The blastpipe is part of the exhaust system of a

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

that discharges exhaust steam from the cylinders into the smokebox beneath the

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typical ...

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 Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He ...

– 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 George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was an English civil engineer and Mechanical engineering, mechanical engineer during the Industrial Revolution. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victoria ...

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. Goldsworthy Gurney was another early exponent, whose claim to primacy was energetically advocated by his daughter Anna Jane.''Bude's Forgotten Genius – Sir Goldsworthy Gurney''. B. Dudley-Stamp, 1993. Bude-Stratton Town CouncilThe Life of Edward White Benson
1899, p.455 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. Because a single flue had to be wide to let the exhaust through, a blastpipe could lift the fire, pulling soot and sparks up the chimney. It was not until the development of the multitubular boiler that a forced draft could be used safely and effectively. The combination of multi-tube boiler and steam blast are often cited as the principal reasons for the high performance of ''

Rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

'' 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. If a single line tunnel is poorly ventilated, a locomotive entering at high speed can cause a rapid compression of the air within the tunnel. This compressed air may enter the chimney with substantial force. This can be extremely dangerous if the firebox door is open at the time. For this reason the blower is often turned on in these situations, to counteract the compression effect.

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 Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

. These principles were adopted on the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

by George Jackson 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-designed Mallard. Other designs include Giesl, Lemaître and Lempor blastpipes.

References

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