JULIA BELLE SWAIN's Calliope

Bob,

I don't know much about it other than most of the whistles are Thomas J Nichol vintage stuff. Some of them were manufactured to complete the set by the same person who built to steam whistles (operated on compressed air) on the COPY CAT and the BORDER STAR. They are made of aluminium and this is why the rest of the set were chrome-plated...to have symetry in the set.

The Thomas J Nichol whistles I am told came from a private collector. The builder of the fill-ins was a guy out of Evansville, IN (his name escapes me...however every steam whistle he ever made has the inlet off to one side instead of the traditional in the center). I have never had one of these whistles apart to see why this is done. I assume this is for some form of increased flow...but, don't quote me on it since I really don't know.

It seems to me some while back David Morecraft told me Fred Dahlinger at the Baraboo Circus World Museum was involved in the creation of this one.

Originally the calliope used Gould electronic diaphragm selonoid valves. Because of the neoprene diaphragms they had a horrible propensity to flutter when the key was released, they also were rather slow to respond to the keyboard.

Later they were replaced with Magnatrol brand valves like we have on the DELTA QUEEN , BELLE OF LOUISVILLE, and NATCHEZ. These are much more accurate, reliable, and servicable...a wise choice in my book!

The one time I have played the thing was at St. Paul at the end of the 2004 Grand Excursion. it was very accurate to play, a little sapped for steam, but perforrmed rather well. The manifold is rather small for 32 whistles...it is about 6 feet long, 2" diameter with whistles sprouting off both sides in a diatonic arrangement. The service line appears to be 1 1/2" perhaps smaller. It would be nice to see a 2" service line coming to the manifold and I suspect this would cure the lethargic problems of it.

Here is a video of it posted online for you to look at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E7chv0fcpU

I will ask around and see what further info I can dredge up on it. I am sure there is more floating around out there!

~Travis~

Bob,

Travis' reply provides much more info than I could. He's this board's main "calliope man." I'm hoping to tape an interview with Capt. Trone sometime this year, and will ask him for specifics about the JBS calliope. As for Travis' comment about the delayed action on that instrument in her early days, I can attest to that fact. I played the thing back in the 70s and was completely defeated by the lag time between depressing the key and hearing the whistle sound. As someone who literally "plays by ear," unless I can hear the notes immediately, I get screwed up big time and very embarrassing sounds issued from the instrument at my hand. I never attempted to play the thing after that first fiasco until the boat was sold to Kalhagen in La Crosse. In 1995 I reluctantly tried my hand again, and to my surprise and delight, the problem was fixed. According to Travis, that was because of the changes made with the solenoids. How Libby Trone managed to play the thing, and very well, too, is beyond me. She deserves some sort of Calliope Certificate of Merit for her amazing facility on that thing all those years she ran at Peoria and Chattanooga. In my audio files, I have a recording of her calliope being played by Libby on the day of her very first public trips at Peoria in 1971. No offense (or blame) to the calliopist, but it really is a rather painful thing to listen to! Played a departure concert on the TWILIGHT's air calliophone last week when the DQ was in port here in town, and the middle C is inoperable. In those chords, there is distinct vacant wheezing where the C should be! They have no one aboard who can play it any longer, and Kevin Stier offered me the job anytime I care to show up. If they also threw in duties as a popcorn popper, I might consider it! : - )

Thanks to both of you! And Travis, I'm sorry I spelled your last name wrong!

I rode the JBS from Chattanooga to Louisville in 1977 during my time off from Watchman duties on the DQ. When Capt. Trone found out I could manage to get a few tunes out of a calliope, he had me playing it several times during that trip. Since I too play by ear, it was frustrating to me at the very first, but soemhow I managed to do pretty well with it once I saw what the deal was. I attribute that to playing around with a big Wurlitzer theatre organ at the Orpheum in Memphis when I was in high school...that thing had about a 3 second delay from the time the key was pressed/released and you heard the result from those chambers buried deep about 1/2 mile away!

Thanks again to both you guys.

The last I knew, the JBS' calliope was out of commission. Bear in mind the last time we saw her was the end of June, but here is the photo to prove it.

This line is the steam supply to the calliope that runs up the stern bulkhead from the engine room. The missing segment is where the steam pressure regulator normally resides. Apparently some sort of malfunction (of what nature I'm unsure) damaged the regulator and a new one had to be sent away for.

