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  #1  
Old 11-21-2009, 07:20 AM
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CDK CDK is offline
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Steamboat

In '49 or '50 I got this little boat as a Santa Claus present.
Pressed from sheet metal, probably made in Nuernberg, Germany where many toys were made. The little candle heated the few drops of water in the thin tube and the steam expelled the water pushing the boat forward in a somewhat irregular fashion, but faster than the toy boats with a battery and a Mabuchi electric motor I later bought for my kids.

I once suggested this type of propulsion to someone on this forum who wanted to build a boat with an almost zero budget, but he didn't take the bait.

Has anyone ever seen such a toy, small or large?
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  #2  
Old 11-21-2009, 07:40 AM
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Potato cannons had some similarity.. 2" iron tube other end "blinded", a little water and a potato stucked in to the pipe. Thou a candle wasn't enough as a heat source
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Old 11-21-2009, 07:41 AM
baeckmo baeckmo is offline
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Ooh yeap, these were common back in those days, seems we belong to the same vintage....... . There was a study on pulsing steam jets done by some institution, I'll see if I can locate it! I remember they found that the steam generator should have a substantial thermal mass, but of course the efficiency was low.

The pulsation is in fact a similar resonance phenomenon as found in the pulsejets of the V1 rockets, operating in the Lenoir air standard cycle.
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Old 11-21-2009, 07:53 AM
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pop pop boats

Yes I do remember them CDK. They are called pop pop boats.

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&so...P8WFTTDjvvZpDQ
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  #5  
Old 11-21-2009, 07:58 AM
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daiquiri daiquiri is online now
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Nice toys, but the most of energy is expelled as heat and is useless for propulsion. Maybe the efficiency could be improved a bit by intertwining the two tubes, to recover some heat from the steam.
Would the whole thing still work? Don't know...
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Old 11-21-2009, 08:27 AM
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When I was seven or eight my dad built one for me.
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Old 11-21-2009, 11:03 AM
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Clearly we're a bunch of old farts with good memories of over a half a century ago.
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Old 11-21-2009, 11:10 AM
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Submarine Tom Submarine Tom is offline
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I got one for Christmas not that many years ago and thought, "That'll never

work." Sure enough, given enough time, the little thing started banging

like crazy (popping really) and off it went in the bathtub.

Agreed, not very efficient on a larger scale.

Great learning tool though.

-Tom
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  #9  
Old 11-21-2009, 12:11 PM
apex1
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CDK View Post
In '49 or '50 I got this little boat as a Santa Claus present.
Pressed from sheet metal, probably made in Nuernberg, Germany where many toys were made. The little candle heated the few drops of water in the thin tube and the steam expelled the water pushing the boat forward in a somewhat irregular fashion, but faster than the toy boats with a battery and a Mabuchi electric motor I later bought for my kids.

I once suggested this type of propulsion to someone on this forum who wanted to build a boat with an almost zero budget, but he didn't take the bait.

Has anyone ever seen such a toy, small or large?
Was made by Schuco in Nürnberg from the late 40ies `til the late 50ies. Was really fast for its size. Hard to find today, much sought after collectors items (all early Schuco toys).
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Old 11-21-2009, 12:40 PM
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Itchy&Scratchy Itchy&Scratchy is offline
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Bought one last year, found one in a little shop in the UK somewhere although it looks like it could be made in India, bought it because i hadnt seen one before. Works pretty well, I was suprised.

My immediate thought was to make a bigger version-but......

like most of these ideas I never seem to get around to doing alot of them- working on big boats takes up all my time, and the customers......all my mental energy!!!!!!

J
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  #12  
Old 11-21-2009, 03:14 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Itchy&Scratchy View Post
My immediate thought was to make a bigger version-but......

J

Try this ......


http://www.eclecticspace.net/index2.php?rub=poppop

Go to the english version , then select the link on the bottom right...." biggest pop pop engines in the world ".....

http://www.eclecticspace.net/doc/Big...ines_02_HQ.avi

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  #13  
Old 11-21-2009, 04:07 PM
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yep...

Quote:
Originally Posted by PAR View Post
Clearly we're a bunch of old farts with good memories of over a half a century ago.

What can I say ....
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Old 11-21-2009, 04:09 PM
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Old farts? I know what you mean. You are an old fart when the oldies radio station is playing music you never heard before.
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Old 11-21-2009, 05:42 PM
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You're an old fart when the oldies radio station is playing music you remember being a favorite when the grand kids were born.
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