Oilers or lack of.....

Bowman · Oilers or lack of.....

I am showing my lack of steam knowledge here, but got to learn sometime..
Why do some engines have oilers some dont? Some have oilers in the steam line to cylinder like my bowman snipe boat, some have drip feed ones like the peggy engine,101 etc, what does the drip feed oiler actually oil? is it just the crankpin or also the piston?

My miss america has no oiler at all, how long should it run after a bench oiling before the oil is all used up?

Thanks Sandy

Spokesmann

Bowman favoured drip feed oilers, on models such as the 101, 135 and 122 they dripped oil through the cover(s) onto the end of the cylinder so the piston would have some lubrication, on Models like the 140 or 158 they just dropped the oil in the same place but without the cylinder covers, messy and a bit hit and miss. With the right viscosity oil they do work and do help, on engines like the pre-war SE3 and 4 Mamod favoured displacement lubricators, which again help up to a point. The Luton Bowman PW203 or Latimer L5 had a lubricator built into the engine frame which just dripped oil through onto the faceplates of the cylinder ports, again it helps. Displacement oilers are better for enclosed boats in my view - less mess to clean in a confined space. I have an ME1 and 2 with a cup lubricator built into the engine frame - it does not oil the piston, only the engine port faces - they both suffer from sticky pistons after a while running - in essence seizing! in the toy steam world these little lubricator devices certainly help, displacement ones certainly help with vertical cylinder(s).

silverfoxsteam

Just found this one!

Most of the slide valve engines (even the very old German ones) have in-line lubricators 'cos that's the only way to get oil to the critical parts i.e. valve & piston.
Oscilators are easily oiled from the outside!