Ericsson with HUGE regenerator

[Tom Booth]

According to the article about this engine. (Mechanics' Magazine and Journal of Science, Arts, and Manufactures, Volume 20 - 1834) the regenerator is 7.5 feet tall and 8.5 inches in diameter.

And note the TINY little firebox!

I don't know much about Ericsson engines, but is this normal? The engine is rated at 5 hp.

"There are two cylinders; one called the cold cylinder, 10 1/4 inches in diameter, and the other the working cylinder, 14 inches in diameter, both with an 18 inch stroke. The engine was worked under a pressure of 35 lbs. to the square inch, and its power checked by a break, loaded with 4,000 lbs. acting on the circumference of a wheel of 2 feet diameter. The circulating medium employed in this engine is simply atmospheric air."

Interestingly, the article also states:

"The grand feature by which this engine is distinguished from the steam-engine, and all other power machines, is this, that the same given quantity of heat which sets it in motion, is used over and over again to keep up that motion, and that no additional supply is wanted beyond what is requisite to compensate for a small loss incurred by escape and radiation."

Screenshot_20200616-130603_crop_45_resize_5.jpg (105.67 KiB) Viewed 1704 times

The magazine containing the article can be downloaded from Google books in PDF format.

https://books.google.com/books?id=T9pQAAAAYAAJ

I just stumbled on this by accident while looking for information about Georges Claude's expansion engine which, apparently the magazine also contains, though my attention was captured by seeing mention of an Ericsson engine.

[Tom Booth]

Another image and article. Apparently the above image should be turned sideways.

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"ERICSSON's Caloric Engine (1833), which excited so much interest a few years ago in England; and which, if it should be brought into practical operation, will prove the most important mechanical invention ever conceived by the human mind, and one that will confer greater benefits on civilized life than any that has ever preceded it. For the object of it is the production of mechanical power by the agency of heat, at an expenditure of fuel so exceedingly small, that man will have an almost unlimited mechanical force at his command, in regions where fuel may now be said hardly to exist."

http://hotairengines.org/closed-cycle-e ... csson-1833

The previously posted article from Mechanics Magazine appeared to be describing an actual working (prototype?) engine which was examined and analyzed (by mechanical breaking, fuel consumption etc.) by the author. Could the reports and claims made about this engine have been anywhere close to reality?

I read about an interesting experiment recently.

Someone set out two cups of hot water and placed an ordinary small LTD engine on one.

The expectation was that the cup of hot water with the running engine on top would grow colder more quickly.

The aim of the experiment was to measure the amount of heat the engine used compared with another cup of water left to cool on its own.

Surprisingly, the cup of hot water with the running engine stayed consistently hotter than the cup without an engine. Apparently, the engine prevented cooling due to ordinary evaporation.

Repeating the experiment with the second cup covered by a non operational metal can similar to the engine, both cups of water cooled about the same.

The running LTD engine apparently used virtually no additional heat at all. At least not enough to be readily measurable by a common thermometer.

This was an informal kitchen table type experiment but quite interesting nonetheless.

I'll post a link if and when I can find it again.

[Tom Booth]

OK, found the page:


"An infrared investigation on a Stirling engine"

"...through an IR camera. It turned out that the mug covered by the engine maintained a temperature about 10 °C higher than the open mug..."

" I found a metal box that has approximately the same size and same thickness with our Stirling engine. I refilled the hot water to the two mugs and covered one with the metal box and the other with the Stirling engine. Then I started the engine and tracked their temperatures through the IR camera. It turned out that the rates of heat loss from the two mugs were about the same"

stirling2_crop_73_resize_9.jpg (87.06 KiB) Viewed 1696 times

Full article: https://concord.org/blog/an-infrared-in ... ng-engine/

These are not results I'd expect if a Stirling operated by heat traveling through it.

On the other hand, perhaps it is, in that a wind or water turbine would intercept and slow down a stream of water or air so the air or water would tend to accumulate behind the turbine rather than diminish.

A cup of hot water is a finite heat source however, unlike a river or steady wind across the prairie. Curious results nevertheless.