Beam engines

[andy]

Hi,

has anyone some ideas why in the US steamers were built with beam engines? I cannot understand this system and think it is a little bit crazy. Why not to make a diagonal engine, when a flat hull is needed?


What were the reasons for the beam engines?

Andy

[Dinosaursoupman]

Hello Andy,

According to the book, Paddle Wheel Steamers and Their Giant Engines by Bob Whittier, published by Seamaster Boats, Inc., ISBN-911401-00-8, there are numerous reasons which led to the use of walking beam engines in American vessels.

First of all it must be appreciated that the beam engine was not an American invention but rather was English and were used in pumping water out of mines. It was later realized that the beam engine could be adapted for use on the water. Robert Fulton was credited with building the first steam powered vessel. He used an engine based on the mine pumping engines of England. The drive mechanism was very complex and it was greatly simplified by later boat builders.

Initially the steam cylinder was placed over the wheel shaft and connected by means of a sliding crosshead. This limited the length of the cylinder since they could only increase it's length by going up, thus effecting the boat's stability. To get around this problem, engine builders decided to place the cylinder in front or behind the shaft and connect it by means of the an overhead beam.

After the Fulton-Livingston monopoly was ruled illegal, in order to be competitive, steamboat companies needed large fast boats. One way of doing this was to increase the power output of the boats. You need to remember that steam pressure in this very early era of steam was relatively low. So one way to achieve more power was for engine builders to increase the strokes of their engines to use all the latent power within the steam, thus creating very long cylinders. Another way to increase power was to use large diameter pistons. 40 PSI on a piston with 1 square inch of surface is the same amount of force as a 40 square inch surface with 1 PSI so with larger pistons they were able to better utilize the low pressure produced by the boilers of the time.

To run these long cylinders and large pistons in the horizontal or diagonal would create two problems, (1) they would take up enormous amounts of space that could otherwise be used for passengers or cargo, and (2) the weight of such large pistons (being made of iron) would produce a tremendous amount of wear on the lower surfaces of the machinery, so durability would have been an issue.

To sum it up, page 10 of the book states; "...it was an improvisation that was eminently workable and practical for the circumstances that existed at the time it was developed."

Randy

[Dinosaursoupman]

Hello PD's,

For a set of beautiful drawings of a walking beam engine, go to;

http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/medias/planbato/GM03PL0157.tif,
http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/medias/planbato/GM03PL0156.tif and
http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/medias/planbato/GM03PL0158.tif.

While you are at it, check out;

http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/02fonds-collections/banquedocuments/planbato/atlas/rec.php
There are numerous single sheet plans of paddlers from the early days of sailing steam built for the French military and postal service as well as a few of other countries vessels.

Also, http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/02fonds-collections/banquedocuments/planbato/planbato/listebato/listebato.php has more complete sets of builder's plans for almost 400 vessels but only the "PINGOUIN" and her sister the"SALAMANDRE" are paddlers.

By the way, researching the PINGOUIN brought me to Paddleducks.

Randy

[campbellman]

I am interested in walking beam engines & their operation. I do have some drawings of the ships & their engines & have been on board the Eureka at San Francisco where one can see some of the engine & there is a small working model. I have heard tales of the engine always trying to stop at dead centres which is understandable, & of the consequent diffculties of starting if the is no way on the ship. I have read of engineers "walking the boards" which sounds a bit dangerous to me & also of "pumping the lever" which I don't understand. The compound walking beam engines are very interesting having different cylinder diameters & strokes.

Not being an engineer I would be interested to have any information on these engines from anyone with knowledge or experience - either full size or model.

Tony   

[Dinosaursoupman]

Hello Tony and welcome to Paddleducks,

If you want to learn about walking beam engines, you need to find a copy of the brochure entitled, Paddle Wheel Steamers and their Giant Engines by Bob Whittier, ISBN 911401-00-8. It explains how they came about as well as how they operated.

I've been on the Eureka too but only as it sits on display. It was retired from service when it's crank pin broke and that, I believe, was a year before I was born. So I don't have any experience on them and I'm absolutely no expert, but I'll relate what I've learned from this book.

"Walking the boards" meant that if the crank happened to stop at dead center, then the crew would open an access panel on the inside of the paddlebox and pry the wheel enough to move the crank off dead center. I could only assume that this was done without steam to the cylinder.

