Railroaders place to shoot the shit.

Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Burning Journal -> Engine Pit -> Older locomotive engines [diesels] from ALCO, Baldwin, and Ingersol-Rand
Post Info TOPIC: Older locomotive engines [diesels] from ALCO, Baldwin, and Ingersol-Rand
Uke


Cured

Status: Offline
Posts: 26926
Date:
Older locomotive engines [diesels] from ALCO, Baldwin, and Ingersol-Rand
Permalink  
 

Early Diesel Locomotive Engines

It is common knowledge that both ALCO's subsidiary McIntosh & Seymour and Baldwin's De La Vergne produced, when tasked to do so, diesel engines for locomotive service which fell into the category of large bore, long stroke and medium speed.  That they did so is no surprise; in fact, Baldwin chose this path after the trend in the industry had been somewhat established by earlier manufacturers.  The emergence of the Winton two-stroke diesel as a major force in the market had yet to occur.  Let's take a brief look at this kind of engine in general, which makes a great comparison with later high speed engines (such as the ALCO 244 pictured and explained in detail on a separate page.)
ALCO539T.jpg
This is the 1000 HP ALCO 539 engine, with six 12 inch by 13 inch bore and stroke cylinders, and turbocharger.  This was used in the familiar ALCO-GE 1000 HP switchers, and the 1000 HP road switcher, which later became known as the RS-1.  It follows early marine engine practice in many design features, and is actually an evolved form of the slightly older 538, which was developed from the 531.  (The codes for these indicate first year of test; the 531 first ran in 1931.)
ALCO539base.jpg
At right is the engine base.  Many early engines with a large cylinder size used the base to contain the main bearings and thus the crankshaft; we can clearly see this here.  Other later engines of other types commonly used the cylinder block to contain the bearings, thus having all of the removable cylinders, heads and bearings attached to one unit.
BLWswitcher.jpg
BLWvoFiring.jpg
VO8cylside2big.jpg
1931 was the year that saw the appearance of not only the ALCO 531, but also saw Baldwin purchase the De La Vergne Company, which then developed the famous VO engine for locomotives.  The engine is seen here, as well as one of the familiar Baldwin switching locomotives powered by it.  This engine in its main production form had 12.75 by 15.5 inch cylinders, and ran at 625 RPM maximum.  Note that the combustion chamber is contained inside of the cylinder head; the burning gases vent through a throat into the cylinder to work the piston.

Both the Alco 531/538/539 series and the Baldwin VO series powered thousands of locomotives.  Both were essentially developed in the early to mid 1930's, and were based not only upon practice with marine diesel engines but also were based upon trends that had been set in the locomotive industry up until this time.  The most significant indication prior to the 1930's as to which direction the design of locomotive diesel engines would take was the contribution of Ingersoll-Rand, who had, back in 1925, produced the first successful diesel engine for diesel-electric locomotives to actually be placed in series production.  This engine is very often mentioned as the first successful locomotive diesel, but is never actually seen.  That is, until now.
IngRand1.jpg
This is the Ingersoll-Rand 300 HP Oil-Electric Locomotive Engine.  It utilized six 10" X 12" cylinders, was normally aspirated, and was rated at 300 brake horsepower.  The engine had a primitive governor design, which allowed changing speeds with loads for a given throttle position.  The idle speed was between 250 and 275 RPM, depending upon auxiliary load.  At wide open throttle with light or no load, speed was 570 to 575 RPM; at full rated load developing 300 BHP the top speed was 550 RPM.  Two slightly different models, the 360C and 420C were built, differing only in slight design details such as location of fuel transfer pump and in some injection and valve timing events.  The rated power and speeds remained the same.
IngRand3.jpg
The incredible manual for these diesel engines, suspected to have been printed in 1935, shows different types of locomotives powered by this engine.  The early ALCO/GE/Ingersoll-Rand box cab units are not shown; only units built after ALCO split from the consortium are depicted.  Here are two shown; an Illinois Central box cab containing two 300 HP engines, and Bush Terminal No. 2, in a new switcher style body with one engine.  It is interesting to note the appearance of this latter engine as simulating later road switcher units but in miniature.  However, these units were clearly for yard work, not over the road work.
IngRand2.jpg
The design of this engine is a whole order of magnitude older in concept than the ALCO and Baldwin engines shown earlier.  This engine used exposed pushrods and rocker arms, and had cylinders not contained fully inside the cylinder block.  These were hallmarks of very early diesel engines, which in many cases were designed through modification of large gasoline or multi-fuel engines.  At left, an extreme oblique view of the Ingersoll-Rand engine from the accessory end.
IngRand6.jpg
At right, oil flow diagram which also shows generator mounting flange and flexible coupling from crankshaft to generator shaft.
IngRand7.jpg
The section of the Ingersoll-Rand engine shown at left is simply referred to as the "housing."  It is the main strength member of the bottom of the engine.  It houses the main bearings and crankshaft, and is mounted on top of a base (not shown) which supports the weight of the engine and contains the oil sump.  In this view, the housing is upside down.  The section at bottom left of the photo is actually the top covering for the camshaft housing, with holes to allow the pushrods to pass.