Beats me as to whether they have the new part installed or even on hand. Can anyone speak to that effect?

Ok. I have a question, strictly as an HVAC, I "know all about steam", engineer..bear with me, steam is HEAT only, in my profession...I am still struggling with steam as power and steam as music...

When the note is played there seems to be a small amount of steam that seems to be blown straight downward at an angle away from the whistle, it sometimes appears to me to be a leak between the whistle and the steam supply piping, but I know this is wrong...is there a hole in the bottom "bucket" of the whistle to allow steam condensate to drip away from the whistle to allow it to be "dry" any time it is warmed up and played? It appears that every calliope that I've ever seen playing has this small stream of steam that shoots down, at an angle, and to the outside everytime a note is played...

Ok, it's a little scary that I noticed this...do I love calliopes, or what?

Bruno, I will defer to Richard or Travis on this one, but here is what I THINK: I ,too, have noticed the phenomenon of which you speak. I think it is steam being forcefully ejected from the whistle bell that is ejected downward due to its having to make a "U-turn" in the bell. I know of no drain holes in the bowls of any steam whistles; in fact, a calliope must be "blown out", or cleared of condensate, before the whistles will speak properly. The downward-blowing steam we see seems to be more evident on some calliopes than others - I'm guessing this has to do with differences in pressures, volumes and whistle and supply line scales. I know Richard will straighten us out on this!

You know, one of these days I gotta play the DQ's calliope. It used to be the only things I had never done on the DQ to become a full fledged "member" was to fly a kite and get my "Vox Calliopus" certificate.

Thank you my good bud David, in May for satisfying the former. Ginnie Rhynders pictures of me sitting on the Cabin Deck in pure bliss with a legitamately flying kite are priceless. And everybody screaming at me to get the kite down..."there are power lines coming...!!!", what a memory.

But can I learn the keys to "Louis, Louis" or better yet "Kingdom Coming" soon? Or am I doomed to being an also ran?

The glorious console of the M/V Twilight's calliophone, replete with middle C sputtering.

Didn't the JBS calliope console come from a church and get modified for less holy work???

Hmmmm.... let the console speak for itself.

I commented to Dad, "The only calliope in the world that you have to plug in to use!"

I bet those stops above the "manual" feel underappreciated.

Does plugging in a vacuum cleaner to power your calliope, like Gabe used to do, count as a plugged in calliope???

Yes, that is a purpose-built "leak" to allow condensate to more quickly be ejected. During playing, some does form between note playing on each individual whistle, so a small hole is often drilled in the "crook" of the elbow below the whistle, after the valve.
And Bruno, If I can fry everyone's sense of music by horridly playing "Clementine" and forgetting the b-flat practically everytime, you too can play the calliope!
S'
David D.
PS, not many notice that steam jet!

Travis,
Wow, I agree with you, even from an amateur's view, that manifold looks way too small. One advantage of an oversized manifold is the reserve steam expansion power it provides. Of course, with every plus, there is an opposite effect, in this case, a larger pipe means more condesation! (hmm, insulated manifold?)
S'
David D.

David Tschiggfrie;6583 wrote: As for Travis' comment about the delayed action on that instrument in her early days, I can attest to that fact. I played the thing back in the 70s and was completely defeated by the lag time between depressing the key and hearing the whistle sound. As someone who literally "plays by ear," unless I can hear the notes immediately, I get screwed up big time and very embarrassing sounds issued from the instrument at my hand.

Perhaps that's why Libby Trone always wore earphones when she played the calliope.

Ye Gods and Little Catfish, Bob!
A three-second delay - that's a lifetime in music. Playing dance band trumpet, if we got a three second rest we told a joke, emptied the spit-valve and yawned.

Locating the inlet off to one side of a whistle would certainly not increase the flow. If anything this offset would create a pressure differential from the slit area nearest the inlet and that directly opposite of it, actually reducing the whistle's output and operating efficiency. Ideally you want the same pressure around the entire circumference of the slit delivering the steam or air to the lip of the whistle's bell.

