i want to meet with people who are building the elliot bay t

[imsteamer21]

hi guys
im interested in building the elliot bay triple
i understand that earlier the drawings had mistakes in them
i see that earlier there were around 160 sheets of drawings and now there are much less
does that mean that the drawings have been corrected
also there are less castings than before
any help would be appreciated
thanks fred
imsteamer21@hotmail.com
914 720 5523

[Edward]

Dear imsteamer21 ,

I can't answer you questions about the number of
drawings and castings and whether the drawings have been amended or not ; I think Pat Spurlock at Elliott Bay would best be able to answer those points .

I know of five engines which have been built or are being built ,
Ken Hall from British Columbia has one installed in OESA.
Cowiepeters from Sydney Australia has one installed in THE WITCH OF
ENDOR .
Steamboatjack from England has built one which is being installed in my
Boat WHIPPET and is well on the way to finishing a second one .
Mick O'Shea from Western Australia is installing one in EMMAMADELINE

I don't know much about Mick O'Shea's experience but I know the others found it necessary to make considerable modifications .

Steamboatjack and Cowiepeters are both members of this forum and I suggest you try contacting them for any tips , I know Steamboatjack wont be able to reply for a few days as he is away from home at the moment on Coniston Water .

I presume you have seen the thread "Triple Expansion Engine - Elliott Bay" in the " Engines and Boilers " section of this forum ; there is information about OESA in the North West Steam Society's web site and on WITCH OF ENDOR and EMMAMADELINE in the Steamboat Society of Austalia's web site .

Best Regards
Edward

[imsteamer21]

hi edward

thanks for your reply

about 12 months ago i spoke with pat spurlock and i asked him if the mistakes with the drawings had been corrected
he literally got insulted and point blank told me that there were no mistakes with the drawings
when i asked about peter's website concerning the building of the triple and the mistakes that he found he denied that there were any mistakes

peter's website is a few years old and i would assume that the drawings have been corrected since then but i don't know
upon viewing peter's website he says that he recieved around 160 sheets of drawings and i forget how many castings
on the elliot bay website it states that there are 144 sheets of drawings and 96 castings
that shows that something has been changed but when? and did they correct the mistakes? - i don't know

ill try again to speak with pat - maybe he'll be more forthcoming

i was hoping to find someone who recently purchased drawings and is currently building from them rather than people who are building from the earlier drawings which we know are defective

i will keep you informed of my progress and i hope to start building shortly

thanks for your help
fred eisner
yonkers new york
usa

[artemis]

If you really want Pat's opinion mention the name of Ken Hall. I have known Ken since 1997 and have ridden on Oesa several times. Ken has a Licensed Mechanical Engineer's Diploma and Certificate from the University of British Columbia. He practiced primarily in industiral steam. Along with this came the experience in designing complete steam systems.

He saw the "professional" and original drawings and immediately wrote to Mr. Spurlock pointing out the numerious errors that would not permit assembly - many cases of two or more objects attempting to occupy the same space. Several people in the US and England had purchased castings, etc but been unable to complete engines. Pat told him that the drawings were being redone and he would send Mr. Hall the corrections as he received them. After a substantial period of time had passed, Mr. Hall started redesigning the valves, linkages, crossheads, connecting rods and more. He occasionally wrote to Mr. Spurlock inquiring about the "corrected" drawings but nothing emerged.

To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Spurlock's drawings have not improved enough to be mistake free. By the same token, the engine is an extremely difficult build.

[steamboatjack]

Fred,

As mentioned by Edward I have built two of these engines, Edward agreed to get a new set of drawings from Mr Spurlock (about 2007?) as His original set were incomplete, What we received was mainly in A4 size and had been professionally done presumably by CAD, however there was very few of the obvious problems that had been corrected, in my professional opinion it's the design which needs a total reassessment to make the parts suitable for building.
In fact I would suggest to Mr Spurlock that the cylinder and bed-plate patterns should be modified to remove some at least of the problems. Don't misunderstand, the casting quality and therefore I presume the pattern quality is generally first class, the problem is the design which in a number of minor aspects is poor.
I would not attempt to list these problems here but should you go ahead I could help.
Should Mr Spurlock wish to resolve these problems I could offer my professional design services, my fees are modest.
Regards
Jack

P.S. I would suggest the York engine supplied by the same supplier
looks to be a good design.