At right, one of the six cylinder units.  The studs at top are to attach the cylinder head.  The flange, bottom center, is for cooling water; the large holes are hand holes for access to clean the water jacket.  These are bolted onto the housing; note the flanged base of the cylinder unit.
The cylinder heads of this engine are extemely interesting and unusual when compared with the vast majority of modern locomotive engines.  They contain separate combustion chambers; note that the piston is at top dead center here, and has a conical top crown with a small center section even more fully raised to partly enter the combustion chamber throat.  Two fuel injection nozzles are used per cylinder, in a cross-fire arrangement.  This configuration is one of several possible variations of the Price injection system which can be found in early medium and low speed diesel engines for many applications. 

Of further interest is the fact that the cylinder heads make, as the manual states, "metal to metal contact with each other" and thus form another strength member of the engine, longitudinally, when mounted and bolted to the cylinders and to each other.  The Ingersoll-Rand engine, then, has two main strength members (the heads and the housing) unlike the vast majority of others in which either the base or the cylinder block is considered the main strength member.  Also unusual is the fact that the cylinder heads contain passages which actually form the intake and exhaust manifolds, running lengthwise down the engine. 

Many of the design particulars of this engine would see no further production in locomotive engines, but in many basic characteristics the concepts would live on.  In basic size, and roughly in layout, the early ALCO and Baldwin engines took the Ingersoll-Rand design and not only expanded upon it but improved it as well.  Only with the coming of Winton, Electro-Motive and General Motors would major changes in the basic concept of US diesel locomotive engines be developed, helping to trigger a period of intense development, which would last for decades, finally wiping out any resemblance to this early generation of locomotive diesels.




-- Edited by Uke on Sunday 23rd of January 2011 11:34:43 AM

__________________

Hmm. That address doesnt look right.
It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.

Gah. Your tab just crashed.
Uke


Cured

Status: Offline
Posts: 26926
Date:
Permalink  
 

Fairbanks-Morse developed an opposed-piston diesel engine for use in submarines. F-M built a line of locomotives using that very same engine...

Fairbanks-Morse 38D8 Diesel Engine

BoreStrokePis. Disp.Rated RPMCyl. scavenging
8.125"10"518 cu. in.850Roots type blower

fm38d8-1.jpg100.jpg

fm38d8-3.jpgAbove photo and text from "Diesel-Electric Locomotive", Foell and Thompson, 1946.

The underlying principle of the two-stroke cycle opposed-piston Diesel is the use of a plain open-ended cylinder in which combustion takes place in the center of its length between two pistons which move away from each other. The pistons are utilized to uncover the exhaust and air-inlet ports, thus eliminating the use of valves. The pistons controlling the air-inlet ports are connected to the upper crankshaft, while those controlling the exhaust ports are connected to the lower crankshaft. The two shafts are mechanically connected by a vertical shaft and bevel gears, with the lower shaft (exhaust end) being set 12 degrees ahead of the upper shaft (inlet end).

