I so want one of these!

Created in 2006 to be the runabout for the Neverwas Haul, this little tri-wheeler would be just the thing for heading off to the chemists wot!

Double acting slide valve steam engine, powered by a Lamont style boiler made from a steam cleaner, running at about 100psi. Boiler is propane fired.

This film was taken at the 2008 Maker Faire in San Mateo California.

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

Domestic Tranquility Systems

This is the first post in the "Crew Stream" series I mentioned in Part 5b.

A globe trotting airship like ours is more than just an engine hanging from a balloon! The officers, crew and passengers need to be able to live aboard for extended periods of time. What's more some of the crew members are Ladies so we must include many creature comforts for them.

As a reminder here is the general layout of the crew spaces:

• As is typical of the big rigid airships, heavier loads are placed along the bottom of the hull either inside it along the keel or in extensions that extend beneath. 
• From forward we have the crew accommodations (officers and passengers) and the flight deck, from which the airship is controlled. Proceeding aft of this is the forward cargo hold (and armory when on military service), above this is the  remaining crew accommodations, next aft is the engine room, the reactor/steam generator with its large water tank, the aft cargo hold, and finally an emergency steering and control position inside the lower fin.
• These spaces are connected by a narrow triangular "keel walk" similar to that found in the Hindenburg.

 Now our airship is a military vessel not a commercial one so there are no paying passengers to cater to. The space that in the Hindenburg was taken up by complex, and heavy, passenger accommodations is used for our cargo holds placed fore and aft of the engine room and the core with its tank. That said we do need accommodations for the crew. Many of the missions our airship is expected to do will be many days or weeks in length so the crew and any supernumerary passengers need to be accommodated somehow. 

My buddy Grant has created a layout for the forward accommodations which I present here slightly modified:

This layout is based on the control car of the Graf Zeppelin and I think it works quite well for us.

In the airship which we are role playing aboard, the space marked "secure cargo hold" is in fact a fancy bath room with a large tub and elegant furnishings for the use of the ladies. It is known by popular consent as the "Bubble Bath Room" and since we have no shortage of hot water it is a popular place for the ladies especially in the winter.

The triangular keel walk runs above the accommodations along the line of the central passage shown. This keel walk can be reached by ladders from the passage way. Here is a picture of the keel walk of the Hindenburg to give you an idea of what it would look like.

At the forward end of the keel walk, right above the Flight Deck is the Captain's cabin. There is a private ladder that leads down to the Flight Deck for his personal use.

These accommodations are for the use of the officers and those guests which are traveling aboard. The crew have their accommodations along either side of the keel walk where it passes over the forward cargo hold. Their space is nowhere near as fancy as the officers quarters forward, although it is likely much better than what their brothers at sea wold have put up with.

As was typical for surface naval ships of the Victorian period the engine room personnel had separate accommodations to that of the rest of the crew.  We follow that same pattern with the "black gang" having their berths also along either side of the keel walk but over the after cargo hold.

The Officers cabins, the Wardroom, the passengers cabins all are decorated with elegant dark wood furniture, bright wallpapers and heavy looking bunks. It may seem odd that there would be fancy and heavy looking furniture and decorations in the cabins of an airship, but one must remember that in Victorian times such things existed in some very surprising places. I have been into some preserved Victorian farmhouses out on the Canadian prairies that had elegant wallpaper, heavy oak tables and chairs. All of which had been shipped first by train then by wagon to these remote farmsteads. They were sources of great pride for their owners.

Likewise on our experimental airship such things are the pride of the crew.  While they look like they are as heavy as their land and sea based compatriots these are very light. They are constructed of very light materials like pine and balsa wood, with a veneer of the dark oak and rosewood that was so popular. Even the books in the library are made of the thin bible paper called onion skin.

Join me next time as I continue the discussion of the creature comforts of our airship.

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

The next article is here.

You can follow the full design thread by clicking on the tag "Flight Engineer".

From a New Zealand paper.

The Thames Advertiser June 19, 1893

Keep your sightglass full, your firebox trimmed and your corset laced (but not too tight!)
KJ

A beautiful book this!

It was my father's and while a little rough around the edges is still in pretty good shape!
This large format (11x17) book is a commemorative edition put out by the Illustrated London News in 1935.
The event commemorated was the Silver Jubilee of the reign of his Imperial Majesty King George V.

George was a grandson of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and the first cousin of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. From 1877 until 1891 he served in the Royal Navy. On the death of Victoria in 1901, George's father became King Edward VII, and George was made Prince of Wales. On his father's death in 1910, he succeeded as King-Emperor of the British Empire.

This book is a fantastic collection of articles, photos and elegant colour plates celebrating the King's reign.


And while not Victorian many of the photos and drawings are Victorian and well worth a perusal.

