Paddleducks
Paddler Information => Research => Topic started by: PJ on November 08, 2005, 10:16:50 PM
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This was posted in another forum. Anyone care to tackle this?
Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2005 17:14:20 EST
From: santmin@aol.com
Subject: sidewheelers
I have a question for you paddlewheel guys out there. I have recently been looking at some pictures of Civil War ironclad and tinclad warships and something is bothering me. Several years ago I made a model of Maple Leaf on commission and since I was not a paddlewheel expert at the time (or even now) I did a lot of reading and drawing searching in prep for that model. I found that those nice decorated openings on the side paddlewheel boxes were NOT just for decoration, they served a purpose. Without them the paddles built up a great vacuum inside the paddlewheel boxes that greatly decreased the efficiency of the wheels. I don't see any of those holes on the armored ships. How come????
Bob Santos
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I would think they would have been boarded up for the rigours of the transatlantic voyage, in the same way that windows and portholes are covered with deadlights in stormy weather
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Alistair
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I have a question for you paddlewheel guys out there. I have recently been looking at some pictures of Civil War ironclad and tinclad warships and something is bothering me. Several years ago I made a model of Maple Leaf on commission and since I was not a paddlewheel expert at the time (or even now) I did a lot of reading and drawing searching in prep for that model. I found that those nice decorated openings on the side paddlewheel boxes were NOT just for decoration, they served a purpose. Without them the paddles built up a great vacuum inside the paddlewheel boxes that greatly decreased the efficiency of the wheels. I don't see any of those holes on the armored ships. How come????
Bob Santos
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http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5894#5894 (http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5894#5894)
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Hi Alistair:
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I think he's asking why Civil War ironclads did not have air vents in their paddle boxes. I'm purely guessing that an opening in the paddle box could make the wheels vulnerable to ordinance passing through the vents and damaging the wheels.
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I wonder just what the negative impact of non-vented paddle boxes would be on the performance of these lumbering floating gun platforms. After all I don't think speed or stability in the turns would have been a real issue. What do you think?
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PJ
Victoria, BC Canada
----- Original Message -----
From: Alistair Deayton (research@paddleducks.co.uk)
To: research@paddleducks.co.uk (research@paddleducks.co.uk)
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 3:57 PM
Subject: Re: Ironclad sidewheelers question
I would think they would have been boarded up for the rigours of the transatlantic voyage, in the same way that windows and portholes are covered with deadlights in stormy weather
Â
Alistair
Â
Â
I have a question for you paddlewheel guys out there. I have recently been looking at some pictures of Civil War ironclad and tinclad warships and something is bothering me. Several years ago I made a model of Maple Leaf on commission and since I was not a paddlewheel expert at the time (or even now) I did a lot of reading and drawing searching in prep for that model. I found that those nice decorated openings on the side paddlewheel boxes were NOT just for decoration, they served a purpose. Without them the paddles built up a great vacuum inside the paddlewheel boxes that greatly decreased the efficiency of the wheels. I don't see any of those holes on the armored ships. How come????
Bob Santos
-------------------- m2f --------------------
Exported by Paddleducks Mail System.
http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5894#5894 (http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5894#5894)
-------------------- m2f --------------------
Alistair Deayton
Paisley
Scotland
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Exported by Paddleducks Mail System.
http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5901#5901 (http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5901#5901)
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