"What are you getting all steamed up about?", "Full steam ahead!", and "I'm running out of steam." are very commonly used phrases in the American lexicon. Part of the fabric of American English, they have remained long after the objects that prompted their use faded from existence. A century ago steam engines drove powerful ships making transatlantic crossings. The choo-choo sound of powerful iron horses gliding along slick steel rails lives on with the excitement of children. Steam drove the American Industrial Revolution and it was only a matter of time before the steam engine would be used to replace the horse and buggy. In the 1800s most people had a working knowledge of steam making it the preferred choice of power for many mechanical devices and applications. While the internal-combustion engine had been under development since 1860, it suffered mechanical complexities not to mention being nearly impossible to start. In the 1890s the steam automobile was beginning to offer a reliable but somewhat bulky means of personal transportation. Competing for a stake in the American transportation system was the electric car that today still enjoys experimentation and development along with a few commercially viable designs.

By the start of the 1900s over a 125 American manufacturers offered steam cars with all sorts of options and features. Already a more common sight in England than America, it would take F.O. and F.E. Stanley in 1897 to make the steam automobile a commercial business venture. Inventors at heart, the Stanley twins had already retired wealthy from developing the airbrush and more importantly a dry photographic plate coating process upon which George Eastman would build an empire.

The Stanley's first steam car was built for personal use but it gained immediate attention. With nearly 200 orders, an unexpected business blossomed. While their car looked similar to most others, their real advantage was simplistic automation. Their steam engine boasted 15 moving parts with the count for the entire car at 37. It was light, quiet, and perhaps the most powerful vehicle of its time; definitely the fastest. Once lit the car automatically generated steam to meet demand with little additional attention required except perhaps watching the water level. All that was required of the driver was to set the throttle to a comfortable speed and to move the tiller for steering.

Steam engines generate maximum power from rest and through the simple movement of a lever the power was precisely controlled. With their finicky ignition systems, balky carburetors, and gear-grinding transmissions the "internal explosion engines" as the Stanley's called them were no match for the simplicity, reliability, and power of steam. The thrashing, banging, clattering, and smell of the internal combustion car was no match for the discernable hiss of a Stanley burner and the sound of tires rolling over stones in the dirt roads of the era. In America the steam car gained popularity, especially with the rich, and Stanleys became the premier steam cars to own.

The Stanley Steam Car was born of an era where life was simpler, less strenuous, where the automobile was considered a weekend luxury rather than a necessity of life. Unfortunately the Stanley twins weren't interested in mass producing their products. They chose not to compete with Henry Ford who by 1914 was producing twice the cars in a day that the Stanleys produced in a year. With the introduction of the electric starter on the 1912 Cadillac the internal combustion engine became a snap to start and the twenty-minute firing-up wait of the steam car became a real disadvantage. Henry's Model T soon became available for one quarter the price of a Stanley and with the offerings of General Motors and Chrysler the end of the steam car was in sight.

The Stanleys sold their business in 1917 and by 1924 the production line closed. While Abner Doble was able to revitalize a short interest in the steam car with a vehicle that was nearly instant starting and fully automated, the steam car's destiny was not as the car of the future but a thing of the past. Today there are more Stanley Steam Cars preserved, restored, and operating than any other steam car ever made. The Stanley Steamer, often affectionately called "The Flying Teapot", is treasured worldwide as a unique example of American Yankee inventiveness and ingenuity.

Stanley Steamer world records established by Fred Marriott in the famous 'Rocket' steamer:-

On August 31, 1899 Freelan 0. Stanley and his wife Flora drove their Stanley-designed Locomobile #93 up the 7.6 mile, 4,725 foot vertical rise Mount Washington carriage road in two hours and 10 minutes (including a stop to take on water), far less than the usual six hours it took to climb the mountain in a horse drawn stage.

This slogan appeared in many of the ads for Stanley Steam Cars. It truly represents the design philosophy that the Stanley twins applied to their cars. Steam cars unitize an external combustion (Rankine cycle) engine where the fuel source is consumed external to the engine. A steam boiler generates vast quantities of power for later use on demand unlike the internal combustion (Otto cycle) engine that must develop the needed power on demand. A Stanley steam engine provides four power impulses per crankshaft rotation similar to an 8-cylinder gasoline engine. However, the power is applied uniformly for a longer length of the stroke than the hammer-like explosions common to gasoline or diesel engines. This provides the steam engine an advantage of more torque in a smaller package over what can be generated with a gasoline engine of equivalent rating.

