The high-pressure steam plant
as of 0.9.9
The steam plant is what the rest of siex is gated on: nothing downstream runs above the pressure this raises. A Lancashire Boiler and a Cornish Engine are the pair that gets there, and an Air Blower on the engine is what turns that steam into the blast the hot blast furnace and the converter both need.
The boiler
A Lancashire Boiler holds 1200 litres, boils between 200 and 800 litres of water and makes up to 48 litres of steam a second, at up to 12 atm. It needs a vent for its exhaust or the fire chokes out, and a line for its steam: held at its 12 atm ceiling with nowhere to push for thirty seconds, it explodes with a four-block radius; opening the man hatch vents it.
The engine
A Cornish Engine takes that steam and drives one attached sub-machine. Its throttle has three settings, each moving the steam draw and the power together:
| Throttle | Engages at | Steam drawn | Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low | 5 atm | 8 L/s | 0.2 |
| Normal | 6 atm | 16 L/s | 0.4 |
| High | 7 atm | 32 L/s | 0.8 |
Above 8 atm at the inlet it wears toward breaking at any setting, so a boiler run flat out at its own 12 atm ceiling is not a setting to leave the engine on.
The blower and the blast gate
An Air Blower on the engine injects 144 litres of air a second per unit of engine power, at the engine's inlet steam pressure times 0.75. Air only counts as blast at 2.5 atm, which sets the floor this whole plant is built to clear: the engine's steam has to stay above 3.4 atm, or the blast falls under the gate mid-run. A Cornish Engine does not engage below 5 atm anyway, so a running one clears the floor with room; a sagging steam line is what loses it. A twin-tub blower cannot reach 2.5 atm at all.
Ironmaking in the hot blast furnace and The Bessemer process are what this plant's blast and power feed.
See Getting started for the rest of the mod's state.