Safety valve wanted

Anyone know where I can get hold of a steam engine safety valve? Aln Valley Railway are restoring a wooden bodied coach and we've been offered help with some of the heavy woodwork by a local tall ship restoration project who have the right equipment. In return they've asked for help in finding a safety valve, and possibly a whistle for a wood steamer they are building.

 

That's a bit like asking if anyone has a piece of string. What size? What pressure? What fitting? What type of discharge?

 

Preston steam services.

 

I think they want it for a low price!

 

A little bit concerned about creating a wood steamer that requires a safety valve. That sounds like a somewhat dubious adventure.

 

It depends on what exactly is meant by "wood steamer". If it is a device for steaming wood so that it may be bent, then I would agree with you. However if it is a steam driven, wooden hulled boat or ship, then it would be fine.

Words mean different things to different people, a friend recently posted that golf was a legitimate reason for a man to use an iron.

 

I use an iron for soldering...................

 

Relevance? I think the poster's original request was fairly clear.

This is a good post and clearly some more information on the ship's boiler is required. A "wooden steamer" is fine in maritime parlance.

Wouldn't it be nice if railway enthusiasts (and modellers I rather suspect) could be less snippy and more helpful?

 

Most steam launches are built from wood. Think Thames steamers, for instance:

http://www.thames-steamers.co.uk/gallery.html If it is good enough for the Queen I think it would be good enough for the likes of us!

 

I have a reasonable amount to do with boats, having built a few, and in my language a wood steamer is a chamber/container which uses saturated steam/water vapour, typically at atmospheric pressure, to soften wood so it can be bent more readily.
A wooden steamer would be a ship made out of wood, and a smaller steam driven craft would be a wooden steam launch or the like.

It never even occurred to me that a wood steamer might be some kind of ship or boat, although I was a bit puzzled as to why they wanted a whistle.

 

All this speculation is entertaining, but it would be helpful if the OP would come back to respond to the questions in post #2. Maybe his tall ship restoration people don't yet know exactly what they need and are having to investigate further, but if so he could tell us.

 

Michael,

Give me a bell and I will try to sort out what you want.

David Humphreys
NBR Engineering Services
Scarborough
07787967694
david@nbr.org.uk

 

Hi David,

Thanks for your help with this. It looks like they've got what they needed elsewhere. It was good to talk to you. Hope we might get down to see what you've been doing some time.