Early Stanleys were fueled with gasoline but later models incorporated a two-fuel system of gasoline for the pilot and kerosene for the main burner. Kerosene, providing not only more heat energy per unit than gasoline, was also safer and less expensive. Both the Stanley pilot that operates continuously as well as the main burner which operates on steam demand is based on the simple principles of the Bunsen Burner. In the Stanley the heat of the fire vaporizes the liquid fuel before the fuel vapor is fed through an orifice, mixed with air, and burned below the boiler. To start a Stanley a torch is used to preheat the vaporizing tube and light the pilot making the Stanley Steamer one of the few cars difficult to steal in anything less than 20 minutes. Fuel efficiency was roughly 10-12 miles to the gallon.

Stanley steamers generate steam in drum shaped boilers ranging from 14" to 30" in diameter and from 14" to 18" in height. Similar to a battery the Stanley boiler stores steam energy for later use on demand. Unique in their design, no Stanley boiler has ever been documented to explode. The circular boiler walls are strengthened with three layers of exceptionally strong piano wire to provide sidewall strength unequalled in boiler designs for similar ratings. The use of between 500 and 1,000 fire tubes not only efficiently transfer heat to the water they provide a structural strength to the boiler ends. Operated nominally at 600 PSI, boilers were factory tested to twice operating pressure before being placed in a car.

Once generated, steam is released from the boiler through a driver controlled throttling valve. The steam is routed to the engine after making a final pass through the burner fire to absorb 150-degrees of superheat energy. Upon reaching the engine the steam is directed through D slide valves to one of the double-acting, dual cylinders. Stanley steam cars, while rated in boiler steaming capacities of 10, 20, and 30 horsepower, had engines capable of developing 100 horsepower and more for short periods of time. The engine was mounted to the rear drive axle at a 1.5:1 gear ratio between the crankshaft and the differential gear. Transmissions were not required and hence there was no "neutral" or clutch.

Using ball-bearing construction throughout, the Stanley car was capable of speeds in excess of 75 MPH for short periods of time if one could locate a dirt road of the period suitable for the exercise. Exhaust steam is first used to preheat the water supply to the boiler further improving operating efficiency. On early cars the spent steam exited the rear of the car along with the combustion products of the burner. For later cars a standard automotive radiator served as a condenser returning the steam to liquid and eventual reuse in the boiler. Non-condensing cars required about a gallon of water per mile but later condensing cars greatly improved this efficiency to around 10 miles per water gallon.

It has been said that in order to drive a Stanley one first need learn to drive without watching the road! Two pumps for water, a pump for main burner fuel, and a pump for engine lubricating oil were driven directly from the engines on early cars or from the rear axle of later cars. A steam automatic throttled the main burner on and off to meet steam demand based on driving conditions. The need to manually control the water level in the boiler of early Stanley steamers was improved with the addition of the water automatic which fully automated water management. Safety devices such as low water shutdowns and pressure relief valves were standard fare on all cars. The need to monitor fuels, water, steam, and lubrication brought a number of valves and gauges to the dash. This resulted in an impressive display for the passenger but required the driver to be a part-time engineer.

Early Stanleys were all wooden construction followed later by more streamline styles of steel frames and aluminum bodies. Early kerosene lamps gave way to intensely bright acetylene headlamps and eventually electric lighting. The Stanley twins fascination for speed insured that the earliest models included racers and roadsters while later production centered on touring cars and their unique Mountain Wagon that was both a bus and a truck. A Stanley car set a land speed record of 127 MPH in 1906 and the following year one was clocked at nearly 150 before it crashed near Daytona Beach.

In its time the Stanley was truly an impressive and prestigious automobile. When the Stanley twins could no longer race their cars interest in improving the product declined. Their self-imposed production limits of 1000 cars per year further hindered wide use. In later years the Stanleys developed heavier cars but without increased horsepower soon putting them at a driving disadvantage as well. Today, the many Stanleys, handful of Whites, and few Dobles are all that remains of a technology that had different choices been made might have relegated the internal combustion engine to the collectors and museums.

Interested in some of the technical details about the Stanley Steamer. The following links take you to various drawings that were provided in the original manual that came with my Model 735 Stanley. I've taken those drawings and provided a brief operational description of the major components shown in the drawing. Included in the descriptions are various technical facts related to the design and operation of the Stanley. If you have questions, please email me through the link provided at the bottom of the page.