Blastpipe

The blastpipe is part of a steam locomotive that discharges exhaust steam from the cylinders into the smokebox beneath the chimney in order to increase the draught through the fire.

History

The primacy of discovery of the effect of directing the exhaust steam up the chimney as a means of providing draft through the fire is the matter of some controversy, Ahrons (1927) devoting significant attention to this matter. The exhaust from the cylinders on the first steam locomotive – built by Richard Trevithick – was directed up the chimney, and he noted its effect on increasing the draft through the fire at the time. At Wylam Timothy Hackworth also employed a blastpipe on his earliest locomotives, but it is not clear whether this was an independent discovery or a copy of Trevithick's design. Shortly after Hackworth George Stephenson also employed the same method, and again it is not clear whether that was an independent discovery or a copy of one of the other engineers.

The locomotives at the time employed either a single flue boiler or a single return flue, with the fire grate at one end of the flue. For boilers of this design the blast of a contracted orifice blastpipe was too strong, and would lift the fire. It was not until the development of the multitubular boiler that the centrally positioned, contracted orifice blastpipe became standard. The combination of multi-tube boiler and steam blast are often cited as the principal reasons for the high performance of Rocket of 1829 at the Rainhill Trials.

Description

Soon after the power of the steam blast was discovered it became apparent that a smokebox was needed beneath the chimney, to provide a space in which the exhaust gases emerging from the boiler tubes can mix with the steam. This had the added advantage of allowing access to collect the ash drawn through the fire tubes by the draught. The blastpipe, from which steam is emitted, was mounted directly beneath the chimney at the bottom of the smokebox.

The steam blast is largely self-regulating: an increase in the rate of steam consumption by the cylinders increases the blast, which increases the draught and hence the temperature of the fire. Modern locomotives are also fitted with a blower, which is a device that releases steam directly into the smokebox for use when a greater draught is needed without a greater volume of steam passing through the cylinders. An example of such situation is when the regulator is closed suddenly, or the train passes through a tunnel.

Later development

Little development of the basic principles of smokebox design took place until 1908, when the first comprehensive examination of steam-raising performance was carried out by W.F.M. Goss of Purdue University. These principles were adopted on the Great Western Railway by Churchward. A later development was the so-called jumper-top blastpipe which controlled the area of the blastpipe at different steaming rates to maximise efficiency.

The aim of blastpipe modification is to obtain maximum smokebox vacuum with minimum back pressure on the pistons. The simplest modification is a double chimney with twin blastpipes, but many other arrangements have been tried. Towards the end of the steam era the Kylchap exhaust was popular and used on the Nigel Gresley's Mallard. Other designs include Giesl, Lemaître and Lempor blastpipes.

References

• P.W.B. Semmens and A.J. Goldfinch (2003). How Steam Locomotives Really Work. OUP. ISBN 0-19-860782-2.
• L.T.C. Rolt (1978). George and Robert Stephenson: The Railway Revolution. Pelican. ISBN 0-14-022063-1.
• E. L. Ahrons (1927). The British Steam Railway Locomotive 1825-1925.