A couple weekends ago, I took my kids to see the Deutsch Country Days. It’s one weekend each year where they set up a 19th century German immigrant village in Marthasville just east of St. Louis. They make cider, cheese, candles, rope, tin ornaments, and a lot more on the spot. You can see the wonderful household mechanisms in old log cabins and watch blacksmiths at work. But my favorite part had to be the sawmill where they were cutting large logs using a large, ~75cm, diameter blade powered by an actual steam engine.
The big boiler pipes steam into the engine which turns a wheel and axle, which drives a large belt, which connects via another wheel and axle to the large blade. It’s a nice example of a complex machine, which the middle schoolers have been discussing in class.
It was a great way to spend a wonderful fall day.