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Author Topic: Large Steam Engine made of Lead Babbitt Castings  (Read 23 times)

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Large Steam Engine made of Lead Babbitt Castings
« on: 6 hours ago »
 Just picked this monster up yesterday. All the castings are lead babbitt and that includes the entire base. It is HEAVY!
The base is roughly 16” square and it has a 1-1/2” bore. The flywheel is 6” diameter and has a centrifugal governor that limits the stroke of the slide valve to throttle the engine. It has a vertical tube boiler with a gas burner underneath. It appears to be repurposed burner from a 1920s kitchen range.
This engine was built by Herman Nelson Soegaard 1889-1969. His initials are embossed on the engine main frame. I got the engine from his grandson who is around 77 years old and he remembered seeing the engine run when he was a kid.
I’m thinking this engine may have only been run once or twice. It shows no wear and appears unfinished in some aspects. It would be interesting to know if it was a scratch design by Mr Soegaard, or if he built it from a set of published plans. Seems to be a very unique design with that type of governor. What do you guys think?
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Mike

Check out my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Cletrac

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Re: Large Steam Engine made of Lead Babbitt Castings
« Reply #1 on: 5 hours ago »
That thing is cast out of Babbitt, good gawd yes, it truly must be very heavy. Amazingly fine casting quality it would seem.

I think you have an incredibly unique and interesting engine there Mike!!!
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Re: Large Steam Engine made of Lead Babbitt Castings
« Reply #2 on: 5 hours ago »
What a find.  Looks heavy as heck - let us know how much it
weighs.

Hope the grandson appreciated that it was going to a good home.

And...is that kitty chow on the top of the boiler?

CleanIt, TestIt, SteamIt, VideoIt!

Good Luck,
Wayne
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