OK, we’ve talked about gravity and human power, so let’s crawl back up the evolutionary power ladder. Steam engines are some of the best looking engines ever built. Pipes, boilers, dials, tubing, big wheels turning and lots of huffing and puffing, I love ’em. This site, The Great Toy Steam Company, sells lots of model steam engines and stirling engines and the site is just great for browsing to look at some great models. I was trying to choose a picture to give you a flavor of the kinds of engines there but it was really hard, due to the fact that so many engines looked so good. I finally chose this York-Bolton Mill Engine, but I could have picked many others. These aren’t cheap toy models either, these are very high quality and some are pretty pricey but very, very cool. If you like engines and mechanical things, you’ll like this site. Check it out.
Wikipedia: Stirling engine
TJIC says
If I may be forgiven for plugging my own firm:
I run Technical Video Rental, and we rent out technical instructional videos on lots of topics, including videos on how to make your own model steam, Stirling, and internal combustion engines.
( Rentals are $9.99 / video / week, with postage included. )
Thanks!