Buck Boudeman
Little Homemade Engine

 

Buck Boudeman Little Homemade Steam Engine and Ken Helmick

Buck Boudeman and Ken Helmick inspecting the little engine.

Buck Boudeman Little Homemade Steam Engine

A very clever, very strange, homemade steam engine.

This is one of the most clever and complex steam engines I have ever seen.  It was homemade in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area doubtless by a skilled blacksmith around the turn of the century.  There was a sliding valve on the underside of the piston head and this appears to be an exhaust valve.  The intake valve in the head was a poppet valve that was hinged instead of sliding, thus making the mechanism much simpler.  Other than that description all of the linkages and sliding parts moved in such a complex manner that I have no idea how it worked.

Buck Boudeman Little Homemade Steam Engine  
     
Buck Boudeman Little Homemade Steam EngineBuck Boudeman Little Homemade Steam Engine   Buck Boudeman Little Homemade Steam Engine
     
Buck Boudeman Little Homemade Steam Engine   Buck Boudeman Little Homemade Steam Engine
     
Buck Boudeman Little Homemade Steam Engine   Buck Boudeman Little Homemade Steam Engine