Have you ever wondered how fast a steam car can go? You are not the only one.  The U.S. Land Steam Record (USLSR) Team is seeking to become the fastest steam-powered vehicle on earth at the famous Bonneville Salt Flats in early August 2011. The current record speed of 148 mph was set in 2009 by a British steam car, Inspiration, which broke the previous record of 129 mph which had stood since 1906.

The goal of the USLSR team is to blow the current record out of the water by creating a car that will travel at more then 200 mph.  The engine invented byHarry Schoell is called the Cyclone.  The Cyclone is "a compact, heat regenerative, external combustion engine that has been developed to achieve high thermal efficiencies and power-to-weight ratio. The engine operates on a Rankine cycle, and uses multiple heat recapturing processes off its cylinders, exhaust manifold and condenser to achieve thermal efficiencies reported at over 30%."  While the body of the car was designed by Chuck Williams the leader of the team and is extremely aerodynamic.  This will be Chuck's third steam car project. I wish him and his team the best of luck!

PS: The team is also looking for sponsorship.

Intro: Hello all, this is Brian Rowe, a Seattle based Hacker / Maker and member of Jigsaw Renaissance (JR) a non-profit maker space here in Seattle. JR is an collaborative community space that is open to the public that runs educational events several nights a week. 

When not blogging here or at JR's Blog I teach Information Privacy Law at Seattle University Law and run a volunteer organization that focus on Copyright & Patent Reform.  If you have interesting things you would like to see covered on the blog feel free to ping me at Brian <at> BrianRowe.org.

Image: The frame of the US Land Speed Record Teams Car, photographer unknown

Sarah from the Seal Cove Auto Museum writes:

Hi Jake,

We've recently re-done  the floors and the lighting, giving the museum a feeling more associated with a gallery. We have also added text panels for each car, as well as various items from the brass era in display cases throughout the museum. We have added a flat screen tv in the back that plays early 1900 silent films, for our guests to enjoy. We hope these changes add to the museum and have already been receiving great feed back.

Hopefully you can make a visit to the museum this season! Thanks so much!

I shall certainly try! - Jake

Seal Cove specializes in automobiles from the "Brass Era," that is cars primarily made prior to 1916 and thus named due to the large number of brass lighting fixtures and other accessories. You can see why this might be a particular favorite museum of mine!

This is a 26" bore Skinner UnaFlow steam engine with a 275 KVA alternator attached. 

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JGN Writes:

Steam Engines in NYC!!!

Who would think that the oldest continuously-operating, privately owned steam-powered electrical generating plant in the United States sits in a quiet Victorian section of Brooklyn, New York?  Pratt University has its original steam-powered engine room intact. It was used for many years to generate electricity for this college. These generators are no longer used for power but they are still hooked up to the steam plant, so every once in a while they are powered up to keep them alive.

Every year at Pratt on New Year's Eve Conrad sets up all of the large steam whistles live outside.  It gets pretty noisy there (passersby get to pull the ropes) and of course there is the nice smell of oily steam in the air!

[Click through for a lot more pics and a video of last New Years Eve whistle blow!]

Tomorrow is the Yankee Steam-Up!  From the New England Wireless and Steam Museum website:

The Original Yankee Steam-Up 
For model makers, Machinists, Engineers & Historians
Saturday October 3, 2009 8:30AM-4:00PM
1300 Frenchtown Road, East Greenwich, RI 02818 
Licensed Boilers & Licensed Engineers. 
New Englands Largest Steam-Up Boiler. 
Giant Working Steam Engines & Hot Air & IC. 
Admission, $15.00         Children under 12 $5.00 
All Steam-Up Proceeds go to Upkeep of the Museum 
Free Parking         Food on Grounds 
Phone: (401) 885-0545,
 E-Mail: newsm@newsm.org
Web Site: http://www.newsm.org

Click through for pictures from my visit in 2007 . . .

You may recall Patrick Johnson's marvelous short film Granite Copper Motor from earlier this year. Recently Patrick spent some time with my friends David, Dennis, and Brady, while they designed and constructed a steam boiler dubbed 'Ignatius the Firepig.'  I do so love Patrick's calm and peaceful treatment which is the antithesis of todays frenetic, falsely dramatic, cable television style.

Enjoy!

Modern Alchemy from Patrick Johnson on Vimeo.

A short documentary featuring artists David Dowling, Dennis Svoronos and Brady Scott as they design and construct their steam boiler, Ignatius.

Directed by:
Patrick Johnson - www.journeymanstudios.com

Featuring:
David Dowling 
Dennis Svoronos
Brady Scott

Music by:
John Murphree - www.johnmurphree.com

Camera by:
Patrick Johnson
Ben Hartman - www.who-is-sure.com

Thomas writes:

Hi, thought you might get a kick out of my latest project. I coupled a Lego Technic Motor to a Jensen #75 steam engine to make a crude generator. From there I built a 5V regulator circuit and soldered in a female USB connection to power any USB device. Since I wanted to use it to charge my iPod, I put in a diode and a .5 amp fuse to provide some circuit protection. Attached are some pictures of it and here are some links to videos of it in action. Unfortunately you can't see the charge light on the ipod, But as you can hear, the iPod really loads the engine. I was somewhat surprise it could hack it.

That's really cool! Thanks Thomas!  More pics after the cut . . .

via Make:Blog

Here is Part 2 of Jay's 1906 Stanley Steamer piece. Enjoy!

Hi Everyone, sorry I missed the last two Jay Leno Wednesday posts! I was in Hawaii on holiday and with Meredith at Burning Man things have been kind of quiet. Well I'm back and so is Jay and his 1906 Stanley.