Title
The Illustrated London News
Silver Jubilee
Record Number
King George V.
and Queen Mary
1910-1935

Author
Various

Publisher
Illustrated London News
and Sketch, Ltd.
346, Strand, London W.C.2

Date
1935

Keep your sight glass full and your firebox trimmed.
KJ

Found this in the Internet Archives

This slim volume, the first edition of which was published in 1906, was written as a kind of take off on the
Late Victorian "Climbing Guides" that were popular amongst the participants in the new sport of mountaineering.

While done slightly tongue 'n cheek it does cover most of the great climbs in the labyrinth of neo-gothic spires and neo-classical domes of Trinity College, Cambridge.

What is fascinating to me is that many of the people who climbed here, clandestine as it was, turned out later, if they survived the war, to be amongst the great mountaineers that pioneered routes in the Himalayas including Mt Everest.





Here is a sample of the style:

 

New Court

Very little has been let fall here. The low roof on the kitchen side of the entrance to Nevile's Court can be reached by a pipe whenever the herbaceous border and creeper do not run too wild. From this roof a firm pipe , well clear of the wall, runs right up to the roof, but it is unseasonably swept by avalanches of plaster.

The New Guest Room Traverse

The square of lead roofing between, and rather below the southeastern corner of the Nevile's Court roof, and the Kitchens plateau, harbours the kitchen ventilator, and is the starting point of a short and sensational climb. Proceeding to the corner of this roofing which is nearest to the kitchen and looks across upon Bishop's Hostel, a narrow brick string course running across the kitchen wall will be observed. The feet once upon it a stretch is made to the right, and the right hand at its full extent can grasp a small projecting lead pipe. The left hand relinquishes the parapet of the lead roofing and the hands are changed on the minute horizontal pipe. A vertical rain pipe can now just be reached with the disengaged right hand and we shuffle along our string course, squeezing behind a pair of telephone wires which descend we know not whence to arrive we know not where. Once on the far side of the pipe another long stretch of the right hand brings the vertical edge of a window moulding within finger-reach, and a somewhat relieved climber can sit upon the window ledge and take breath. From this point the climber must either make an entry into the room, or return the way he came. A first attempt at this amusing climb may be safeguarded by a rope from the Kitchen roof above.

The Hostel

A fine brick chimney (O) lies between the wing of the Hostel nearest to New Court, and the main block along the Lane. It has for its exit, if desired, the staircase window of E staircase. The low kitc

hen roofs can be attained on the Hostel side by a double pipe in the recess behind the Lane Tower of New Court; and from thence various first floor windows. But further exploration of the Kitchen Range is eminently desirable

Check it out  here.
The Roof-Climber's Guide to Trinity

This blog has lots more interesting Night Climbing exploits:
Night Climbing in Cambridge


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

Tesla technology in action.

Found this on Slashdot (thanks to James Rodway for the links).

From the Slashdot Article

Since he was a teenager, Jeff Behary's been interested in the work of Nikola Tesla, and has been collecting antique electric devices of a particular kind: ones that send electricity through the human body to effect medical benefits, many of which do so with the aid of Tesla coils. Tesla's not the only inventor involved, of course, but his influence overlapped and widely influenced the golden age of electrotherapy. Behary's day job as a machinist means he has the skills to rehabilitate and restore these aging beasts, too, along with a growing family of related devices. He's assembled them now, in West Palm Beach, Florida, into the Turn of the Century Electrotherapy Museum. This is a museum of my favorite kind: home-based and intimate, but with serious depth. Though it's open only by appointment, arranging a visit there is worth it, whether you're otherwise part of the Tesla community or not. Behary knows his collection inside and out, with the kind of deep knowledge it takes to fabricate replacement parts and revamp the internal wiring. The devices themselves are accessible, with original and restored pieces up close and personal — you need to be mindful about which ones are humming and crackling at any given moment. (There's also an archive with books, papers, and other effects relating to Tesla and other electric pioneers, not to mention glowing tubes that predate the modern vacuum tube, and the oldest known surviving Tesla coils, recovered from beneath their maker's Boston mansion. Electrotherapy is the organizing principle, but not the extent of this assembly.) And while Behary isn't fooled by all the therapeutic claims made by some machines' makers about running current through your limbs or around your body, he also doesn't discount them all, either, and points out that some of them really do affect the body as claimed. Yes, he's tried most of the machines himself, though he admits he's never dared taking the juice of his personal Tesla-powered electric chair.

The Slashot page also has a transcript of an interview with Jeff Behary.

Fascinating (and slightly scary) stuff here.

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

A fascinating fashion video.

Filmed in Cape Town South Africa.

From the site at 1886 Steam Punk on Vimeo

The piece is a fantasy video showcasing the fashion, the hats, the gadgets and the lifestyle that could have been the future of 19th Century steam culture, set in the future.
The decadent nature of this steam era video, is portrayed with strong gun-slinging women, and rough grizzly men.
The music from Moby suits the piece perfectly.

Enjoy!



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