Cylinder Oil Reaches Regulator

On a Sentinel locomotive such as 7109, Steam or Cylinder oil is injected into the superheated steam supply as a means of lubricating the engines' cylinders.

As the steam supply is at boiler pressure, the oil needs to be injected under pressure and that pressure is generated by a mechanical lubricator. I've described much of its configuration in an earlier article.

Part of the pipe leading from the Mechanical Lubricator to the regulator was missing from 7109 and I decided that it would be simplest to replace it and fill the gap using PTFE lined flexible high-pressure hosing with integral fittings.

Initial efforts failed to pump any oil into the new pipe section so I had a think and came up with a Heath Robinson construction to cure the problem. It actually follows from an idea described in the Delvac Mechanical Lubricator's manual (courtesy of the National Library of Australia). The intention is to use a lever to operate an individual pump as shown below.

Unsophisticated!

It operates like this (Also on YouTube):

The end result is shown below:

Oil Dribbles from the bleed valve outlet

The braided flexible hose is shown fixed below the bleed, check and oil regulation valve assembly.