A small mechanics project occupied me this time. It is again about a hot air engine. This time not about the Stirling engine, but the so-called “flame eater”.
During the search in the World Wide Web, I found, among other things, the website of Mr. James Maiwald. Mr. Maiwald is an ambitious modeler and specialist in the field of Stirling and vacuum engines. He develops and manufactures his own models in all variants and also offers them as a kit.
More precisely, it is a vacuum motor, which is popularly also called a flame eater. He is one of the hot air engines, but unlike the Stirling engine is an open system.
Technically speaking, it is an atmospheric engine, since here the external air pressure does the work (comparable to the first gasoline engine). As a result, the maximum piston force is limited to the product of piston area and air pressure. (Wikipedia)
And exactly one such model (lying the flame eater) is here. As I assemble the engine and the first time commissioning is seen in the following short video …