A stationary engine is an engine that does not move. Usually, a stationary engine is used not to propel a vehicle but to drive a piece of immobile equipment such as a pump or power tools. Sheep drinking near a pump A pump is a mechanical device used to move liquids or gases. ...

However, in Victorian era railway engineering, many attempts were made to replace locomotives by stationary engines, on the grounds that it was inefficient to move something as large and heavy as a steam engine around. These attempts only succeeded where short distances were to be covered, where various kinds of cable railway were successful, particularly for steep inclines (where the inefficiency of moving the engine up and down a hill is particularly significant). A heroic failure was Isambard Kingdom Brunel's attempt to construct an atmospheric railway from Exeter to Plymouth in Devon, England. Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Accession to the Throne, June 20, 1837) gave her name to the historic era. ... A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train, and has no payload capacity of its own; its sole purpose is to move the train along the tracks. ... Cable car at Zell am See in the Austrian Alps. ... Brunel before the launching of the Great Eastern Isambard Kingdom Brunel (April 9, 1806 – September 15, 1859) was a British engineer, noted for the creation of the Great Western Railway and a series of famous steamships. ... An atmospheric railway is a railway in which air pressure or vacuum is used to drive trains. ... The city of Exeter is the county town of Devon, in England, UK. It is located at 50°43′25″ N 3°31′39″ W. In the 2001 census its population was recorded at 111,066. ... Smeatons tower on Plymouth Hoe Plymouth is a city in the South West of England, or alternatively the Westcountry, and is situated within the traditional county of Devon. ... Devon is a county in South West England, bordering on Cornwall to the west, Dorset and Somerset to the east. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Ethnicity...

Small stationary engines were frequently used on a farm to drive various kinds of power tools and equipment such as circular saws, pumps, and hay elevators. The engine was fitted to a wooden trolley with steel wheels so that it could be moved to where required, it was then coupled to the equipment by means of a flat belt. Bales of hay on a farm near Ames, Iowa A farm is the basic unit in agriculture. ... A power tool is a tool with a motor. ... Invented in England in 1780, the circular saw (also known as the buzz saw in the USA) is a metal disc or blade with saw teeth on the edge as well as the machine that causes the disk to spin. ... Sheep drinking near a pump A pump is a mechanical device used to move liquids or gases. ...

The engines were usually powered by gasoline, or in some cases for economy it was possible to switch over to run on paraffin after the engine had warmed up - to achieve this required a part of the inlet tract to be heated by exhaust gases in order to vaporise the less volatile fuel. Very large stationary engines ran on a heavier type of fuel oil, this type of engine was usually too large to be moved, a typical application would be electricity generation or large scale pumping. Gasoline, as it is known in North America, or petrol, in many Commonwealth countries (sometimes also called motor spirit) is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture consisting primarily of hydrocarbons, used as fuel in internal combustion engines. ... Paraffin is a common name for a group of high molecular weight alkane hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2, where n is greater than about 20, discovered by Carl Reichenbach. ...

Initially such engines mirrored steam engine design in having the piston move horizontally, with the crank and valve gear exposed and employed a drip-feed total loss lubrication system. Later for safety, cleanliness and longevity the design moved towards enclosing the working parts and using sump lubrication. piston + connecting rod In general, a piston is a sliding plug that fits closely inside the bore of a cylinder. ... A person who holds strong, unorthodox opinions is sometimes called a crank. ... The Walschaert valve gear on a steam locomotive (a PRR E6s). ... A lubricant (colloquially, lube) is a substance introduced between two moving surfaces to reduce the friction and wear between them. ...

The four stroke cycle design was by far the most common, but Petter, a British manufacturer developed a successful two-stroke cycle design.

A centrifugal governor system was usually incorporated to regulate the engines speed under varying loads. This is a simple negative feedback control system. The engine speed is sensed by a pair of weights that rotate with the crankshaft, as the speed increases then centrifugal force causes the weights to move outward against the pressure of a retaining spring. This outward movement is used to restrict the engine power to prevent the speed becoming excessive. If the engine slows down the centrifugal force reduces and the weights are pulled inward by spring pressure, this movement is used to increase the engine power to maintain speed under increasing load. The expression centrifugal force is used to express that if an object is being swung around on a string the object seems to be pulling on the string. ... Negative feedback is a type of feedback, during which a system responds so as to reverse the direction of change. ...

These engines are often called "hit and miss" because they do not fire on every available power stroke. When the engine is running above a certain rpm, the exhaust valve is held open, and the magneto is prevented from generating a spark. Once the speed drops, the governor allows the exhaust valve to close and the magneto to fire. The engine fires and speeds back up, causing the governor to keep the exhast valve open again.

On a medium size engine such as a 6hp, the engine can be adjusted so that it only fires every 10 seconds or so, when it is not under load. These engines generally drove a wide flat belt to run a firewood cutoff saw, a pump, a reciprocating log saw, etc.

Eventually such engines were rendered obsolete by the development of electrically powered tools, and by newer gasoline engines that were small and economical enough to be permanently built in to each piece of equipment.

Live steam models of stationary engines are popular among collectors and hobbyists. Mamod live steam locomotive and train on a garden railway layout Live steam is steam under pressure, obtained by heating water in a boiler. ...

See also:

• Canterbury and Whitstable Railway.
• Hillclimbing (railway)