Steam Engine Telegraphs ?

[Waverley]

Hi Derek

What you say must apply to many ships - modern ones have their engines controlled directly from the bridge, do they not?

But this is not the case with WAVERLEY. As several of us have said, the engine room telegraph is merely a signal to the engineers who are expected to obey it.   It seems to work perfectly well and I cannot recall reading of any incident on the Clyde where an engineer put the engines ahead instead of astern or vv.     If this was to happen it would be immediately noticeable on the bridge due to the responsiveness of her engines (you can feel her changing speed) - the large amount of water churned up by the paddles would also be a bit of a giveaway if the wheels were rotating in the wrong direction.    


On WAVERLEY the communication is normally "one way" - I do not believe that the signal is acknowledged by the engineroom under normal circumstances - as the telegraph is very heavily used (sometimes every few seconds) especially when mooring, it is probably not practical.

And of course, on WAVERLEY the engineer is in a highly visible position, supervised by a large nunber of "experts" (like me   ) so he couldn't make a mistake, could he?

The system may be obsolete, but it works.


This thread has really split into two bits now - the subject of engine controls has been covered by others - I'm hoping to be back on WAVERLEY next May if you can wait till then for a fuller "hot off the press" description   - but a couple of additions specific to WAVERLEY now.

The controls comprise about 6 levers - after 50 years I still don't know what they all do.

One of them is a "notched thingy" which controls direction - "ahead", "astern" or "neutral" as Bill described.  I am fairly certain this lever is only used when direction changes.

A second is also a "notched thingy" and is used to control speed.  The further forward the lever is, the faster she goes.  This is used extensively when manouvering at piers.   On passage, the lever is usually about three quarters of the way forward (as opposed to flat out) which gives a reasonably economical cruising speed, but in some locations such as the upper reaches of the Clyde she will cruise at half speed or less to avoid her wash damaging moored vessels.   (and one way to tell that you are out in really bad weather is when she runs at half speed in the open sea - this is to reduce the risk of paddle wheel damage)  

As for the other levers - there is, I believe a very nice booklet available on WAVERLEY called "how the engines work" or similar - if I had a copy I would quote chapter and verse, but that will have to wait till May, I suppose.


As for the original question - when "stop" is signalled, I believe it is normal to shut off steam (of course) and put the engines in "neutral" as the engineer is not expected to predict the next command - when changing direction (say she is running ahead) the sequence would be "stop", followed by "astern" (rather than just "astern"). "Stand by" and "finished with engines" ahould not require an effort from the engineer at all, as the engines will currently be in the "stop" position.

I'm always very impressed with the way WAVERLEY's engines are controlled - when one hears stories of modern vessels requiring ten or twenty miles to stop it is always nice to think that WAVERLEY can go from "full ahead" to "full astern" in only a few seconds (with the same astern power as ahead) and virtually stop on the proverbial sixpence.

Regards

David

[derekwarner_decoy]

Hi PD's & thanks David... it is refreshing ... to talk about     again, however I couldn't see PS Waverley cornering on a sixpence  :luck

Was it not another PD that posted ..... PS Waverley went aground some time back :?:  :?:  :

It is never too late, so  a few snaps of the telegraph   system would be interesting  :rant - Derek

[Waverley]

Not steer on a sixpence - STOP on a sixpence.   Paddles when stopped or going astern make very effective "brakes". Steering when going astern can be a bit of a problem as she seems to have a mind of her own in this respect - it's a pity they couldn't fit the proposed bow rudder during her major refurbishment a few years ago.

As for the latest "grounding", she was maneuvering at Girvan at very low tide and came into contact with a sandbank.  No damage.  20 years ago she would just have continued in service but now it was necessary to cancel the cruise, provide refunds, and organise and pay for land transport to get the passengers home.   The non-event appeared in the press (over-hyped) and no doubt discouraged passengers from sailing on subsequent days -  if nothing else, my reading of the press report suggested she would be out of service for a few days when in fact she was running normally the next day.

Her only major grounding was back in 1977 when she ran onto the Gantock rocks by Dunoon and was almost an insurance write-off - this was caused by a failure of the steering gear.

Regards David (in a dark (at 4:30pm) wet and miserable Milton Keynes in the onset of winter , miles from the sea, six months from my next sailing,  so seriously thinking of going to the pub)

[derekwarner_decoy]

Hi PD's & a quote....from David...

Her only major grounding was back in 1977 when she ran onto the Gantock rocks by Dunoon and was almost an insurance write-off - this was caused by a failure of the steering gear.

I know little if not  :?:  :?:  :?:  :?: re steam steering mechanism's.... all before my time.... I can only  :computer visualize a pair of cylinders driving a worm shaft & meshing with a worm wheel to rotate the rudder :arrow:  :arrow:  ........... Derek

[Dave_Sohlstrom]

Here is a fuzzy shot of the steering engine on the Steam Tug Portland, Portland, Oregon.

Dave