Found a New Vapor Species- "Triumph"

Steamhead

This is in the Strong mansion at Sugarloaf Mountain, about halfway between Frederick, MD and DC. It is a privately owned "Scenic forested day park offering over 15 miles of hiking trails, picnic space & a historic mansion". I'm told Col. Strong built the mansion about 1916 and added onto it in the late 1920s. The mansion is also a popular wedding venue. See: http://www.sugarloafmd.com/

The facilities manager had sent some pics showing a standard Dunham air trap and return trap. I had expected the usual Dunham Return System- but that's not what I saw when I got there:





Triumph. Never seen this name on a Vapor system before. I could not find any markings on the traps since they had a lot of paint on them, but they look like a cross between a Bishop & Babcock and a Webster 712. There is one radiator inside a built-in cabinet that doesn't heat well, and it has one of these traps without the slathered-on paint. They're going to open the cabinet so we can replace the trap and take it apart. Of course we'll use a MEPCO.

The original part of the mansion has Triumph hardware and American Peerless column radiators. The 1920s part has American Corto large-tube rads and Dunham hardware. I have no idea who made the Triumph gear.

The boiler is an oil-fired Smith 19-9 with a Beckett CF1400. One of our upgrades will be to hook up the lo-hi-lo firing capability. There is a Skidmore boiler-feed pump which I'm sure is unnecessary.

Steamhead

Another upgrade will be to replace these old Dunham traps with six-bolt types, and pipe the condensate returns so the system doesn't have to lift the condensate into the dry returns:





More coming the next time we go there.

Mike_Sheppard

Cool stuff! I still get excited when I come across well known vapor systems! 😂

hvacfreak2

This is interesting , I've driven past this place many times ( entire life actually ) and figured it had an interesting heating system of some sort. I used to work on a lot of steam systems in that area , the old estate and farm homes in Buckeystown and Adamstown are mostly steam ( or were ).

As far as the brand name " Triumph " , a friend of mine in Frederick ( city ) once told me about a system he had come across with that brand and mentioned large traps on the radiator outlets. I guess 75 years ago Frederick was pretty isolated so Triumph may have been a local endeavor. I clearly remember an old building at South and East Streets that had an old painted sign that mentioned valve manufacturing , casting , machining.

Steamhead

@hvacfreak2 , I sure hope you're still in touch with that friend! Who knows, maybe he was talking about this same mansion.

Maybe the local Historical Society would have some info on the building you mentioned.

gerry gill

wow- nice find Frank!

Steamhead

@gerry gill , there had to be a patent on that valve- maybe @StevePajek could do one of his searches?

DanHolohan

Forever fascinating. Thanks.

hvacfreak2

I'm sure it wasn't " The Stronghold " , I just remember telling him on the phone " Triumph is motorcycles or a Canadian rock band not a steam system , lol ". I called him " Mr. Frederick " because he didn't like to leave the town ( city limits ). I believe he is still around I'll try and reach out to him.

Steamhead

Here's another possibility:

http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/SILNMAHTL_25940

Steamhead

Maybe they had offices in NYC but the factory was in Mansfield, OH? Not the first time we've seen something like this- for example, Dunham had their office in Chicago but the factory was in Marshalltown, IA.

Fred

THE CRAIG-REYNOLDS FOUNDRY COMPANY:

The Craig-Reynolds Foundry Company is an Ohio Corporation For-Profit filed on January 5, 1893. The company's filing status is listed as Dead and its File Number is 9061.

The company has 4 principals on record. The principals are Et Al, Harrie N Reynolds, John A Mcmahon, and Zenas A Craig.

Steamhead

@IamNotLost , that mansion is in Rochester, NY.

Also, I have a feeling Craig-Reynolds and Triumph Valve were different companies. Not only were they nowhere near each other- Mansfield is on the other side of Ohio from Dayton- but from what I can see their product lines were different. This may explain why they both could use the Triumph name.

