isn't it a shame how so many technologies get superseded by advances in science, before they've really finished being engineered. so many game systems with games unmade etc. well i was thinking about steam engines, and i'm not convinced we've really done the best we can with them. i'm not going to go into how steam engine work - if you don't know, then this won't interest you any way.
the movie shows the valve system that controls the direction the steam travels in (actually, which part of the drive piston is connected to the high pressure supply, and which to the exhaust - but it's easier to think of the steam travelling through the engine). a modern steam engine would have this system controlled electronically, just as the timing in modern cars is becoming electronic, so the shape of the device is purely for efficiency.
there are two levels - blue and red (magenta denotes a passage for steam on both levels. the red level is the hot, high pressure steam level. the blue level is the exhaust. at the top are two pink connectors the marry with either end of a piston. one one stroke the piston fills at one end from the red layer, and exhaust at the other end to the blue layer; the valve is switched; the piston is powered in the opposite direction (giving one piston two power stroked); then the valve is switched again.
in 'new steam part 2' i will demonstrate a piston designed for better cyclic efficiency
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