Stewart S50 Name

[John Gray 7Participant @johngray7]

Where does the name come from ?

[John Gray 7Participant @johngray7]

I’ve just started my first steam engine, a Stewart S50. Very early days yet, but it’s going well (I think). As with all new projects time at the lathe/mill is only a small percentage of the actual time spent….Thinking time, weighing up, call it what you like. I imagine this percentage changes with time and gained experience, il look forward to that. Anyway, one of my random thoughts the other day made me ponder where does the name come from? The Stewart 10V, I can see that the “V” would indicate that it’s a vertical build, and there were others, so probably the 10 was it’s time place so to speak. The S of S50 could indicate a stationary engine, but surely there aren’t 49 predecessor’s, are there?

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember12892]

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[Former MemberParticipant @formermember12892]

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[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

For a start it is Stuart not Stewart!

The S50 was the replacement for the slide valve horizontal progress and they distinguished between the slide valve and oscillating progress engines by using "S" for slide and "O" for oscillating so that is most likely where the "S" came from.

I think the 800 gas engine is the highest number off the top of my head so not sure where the 50 came from and they also have quite a few that are just names, or letters such as the Lightweight or BB.

Good history of the various engines to be found here

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember12892]

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[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

Posted by John Gray 7 on 13/01/2022 11:28:39:

…time at the lathe/mill is only a small percentage of the actual time spent….Thinking time, weighing up, call it what you like. I imagine this percentage changes with time and gained experience,

sorry Nope – Not in my experience. Time and experience getting the mill and lathe to do what you want grows far faster than the creative thinking and planning – you are always thinking of new things – so over time mill and lathe time shrinks as a percentage of the project.

However on the bright side total project time shrinks so you get more projects done.

[John Gray 7Participant @johngray7]

Thanks for the replies. Seems likely then that the S was more to do with the slide valve construction and not indicating a stationary engine. Interesting info on the link about the Stuart engines, and apologies to anyone offended by my spelling issues.

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember12892]

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[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

These were originally supplied ready machined just needing a screwdriver, a spanner and pliers

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember12892]

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[ZanParticipant @zan]

Just a guess but 50 parts/components?

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember12892]

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