Poppet Valve - Steam Engine

Steam Engine

James Watt was using poppet valves to control the flow of steam into the cylinders of his beam engines in the 1770s. A sectional illustration of Watt's beam engine of 1774 using the device is found in Thurston 1878:98, and Lardner (1840) provides an illustrated description of Watt's use of the poppet valve.

When used in high-pressure applications, for example, as admission valves on steam engines, the same pressure that helps seal poppet valves also contributes significantly to the force required to open them. This has led to the development of the balanced poppet or double beat valve, in which two valve plugs ride on a common stem, with the pressure on one plug largely balancing the pressure on the other. In these valves, the force needed to open the valve is determined by the pressure and the difference between the areas of the two valve openings. Sickels patented a valve gear for double-beat poppet valves in 1842. Criticism was reported in the journal Science in 1889 of equilibrium poppet valves (called by the article the 'double or balanced or American puppet valve') in use for paddle steamer engines, that by its nature it must leak 15 percent.

Poppet valves have been used on steam locomotives, often in conjunction with Lentz or Caprotti valve gear. British examples include:

• LNER Class B12
• LNER Class D49
• LNER Class P2
• LMS Stanier Class 5 4-6-0
• BR standard class 5
• BR standard class 8 71000 Duke of Gloucester.

Sentinel Waggon Works used poppet valves in their steam wagons and steam locomotives. Reversing was achieved by a simple sliding camshaft system.

The poppet valve was also used on the American Pennsylvania Railroad's T1 duplex locomotives, although the valves commonly failed due to the fact that the locomotives were commonly operated in excess of 160 km/h (100 mph), and the valves were not meant for the stresses of such speeds.