<HTML>George: Interesting idea -- Fish carb burner for steam cars. I've heard of the Fish, and also the Pogue and some other types of "alternative carburetors", but know few details. Worth a look. The fuel mileage improvement claims for these and other alternative carbs (in gas cars) have been exaggerated on occasion, and allegedly "debunked" in road tests. Of course that is of no concern for steam purposes -- if a device gives better fuel/air mix, it is worth checking out on that basis, especially if the equipment is simpler, cheaper, or otherwise more desireable than a conventional carburetor for steam car burner use.
Caleb: An atomizing burner in pilot light size may be problematic. Pilot burners for steam cars are extremely small. Fuel jets would have to be incredibly tiny, and then there is the constant electricity drain from the blower, if it is to run on standby 24/7. Simple premix vaporizing burners are hard enough to design in pilot-light sizes.
Might be better to briefly cycle the main burner on/off at long intervals & perhaps low firing rates, to prevent freezing, minimize internal/external tube corrosion & thermal cycling, keep up steam for instant getaway, etc.. Maybe just leave the boiler "on", and have your inlet/exhaust flaps close to minimize heat loss whenever burner cycles "off". Flaps open when burner cycles "on". With a fan burner, the flaps could be lightly spring- or -weight loaded to open and close by exhaust pressure/air suction. Voltage sensor could shut down the burner to avoid draining battery in extended standby.
For a constantly-running pilot light, the only two options that look feasible to me are premix vaporizing (like Stanley or Coleman) and pot burners. Pot burners might be hard to design for clean burning, and may be picky about fuels and hills. Sure are simple, though. Graham Baker has successfully used a pot burner as pilot light in combination with fuel-injector/fan-type main burner (see Karl Peterson's Website; link is on my "Steam Links" page, go to [
www.geocities.com] & check links under "Website Index"). As I recall, his pot-burner pilot also lit the main burner.
Peter</HTML>