Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

I wish the makers of these engines, and especially those from China, would make them with a more serious water pump (larger bore, etc.) which I believe would slow them down to a more realistic speed rather than the usual high speed blur.

"Just wanted to ask, with the brake setup you designed for the Rider Ericcson, did it put any unwanted i.e damaging stress on the engine in your opinion?"
good question Jim, since I haven't run it since I built it...I don't know? every engine is built for a purpose, to power something. most "toy" engines aren't overbuilt for serious work, but to have a engine over revving freely & running wild can also be detrimental to an engine. it would probably be best to control the speed by limiting the fuel, but with these engines that is particularly difficult to do. If I remember correctly, you went about this in a different way, choke up the pump as I recall? how did your engine hold up?
cheers, Bruce

Getting back to the design and the makers, another good way to slow these speed demons down would be to increase the dead air space inside the displacer cylinder, i.e, the space that is unoccupied by the displacer itself. It's a solvable problem but would require more experimentation. A tiny air valve might also help. 

Been awhile since I've used it Bruce, here's a couple of old vids -