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Oct/Nov 2008Subscribe NowEngine videos online! Check out the GEM video index on YouTube, the quickest way to find gas engine videos on the Internet. We’ve done the searching, all you have to do is the watching! Click below for GEM engine video index. |
A Challenging ConversionBy Christian WilliamsStan Ellerbeck of Excelsior Springs, Mo., has taken on quite a project, restoring an 1869 Gibbs & Sterrett box bed steam engine converted to gas. And while it’s amazing the amount of time he’s put into the project and the technical prowess he’s demonstrated throughout the process, that’s nothing compared to the fact that Stan is practically blind. Suffering from a condition called chorioretinitis, the most that Stan can see with both eyes are crooked lines and blurry, incomplete pieces. Still, Stan’s desire to do this project has overcome his physical disadvantages. “What takes some people a day to do can take me a week,” says Stan. “I’m doing most of this myself but a lot of people have been helping me out.” Stan bought the Gibbs & Sterrett framework from Denny Grisbaum in Bradford, Pa. As Stan understands the history of the engine, it started out as a box bed steam engine in 1869, and was eventually converted to gas sometime in the late 1800s. The cylinder from that conversion is long gone, but Stan was able to buy a Bessemer cylinder from Tom Weatherford of Big Island, Va., for his project. He then visited Coolspring Power Museum and took pictures of the crosshead design on the Gibbs & Sterrett engines on display. Those pictures gave him the guidance he needed to craft a new crosshead for his conversion. Working on the engine for five to six hours per day, five to six days per week since November 2007, Stan has documented every step of the process. He hopes to be finished with the engine by the end of this summer, at which time the finished project will be featured in Gas Engine Magazine. Until then, Stan will walk us through the building process from start to finish through a multi-part photo gallery series. A new gallery will be added to www.gasenginemagazine.com every few weeks. |
Stan Ellerbeck purchased this 1869 Gibbs and Sterrett steam engine frame from a ...Gallery:
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