12 ms·

The Last Great Steam Car (2006)

150 points by jmadsen 11y ago

jhallenworld 11y ago
A Doble engine powered this airplane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw6NFmcnW-8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw6NFmcnW-8
- zombees 11y ago
  It's really cool how they can arbitrarily turn the prop on and off like an electric aircraft, even reversing its direction. Might this be one of the earliest examples of thrust reversal for breaking? Also, could this be a more efficient arrangement than IC engine+prop governor?
jackgavigan 11y ago
As recently as 2008, Scania and Volvo were eyeing steam for powering trucks: http://www.nordicgreen.net/startups/article/ranotor-develop-steam-engine-powered-hybrid-trucks-together-scania-and-volv http://www.nordicgreen.net/startups/article/ranotor-develop-...
Frenchgeek 11y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUg_ukBwsyo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUg_ukBwsyo ( 1925 Doble E-20 Steam Car - Jay Leno's Garage )
- msandford 11y ago
  Yeah I really wanted a Doble for a few years. I eventually realized that it would take either a decade or two of hunting, or a few hundred grand to make it happen and gave up.
- Alkim 11y ago
  It is a fantastic automobile and a great video from Jay Leno, whom we all owe a debt of gratitude for preserving our technological legacy, similarly to Bill Harrah from a generation earlier. Imagine what a Doble could be with a few processors handling all the complexity....
- jrnvs 11y ago
  I had to think of Fred Dibnah's steam car. https://youtu.be/XvjHxXl8KYI?t=4m2s https://youtu.be/XvjHxXl8KYI?t=4m2s
bradleyland 11y ago
> It is true that the technology poses some difficult problems, but one cannot help but be curious how efficient a steam car might be with the benefit of modern materials and computers. It's easy to shrug off questions like this, placing them in the category of "if it were feasible, someone would obviously be doing it already", but it's still interesting. Having read a pretty extensively about how steam locomotives work, and some additional reading about steam power in general, it's interesting to read this article and catch small windows in to the overall progress of steam during the era. For example, reading the remarks about closing the steam circuit reminds me of the progress made in condensate and heat recovery developed in steam power at the time. Really remarkable to see that in something as small as a car. As an academic exercise, I think it'd be really cool to develop a "steam powered auto challenge". Of course, no one is going to get behind it because steam is not a green technology, but sometimes we can learn important lessons from the past. Working on a completely unrelated technology and studying its progress can teach us lessons about the development of current technologies.
- jhallenworld 11y ago
  >no one is going to get behind it because steam is not a green technology Were it not for the radiation problem, you could make a nuclear powered steam car. Perhaps this is easier than using a turbine.. http://www.damninteresting.com/the-atomic-automobile/ http://www.damninteresting.com/the-atomic-automobile/
  - stcredzero 11y ago
    From what the article claims, rediscovering their principles would produce a car with much better noise characteristics than turbines and modern ICEs. I wonder what modern metallurgy could do for the design? The part count is extremely low. With remote control from a smartphone, the big disadvantage -- boiler start time -- would be entirely solved. As it was, they had gotten it down to something comparable to starting diesel cars on a cold day.
    - TylerE 11y ago
mikro2nd 11y ago
Published 24 October 2006
- ForHackernews 11y ago
  Steam car technology hasn't advanced much in the last 9 years.
ceequof 11y ago
Something wrong with the text margins?
- andrelaszlo 11y ago
  Overfull hbox? :P I think they fixed it now?
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
tolmark12 11y ago
Also interesting, North Korea's wood burning trucks developed out of necessity due to oil sanctions : http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/how-north-korea-fuels-its-military-trucks-with-trees/ http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/how-north-kor...
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
jakejake 11y ago
Was I the only one who saw this as a sorta commentary on how we might be looking at combustion engines in 100 years? It will probably seem ridiculous that we were burning smelly fuel.
garagemc2 11y ago
Probably one of the most interesting articles I've read recently. Well written and to the point. Bookmarked that site.
- jmadsen 11y ago
  His entire site is like that, and full of fascinating articles - the more recent of which also have audio readings. Wasn't expecting this post to take off the way it did, but glad for him. He does a really nice job on these stories.
ryanstanton 11y ago
Steam is cool, yes, I love the history behind antiques and the insight into their periods of history, but electric is SOOOO much better. Steam does not give instantaneous torque, nor the ability to precisely control individual wheels / motors. I just can't see steam making a comeback. Electric = exponential Steam and ICE = incremental
- ams6110 11y ago
  Steam does give instantaneous torque (once it's built up pressure, that is).
awjr 11y ago
Steam is primarily an engine driven by gas pressure (as are most combustion engines). I see the compressed air car as an evolution of the Steam car. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_air_car https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_air_car
rmason 11y ago
Bill Leer, inventor of the Leer jet, spent millions in the early seventies on a modern steam car as a solution to the oil crisis. http://www.progressivevalues.blogspot.com/2009/05/great-lear-steam-engine-you-never-got.html http://www.progressivevalues.blogspot.com/2009/05/great-lear...

