Our update of November ’21 covered what was going on with the grate installation inside the firebox. Here we will tie things up and cover the shaker mechanism & linkages. The shaker fulcrums are attached low on the backhead of the boiler near the mud ring. The cardboard over the firedoor hole is a mock-up for a needed spacer to allow mounting the firedoor over the staybolt ends. Detail on why is included below.

The shaker handle is slipped over the short stub controlling the section of grates to be shaken and the latch is released to allow the work to begin. The shaker rods reach under the boiler and connect to the tabs on the bottom of the grates in groups.

Because we are dealing with a new boiler of welded construction modifications are having to be developed and implemented. In the new boiler the welded staybolts stand out from the surface where the original construction used threaded stays which were hammered over during installation and resulted in an almost smooth backhead as seen in this shot from 2004.

A spacer plate has been machined in order to give a smooth mounting surface for the fulcrums and you can also see new pins and latches have been fabricated. In the last shot we can see the grate shaker system fully installed and ready for the first fire.