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The valve gear, actuated by connection to the driving wheels, ensures that steam is delivered to the piston with precision. Types are slide valves, piston valves or poppet valves. [2] [3]: 62 Valve chest / Steam chest Valve chamber next to the cylinder (24) containing passageways to distribute steam to the cylinders. [6]: 41 [3]: 75 Firebox
In a steam engine, cutoff is the point in the piston stroke at which the inlet valve is closed. On a steam locomotive, the cutoff is controlled by the reversing gear.. The point at which the inlet valve closes and stops the entry of steam into the cylinder from the boiler plays a crucial role in the control of a steam engine.
Another effect of early cutoff is that the valve is moving quite slowly at the cutoff point, and this creates a constriction point causes the steam to enter the cylinder at less than full boiler pressure (called 'wire drawing' of the steam, named after the process of making metal wire by drawing it through a hole), another wasteful ...
Diagram showing lap and lead and their relation to valve travel When on the move, a steam locomotive requires steam to enter the cylinder at precise times relative to the piston's position. [ 3 ] This entails controlling the admission and exhaust of steam to and from the cylinders with a valve linked to the motion of the piston.
Control is by a small three-way steam valve (“forward”, “stop”, “back”) and a separate indicator showing the position of the rod and thus the percentage of cutoff in use. When the steam valve is at “stop”, an oil cock connecting the two ends of the locking piston is also closed, thus holding the mechanism in position.
Cross compound engine, with an expansion valve (top) on the high-pressure cylinder. An expansion valve is a device in steam engine valve gear that improves engine efficiency. It operates by closing off the supply of steam early, before the piston has travelled through its full stroke. This cut-off allows the steam to then expand within the ...
Often, but not always, in the European valve naming scheme for pentodes an even number indicated a sharp-cutoff device while odd indicated remote-cutoff; the EF37 was an exception to this general trend, perhaps due to its history as an update to the EF36 ("The Mullard EF36, EF37 and EF37A" at the National Valve Museum). Remote-cutoff, variable ...
The Walschaerts valve gear is an improvement on the earlier Stephenson valve gear in that it enables the driver to operate the steam engine in a continuous range of settings from maximum economy to maximum power. At any setting, the valve gear satisfies the following two conditions: