Single acting steam engine. The double acting steam engine produces twice the power than produced by a single acting steam engine. When the axis of the cylinder is horizontal. This provides a very compact layout but obviously requires a single acting piston. That the single acting steam engine has many points of superiority where extremely high speeds are required is well known.
This fact coupled with the desire to provide a suitable engine for speed boats which should be light for the power developed have a small number of working parts be compact and take up very little head room has led us to design and produce the engines illustrated. The double acting steam engine has two power strokes per cycle. A single acting cylinder in a reciprocating engine is a cylinder in which the working fluid acts on one side of the piston only. An animation of a double acting steam engine.
The main crankshaft bearings of this engine were provided with separate oilers that drained into the crankcase sump. Single acting steam engine built from junk around my house. Steam is admitted to the cylinder by means of a sliding piston valve. The steam is entered on both sides of the piston and during each revolution of the crankshaft two working strokes are produced it is known as a double acting steam engine.