awesome steam powered vehicles

I just ran across an article listing some really cool steam powered vehicles: http://io9.com/the-most-astounding-steam-powered-vehicles-in-history-458727299

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OMfJ8hbMkA0

Definitely some cool vehicles. Not sure about the steam powered airplane though.

that would definitely take some big brass ones

The steam landspeeder is really propane powered. It just powers a steam turbine instead of being burned directly in an ICE. Usually you expect a steam engine to be powered by coal.

GameboyRMH wrote: The steam landspeeder is really propane powered. It just powers a steam turbine instead of being burned directly in an ICE. Usually you expect a steam engine to be powered by coal.

steam can be powered by any heat source, before coal there was wood, now theres propane, natural gas (electricity generation), nuclear, etc.

I get that, but when you have a power source that could be used directly more efficiently in a different way, and wasn't available at the time when steam power was a mainstream technology for vehicles, it seems like a silly excuse to call the car steam-powered.

Let's say 100 years from now someone wanted to set a new gasoline engine speed record. They have batteries that store energy beyond our wildest dreams and make gasoline look like crap in energy density. They also have a device that can extract gasoline from a combination of air and some chemicals. Now if they use their super-future-battery to power this gasoline generator and burn more gasoline than they ever could have carried normally to break the record, doesn't that seem like a cheaty excuse?

i can't even begin to follow your argument. if gasoline is not moving a piston that pushes the wheels then it's not a gas powered vehicle, it's some sort of hybrid.

1) steam engine powered: water + heat source = steam that turns a turbine that drives the wheels
2) gasoline combustion engine powered: gas + ignition source = explosion that turns a crank that drives the wheels

in either case, the heat or ignition source is not what defines the engine type.

To put it simply, they're using a modern fuel to power an antique type of engine by proxy. They're making more energy available to the antique power system than would have been possible in its time, and they've build a Rube Goldberg machine because the modern fuel could be used more efficiently and directly in a modern engine.

GameboyRMH wrote: The steam landspeeder is really propane powered. It just powers a steam turbine instead of being burned directly in an ICE. Usually you expect a steam engine to be powered by coal.

Steam engines have been run on just about anything that burns, and some things that don't. Most of the early steam powered cars ran on gasoline, kerosene, or other oil products, as it's a lot easier to handle than coal. The main reason most steam engines ran on coal (and still do) is that it's cheap.

GameboyRMH wrote: To put it simply, they're using a modern fuel to power an antique type of engine by proxy. They're making more energy available to the antique power system than would have been possible in its time,

What you think of as "modern fuels" were commonly burned as a heat source....The Dobel cars used kerosene to generate steam. The stanley steamers used gasoline and later kerosene.

BTW, propane dates back to 1912, and was common in the 1920s. Dobel didn't stop making steam cars until 1931. Steam engines may be an "antique type of engine" but the sources of energy used to heat them are nothing especially new or modern.

They used those "modern" fuels back then, so that amount of energy was available back then.

nderwater wrote: i can't even begin to follow your argument. if gasoline is not moving a piston that pushes the wheels then it's not a gas powered vehicle, it's some sort of hybrid. 1) steam engine powered: water + heat source = steam that turns a turbine that drives the wheels 2) gasoline combustion engine powered: gas + ignition source = explosion that turns a crank that drives the wheels in either case, the heat or ignition source is not what defines the engine type.

actually you're talking about external vs. internal combustion engines rather than the distinction being whether a turbine or piston and crank are used. steam locomotives used steam powered pistons to turn the wheels(crank) for motive force. in the same vein, you could burn a liquid fuel like gasoline, kerosene, diesel, or Jet A in a turbine to turn a shaft and wheels via a gearbox.

The multi-stage steam turbine approaches unity in thermodynamic efficiency. I've been on many steam powered ships, from maybe <10K HP to 100K HP. Steam turbine running a generator running a big electric motor spinning the propeller (T2) to steam turbine spinning the propeller (the rest, T5, VLCC, SL7....) They all used heavy fuel oil to make the steam, AKA "Six oil."

It's all a bit fuzzy. Is gasoline-engine car gas-powered? Or is it actually solar-powered, since those hydrocarbons all came from plant material doing photosynthesis millions of years ago. Or maybe it's nuclear-powered since the light for that photosynthesis came from fusion reactions in the Sun. Or do you go farther back to the Big Bang? :)

As for awesome steam-powered vehicles:

JoeyM wrote:

GameboyRMH wrote: To put it simply, they're using a modern fuel to power an antique type of engine by proxy. They're making more energy available to the antique power system than would have been possible in its time,

What you think of as "modern fuels" were commonly burned as a heat source....The Dobel cars used kerosene to generate steam. The stanley steamers used gasoline and later kerosene. BTW, propane dates back to 1912, and was common in the 1920s. Dobel didn't stop making steam cars until 1931. Steam engines may be an "antique type of engine" but the sources of energy used to heat them are nothing especially new or modern. They used those "modern" fuels back then, so that amount of energy was available back then.

And in case you were wondering, the turbine type steam engines like the one that streamliner used were invented in 1884. These images are from 1905.

water + heat = steam.

The world can be saved by steam.

I've worked on 4 steam turbines in the last year or two. Even more boilers. Just saw two turbine-generator sets and 3 coal fired boilers and one gas/oil boiler yesterday.