Feast your eyes on these fine gentlemen...



The Brighton Swimming Club of 1863

Keep your sightglass full, your firebox trimmed and your water iced.
KJ

Here is a PBS video of the great battle in Hampton Roads between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia ex USS Merrimac.

Enjoy
Keep your sightglass full, your firebox trimmed and your water iced.
KJ

From Uber Goober Games
Enjoy
Keep your sightglass full, your firebox trimmed and your water iced.
KJ

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A Review of Steampunk the RPG from Uber Goober Games

Posted November 23, 2011 by Elliott Miller in Featured

Game Name: Steampunk
Publisher: Uber Goober Games
Designer: Steve Metze
Year: 2011
Players: 2+
Ages: 13+
Playing Time: It’s a RPG
Retail Price: $25.00
Category: Role Playing Game
From Uber Goober Games:
Welcome to a world of mad, inspirational wonders and wild scientific theory wrapped in fog, run by gears, and lit by gaslight. Steampunk is a venue for adventure, no doubt about that, with science and technology unhindered by the laws of physics, with societal norms from any culture past, present or future, and with only as much historical accuracy as fits the whims of the moment. It is a realm where anything is possible under the guise of skimming whatever we want from an idealized – or grossly imperfect – version of the 19th Century.
There is no denying that Steampunk is cool. Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction and fantasy, in which the world has evolved in a much different way. Much of the historical Steampunk literature takes place during the Victorian era of Britain, or the wild west of the USA. Advances in mechanical engineering gave birth to a clockwork, gadget filled society. Consider the works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells as examples of the possibilities of Steampunk. It involves a world with mechanical artificial limbs, steam powered robots, hand cannons instead of pistols, incredible flying machines, mad scientists, alchemy, and travels through the Aether.
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Continued at the link.

That is all.

Keep your sightglass full, your firebox trimmed and your water iced.
KJ

A steam powered biplane first flown in 1933.
Thus proving that steam engines could be made light and powerful enough to work on heavier than air craft. Image what a steam powered airship would be able to do. Especially if the steam is also used as the lifting gas.



From the YouTube description:

A Travel Air 2000 biplane made the world's first piloted flight under steam power over Oakland, California, on 12 April 1933.
The strangest feature of the flight was its relative silence; spectators on the ground could hear the pilot when he called to them from mid-air.
The aircraft, piloted by William Besler, had been fitted with a two-cylinder, 150 hp reciprocating engine.
An important contribution to its design was made by Nathan C. Price, a former Doble Steam Motors engineer.  Price was working on high pressure compact engines for rail and road transport; the purpose of the flight was to obtain publicity for this work. Following its unexpectedly favourable reception Price went to Boeing and worked on various aviation projects, but Boeing dropped the idea of a steam aeroengine in 1936. Price later worked for Lockheed where his experience with developing compact burners for steam boilers helped to design Lockheed's first jet engine.
The advantages of the "Besler System" that were claimed at the time included the elimination of audible noise and destructive vibration; greater efficiency at low engine speeds and also at high altitudes where lower air temperatures assisted condensation; reduced likelihood of engine  failure; reduced maintenance costs; reduced fuel costs, since fuel oil was used in place of petrol; reduced fire hazard since the fuel was less volatile and operating temperatures were lower; and a lack of need for radio shielding.
For capacities in excess of 1000 horse power a turbine captures the energy released by the expansion of steam more efficiently than a piston. Thus, the steam reciprocating engine turned out to be unsuitable for scaling up to the needs of large aircraft.

Keep your sightglass full, your firebox trimmed and your water iced.
KJ

So for the "Absintheum", or hand crank Absinth preparer, there are several separate mechanisms that must be linked together and timed to accomplish the proper preparation of a glass of Absinthe.

There is no real size limitation on this beast, but it should probably not be bigger than what would fit in a steamer trunk.

General sections:

Drive train
This distributes the rotation of the hand crank to the various sections and also coordinates the timing of each piece with the presentation of the final prepared glass to the user.

Dose preparation
Decants one oz of Absinth from the bottle and delivers it to the glass.

Sugar preparation
Loads a sugar cube onto the spoon and then places the spoon over the glass.

Water dispenser
Delivers the required amount of chilled water to the glass through the sugar.
This step needs to be slow and steady, with an adjustment for the quantity of water needed.
Also it would be good if there was a display section that might make an enlarged view of the process available to the patron/user.

Glass delivery
Moves the prepared glass to the user with an appropriate notification like a flag, gong, bell or whistle?

Other sections required:
Bottle holder, glass holder, sugar supply, water chiller and reservoir.

Ideas and designs welcome!

Keep your sightglass full, your firebox trimmed and your water iced.
KJ

From The Boy's Book of Airships by H. Delacombe, published in 1909.
The PDF file at the link is a fascinating look at the "State of the Art" of flight in 1909.
The following poem by  H. Kemp captures the spirit of the time very well.
Keep your sightglass full, your firebox trimmed and your water iced.
KJ