Wash hatch
_01.jpg)
Wash hatches are facilities in steam locomotives and are used to remove the scale in the rotation of the current maintenance cycle.
description
The problem of scale formation has existed since the existence of steam engines . In the case of steam locomotives, this problem is exacerbated by the non-stationary availability of the steam engine. For this reason, precautions were taken from the very first locomotives to clean and wash the boiler during a regular inspection. These provisions consist of wash hatches which are placed in suitable locations to clear the inside of the boiler from scale build-up. The areas at the lower edge of the fire box , on the bottom of the long boiler and between the pipes are particularly affected . These areas must be scraped off with a hook-shaped wire, blown out with compressed air and cleaned with a sharp water jet through the wash hatches. It goes without saying that these washout days are only carried out when the boiler is depressurized. The resulting waste is collected in the sludge bag (other name: sludge collector for the feed water purifier) and can be drained downwards, controlled from the driver's cab. As a rule, these washout days were carried out once a month during the regular inspections of the steam locomotive in the depot . The methods of treating the boiler feed water have not replaced the washing out of the locomotive boiler , they only extended the service life of certain components in the locomotive boiler.
In the first locomotives, the washout hatches were often made as simple screw connections made of soft brass or copper, in more recent times they have been made in two variants; in the older design of it (locomotives from the Länderbahn era), a mushroom hatch was screwed onto suitable places on the boiler from the outside against the boiler. This variant has the disadvantage of the risk of leaks in the boiler because the sealing surface acts against the steam pressure and the fastening screws are additionally loaded by the steam pressure. In recent times, only the design is used where the sealing mushroom with the sealing surface is inside the boiler. A stud bolt is pressed into the mushroom seal, which is passed through a retaining plate attached to the outside of the boiler and pressed with a nut against the sealing surface inside the boiler. This design has the advantage that the fastening bolt is not stressed by the steam pressure and the sealing head is pressed against the sealing surface by the steam pressure.
literature
- Edmund Heusinger von Waldegg: Special Railway Technology, Third Volume, The Locomotive Construction. Leipzig 1882.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Sketch of the locomotive boiler at the German Society for Railway History
- ↑ Reiner Heinrich, Heinz Schnabel: The series 22. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2001, ISBN 3-88255-122-4 .
- ^ Horst Troche: The series 03. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2006, ISBN 3-88255-133-X .
- ^ Edmund Heusinger von Waldegg: Special Railway Technology, Third Volume, The Locomotive Construction. Leipzig 1882, p. 240.
- ↑ Sketch of older wash hatches at the German Society for Railway History
- ^ Sketch of the wash hatches of the more recent design at the German Society for Railway History
