Paddleducks
Old Yahoo Group => Yahoo Messages => Topic started by: Paulrjordan on June 13, 2005, 06:45:43 PM
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I thought some of you might find article on the "American Queen"
sternwheeler interesting. Reprinted from May 1997 Popular Mechanics
(all rights reserved)article "Rollin on the River" BY RICH TAYLOR
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A good 150 years after the heyday of the Mississippi River steamboat,
it is possible to very nearly duplicate the whole intoxicating
experience of our forefathers. The riverfront of Arkansas and
Louisiana, Tennessee and Mississippi is virtually unchanged since
Grant took Vicksburg in 1863.
The American Queen, launched May 1, 1995, at Amelia, Louisiana, is as
close as you can get to a circa-1860 stern-wheeler and still meet
modern maritime safety laws and contemporary resort hotel standards.
My stateroom is furnished with flamboyant antebellum reproductions.
Drapes, carpets, chairs and wallpaper clash in an eye-popping battle
of floral patterns and fringe that Mrs. Clemens would have thought
elegant.
But old Sam, a steamboatman to his bones, would be amazed at today's
fireproof welded-steel construction and electronic navigation aids,
and the central air conditioning and private bath in each room. The
American Queen is a $65 million tour de force, a modern steamboat
that looks and feels like 1860, only better.
The Mississippi River forces some basic design constraints on any
vessel. For starters, the Army Corps of Engineers guarantees, except
in times of drought, a minimum channel depth of 9 ft. from St. Paul,
Minnesota, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and 40 ft. from Baton Rouge to
the Gulf of Mexico. The bridges that span the Mississippi at many
points are designed for a vertical clearance of 55 ft. above the
surface, except in times of flood. The tight twists and turns of the
meandering river demand a vessel as short and maneuverable as
possible.
At 418 ft., the American Queen is the longest steamboat ever to
paddle this river, and at 89 ft., it's one of the widest. The largest
Mississippi steamboat of the Golden Era was the 1867 Great Republic,
a mere 335 ft. long and 51 ft. wide. Even with everything folded down
to clear overhead obstructions, the American Queen rises 55 ft.,
though to the top of its twin stacks it normally towers 97 ft. 6 in.
above the water. Yet the flat-bottom steel hull draws only 8 1/2 ft.
fully loaded! It's a remarkable bit of marine engineering.
The heart of any steamboat is its engine. According to Chief Engineer
David Lorman, the American Queen is powered by tandem compound
2-cylinder cast-iron reciprocating engines built by Norberg, of
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1928. They were salvaged from an old dredge
called the Kennedy. These are magnificent objects–the cylinders
are 15 and 30 in. in diameter, the stroke 7 ft.–stretching the
whole length of the engine room on each side, encased in gleaming
stainless steel. Each engine produces 750 hp up to a maximum of about
18 rpm.
The engines were designed for 280 psi of steam pressure, though
Lorman and his crew of 16 engineers normally maintain only 220 psi. A
companion 1928 condenser recycles as much water as possible, but even
so, 5 to 7 tons of water must be distilled daily to replenish the
system.
Each piston rod connects directly to an offset throw on the
paddle-wheel crankshaft. The 36-ft. crankshaft is a hollow steel
tube, 18 in. in diameter, riding in a plain bronze bearing at each
end. The paddle wheel itself, surprisingly made mostly of pine and
oak, is 30 ft. wide, 28 ft. in diameter and holds 18 rows of paddle
boards each crafted from two sets of replaceable 14-ft. 2 x 12s
bolted side by side. Steam for the engines is created in a modern
boiler built by BMW in Germany. It's fired by No. 2 heating oil,
located amidships and exhausts through the starboard stack.
Is 1500 hp enough to drive 3700 tons upriver against a 5-mph current?
Not really. The quiet secret of the American Queen is that only 40%
of her drive comes from the shimmering paddle wheel. Hidden in each
side of the fantail is a 1000-hp electric motor turning a 69-in.
4-blade prop through a Z-drive. This looks and functions just like an
oversize outboard-motor lower unit that's been mounted on a ring so
it can pivot 360°. Add a pair of 300-hp bow thrusters mounted in
transverse tunnels, and Capt. Keeton can not only steam full ahead or
full astern, but move straight sideways or spin the American Queen in
her own length. The auxiliary drives are so cleverly hidden that nine
out of 10 passengers would swear the paddle wheel supplies all the
power.
The pilothouse, a glass-walled room 65 ft. above the river surface,
is a model of austere efficiency, dramatically different from the
Victorian opulence of the public spaces. There are twin radar
screens, twin depthfinders and twin tillers controlling the four
rudders placed two before the paddle wheel, two aft. A classic engine
telegraph signals an engineer in the engine room to change
steam-engine speed or direction.
What's most obviously missing is the huge mahogany ship's wheel that
was the pride and joy of oldtime river pilots. Leaning against a
steel instrument panel and guiding a boat as large as a medium-size
office building ought to require more than pushing on a skinny
hydraulic lever with two fingers. However, a proper 6-ft. wheel
dominates the chart room directly below the pilothouse on the
observation deck. But it's only there so passengers can play Let's
Pretend. A pair of swiveling throttles, not unlike outboard motor
controls, are mounted on the console and connect directly to the
Z-drives. Another set of throttles runs the bow thrusters. Duplicates
of all controls are located in control stations on each side of the
bridge.The result is a degree of flexibility and control that would
have amazed oldtime steamboat pilots.
The American Queen can proceed under steam or electric drives or a
combination of the two. It can be steered by conventional rudders,
Z-drives, bow thrusters or a combination of the three. It can be
conned from any one of three separate spots, or even from the engine
room.
More redundancy: power for the steam engine comes from the boiler,
power for the electric drives from three identical generators mounted
on the port side, amidships, driven by Caterpillar 3516 V16 diesels
that exhaust out the port stack. Even more backup: one of the three
generators is always kept in reserve. Short of running out of No. 2
diesel, it's hard to imagine how the American Queen could lose all
power and steering simultaneously.
The American Queen is designed so that the welded-steel railings
on the sun deck are 55 ft. off the water. The tall stacks fold at the
promenade deck and are routinely lowered into cradles by hydraulic
rams. The decorative peak of the pilothouse can be removed and stowed
on the sun deck, all the radar masts can be lowered and, like magic,
the pilothouse itself telescopes into an empty "basement" located
below it on the promenade deck.
The steamboat can then be conned from the bridge and will clear
55 ft. while under way. This isn't always enough. It was stuck for
more than two weeks last spring between two bridges near Cincinnati
when flood waters raised it too high to navigate either up or down the
Ohio River. Passengers and crew had to be taken off and transported by
bus.
If life is spartan for the crew, it is positively luxurious for
the nearly 500 passengers. In addition to guest rooms, the American
Queen contains multiple lounges, a main dining room, an indoor bar,
an outdoor bar, a theater, a workout room and even a good-size
whirlpool. Topping it all off is a steam calliope on the sun deck
that plays rousing steamboatin' music as the vessel clears each port
of call.
The Mississippi is a very special place, a place where time is
suspended. Thanks to state-of-the-art technology, the American Queen
keeps the Old South alive. And that ain't just whistlin' Dixie.
Images of 'American Queen"
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http://popularmechanics.com/popmech/spec/9705SFACF.jpg
http://popularmechanics.com/popmech/spec/9705SFACG.jpg