The cycle of operation begins with the movement of the pistons from their outer dead centers. After the pistons have covered the exhaust and intake ports, the air is compressed as the pistons continue to approach inner dead center. Fuel oil is injected at the proper time, ignition and combustion follow, and the resulting expansion forces the pistons outward on the power stroke, thereby delivering work to the upper and lower crankshafts.

Burning and expanding of the gases continue until near the end of the Power stroke, at which point the lower piston uncovers the exhaust ports to allow the burned gases to escape to the atmosphere. Slightly later in the cycle the upper piston uncovers the intake ports and air supplied by the blower rushes into the cylinder, cleans out all burned gases and at the same time produces a swirling motion in the scavenging air which continues throughout the compression stroke and injection period and contributes to the complete combustion of the fuel. This swirling motion of the scavenging air and its resulting sweeping of the cylinder is known as uniflow scavenging and is one of the principal factors contributing to the economy of the engine. The 12 degrees by which the exhaust piston "leads" the intake piston permits a more advantageous port timing, and also allows for a limited amount of "ram" effect which further contributes to the operating economy.

It is also obvious that when the upper piston is at inner dead center, the lower one has completed 12 degrees of its power stroke. This causes the lower piston to receive the greater part of the expansion work, at full engine load, with the result that about 72 percent of the total power is delivered by the lower crankshaft. The remaining power is delivered to the upper crankshaft where it is partially absorbed in driving the blower, leaving only a relatively small amount of power to be transmitted through the vertical gear drive to the lower crankshaft, which is connected to the driven machine.

The engine is a complete self-contained unit, with attached rotary-type blower, fuel and lubricating oil pumps and water pumps.



__________________

Hmm. That address doesnt look right.
It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.

Gah. Your tab just crashed.
Snippy


Force Majeure

Status: Online
Posts: 23410
Date:
Permalink  
 

So, Uke, can you tell us how F-M OPies work and what drugs were in use when they were invented?

__________________

 I think LAMCo is done with the neo-nazi CSX rejects -- Pipes FC 8/5/23
Uke


Cured

Status: Offline
Posts: 26926
Date:
Permalink  
 

I'm not sure, but I think John Wayne was in it.

__________________

Hmm. That address doesnt look right.
It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.

Gah. Your tab just crashed.
LBHagen


D.O.A.

Status: Offline
Posts: 1
Date:
Permalink  
 

Looking for data on 1930's ALCO 2-cycle inline-6 cyl diesel engine used in Tugboat Seneca built circa 1940.  In that application:  240 max RPM and 60 min RPM.
Pistons approximately size of 5 Gallon cans.

__________________
lbhagen
wes


Upgraded Condition

Status: Offline
Posts: 264
Date:
Permalink  
 

Uke,

It sounds like we could add a blower to two chain saw engines and have something like a Fairbanks Morris engine.aww

Bot an Echo saw last fall and love it.  The price is twice a Homelite, but was worth it......................wes

__________________
Uke


Cured

Status: Offline
Posts: 26926
Date:
Permalink  
 

Two-stroke diesels have been around since the beginning... The engines used in EMDs in fact were built by Winton back in the 1930s. General Motors bought 'em for their new line of locomotives.

Eventually GM bought Winton, and the rest is history. Baldwin Locos had their own line of diesels, bought from,and adapted from marine/stationary builders.

GE bought Cooper-Bessemer's 7-FDL marine engines for the early locomotives.

Fairbanks-Morse used their patented submarine engines [1930s design] for their line of locomotives.

ALCOs built steam and diesels for a whilw...at the same complex of plants inear Albany, NY.
Sadly they ran a close third ta GE and EMD while the rest began falling off. In 1969 ALCO was done. The 251 engines are still being built though. It was one of the best designs ever built, and its longevity is second ta none.

