Engine Order Telegraph

[PaddyWest2012]

@"Steamer"

A triple doesn’t care or even know. The steamchest pressure is the same, the only difference is the side of the piston that gets the steam. At full speed the cutoff is fairly quick so there isn’t much steam admitted anyway and the reversal is cushioned by compression of steam admitted before the direction is reversed. The lever he pulls directs steam to the reversing engine, that shifts the eccentrics which pass through a “neutral” point where no steam is admitted or exhausted for part of a revolution so it is not like there is a great pressure rise in the HP cylinder. Short answer, the engine could care less. Steam is a wonderfully elastic medium.

Thanks Steamer! I knew someone would know. Given your username I guess I’m not surprised it was you.

By the by, just for entertainment value, give us some sea stories about your own personal experience with reciprocating steam engines, triple expansion or otherwise.