150 points by jmadsen 11y ago

A Doble engine powered this airplane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw6NFmcnW-8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw6NFmcnW-8

zombees 11y ago
It's really cool how they can arbitrarily turn the prop on and off like an electric aircraft, even reversing its direction. Might this be one of the earliest examples of thrust reversal for breaking? Also, could this be a more efficient arrangement than IC engine+prop governor?

jackgavigan 11y ago

As recently as 2008, Scania and Volvo were eyeing steam for powering trucks: http://www.nordicgreen.net/startups/article/ranotor-develop-steam-engine-powered-hybrid-trucks-together-scania-and-volv http://www.nordicgreen.net/startups/article/ranotor-develop-...

Frenchgeek 11y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUg_ukBwsyo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUg_ukBwsyo ( 1925 Doble E-20 Steam Car - Jay Leno's Garage )

msandford 11y ago
Yeah I really wanted a Doble for a few years. I eventually realized that it would take either a decade or two of hunting, or a few hundred grand to make it happen and gave up.
Alkim 11y ago
It is a fantastic automobile and a great video from Jay Leno, whom we all owe a debt of gratitude for preserving our technological legacy, similarly to Bill Harrah from a generation earlier. Imagine what a Doble could be with a few processors handling all the complexity....
jrnvs 11y ago
I had to think of Fred Dibnah's steam car. https://youtu.be/XvjHxXl8KYI?t=4m2s https://youtu.be/XvjHxXl8KYI?t=4m2s

bradleyland 11y ago

> It is true that the technology poses some difficult problems, but one cannot help but be curious how efficient a steam car might be with the benefit of modern materials and computers. It's easy to shrug off questions like this, placing them in the category of "if it were feasible, someone would obviously be doing it already", but it's still interesting. Having read a pretty extensively about how steam locomotives work, and some additional reading about steam power in general, it's interesting to read this article and catch small windows in to the overall progress of steam during the era. For example, reading the remarks about closing the steam circuit reminds me of the progress made in condensate and heat recovery developed in steam power at the time. Really remarkable to see that in something as small as a car. As an academic exercise, I think it'd be really cool to develop a "steam powered auto challenge". Of course, no one is going to get behind it because steam is not a green technology, but sometimes we can learn important lessons from the past. Working on a completely unrelated technology and studying its progress can teach us lessons about the development of current technologies.

jhallenworld 11y ago
>no one is going to get behind it because steam is not a green technology Were it not for the radiation problem, you could make a nuclear powered steam car. Perhaps this is easier than using a turbine.. http://www.damninteresting.com/the-atomic-automobile/ http://www.damninteresting.com/the-atomic-automobile/
- stcredzero 11y ago
  From what the article claims, rediscovering their principles would produce a car with much better noise characteristics than turbines and modern ICEs. I wonder what modern metallurgy could do for the design? The part count is extremely low. With remote control from a smartphone, the big disadvantage -- boiler start time -- would be entirely solved. As it was, they had gotten it down to something comparable to starting diesel cars on a cold day.
  - TylerE 11y ago

mikro2nd 11y ago

Published 24 October 2006

ForHackernews 11y ago
Steam car technology hasn't advanced much in the last 9 years.

ceequof 11y ago

Something wrong with the text margins?

andrelaszlo 11y ago
Overfull hbox? :P I think they fixed it now?

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

tolmark12 11y ago

Also interesting, North Korea's wood burning trucks developed out of necessity due to oil sanctions : http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/how-north-korea-fuels-its-military-trucks-with-trees/ http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/how-north-kor...

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

jakejake 11y ago

Was I the only one who saw this as a sorta commentary on how we might be looking at combustion engines in 100 years? It will probably seem ridiculous that we were burning smelly fuel.

garagemc2 11y ago

Probably one of the most interesting articles I've read recently. Well written and to the point. Bookmarked that site.

jmadsen 11y ago
His entire site is like that, and full of fascinating articles - the more recent of which also have audio readings. Wasn't expecting this post to take off the way it did, but glad for him. He does a really nice job on these stories.

ryanstanton 11y ago

Steam is cool, yes, I love the history behind antiques and the insight into their periods of history, but electric is SOOOO much better. Steam does not give instantaneous torque, nor the ability to precisely control individual wheels / motors. I just can't see steam making a comeback. Electric = exponential Steam and ICE = incremental

ams6110 11y ago
Steam does give instantaneous torque (once it's built up pressure, that is).

awjr 11y ago

Steam is primarily an engine driven by gas pressure (as are most combustion engines). I see the compressed air car as an evolution of the Steam car. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_air_car https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_air_car

rmason 11y ago

Bill Leer, inventor of the Leer jet, spent millions in the early seventies on a modern steam car as a solution to the oil crisis. http://www.progressivevalues.blogspot.com/2009/05/great-lear-steam-engine-you-never-got.html http://www.progressivevalues.blogspot.com/2009/05/great-lear...