GE is still using the 'updated' C-B designed 7-FDL in the Dash-9. And EMD still uses a two-stroke design powerplant in their big road power.

Fairbanks, gone since 1956...is still around too. Albeit only the engines. Built in Beloit, WI. By the same guys who build, and sell engines to the US Coast Guard.

__________________

Hmm. That address doesnt look right.
It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.

Gah. Your tab just crashed.
Uke


Cured

Status: Offline
Posts: 26926
Date:
Permalink  
 

Just for shit...and giggles, IF ya wanna know more about diesel engines, and how it got where it is today, you might wanna read this:http://www.maritime.org/fleetsub/diesel/chap1.htm

__________________

Hmm. That address doesnt look right.
It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.

Gah. Your tab just crashed.
Uke


Cured

Status: Offline
Posts: 26926
Date:
Permalink  
 

That first post...the pics got lost because the damn website is nothing but text now. No pics at all. Just empty spaces where the images WERE!

So...maybe this'll help:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairbanks-Morse#Railroad_locomotives

__________________

Hmm. That address doesnt look right.
It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.

Gah. Your tab just crashed.
Snippy


Force Majeure

Status: Online
Posts: 23410
Date:
Permalink  
 

There are pictures tu look at on a real computer.


__________________

 I think LAMCo is done with the neo-nazi CSX rejects -- Pipes FC 8/5/23
Troll


500 - Internal Server Error

Status: Offline
Posts: 36516
Date:
Permalink  
 

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQhfU1y2rmOwzQejk73l728TH7PLp1IYjm_hI3Pq1AKxZqC0Mh3&t=1

__________________

© Equal Opportunity Annoyer

Troll The Anti-Fast Freight Freddie

 

 

 

 
Uke


Cured

Status: Offline
Posts: 26926
Date:
Permalink  
 

Rob? Please BAND Troll, and Snippy tu! They've insulted Uke, and hurt his feelings. Tu!

__________________

Hmm. That address doesnt look right.
It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.

Gah. Your tab just crashed.
Troll


500 - Internal Server Error

Status: Offline
Posts: 36516
Date:
Permalink  
 

Uke wrote:

Rob? Please BAND Troll, and Snippy tu! They've insulted Uke, and hurt his feelings. Tu!



images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRclQKUnuw9n6jppGWNk3DUHYxBABpYMCoH6_tChmkn24EcR4r_&t=1



__________________

© Equal Opportunity Annoyer

Troll The Anti-Fast Freight Freddie

 

 

 

 
Uke


Cured

Status: Offline
Posts: 26926
Date:
Permalink  
 

See? Uke is insulated! Again!

__________________

Hmm. That address doesnt look right.
It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.

Gah. Your tab just crashed.
slackaction


Upgraded Condition

Status: Offline
Posts: 372
Date:
Permalink  
 

UKE I DONT MUCH ABOUT THE DIESEL ENGINES BUT I ENJOYED READING ABOUT THEM ABOVE. BUT I CAN TELL YA THAT I WOULD RATHER HAVE EMD, GM OVER THE GEUNK ANY DAY. IF GE ARE IN A HARD START PULL THYE LOSE THEIR LOAD AND START ROLLING BACKWARDS INDEPENDENT BRAKE  APPLIED A LITTLE AND SAND THERE NOT FOR HARD PULLS. MAYBE OVER ON THE BIG STEEL SANTA FLUSH THEY MADE FOR HIGH SPEED COCKSUCKERS WHO ARGUE OVER THE Z OR HE Q TRAIN. MY QUESTION IS PUMPING AIR DOES IT HELP TO PUT THE THROTTLE IN NOTCH TWO OR HIGHER TO PUMP AIR FASTER THROUGH THE TRAIN WITH THESE NEW GE UNK ENGINES?  THANKS UKER

__________________
1 2 3  >  Last»  | Page of 3  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.
Burning Journal -> Engine Pit -> Older locomotive engines [diesels] from ALCO, Baldwin, and Ingersol-Rand
Chatbox
Please log in to join the chat!