This scratch built model was built in 1973 by Mr. Peacock, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at NYU. It is a similar design to the Watts-Campbell Corliss of Newark, New Jersey design because of the large DISC CRANK. (see Corliss Parts Names below)
Specifications
Not including wood base, 33 cm long x 15 cm wide x 14.5 cm high
Materials
Aluminum, brass, steel
Watts-Campbell Company Horizontal Corliss Engine
This full-size engine is located at the Soulé Feed Works, Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum, Meridan, Mississippi
Audels Engineers and Mechanics Guide Vol2 (1921)
The following diagrams are from the Audels Engineers and Mechanics Guide of 1921, one of the best sources for detailed drawings of Corliss engines.
Corliss Parts Names and Valve Configuration
Corliss Valve Cross Section
Corliss Governor Configuration
Notes on the Corliss Valve Gear Design
The Corliss valve gearpossesses the following important advantages: 1. Reduced clearance volume and clearance surface, owing to the shortness of the admission and exhaust passages obtained by placing the valves close to the ends of the cylinders. In such cylinders the clearance will vary from 3 to 5% of the piston displacement. 2.Separate valves are used for steam and exhaust, the steam valves being at the top corners of horizontal cylinders and the exhaust valves at the bottom corners, by which means, during the flow of the steam from the cylinder, the exhaust surfaces are swept clear of water and a natural system of drainage is thus provided. This advantage applies more especially to horizontal cylinders. 3. It maintains a wide opening during admission of steam with a sudden return of the valve at cut off, thus preventing wire drawing of the steam during admission. 4. It permits of independent adjustment of admission and cut off, release and compression. 5.It provides an easy and effective method of governing engines of large power, by regulation of the cut off, through the action of a governor on the comparatively light working parts of the valve disengaging gear. It is frequently claimed for the employment of separate steam and exhaust valves that condensation is reduced because the entering steam coming through a separate passage, and not through that through which the steam is exhausted, does not come into contact with surfaces which have just been cooled down by the comparatively cold exhaust steam, as is the case when the port is common to both admission and exhaust; but this claim is only valid if the area of clearance surface be reduced by the arrangement of separate valves, because in any case, all the surface up to the exhaust valve must be heated up each stroke whether the steam is admitted through the same of through a separate port. One important objectionto the Corliss valve gear is the limitation of the speed of rotation of engines fitted with it owing to its action being dependent upon the engagement and tripping of catches.
