Steam & Excursion > Whazzit? (14)

There were many "dead-end" technologies.  This one achieved short lived popularity.  Tell me about it.  (No, not the part about x-ray vision.)

-LD

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Some sort of syphon system?

'Chain & buckets' early coal stoker?
( Early variant of agricultural conveyor used for filling barn silos ... )

Was OK, 'til,the chains broke...

​W.

(I like the artist's rendering of the reverse lever...prior to era of power reverser's?) 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/20 14:06 by wcamp1472.

A Street Mechanical Stoker. Based off of the bucket systems for grain silos in that era, they had short lived success. The chain that the buckets in the tube are attached to would often break, or have buckets break loose from the chain, rendering it inoperable.

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Txhighballer Wrote:
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> Some sort of syphon system?

Nope, sorry.  Those thingies in the cutaway of the riser on the left side are actually little buckets.

-LD

LarryDoyle Wrote:
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> Txhighballer Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Some sort of syphon system?
>
> Nope, sorry.  Those thingies in the cutaway of
> the riser on the left side are actually little
> buckets.
>
> -LD

Wow! You learn something new every day! I have heard of such but never seen any drawing of it. Thanks for the education!!!!

BDrotarIII Wrote:
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> A Street Mechanical Stoker. Based off of the
> bucket systems for grain silos in that era, they
> had short lived success. The chain that the
> buckets in the tube are attached to would often
> break, or have buckets break loose from the chain,
> rendering it inoperable.

Yes!

Better stokers were soon developed.  This a very high maintenance device, which apparently (guess why?) was also very noisy - must have been terrible.  It also took up a lot of real estate in an already crowded cab. 
The Street Stoker was marketed by the Locomotive Stoker Company, which went on to sell some of the best and most popular stokers used right up to the end.  I'll likely interject more about those contributions to steam technology later in this series.  I don't think they survived the diesel transition though.

-LD

wcamp1472 Wrote:
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> I like the artist's rendering of the reverse
> lever...prior to era of power reverser's?

Showing the use of such a wimpy Johnson is subtle, but the implication is clear.  Use a Street Stoker and everyone's job get easier.

-John

wcamp1472 Wrote:
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> Was OK, 'til,the chains broke...
>
> ​W.

There was no chain, but I'm sure there were still maintenance issues.  Here's a detail of those little buckets.

-LD

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THAT'S even worser...

Technically, it's a chain of buckets..
Ugh...

​W.