The Biggest Operating Triple Steam Engine At Kempton

There are three videos in my series about large working steam engines: 'The Fabulous Crofton Steam Engine (1812)' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV57oNTAPls , 'The Biggest Rotative Beam Engine at Crossness' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlp1aG1VJRI and this video 'The Biggest Operating Triple Steam Engine at Kempton'. Kempton Park in the West of London is known for its horse races, but there is still another reason for a visit : Kempton Engine Trust, a former London waterwork pumping station with two giant triple steam engines, 62 ft from basement to top, one of them operating again. The second engine is in restoration and you can, because of its partially disassembled state, understand perfectly - if you want to - each detail of the working one. See http://www.kemptonsteam.org/index.html . It was interesting, to see the starting procedure of the big triple similar to a combustion engine with a kind of starter motor - in this case a small two-cylinder steam engine. That 'barring engine' is used to move the pistons of the triple into the correct starting position. The big one is a triple expansion engine, that means that the admitted steam is used three times, each time with lower pressure and bigger piston diameter.(The resulting force is the product of steam pressure times piston area and must be the same for all of the three cylinders). Well, I can give you an absolute recommendation for a guided tour - you'll get perfect explanations of any questions by real experts. Enjoy and thanks for watching!

Comments

1. wier casting
2. "Full speed ahead, Mr. Murdoch! Let's stretch her legs!"
   
   My god I love massive machines especially ones with visible moving bits all over like this beauty here! Though, I can only imagine the NVH it may have caused a luxury liner such as the Titanic!
3. reminds me of Titanic :D
4. A steam engine is used to start this steam engine? That makes my brain hurt
5. I only watched the first minute or so, but that engine was tiny, I've got a bigger one in my car! :(
6. Sweet video!! Love the History!!!
7. The small engine is a barring engine used to move the main engine during warm up. Low pressure steam is admitted to jackets/spaces arround the cylinder for several hours before the main steam is turned on to rotate the engine. The sole purpose of the crank shaft is to keep the pistons in the correct relative position for its running. The actual ram pumps are located underneath the engine and were driven vertically downwards from the crossheads which recipricate on slides inside the engine entabliture.
   The pumps had two rams, one inside the other, with the small one driven pumped high pressure water but low volume, with the large sleeve used it pumped large volume at a much lower pressure depending on the duty required.
   Usually only one engine was needed at a time, running non stop for up to two months at a time. Light maintenance was undertaken on the stopped pumping engine and it could be available in a few hours if the running pump failed.
   
   If both failed the steam turbine pump in the basement could be run instead as it was well able to cover the duty but perhaps not as economical ast the large engines.
   My father was a shift engineer at nearby Hampton works (6 all steam turbine pumps till mid 1975 when changed to electric drive) and often took me to KP works to see the engines running at a sedate 20/25 rpm.
8. did u see the sign that said "CAUTION: this machine has no brain use your own"?
9. Whats the name of the music playing at the beginning?
10. Those are "Barring Engines". Sure, they help start the beast, since the thing has to be started after Top Dead Center after the compression stroke, or the kickback could smash up important parts.
11. Some what reminiscent of Titanic's triple expansion engines .
    Port and starboard units driving her screws feed by no less than 29 16' diameter open ended boilers, her left over steam drove a turbine center screw ( non reversible) and electric generation plants.
12. Very interesting, is this engine very similar concernig size and power to the actual Titanic triple exp engine ( except the low pressure turbine) ? Congrats for your institution on keeping these amazing machines, thanks for sharing,oscar
13. I am one of the lucky ones to see these Engines used in anger,to pump water to London.
    With the Orginal Boilers, creating the Steam.
    
    These Engines have been used in TV and Films, including Raise The Titanic, Hot Gossip,Performed there.Red Dwarf has been Filmed there as well.
14. titanic I thought still holds the record for piston engines for size
15. Sooooo Quiet !
16. Back to the future :)
17. Absolutely grand in every respect! Cheers from Canada.
18. Is this similar to the titanics engine setup?
19. Did I see it correct, that the 4 beams from the cross had go straight down trough the engine basement to drive the pumps?
    Does the crankshaft drive anything? or is it just to couple the 3 cylinders?
20. helt riktig