Friday Night Steam

Want to see the innards of a steam shovel?

Video by:

cyrex686


1922 Erie Model "B" Steam Shovel at HCEA Canada's 2014 "Last Blast" event at the Simcoe County Museum near Barrie, Ontario. The Canopy was off, so you cold see a lot more then usual when you see a steam shovel operating. I tried to get both sides and zoom in on the controls and mechanics to give a better idea of how it works. HCEA Canada has regular events if you'd like to see this and other machines in action: Two at The Simcoe County Museum are on their site, and, while they have a presence at many steam shows, I believe they have a larger presence at the Blyth Steam Show. HCEA Canada: http://www.hceacanada.org Simcoe County Museum: http://museum.simcoe.ca/

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Source: https://www.revolvy.com/page/Steam-shovel

100-ton steam shovel mounted on railroad tracks, cc. 1919

 

 

A derelict steam shovel in Alaska; major components visible include the steam boiler, water tank, winch, main engine, boom, dipper stick, crowd engine, wheels, and excavator bucket.

A steam shovel consists of:

• a bucket, usually with a toothed edge, to dig into the earth
• a "dipper" or "dipper stick" connecting the bucket to the boom
• a "boom" mounted on the rotating platform, supporting the dipper and its control wires
• a boiler
• a water tank and coal bunker
• steam engines and winches
• operator's controls
• a rotating platform on a truck, on which everything is mounted
• wheels (or sometimes caterpillar tracks or railroad wheels)
• a house (on the platform) to contain and protect 'the works'

The shovel has several individual operations: it can raise or luff the boom, rotate the house, or extend the dipper stick with the boom or crowd engine, and raise or lower the dipper stick.
When digging at a rock face, the operator simultaneously raises and extends the dipper stick to fill the bucket with material. When the bucket is full, the shovel is rotated to load a railway car or motor truck. The locking pin on the bucket flap is released and the load drops away. The operator lowers the dipper stick, the bucket mouth self-closes, the pin relocks automatically and the process repeats.
Steam shovels usually had a three-man crew: engineer, fireman and ground man. There was much jockeying to do to move shovels: rails and timber blocks to move; cables and block purchases to attach; chains and slings to rig; and so on. On soft ground, shovels used timber mats to help steady and level the ground. The early models were not self-propelled, rather they would use the boom to manoeuvre themselves.

:o)