York Ice Machine

[Ben Augustine]

Here are some pics of a York ice machine, 1902 I think. Not that I have been in the steam world too long, but I have never seen another one of these.

[Ben Augustine]

Just some additional pictures

[Jim Mackessy]

Thanks for sharing the pictures, Ben. Is this machine in a museum, private
collection or ?? It looks pretty well cared for. Jim M.

[Ben Augustine]

Yes, it is in a museum. Its at a place called the Pioneer Villiage in Minden, Nebraska. The ice machine originally installed at the University of Nebraska until it was replaced with a much much smaller electric unit in the 1960's. Whether it still works or not, I'm not sure. It was quite a piece of machinery though. Unfortunately it was somewhat dark in that area and it was kind of a confined space as well, so the pictures are not the greatest.

[Nick Stanley]

Looks like the small vertical engine has part of a neat little prony brake on it, as well as indicator piping. Nice pictures!
-Nick Stanley

[Ben Augustine]

Thanks for the reply Nick-- I just got into steam last year so my knowledge is not very advanced. I was wondering about what you called a prony brake, I wasnt sure what that was, I also wasnt sure about what the smaller vert engine's main purpose was either.

[Jim Mackessy]

I'd almost bet that the small engine came out of a college engineering lab
someplace. As Nick pointed out, it has indicator piping, a pantograph reducing
attachment, and the Prony brake. The brake is the series of wooden blocks
mounted on a band around the perimeter of the flywheel, the other part is an
arm and a scale. As the blocks are tightened on the flywheel, the engine is
"loaded", and indicator diagrams are taken. the Prony brake gives a measure
of horsepower through a series of calculations, similar to a dynamometer. The
indicator shows the pressure vs. stroke curve for the engine at that load, and
through another set of calculations gives the cylinder or "indicated" horsepower. From these numbers you can determine the losses inherent in the engine itself. Add to this the thermodynamics of the steam and the water
used by the boiler and you can determine how much fuel is required, per horsepower, per hour. All this was required material for students of steam
engineering back in the day. Wouldn't it be great to be able to take that course today! Jim Mackessy

[Ben Augustine]

Jim M.--

I am currently a student at Colorado St. Univ. double majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Construction Mgmt. The construction building and lab used to be the Industrial Sciences bldg. where they used to teach the type of things that you were describing. These buildings are some of the oldest in Colorado so there are a lot of historic projects done on the building, so there are a lot of photographs of steam engines and industrial setups that used to be in there. CSU was formerly Colorado A&M founded in 1870 and going up till the 1960s some time when I am assuming that most of the "cool" stuff was removed. There was a professor that used to teach some stuff like that in the late 50s. He was around till a couple years ago, but he passed away. But I do agree that it would be special to be able to learn those kind of things in a way that they used to teach it. I just became interested in steam last summer, so I have a lot to learn, but I am extremely interested in it. Sounds like you have a good knowledge on the subject.

[Keith Smigle]

Just in case any of you don't know, Pioneer Villiage in Minden, Nebraska is about as close to the Smithsonian that you will find west of the Mississippi.. The photograph of the York Ice Machine you see here is just a tiny portion of a collection that would take you weeks to see entirely.

~Keith in Delaware, oHIo