Monday, March 19, 2012
Yellow bus
While photographing the battered yellow cab of an old truck, I was surprised by a man who lived in the bus against which the cab rested, a bus I thought abandoned, and invited inside to see the steam engine that ran off the woodfire inside. It was a very clever piece of engineering, most of which was hand crafted by the gentle Des, who accompanied the tour of the bus and it's intriguing bits and pieces, with stories of the Mark of the Beast, and the Seventh Seal and a good deal more...
Mark of the beast? did he show you what it was?
ReplyDeleteThe steam engine sounds pretty cool, I wonder whether he could generate power with it.
He showed me a lot of things, Shunda, including his magnum opus. I took a photo. Yes, his steam engine produces electricity. He'd cast the pistons and block himself, plus everything else bar the brass 'knees'. Very clever, patient man. Talked a lot about the 40 days, 40 nights thingy and patterns and sabbatical fallow and the End Times. Seemed to think it's well under way already...
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much electricity something like that could generate.
ReplyDeleteWe have had a wetback in our woodburner (actually, it's a multifuel, udderbarunda still tries to make me buy coal when it gets cold! ;) ) and it frequently boils in winter. It's wasted energy and I have often wondered whether some sort of steam engine could make use of it.
I am betting a steam turbine would be the most efficient, though not sure how much pressure would be required (no good blowing up the family!)