Stationary engine

A stationary engine is an engine whose framework does not move. It is normally used not to propel a vehicle but to drive a piece of immobile equipment such as a pump or power tool.

This article concentrates on oil-burning or internal combustion engines;
steam-powered engines are described separately in stationary steam engine.

Overview

Stationary engines come in a wide variety of sizes and use a wide variety of technologies. These include:
* Power stations of all sizes.
* Beam engines used in mills and factories before the widespread use of electric power.
* Winding engines used at mine pitheads.

Types of stationary engine

* Steam engine
* Hit and miss engine
* Hot bulb engine
* Hot tube engine

Live steam models of stationary engines are popular among collectors and hobbyists.

Applications

Railways

In Victorian era railway engineering, many attempts were made to replace locomotives by stationary engines, on the grounds that it was inefficient to move something as large and heavy as a steam engine around. These attempts only succeeded where short distances were to be covered, where various kinds of cable railway were successful, particularly for steep inclines (where the inefficiency of moving the engine up and down a hill is particularly significant). A heroic failure was Isambard Kingdom Brunel's attempt to construct an atmospheric railway from Exeter to Plymouth in Devon, England.

Cable haulage did prove viable where the gradients were exceptionally steep, such as the 1 in 8 gradients of the Cromford and High Peak Railway opened in 1830. Cable railways generally have two tracks with loaded wagons on one track partially balanced by empty wagons on the other, to minimise fuel costs for the stationary engine.

Farms

Small stationary engines were frequently used on a farm to drive various kinds of power tools and equipment such as circular saws, pumps, and hay elevators. The engine was fitted to a wooden trolley with steel wheels so that it could be moved to where required, and was then coupled to the equipment by means of a flat belt.

The engines were usually powered by gasoline, but in some cases for economy it was possible to switch over to run on paraffin after the engine had warmed up - to achieve this required a part of the inlet tract to be heated by exhaust gases in order to vaporise the less volatile fuel. Very large stationary engines ran on a heavier type of fuel oil, but this type of engine was usually too large to be moved; typical applications were electricity generation and large-scale pumping.

Initially, such engines mirrored steam engine design in having the piston move horizontally, with the crank and valve gear exposed and employed a drip-feed total loss lubrication system. Later for safety, cleanliness and longevity the design moved towards enclosing the working parts and using sump lubrication.

The four-stroke cycle design was by far the most common, but Petter, a British manufacturer, developed a successful two-stroke cycle design.

A centripetal governor system was usually incorporated to regulate the engine's speed under varying loads. This is a simple negative feedback control system. The engine speed is sensed by a pair of weights that rotate with the crankshaft. As the speed increases, centripetal force causes the weights to move outward against the pressure of a retaining spring. This outward movement is used to restrict the engine power to limit the speed. If the engine slows down, the centrifugal force reduces and the weights are pulled inward by spring pressure, and this movement is used to increase the engine power to maintain speed under increasing load.

The governor can use one of two techniques for controlling speed. Today, most governors open and close a butterfly valve to control the amount of fuel-air mixture entering the engine. However, in earlier engines, the governor would cut off the fuel air mixture completely. These engines are often called "hit and miss" (variously called "hit or miss") because they do not fire on every available power stroke. When the engine is running above a certain rpm, the exhaust valve is held open, and the magneto is prevented from generating a spark. Once the speed drops, the governor allows the exhaust valve to close and the magneto to fire. The engine fires and speeds back up, causing the governor to keep the exhaust valve open again.

On a medium size engine such as a 6hp, the engine can be adjusted so that it only fires every 10 seconds or so when it is not under load. These engines generally drove a wide flat belt to run a firewood cutoff saw, a pump, a reciprocating log saw, etc.

Eventually such engines were rendered obsolete by the development of a universal power take off (PTO) system on tractors, which could drive stationary equipment as well as mounted implements with much higher outputs than the average small stationary engines. For non-PTO equipment the arrival of the reliable electric motor or the small, light, high-speed petrol engine meant that even small machines could be driven by their own motors, making dedicated power units unnecessary.

