This Gallows A-Frame Walking-Beam steam engine was designed and built by WED (Walter Elias Disney) Enterprises in 1969 to power the Osceola-class side wheel steam boats Southern Seas and Ports-O-Call. These boats were part of the the “World Cruise” attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort from the early 1970s to the mid-1990s.
Southern Seas
Our steam engine powered the Southern Seas. The Southern Seas was scrapped in 1977 after it sunk while tied to a dock awaiting repairs.
In 1977 a new diesel-electric “steam-boat”, the Southern Seas II, was built to replace the original. The walking-beam steam-engine from the original Southern Seas was installed, minus the piston and with a few other modifications. A 300 HP diesel electric generator drove electric motors connected to the paddle wheels for propulsion, and an additional electric motor that moved the steam-engine. The Southern Seas-II was scrapped in the 1997.
Soon after the Southern Seas-II was scrapped the steam engine was donated to the Mystic Seaport Museum. In 2023 the engine was donated to the The New England Wireless and Steam Museum.
The engine used in Disney’s Osceola-Class steam boats was modeled after the engine in the Steam Boat Francis Skiddy that was built in 1849. The steam engine in the Francis Skiddy used drop cut-off valves that were invented by Frederick Ellsworth Sickels and described in patent US2631 issued in 1842.
It also resembles one of the engines in the Sickels patent US161711 from 1875 that covers Improvements in Compound Steam-Engines.
Volunteers picked up the first load of small parts of the simulated steam engine in January 2023.
This is a CAD model of the Gallows A-Frame for the Walking-Beam steam engine. We will get a local saw-mill to fabricate the beams from oak. We will need to fabricate the knees that reinforce the joints between the beams. There are many iron parts that reinforce the entire frame.
This is the CAD model of the inside of the 23″ diameter piston. We will get a local foundry to cast a new one from iron, and get a local machine ship to finish it.
The plan is to make a new Gallows A-Frame from wooden beams, make a new piston from cast iron, reassemble the steam engine, and have it operational under steam once again.
Related Patents:
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- 2631 Frederick Elsworth Sickels, New York, New York Co., Valve Gear, 5/20/1842
- 4199 Frederick Elsworth Sickels, New York, New York Co., crank connection, 9/19/1845
- 4201 Frederick Elsworth Sickels, New York, New York Co., mode of tripping cut-off valves, 9/19/1845, reissued 2/21/1860, #907, 908, 909, 910, 911, 912
- 4202 Frederick Elsworth Sickels, New York, New York Co., reciprocating steam engine, 9/19/1845; reissued 6/1/1858, #565
- 161,711 Frederick Elsworth Sickels, New York, New York Co., Improvements in Compound Steam-Engines, 4/6/1875