LOL! ...Like many of us, Roger has gathered a lot of stuff, and often makes a dump run, sometimes bringing back more than he tossed at the dump. He has adopted gagets and motors of all sorts. Even a couple of motorcycles, and recently, a couple of electric bicycles have popped up at Rogers house. So when I saw this steam bicycle in the living room among all the clocks,TVs, computers, and an industrial motorized book binding staple machine, I asked if it was also a dump find. He chuckled and said "yep, found it at the dump". I think he enjoys keeping with that tale, though I think there is another story.
The bike is funky enough, simple enough, and light enough to instantly look like a DIY at home project that could be running in a few weeks. Even possibly something that, with a stretch of clean-up fever, could have been tossed away at the dump.
It is built from RJ Smith plans that are, by the way, available in reprint from SACA Plans => use this link [
www.steamautomobile.com] , then scroll down 3/4 page to SBD, the item number.
It still needs some TLC & tweeking to get running, but it will fire up and make steam. Roger fired it right there in the living room and it shoots blue flames 4 ft out the back - I think a little jet resizing and work on the 'Bunsen-ism' are first on the list. The photos do show details of the simple systems surrounding the bunsen burner/mono tube generator. If you look closely, you will notice some familiar devices, such as the steam automatic running along the top of the boiler with a control at the burner end.
I will do a follow-up if there is interest. Next trip over to Roger's, I will get some action video and post it here.
JW -- Admin
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/24/2007 07:18PM by JW.