Electricity Generation

Before mains electricity and the formation of nationwide power grids, stationary engines were widely used for small-scale electricity generation. Whilst large power stations in cities used steam turbines or high-speed reciprocating steam engines, in rural areas petrol/gasoline, kerosene/paraffin or fuel oil powered internal combustion engines were cheaper to buy, install and operate, since they could be started and stopped quickly to meet demand, left running unattended for long periods of time and did not require a large dedicated engineering staff to operate and maintain. Due to their simplicity and economy, hot bulb engines were popular for high-power applications until the diesel engine took their place from the 1920s. Smaller units were generally powered by spark-ignition engines, which were cheaper to buy and required less space to install.

Most engines of the late-19th and early-20th centuries ran at speeds too low to drive a dynamo or alternator directly. As with other equipment, the generator was driven off the engine's flywheel by a broad flat belt. The pulley on the generator was much smaller than the flywheel, providing the required 'gearing up' effect. Later spark-ignition engines developed from the 1920s could be directly coupled.

Up to the 1930s most rural houses in Europe and North America needed their own generating equipment if electric light was fitted. Engines would often be installed in a dedicated 'engine house', which was usually an outbuilding separate from the main house to reduce the interference from the engine noise. The engine house would contain the engine, the generator, the necessary switchgear and fuses, as well as the engine's fuel supply and usually a dedicated workshop space with equipment to service and repair the engine. Wealthy households could afford to employ a dedicated engineer to maintain the equipment, but as the demand for electricity spread to smaller homes, manufacturers produced engines that required less maintenance and that did not need specialist training to operate.

Such generator sets were also used in industrial complexes and public buildings- anywhere where electricity was required but mains electricity was not available.

Most countries in the Western world completed large-scale rural electrification in the years following World War II, making individual generating plants obsolete for front-line use. However, even in countries with a reliable mains supply, many buildings are still fitted with modern diesel generators for emergency use, such as hospitals and pumping stations. This network of generators often forms a crucial part of the national electricity system's strategy for coping with periods of high demand.

Some manufacturers of stationary engines

* Rider-Ericsson Engine Company
* Richard Hornsby & Sons
* R A Lister and Company
* Petters Limited
* Lister Petter
* Briggs & Stratton
* Charter Gas Engine Company c.1883-1920s
* Cushman
* Deere & Company / John Deere
* Emerson-Brantingham
* Fairbanks-Morse
* Fuller and Johnson
* Hercules Gas Engine Company 1912-1930s
* Hercules Motors Corporation 1915-1967, 1976-
* International Harvester
* Jacobson Machine Manufacturing Company
* Kohler Company
* New Holland Machine Company
* Olds Gasoline Engine Works (Pliny Olds, sons Wallace and Ransom) (1890s-1910)
* Otto Gas Engine Works
* Palmer Brothers
* Stover Manufacturing and Engine Company
* Van Duzen Gas and Gasoline Engine Company c.1891-1898
* Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company
* Witte Engine Works

Preserved stationary engines

In the UK there are few museums where visitors can see stationary engines in operation. Many museums have one or more engines but only a few specialise in the internal combustion stationary engines. Among these are the Internal Fire - Museum of Power, in Wales, and the Anson Engine Museum in Cheshire. The Amberley Working Museum in West Sussex also has a number of engines, as does Kew Bridge Steam Museum in London.

Many steam rallies, like the Great Dorset Steam Fair, include an exhibit section for internal combustion stationary engines. These engines have been restored by private individuals and often are exhibited in operation, powering water pumps, electric generators, hand tools, and the like.

See also

* [http://www.rustyiron.com/ Antique Stationary Engines]
* Canterbury and Whitstable Railway.
* Hillclimbing (railway)
* [http://www.internalfire.com/ Internal Fire Museum of Power in Wales]
* [http://www.enginemuseum.org/ Anson Engine Museum in Cheshire]
* [http://www.stationaryengine.org.uk/ Stationary engine website]
* [http://www.oldengine.org/members/blkstone/Africa.htm Stationary engines in South Africa]
* [http://www.old-engine.com/ Harry's Old Engine Home Page]
* [http://www.antique-engine.com/ Antique-engine.com]