[QUOTE=Travis Vasconcelos;6581]Bob,

I don't know much about it other than most of the whistles are Thomas J Nichol vintage stuff. Some of them were manufactured to complete the set by the same person who built to steam whistles (operated on compressed air) on the COPY CAT and the BORDER STAR. They are made of aluminium and this is why the rest of the set were chrome-plated...to have symetry in the set.

The Thomas J Nichol whistles I am told came from a private collector. The builder of the fill-ins was a guy out of Evansville, IN (his name escapes me...however every steam whistle he ever made has the inlet off to one side instead of the traditional in the center). I have never had one of these whistles apart to see why this is done. I assume this is for some form of increased flow...but, don't quote me on it since I really don't know.

Both of you are correct. You never want a manifold of less cross sectional area of that of the sum of the inlets of all of the whistles that could ever be used in a chord. In fact, doubling the area of this would be a good thing. Remember that for circular cross sections, as in manifolds A = pi * radius ^2. A single whistle of 12" diameter would use a 2" inlet in itself! Knowing this, you would never want a 2" manifold supplying all of the whistles. This also applies to the supply line.

David Dewey;6604 wrote: Travis,
Wow, I agree with you, even from an amateur's view, that manifold looks way too small. One advantage of an oversized manifold is the reserve steam expansion power it provides. Of course, with every plus, there is an opposite effect, in this case, a larger pipe means more condesation! (hmm, insulated manifold?)
S'
David D.

Steam entering the side of a whistle valve casting does not prove that the inside port is also offset. There may have been a mechanical reason for it such as location of a spring, ease of re-seating the valve, ease of assembly or maybe a bright-idea experiment. I've never had a Nichols valve apart, so I do not know why they were made that way.

I took the forementioned asymmetry to be in the whistle itself, rather than a solenoid valve. If the asymmetry is only in the valve, it would not affect the whistle's performance. However, a whistle with an offset inlet may have its performance degraded by the pressure differential that I mentioned earlier.

Alan Bates;6621 wrote: Steam entering the side of a whistle valve casting does not prove that the inside port is also offset. There may have been a mechanical reason for it such as location of a spring, ease of re-seating the valve, ease of assembly or maybe a bright-idea experiment. I've never had a Nichols valve apart, so I do not know why they were made that way.

Bruno,

The answer is this....on the 90deg elbow on each of the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE, DELTA QUEEN, and NATCHEZ calliopes there is a small port drilled in for the exhaust of condensate. The purpose of this is the horizonatally mounted Magnatrol valve. Because the nipple the valve is mounted on comes out from the middle of the outside of the manifold, it has a propensity to build up condensate both in the nipple and suck it from the bottom of the inside of the manifold.

The condensate is of course steam which has returned to its liquid status...the thought is condensate (water) weighs more than the steam (vapor) and will "fall out" of the miniscule openings ( you can see this in action clearly in this video of the NATCHEZ calliope http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK7Q5rt9_zA ).

This is repeated on the bottom of each whistle on all calliopes for the same purpose; drainage. Judy started a thread with 2 pictures of Capt. Clarke Campbell "Doc" Hawley playing the calliope on the NATCHEZ ( http://www.steamboats.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1594 ) . You can see this clearly in the cool weather pictures featuring the voluminous steam. Look and you will see steam blowing down, up, and from the base of the whistle.

The other picture on the aforementioned thread shows him tuning one of the whistles of the NATCHEZ calliope. Here is a calliope question I have always had about that instrument on the NATCHEZ. Are the baffle plates still in the whistles? I know the other two Jess Cohen calliopes (Str. MINNE HA HA and M/V PA DENNY) had baffle plates in them which has doubled lock nuts on either side. They threaded up and down on the threaded rod in the center of the whistle bell. The purpose; percieved fine-tuning. We had something similar on the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE when we still had the Ernest Wilde calliope (1966-1988). They were a total pain when tuning the instrument and only added time to the equasion.

Anyone know if ther are still there, or were ever there?

And does this diatribe answer the exhaust steam from below the whistles?

