Baker Valve Gear on a Baker Steam Traction Engine

Baker Valve Gear on a Baker Steam Traction Engine
It looks different than steam locomotive Baker valve gear, but it's the same principle, just rearranged. The red bar at the center of the image, actually a pair of bars called the reverse yoke, angled to the left, makes the horizontal eccentric link move up and down. This vertical movement is transmitted to the horizontal leg of the bell crank. The other leg of the bell crank is not very visible, but it moves fore and aft, moving the valve rod. To reverse, the red bar is angled to the right, so that the link moves up and down at the other end of the cycle.
The advantage of Baker valve gear, and a couple others, is that there is no sliding link block, as in Walschaerts, Woolf, or Stephenson valve gear. The sliding action can wear a step in the link guide if the engine is run at less than full cutoff.
LG G7
[802]
Buckeye Steam & Gas Reunion
Middlefield Steam Engine & Railroad Park
Middlefield, Ohio
July 7, 2023
230707g Baker Valve Gear