Founding Member of the Tinkerbell Scale Society - Northern Division
I'm an A.R.S.E. (Association of Railroad Steam Engineers)
Toad Swamp & Punk Hollow Railroad - Head Tycoon
The Juvenile Traction Company - CEO & Apprentice Machinist 3rd Class
White Mountain Central RR - Engineer & Fireman
-
Bill Shields
BvB plans
I can supply autocad drawings of what I used in the past if anyone wants.
Dirt simple though.....must be if I can make one work.
http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinv ... _McCoy.htm
This link shows the McCoy lubricator. It is not quite what Bill VanBrocklin adapted...there doesn't appear to be a separator piston in the chamber...or perhaps there was more than one McCoy lubricator patent.
B
Dirt simple though.....must be if I can make one work.
http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinv ... _McCoy.htm
This link shows the McCoy lubricator. It is not quite what Bill VanBrocklin adapted...there doesn't appear to be a separator piston in the chamber...or perhaps there was more than one McCoy lubricator patent.
B