Thanks. This is quite informative. Now I know why there is steam exiting from below the whistles as well as from above, as is normal. Rather than having drainage holes in each of the valves, it would be better to use a steam trap in the line to get rid of the condensation in the line.
http://mjbco.com/?id=advanced&sitrackingid=3083577&kc=xHfkl&OVRAW=water%20trap%2C%20steam&OVKEY=steam%20trap&OVMTC=advanced&OVADID=1154166521&OVKWID=8833373021

All whistles need a baffle plate (also known as a spreader plate or languid plate) in order to form the annular slit to form the windsheet (steam sheet) between it and the bowl. This windsheet is directed toward the inner lip of the bell, just as in a closed organ pipe.

The pressure at which a whistle will fully blow is dependent on the width of this slit for a whistle of a given scale (working length to diameter ratio). It is the scale of the whistle which determines how loud the whistle will sound prior to overblowing. Each time the scale of a whistle is halved, its output decreases by a predictable 12 dB.

We discuss issues such as this regularly at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/steam-whistles

Travis Vasconcelos;6640 wrote: Bruno,

The answer is this....on the 90deg elbow on each of the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE, DELTA QUEEN, and NATCHEZ calliopes there is a small port drilled in for the exhaust of condensate. The purpose of this is the horizonatally mounted Magnatrol valve. Because the nipple the valve is mounted on comes out from the middle of the outside of the manifold, it has a propensity to build up condensate both in the nipple and suck it from the bottom of the inside of the manifold.

The condensate is of course steam which has returned to its liquid status...the thought is condensate (water) weighs more than the steam (vapor) and will "fall out" of the miniscule openings.

This is repeated on the bottom of each whistle on all calliopes for the same purpose; drainage. Judy started a thread with 2 pictures of Capt. Clarke Campbell "Doc" Hawley playing the calliope on the NATCHEZ. You can see this clearly in the cool weather pictures featuring the voluminous steam. Look and you will see steam blowing down, up, and from the base of the whistle.

The other picture on the aforementioned thread shows him tuning one of the whistles of the NATCHEZ calliope. Here is a calliope question I have always had about that instrument on the NATCHEZ. Are the baffle plates still in the whistles? I know the other two Jess Cohen calliopes (Str. MINNE HA HA and M/V PA DENNY) had baffle plates in them which has doubled lock nuts on either side. They threaded up and down on the threaded rod in the center of the whistle bell. The purpose; percieved fine-tuning. We had something similar on the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE when we still had the Ernest Wilde calliope (1966-1988). They were a total pain when tuning the instrument and only added time to the equasion.

Anyone know if ther are still there, or were ever there?

And does this diatribe answer the exhaust steam from below the whistles?

Richard,

My reference to a baffle plate was up inside the whistle as a assumed tuning device. Not the languid plate in the base of the whistle below the bell.

We do have steam traps in line before the manifold and on the manifold on all of the above mentioned instruments. However, placing an additional trap between the nipple and the whistle would be rather costly and I can assume barely effective.

Some have said this problem could be reduced with the addition of insulation on the manifold. Personally, I feel this is alot of time and money wasted for a very small problem which just adds to the ambiance and over all effect of the calliope. If it were perfect, it wouldn't be a steam calliope.

Can I hear an Amen?

~Travis~

OK, now we're speaking the same language. The tuning plate you're referring to is similar to the piston inside the bell of a Lunkenheimer Fire Alarm or Mockingbird whistle.
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT476472&id=CqFEAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=476472#PPP1,M1 This piston was used to vary the pitch of the whistle as it was being blown, but the one you are referring to would be set and fixed for tuning purposes.

It's good to know you are already using a steam trap in the line. Is it installed at the line's lowest position, where the water would have a natural tendency to collect? It seems that slightly elevating the manifold at the end opposite of where the steam enters would help insure that the condensate would natuaraly drain toward the trap. Maybe you've already tried this. If that's the case, insulating the line and manifold would be the next step.

Travis Vasconcelos;6644 wrote: Richard,

My reference to a baffle plate was up inside the whistle as a assumed tuning device. Not the languid plate in the base of the whistle below the bell.

We do have steam traps in line before the manifold and on the manifold on all of the above mentioned instruments. However, placing an additional trap between the nipple and the whistle would be rather costly and I can assume barely effective.

Some have said this problem could be reduced with the addition of insulation on the manifold. Personally, I feel this is alot of time and money wasted for a very small problem which just adds to the ambiance and over all effect of the calliope. If it were perfect, it wouldn't be a steam calliope.

Can I hear an Amen?

~Travis~