Hi everyone,

I've un-published this story because it seems that people are going by the site and trying to get in to see the engine--Please do not do this, the site is closed, dangerous, and guarded.  

Thank you!

Jake.

This past August the ladies and I took the bus up to Acadia in Maine for a week long vacation.  We stayed at the Bar Harbor KoA  and had a lovely site right at the water's edge.  While we were there we visited the Seal Cove Auto Museum on Mount Desert island.

Seal Cove specializes in automobiles from the "Brass Era," that is cars primarily made prior to 1916 and thus named due to the large number of brass lighting fixtures and other accessories. You can see why this might be a particular favorite museum of mine!

JGN Writes:

Steam Engines in NYC!!!

Who would think that the oldest continuously-operating, privately owned steam-powered electrical generating plant in the United States sits in a quiet Victorian section of Brooklyn, New York?  Pratt University has its original steam-powered engine room intact. It was used for many years to generate electricity for this college. These generators are no longer used for power but they are still hooked up to the steam plant, so every once in a while they are powered up to keep them alive.

Every year at Pratt on New Year's Eve Conrad sets up all of the large steam whistles live outside.  It gets pretty noisy there (passersby get to pull the ropes) and of course there is the nice smell of oily steam in the air!

[Click through for a lot more pics and a video of last New Years Eve whistle blow!]

Tomorrow is the Yankee Steam-Up!  From the New England Wireless and Steam Museum website:

The Original Yankee Steam-Up 
For model makers, Machinists, Engineers & Historians
Saturday October 3, 2009 8:30AM-4:00PM
1300 Frenchtown Road, East Greenwich, RI 02818 
Licensed Boilers & Licensed Engineers. 
New Englands Largest Steam-Up Boiler. 
Giant Working Steam Engines & Hot Air & IC. 
Admission, $15.00         Children under 12 $5.00 
All Steam-Up Proceeds go to Upkeep of the Museum 
Free Parking         Food on Grounds 
Phone: (401) 885-0545,
 E-Mail: newsm@newsm.org
Web Site: http://www.newsm.org

Click through for pictures from my visit in 2007 . . .

You may recall Patrick Johnson's marvelous short film Granite Copper Motor from earlier this year. Recently Patrick spent some time with my friends David, Dennis, and Brady, while they designed and constructed a steam boiler dubbed 'Ignatius the Firepig.'  I do so love Patrick's calm and peaceful treatment which is the antithesis of todays frenetic, falsely dramatic, cable television style.

Enjoy!

Modern Alchemy from Patrick Johnson on Vimeo.

A short documentary featuring artists David Dowling, Dennis Svoronos and Brady Scott as they design and construct their steam boiler, Ignatius.

Directed by:
Patrick Johnson - www.journeymanstudios.com

Featuring:
David Dowling 
Dennis Svoronos
Brady Scott

Music by:
John Murphree - www.johnmurphree.com

Camera by:
Patrick Johnson
Ben Hartman - www.who-is-sure.com

Thomas writes:

Hi, thought you might get a kick out of my latest project. I coupled a Lego Technic Motor to a Jensen #75 steam engine to make a crude generator. From there I built a 5V regulator circuit and soldered in a female USB connection to power any USB device. Since I wanted to use it to charge my iPod, I put in a diode and a .5 amp fuse to provide some circuit protection. Attached are some pictures of it and here are some links to videos of it in action. Unfortunately you can't see the charge light on the ipod, But as you can hear, the iPod really loads the engine. I was somewhat surprise it could hack it.

That's really cool! Thanks Thomas!  More pics after the cut . . .

via Make:Blog

Here is Part 2 of Jay's 1906 Stanley Steamer piece. Enjoy!

Hi Everyone, sorry I missed the last two Jay Leno Wednesday posts! I was in Hawaii on holiday and with Meredith at Burning Man things have been kind of quiet. Well I'm back and so is Jay and his 1906 Stanley.