Will County Threshermen's Association

How the Steam Engine Works

The engineer builds a fire in the firebox.

 

The draft pulls the fire through the tubes and up a smokestack.

 

 

Water around the firebox and tubes boils, producing steam.

 

 

Steam from the dome passes through the throttle to the steamchest.

 

 

A valve admits steam to one end of a cylinder,
pushing back a piston located inside the cylinder.