After removal from the port Worthington pump steam chest, the packing material mentioned in the last post was largely complete and retained the shape of the cavity it was pressed into.   Examination under a microscope at 100x magnification revealed that the individual fibers are translucent and have a twist or ‘convolution’.  There is also an [...]

  Last week Will and Eric were preparing to photograph the steam chest from Monitor’s port Worthington Pump.  This component houses the slide valve which fed steam from the boilers to drive the pump’s steam piston.  Noticing that the valve rod packing seal fitting appeared to have loosened up during treatment, they were able to [...]