We put a steam engine in an old CTA bus in 1972 as part of an undergraduate project at Northwestern Univ Mechanical Engineering program. We tested it at GM Proving Grounds in some kind of competition to reduce pollution. It was a modified Stanley steamer, ran well, but had some problems. Bob Bourne and Jay Allison were the lead students and had assistance from other students and wonderful support from Dr. Ralph Burton.
Hello! Wow, that's really interesting!! I don't think I have heard that story before! Might be a good subject for a video! Thanks very much for watching!!
Very interesting, and promising! I could just imagine the lobbying against this project from the likes of big oil companies, engine manufacturers, etc.
After all that engineering development, you would think they would have given it a longer-term trial. You'd have to suspect the project was sabotaged by competing interests. Remember what happened to the Tucker automobile?
Hold!!!! Emergency stop!!!! A town asked a contractor to sub-contract a public transport system? Can you add some more commercial interests and contractsPalease!! In engineering, the weakest part of the big unit is the thread of the m10 nut. ( an old fella in a blue boiler suit told me that with a rag hanging out his right rear arse pocket, pencil, sciber in his left breast pocket, flat cap on his head pipe either in his mouth or clipping my head) I struggled with imp to metric on student lathe
@@JeffreyOrnstein im so sorry i seemed to have spilt rather a lot of ale down my throat whilst considering my wifes bouncing thighs on these seats over rear axle that I have chosen for us to sit in .;) please do take my fare.
Leaf springs same for hardcore tipping 12 ton trucks. Find me a wife that rides on a citreon ( french) hydraulic) bus and maintains her, well everything. Im sure Einstien was help by vibration of buses and quality of roads. Its ok for you USA "easy riders" soooo smoooootth
Probably diesel fuel or kerosene. But the premixed combustion assured low hydrocarbons, CO, and particulates. And the low pressure combustion assured low NOx. It was probably similar to an oil furnace burner.
At least it could be an interesting mod for the OMSI Omnibus Simulator PC game. OMSI is a rather complex Bus Simulator PC game where you can drive European buses on different routes and you have to keep up to the Timetables the program provides you with.
steam bus, like the hovercraft is something that could and probably should be revisited given the new materials developed since, i imagine that given the amount of component failure was due to ill suited materials or impropper use of said materials at least. that would be something that should be tested ahead of time offcourse. as for hoverrcaft i just plain like it, kinda like trollebuses the world without them is too plain realy - and in few nieche applications it should still be best option for solution.
Hello! Yes, if a practical steam engine with few moving parts that can fit in the engine compartment of a bus can be built, then I think that would be great! I also liked the big hovercraft that was built to cross the Channel - I, too, don't know why it has not been looked at again. Can be more practical than a steel-hulled ferry, as the hovercraft can go up an incline and onto land. I think only the military uses them. Sort of also like airships. Thanks for watching!
@@JeffreyOrnstein (hoovercraft) in general the resources needed to inflate the air cushion were likely too much - it must have been multiple fans to maintain yes? Especialy the channel one. or maybe the seal was leaky or something. generaly speaking nowdays it would be possible t make it lighter with more powerfull engines I think it'd still be quite usable in say bus scale for Fjords of nordic countries and or other placed that would love more people coming in and out but do not nescesarily want to build too much infrastructure. (depending on size of the craft parking lot would do) (more general / bus) i have this wierd hung up on things from the past that i think should have been more universaly adopted and usualy failed due to expensive operation or far cheaper alternative being made avalable. so offcourse i'd love electric (just a bigger kettle heating up water to cause steam to power propoltion system in turbine arrangement as een in gas turbine applications is what i am thinking but i am no specialist) steam bus! it sounds right down my alleyway .) Lovely videos BTW, i watched few of them (because i was after that bus from Italian Job cliffhanger scene) love the context of history surrounding them and some insights provided wherever avalable.
For me, screw the gasoline and diesel companies and use either methyl or ethyl alcohol for fuel to boil the water and use high voltage alternating current for interior lights and headlights and tailights from batteries.
