Mamod Steam Engines
My Mamod is
outside running at full speed. (I have disconnected the band from
the flywheel to the wheel so it runs stationary)
Mamod
Steam Engines are simple working models of real Steam driven
machinery, they all work by having a small fire inside them,
fired by solid fuel tablets or Gas.
A Basic cut
away showing the working parts (except the cyclinder because it
located on the other side)
They work
by the fire being under a brass boiler full of water, creating
steam under pressure, this is then entered into the cylinder (or
cylinders if it is the twin cylindered stationary engine) under
your control, and turns the Flywheel. This does various things
depending on which Mamod you buy:
- The
traction engines flywheel can be connected the the wheel
to drive it or driver mini machinery,
- The
showmans engine can do everything the traction engine
does, except it has a dynamo on the front which generates
electricity to light the LED's around its canopy (roof),
- The
stationary engine turns mini machinery (you buy
seperately),
- The
twin cylindered staionary engine drives a fly wheel and
that drives a dynamo to create electricity and light the
bulb beside it,
- The
steam locomotive Mamod produce is an '0' guage (33mm
track) which has twin cylinders and runs on Gas. You can
control it with a remote control, this acts as a
regulator and will regulate the amont of steam to the
cylinders (a speed control!)
- There
are other Mamods which runs on steam, like cars, fire
engines and Lorries. they all have a brass boilers and
the cylinder drives a shaft which is connected to the
back wheels. (E-mail me if you can explain how it works!)
I enjoy
firing my Mamod, but it's quite expensive to buy the fuel, and it
consumes it fast! Most of the heat energy given of by the fire is
wasted as the heat travels out the top of the firebox into the
air. The water inside doesn't last long (about 15 minutes of
running) which means you have to take the fire out of the engine,
top her up again and repeat the firing prosess. What I do is
break my fuel tablets into small pieces and shovel it into the
fire, that way you can control the heat of the fire. It's better
than putting 2 tablets in which start off hot, burn away, and
produce hardly any heat at all. If you have a Mamod of any type,
see if you can run it stationary without it stopping for about 15
minutes! Its hard!
stephen.newell@steamland.com
