Jay Leno's Garage
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 5 months, 2015–2024
27:20 · 5.1M views · Apr 14, 2014
Jay Leno tours and drives a 1925 Doble E-20 steam car, once owned by Howard Hughes, covering how it starts up and runs. It includes a cutaway view of the engine.
Cited in steam car threads as a well-produced view of how a Doble works and how it solved startup in 1925.
6 comments from Hacker News
anybody have diagrams of this engine? Picture [LINK] This video opens the hood, and shows cross sections of engine. And is technical focus. [LINK] This Jay Leno video is actually good. Has cutaway of the engine to show the moving parts. this video
Jay Leno has a Doble car (mentioned in the article as a 1920s attempt at a "user-friendly" steam car revival). The video has great production and really shows the starting and driving processes: this video
1930s isn't exactly ancient history. By 1930, for example, we had commercial aviation, a long-distance phone network, and experimental television stations. Of course we also had vacuum cleaners, steam engines, automobiles, combines, and all sorts of other things that needed manuals. At this video you can hear mention of the manual that came with a 1925 steam car. ("In the handbook it says 'Things for your man to do every day.'") To be concrete, here's a copy of the instruction manual for a 51-P Crosley radio receiver from 1924: [LINK] . A "Manual of wireless telegraphy (radio) for the use of naval electricians" from 1915: [LINK] . And "A practical guide for the use of the Edison phonograph" from 1892: [LINK]
The stanly was a much earlier tech, perhaps the best car of it's generation. But compare that to the doble, perhaps the high point of steam car technology before that personal motive power route was abandoned. this video Now admittedly the doble was a high end luxury item, But you can see how it could be possible to have a every mans steam car.
Here is how they solved it in 1925. I feel with our many modern advancements we could do much better. this video That said, as neat as steam cars are, there is a reason internal combustion engines won. Probably because they are smaller, lighter and most importantly cheaper.