History of Steam Engines
Presentation to the Annandale History
Club
February 5, 2007
Leander Wetter
Ken Rudolph introduced Leander Wetter, current president of the Wright
County Historical Society board of directors. Leander
and his family are avid tractor collectors and steam engine enthusiasts. Both
of his sons have engineer licenses. Leander
purchased his first steam engine in 1979. He
owns a Case steam engine and a Baker steam engine. His
1910 36-horsepower Case steam engine is on display at the Wright County
Historical Society at present. On
March 20, 2007, at 1:30 p.m. there will be a program on Case tractors at
the WCHS museum in
In about 1869, Case in
The purpose of the steam engine was to relieve horses from walking around to power the shaft to drive the threshing machine. Steam engines could go all day long and not stop to rest. In 1880, gearing to pull 12 to 14 bottom plows became available.
The first traction machines had gearing one speed forward and reverse (by reversing pistons and flywheels) and traveled 1 1/2 to 2 mph. The return flue engine fired on the same end as the smoke stack came up. There was also the conventional flue. The return flue ended in 1900. There were no stay bolts on the return flue, and many of the boilers blew up.
The firebox is located between the back wheels. For 25 lb. of steam the temperature of the water needs to be 266 degrees. For 200 lb. of steam the temperature of the water needs to be 387 degrees. Fire-up time from zero to full pressure is 45 minutes to an hour.
The steam engines could use different types of fuels other than coal. Because of the differences in quality of wood and straw, the following are estimates.
Wood - A cord (4 x 4 x 8) of white oak is equal to 1,500 lb. of coal.
Straw - It takes from 2 to 3 tons of good, dry straw to equal the heating value of a ton of soft coal. A straw burner needs a brick arch in the firebox.
Oil - 200
The amount of water in proportion to coal required is called the evaporation. Ordinarily it will be from six to seven pounds of water per pound of coal on the smaller sized engines and may run as high as eight or nine on the larger engines. The steam engines had a 300-500 gallon capacity water tank, so the driver hauling water was kept pretty busy. Leander mentioned the Big Boy steam engines on trains. Coal and water stations were 50 miles apart. (Note: South Haven and Glenwood were coal and water stops on the Soo Line Railway.)
1911 and 1912 were the peak years for steam engines. The last engine was sold in 1929. Case sold their last engine in 1924. Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company still had steam engines in their 1926 catalog. The cost of a steam engine was $1,300 or $1,400. The larger ones could be as much as $4,000 or $5,000. There was always competition.
The steam engines were shipped by rail on flat cars from the manufacturer to the rail station nearest the buyer. The buyer would have to drive the steam engine home at two miles per hour.
It was the fireman's job to clean the flues by running a brush through all of the tubes. There were 52 tubes on the bigger Baker and some of the Cases. A book about Case said that in 1911 there were many explosions. 240 steam engines blew up in 1912.
Today, boilers
are inspected every two years by the State of
There are not many steam engines left. Prices today range from $10,000 to the sky's the limit. Leander showed a photo of a steam engine he saw at Nowthen that would sell for $100,000.
Leander showed a diagram of all the parts of the steam engine and explained how they work. He also had many books, models, and photos of steam engines.
Notes by Annandale History Club Secretary
More thresher history: Jerome
Increase Case http://www.racinehistory.com/