Motorbike mechanic Rusnan Erces has hand built a steampunk replica of Sylvester Roper’s steam motorcycle in Indonesia. This is his third version of the bike and it is now running well.
It takes about 15 minutes to raise steam using charcoal fuel, bringing it up to an ideal operating pressure of 50-100psi. Rusnan estimates the bike may be capable of up to 50-75mph (80-120kph). The safety valve is set to release at 100psi to keep things safe, although the boiler has been tested to 150psi. The bike can carry 10litres of water and the burner 3kg of briquettes, giving it an endurance of 3 hours continuous running in a static display. The engine appears to be a single cylinder single acting piston-valve type, and the boiler is likely a simple water tube type with a burner grate below, which can use charcoal, coal, coke or wood – it could also potentially use compressed waste paper making it a very cheap vehicle to run.
The bike is an inspiration in terms of what can be built from scrap sheet metal, some motor parts, piping and an old bicycle! This is the ultimate in appropriate technology, particularly for a developing country like Indonesia. Rusnan hopes that this will be the start of a whole movement aimed at building and running steam motorbikes – he has certainly made a good start!
Ben Parr of Mashable wrote this post on “5 social media blunders and what to learn from them“. The five seem to be divided between where the social media themselves have blundered and where users have blundered in using social media with examples from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – but they are applicable across the board.
It seems to me that they come down to a couple of basic principles to avoid making these blunders:
Firstly it’s about communication – with the audience – and this further breaks down into two strategies
If you make a blunder, be up front, apologise and set about communicating with your audience to fix the problem. Both Facebook and a campaign on YouTube could have learned from that. Sony didn’t, to their cost, and Facebook did, to their gain. Basically, people do make mistakes, and most people will forgive if you’re up front about it. Don’t try to stonewall or cover it up, because that will just dig (not Digg) you in deeper.
The second aspect of communication here is that you can avoid a lot of social blunders by knowing your audience – and you do that by communicating with them, being part of the community and testing the market or at least preparing the way with good announcements up front, then a test version which people can visit and comment on, before you launch that new feature or product.
Secondly, (which is really third, since I broke the communication bit down into two) it’s about people – the example about the Twitter user who became emotionally charged and did a public meltdown showed poor nettiquette and a poor appreciation for the fact that they were actually talking to people. The trouble with rapid response social software, like Twitter, is that there is little time for reflection before hitting the button – and the response can be over-the-top before you’ve had a chance to reconsider some ill-chosen words or actions.
So clearly, the appropriate way to respond is to write drafts, then do something else for a couple of minutes, and then return to the draft – if you still want to send it, go ahead, but that pause can take the heat out of an immediate response.
Thanks to Alja for passing on the link via Facebook
The Barrett steam car, auctioned on ebay one year ago from the estate of the late Peter Barrett, has been meticulously checked, tinkered, and using Barrett’s notebooks to understand the reasoning behind every component, and finally has been brought back to life. The car is a kit sports car with a modified VW engine converted to run on steam. Although built in the 1970s-80s it has a computer controlled steam generator that builds 1500 psi in a few minutes at 750F. When Barrett had it going it was capable of 80mph. A true modern steam car. I’m really pleased that Barrett’s work did not die with him. And the car is finally drivable as you will see here
Cheers
Jerry
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The 2009 Retromobile show in Paris is on 6-15 Feb and displays a range of European marques from veteran, vintage, classic and later. But this show has a twist – one of its key themes is green technology, so the show displays a number of cars from the turn of the 19-20 Century using alternative fuels, including electric, steam, hybrid, and compressed air vehicles from over 100 years ago.
Thanks to Charles Bremner of TimesOnline whose article inspired this one.
Cheers
Jerry
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The Steam Car Club of Great Britain has a wonderful step-by-step article on how Paul Brodie of Flashback Fabrications built a couple of replicas of Sylvester Roper’s 1898 steam bike. The article gives details of boiler construction (pages 7-8), and the feed water pump (page 4) which is driven by an eccentric on the opposite side of the rear axle from the main drive. The throttle valve is covered on page 5, while the fire box is covered on page 10 – a modernised version could run a gas or pressurised kerosene burner in that space. The steam assembly is on page 13 showing how the power system comes together to make a complete bike.
The completed steam bike replica[photo adapted from Steam Car Club of Great Britain]
And here is a video showing the bike in action
This is a very detailed write-up and well worth visiting the Steam Car Club of Great Britain – and while you’re at it, why not join up too! The site, run by Jeff Theobold, has loads of information about steam cars and other steam bikes.
