Stern paddle drive arrangement

[Dallinson]

Bert.
I have been away and when I got back I had problems with telephone line etc.
I have been looking at the super photos that you downloaded recently. I was
very impressed by everything, especially the engine room layout. As someone
who knows absolutely nothing about stern paddle drives could you possibly
let us in on your secret as to how you got to this system? The worm drive
and crossheads running down on each side look like a real bit of
engineering!!??

Your interiors are stunning as well!!

All the best.
David

[Bert Learmonth]

David
In a sternwheel engine set up the steam cylinders lay horizontal on the
engine bed which extends back to the paddle wheel crank. The paddle wheel
crank shaft is actually the crank shaft on any engine. On this ship,
Nasookin the crank is 4ft. and the engine has an 8ft. stroke with tandem
compound cylinders, high pressure 16 ins. and low pressure 35 ins. In my
model the engines are built to the specs of the real engine layout except I
left out the high pressure cylinder to incorporate the drive to the drive
rod. The real challenge is to reverse the drive principal to move those rods
The main thing is a crank assembly with the same size as the wheel crank
then engineer the drive from the source of power, an electric motor in this
case. My ambition is real steam. The drive mechanism in this is made up of
salvaged gears and drives from discarded copiers and the likes. The main
thing is to reduce the rpm to a desired speed for the paddle wheel, trial
and error. The only thing is the paddle wheel and rudders have to be larger
than true scale and the rpms increased to make it operate. I hope this gives
you some insight into this type of engine system.
David, I would like to delete the extra picture in the album Nasookin RC but
I don't want to remove the rest.
Best regards Bert.