The Collier Problem: Toward a Definition and Application

April 15, 2025 by kris de decker Filed Under: Sailing ships, Shipping, Steam


A Collier problem occurs whenever a new technology requires the technology it nominally replaces to function due to efficiency limits. Steam ships replaced sailing ships, but without windjammers the steamships could not function. This led to worldwide exports, paradoxically with large sailing vessels often transporting the coal needed by steamships, as they were more economical to operate on long oceanic sea routes.

Read more: Woods, Steven. “The Collier Problem: Toward a Definition and Application.” Image: Unloading coal from a collier on East Beach in the town of Cromer. Norfolk, England. Image taken on 8 March 1912. Public Domain.

How to heat your cabin with steam?

June 1, 2023 by kris de decker Filed Under: Heating appliances, Random, Steam, Steampunk

This is a guest post by Mikhesh The Steamer.

It does not have to be just about the winter regarded with apprehension, which did not prove to be as much problematic in Europe at all. In the outlying hills, there is a lack of electricity or gas source. On the other hand, there is usually water and wood nearby. A steam heater can be assembled from things you find in a garbage dump, thrown away in a workshop or in a hobby market.

In a cabin with a fireplace after thirty minutes, the temperature is at best slightly higher, but with steam heating, a T-shirt is enough for that time. You can also spread the steam behind several corners and you don’t have to rely on heat radiation. Wood consumption is equal to a regular fireplace. The difference is in how we deal with its energy.

[Read more…]

Steam engine galleries

May 4, 2009 by kris de decker Filed Under: Engines & Motors, Obsolete technology, Steam

Machinekamer_van_wilton

Locomobiel Stoommachine is a Dutch site, but it is worth clicking around because of the quantity and the quality of pictures and drawings of all possible steam engines and their applications. (note 02/2011: site has been moved and renamed).

Hybrid windmill

April 23, 2009 by kris de decker Filed Under: History, Obsolete technology, Steam, Wind Power, Windmills

Hybrid windmill

Corn-grinding windmill, equipped with an auxiliary steam engine (Rotterdam, the Netherlands, circa 1900). Source: “Geschiedenis van de techniek in Nederland“.

Steam log haulers

February 22, 2009 by kris de decker Filed Under: Obsolete technology, Steam

Steam log hauler

Steam log haulers: The handful of
Lombard steam log haulers known to still exist today are a part of
history that illustrates the ingenuity of those who came before us. 
That history came alive Saturday as one of these surviving 19-ton
machines steamed into action in Brunswick.