BOCES Students Make Replacement Parts for Antique Preheater
Several students from the Cattaraugus-Allegany BOCES Center at Belmont have been involved in the restoration of a water preheater unit used in conjunction with the Friendship Volunteer Fire Department's "Miss Daisy" Silsby pumper (1881).
Published On: 4/5/2005
Several students from the Cattaraugus-Allegany BOCES Center at Belmont have been involved in the restoration of a water preheater unit used in conjunction with the Friendship Volunteer Fire Department's "Miss Daisy" Silsby pumper (1881). According to BOCES Machine Tool Operations Instructor Donald Schaefer, two Machine Tool Operations students from Friendship Central School - juniors Jed Davis and Ryan Prial -- acted as project technicians. The pair was joined in the project by five more Machine Tool Operations students, Electrical/Electronics Technology student James Van DeWalker (also from Friendship C.S.), Natural Resources student Les Blouvet (also from Friendship C.S.), and three students from Welding/Metal Fabrication.

Tom Cannon from the Friendship Volunteer Fire Department (FFD) is heading up the Friendship Silsby Restoration project. Several pieces of the antique preheater unit were missing or broken and had to be replaced in order for the preheater to be restored to working order. Mr. Cannon worked with staff and students from the BOCES Center at Belmont to have some of the specialized metal parts fabricated.

One of the parts to be replaced was the cantilever arm that is used to regulate a draft door, which in turn regulates the fire used to keep the water up to temperature. Mr. Van DeWalker, and Mr. Blouvet and Niles Christie made a wood model of the cantilever arm on the preheater from the Friendship Fire Department. Using the wood model, BOCES Machine Tool Operations students made the metal arm.


FCS junior Machine Tool Operations student Jed Davis is shown machining the
straight edge of the cantilever arm he made using a wooden model.

The preheater unit is the part that sat in the fire hall and continually heated the water in the pumper, so that it was ready to make steam to run the pump in the event of a fire. The self-regulating preheater would be disconnected from the pumper and the pumper would be hitched to a team of horses and driven to the fire. This preheater unit is the only Silsby preheater unit known to exist.

The students had to replace all the piping and valving on the preheater. The students used the pipe bending equipment to replace the piping on the preheater and from the preheater back to the steamer. Very little of the piping was in straight lines so the students had to deal with this additional challenge in preserving this unique piece of history.

The FFD expects to have this preheater unit ready for display by May. The BOCES students also designed a pedestal unit to display the porcupine part of the preheater. The porcupine increased the heating surfaces of the boiler 25-30 times. This is what made the preheater so efficient in heating the water and keeping the water warm. The students are continuing their efforts to mount the pedestal on bearings so it can be turned to provide the best possible presentation of the preheater for future viewers of the antique fire fighting equipment display.

Mr. Cannon said, "I appreciate all the help I received from everybody at BOCES. The students had an experience even the employees of the Smithsonian will never get!"

Instructor Donald Schaefer added, "The students also benefited greatly from the experience. In addition to the satisfaction of giving back to their community, the students exercised their design and analytical thinking skills through the project. In addition, the students also got to use some equipment that they don't often get a chance to use such as a crane, sling, and our extra large lathe. The students learned that the first design is not always the best design. The students even got a bit of a history and science lesson through the project."

You can contact Tom direct for more information about this project and the historical grant they are working on at: silsby657@aol.com


James Van DeWalker appears pleased after completing the piping portion of
the 1881 FFD Silsby preheater. The senior from Friendship Central School is enrolled
in the Electrical/Electronics Technology course at BOCES.


BOCES Machine Tool Operations students Ryan Prial (front) from Friendship C. S. and Josh Outman
(back) from Scio C. S. take measurements for the center pedestal of their display stand.
The quills from the "porcupine" were in the way and made measuring very difficult.


Student James Van DeWalker completes the piping from the preheater unit back to
the FFD 1881 Silsby fifth size steam fire pumper.


Student Ryan Prial (at right) watches as Machine Tool Operations instructor Donald Schaefer signs off on
the work that Ryan designed and completed. The pedestal pictured will support the porcupine
portion of the FFD 1881 Silsby preheater.

 

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