How much torque does a steam car have?
With a low hum, the car’s steam engine briskly pushed the vehicle forward with 1,000 foot-pounds of torque, smoothly accelerating the car and its four passengers to forty miles per hour in just just 12.5 seconds.
How does a Doble steam car work?
But no vapor emanates from the vehicle, because an innovation developed by the car’s designer, Abner Doble, turns the steam from the engine into water, which is then reused by a condenser that looks like a conventional radiator.
How much is a Doble steam car worth?
They say this incessant re-engineering meant that each model cost over $55,000 to develop. At a time when a Model T sold for $260, the Doble cost about $20,000, which would be roughly $250,000 today. And that was a big problem, even for what was, by 1925, the best steam car on the road.
What is the range of a steam car?
The 1924 model Doble Series E steam car could run for 1,500 miles (2,400 km) before its 24-gallon water tank needed to be refilled; even in freezing weather, it could be started from cold and move off within 30 seconds, and once fully warmed could be relied upon to reach speeds in excess of 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) …
Do steam engines make a lot of torque?
A steam loco torque varies considerably based on cylinder bore and stroke, driver diameter and steam pressure. Certainly a Big Boy locomotive with massive steam pressure (300 psi) and cylinders has a lot of torque, whereas a Northern with 80-inch drivers doesn’t – it’s a speed machine.
How efficient are steam cars?
As the steam cools, it’s recycled back into the system and reheated. By zealously reusing every possible bit of heat, steam engines can convert up to 46 percent of incoming energy into torque. Most gas-powered internal combustion engines, in contrast, are only about 25 percent efficient.
What was the fastest steam car?
Stanley Steamer
Inspiration holds the World Land Speed Record for a steam-powered vehicle on 25 August 2009, driven by Charles Burnett III with an average speed of 139.8 mph (225 km/h) over two consecutive runs over a measured mile. This broke the oldest standing land speed record set in 1906 by Fred Marriott in the Stanley Steamer.
What killed steam cars?
By the 1850s it was viable to produce them commercially: steam road vehicles were used for many applications. Development was hampered by adverse legislation from the 1860s. and then the rapid development of internal combustion engine technology in the 1900s, leading to their commercial demise.
What is the most efficient steam engine?
steam turbine
The steam turbine is the most efficient steam engine and for this reason is universally used for electrical generation. Steam expansion in a turbine is nearly continuous, which makes a turbine comparable to a very large number of expansion stages.
How did the Doble steam car get its name?
The term “Doble steam car” comprises any of several makes of steam-powered automobile in the early 20th century, including Doble Detroit, Doble Steam Car, and Doble Automobile, severally called a “Doble” because of their founding by Abner Doble.
What kind of engine did the Doble Detroit use?
The Doble Detroit was the first Doble to use a forced draft burner. It also used a two-cylinder double acting uniflow engine of Doble’s design. Doble had obtained capital to get a company going making steam cars but manufacture of the car was stopped by the War Emergency Board.
What was the difference between a Stanley Steamer and a Doble car?
Few drivers carried containers of spare water. However, a steam engine ran more simply and efficiently than its internal combustion counterpart. Doble’s car had only 22 moving parts—11 in the engine, compared to a Stanley Steamer’s 32, and a Model T’s many hundreds of pieces.
What was the speed of a 1925 Doble steam car?
And in 1925, if young Hughes wanted to experience real speed, he chose the right car in which to do it. The 1925 Doble Steam Car could out-accelerate the mighty Model J Duesenberg of 1930, doing 0 to 75 mph in just 5 seconds, with its engine turning over at less than 1,000 rpm, and it could sustain speeds of 95 mph right from the factory.