I hope @StevePajek can find the time to do one of his patent searches. There is no one on the Wall that does these better than him.

Fred

There was some relationship between one of the principles of the Craig-Reynolds Foundry and the Kuhns Foundry also. I don't recall the Craig Reynolds Foundry but I lived near the Kuhns Foundry, here in Dayton, Ohio, until they closed in the 1970's, maybe early 80's.

Dave in QCA

IF you opt to repair the old Dunham traps, I think you will find that they are designated as #2 model. Cage units and a replacement cap to accommodate them are available through Barnes & Jones. We have quite a number of them in our 1909 property and the B&J products have worked great. The newer 1E trap dimensions are different can be a challenge.

Steamhead

@Dave in QCA , not sure the trap in the pic is a Dunham. Time will tell.

Dave in QCA

@Steamhead I thought it looked like this early Dunham type. NOTE the pdf file at the end. It has dimensions and all details of the original Dunham Radiator Trap.

Steamhead

@Dave in QCA , you nailed it! We spent the first three days of this week at this job, and removed one of the traps that didn't have much paint on it. The Dunham name and patent numbers were crammed on top of the hex surface, which means I couldn't get a good pic of them, but the dimensions agree with the list you posted. So this system originally had Triumph valves and Dunham #2 traps. Interesting... very interesting.

I have more-specific dates: "Stronghold" was originally built in 1912, and enlarged in 1928. The Dunham #22C F&T traps, shown above, didn't exist in 1912 so they were part of the expansion. I have no idea how they dripped that big main (at least 4-inch and maybe larger) originally, or if it was even there in 1912. It serves a large ballroom, dining room and some bedrooms which were part of the expansion, as well as some original parts of the system.

Steamhead

This week's project was to upgrade the 1928-vintage F&T traps to six-bolt ones, and install a drip line to run the condensate back to the boiler. Here's how the F&Ts went in, with multiple swing joints to compensate for different pitches on existing pipes. Whoever installed these pipes didn't want to create any water pockets!

The F&T in the second pic is at the end of the big main. We piggybacked a Mepco 3C 1" thermostatic trap onto the F&T to serve as a crossover, so that main would vent faster.

Steamhead

Some views of the new line. Yes, it's copper, but this place is on well water so it should hold up better. Starting at the F&T at the end of the big main and moving toward the other F&T, which serves a rise-and-drip:



Going through the wall into the boiler room. Note that the concrete in the wall was formulated with quartz aggregate. The staff used a core drill to get through, but it took forever and messed up one of their guys' thumbs. We hope he recovers soon:



And finally, joining the return line before the Return Trap. The welded thread-o-let, as well as the pipe supports, were all @Gordo 's work:

Steamhead

Some more system details. This is right above the Return Trap. The air trap is the later Dunham style, and is piped down the wall to a check valve. Yes, this system still uses vacuum:



To the right of the air trap, you can see a crossover trap, which vents the small main. It was a Dunham #1A, which would be from 1928. We changed it to a modern 1E.

Steamhead

Time to fire and test!

We started the boiler, and it started making steam at 5:43 PM. Everything was stone cold, so it took a while for steam to fill the mains, but at 5:52 we had steam at the small main crossover trap. Two minutes later, steam reached the end of the big main and closed its crossover trap.

We went upstairs, and all the radiators were heating more-or-less evenly. When the Vaporstat reached 8 ounces and started cycling the burner, we let it run for a bit then shut it down. But when we looked at the boiler after about ten minutes, we saw.......



That's right- vacuum! Almost 12 inches. The new compound gauge proved its worth:



We re-started the boiler but it took a bit to build pressure again. All the radiators were still hot.

Next job is to hook up the lo-hi-lo firing control and run a new cable to add post-purge to the burner, then brush and vacuum the boiler and service the burner. Watch this space.

gerry gill

Great work Frank!- did you run across any patent numbers on that triumph stuff anywhere?

Steamhead

@gerry gill Unfortunately, no.

JohnNY

Great thread.