An Approach to the Study of a 19th-Century Sugarcane Mill and Steam Engine through CAD Techniques and Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

This article shows an approach to the three-dimensional modelling of a sugarcane mill and its associated steam engine, designed by the Robey and Co. engineering company in 1869. In order to obtain the 3D CAD model of said invention, CATIA V5 R20 software has been employed. Various sources of starting material, from the basis of this research and found in the process of searching for relevant information, provide information on the main elements, operating conditions, and mechanism of the machine. Thanks to the three-dimensional geometric modelling carried out, it has been possible to explain, in detail, both its operation and the final assembly of the invention through the assemblies of its different subsets, thereby obtaining a virtual recreation that shows its operation. Likewise, a study has been carried out, from a mechanical engineering viewpoint, of the gear train that transmitted the movement, in order to ascertain the compression force exerted on the sugar cane. This research, related to industrial archaeology, therefore, enables the reader to understand a machine that constituted a milestone in the sugarcane industry, while paying tribute to the English engineer, Robert Robey.

Keywords

• sugarcane mill
• steam engine
• geometric modelling
• virtual reconstruction
• mechanical engineering