"Pumping the Lever" was the technique of getting the engine started in the right direction. As we've all seen on most any steam engine, the valve actuating arms coming from the eccentrics directly move the valve back and forth. Since the cylinders on walking beam engines were upright, this back and forth motion had to be converted to up and down motion (none of your wisecracks Roderick  ) This was accomplished by placing a cam at a 90 degree angle to a short lever. The valve actuating arm could be disengaged from the lever in order to stop steam from going to the cylinder. When it was time to restart the engine, the engineer would actuate a lever that would operate the valve independently from the actuating arm. Once the timing and direction were right, the actuating arm would be reengaged and she would be on her way.

Eddy, would it be possible to combine this post with the recent post of Andy's regarding beam engines since they cover basically the same thing and would prevent having to duplicate posts?

Randy

[Eddy Matthews]

Eddy, would it be possible to combine this post with the recent post of Andy's regarding beam engines since they cover basically the same thing and would prevent having to duplicate posts?

Randy

Done....

Regards
Eddy

[campbellman]

Randy,

Thanks for finding this thread for me & thanks to Eddy for moving my post.

In the books subject I posted about the book Sidewheeler Saga, which gives a very good general history of American sidewheelers and is written by the man who tried to save the Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. (I bought a signed copy for $6 at Acres of Books in Long Beach). I have seen Ticonderoga just from the road while passing & she looks very nice. The second part of the book is his narrative of the difficulties encountered, partly financial but he attributes one major problem as being the inability to find an engineer competent in operating the engine hence the dead centre issue. 

I was also very interested in the Vanderbilt boats & in particular the European voyage made by North Star.

Regards,
Tony

[Dinosaursoupman]

Hello Tony,

It's sad to think that out of the hundreds, if not thousands of walking beam steamers built, only 2 are left in the world. Then again, the last of these stopped running 50 years ago! I can only imagine that by the time the Eureka and the Ticonderoga were nearing their usefulness, the men running them were well up in years, (the diesel powered vessels being more attractive to the up and coming generations). Operating a steamer was probably a hands on learning experience so with so few walking beam steamers left, there were not many opportunities to learn about their operation.

As I mentioned earlier, the Eureka was retired because the crank pin broke. Why don't they just replace it? Because there is evidently no one with the experience or know how to make and replace the pin.

Even if they were able to get the Eureka running, I  would think that the cost to run her as well as the cost of insuring her would be prohibitive.

Here is a link to view the inboard profile of the Ticonderoga; http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?hh:3:./temp/~pp_1NV6:: Eventually they plan to include the deck plan, outboard profile, machinery, and other detailed drawings. 

Enjoy, Randy

[Red_Hamish]

Hello all, an interesting link to beautifully crafted model of a walking beam paddler engine is here http://www.vallejogallery.com/item.php?id=166

cheers

Jim

[campbellman]

Thanks Randy & Jim,

If they were to put a new crankpin into Eureka I doubt she would get a coastguard ticket. The hull looks very tired even with the work done a few years ago.

The engine model is of superb quality & I wonder how much they got for it.

Tony

[Roderick Smith]

This thread jogged my conscience.  I haven't visited the restored beam engine at Goolwa.  This is partly because the people who did the work are busy running PS Oscar W at any event which I attend, and that will probably include the first weekend in October this year.

This one isn't powering a boat, but it is a beam engine nevertheless.  The first reference which I could find was
www.communitywebs.org/~AHMRC/documents/GoolwaSlipEngine.pdf
There may be other references findable by googling.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[andy]

http://www.deutsches-museum.de/sammlungen/ausgewaehlte-objekte/meisterwerke-iii/dampfmaschine/

Annother one, somtimes running with electrical support in the Deutsches Museum at Munich.

Andy

[mjt60a]

a couple of illustrations (animated!) showing how the up/down motion of the piston is applied to the circular (well, part of a circle..) motion of the beam
http://www.keveney.com/unkbeam.html
http://www.keveney.com/watt.html
though I think these are more representative of 'stationary' rather than marine engines

**found something more relevant! look at this page - http://www.steamboatexplorer.org/timeline.html - scroll down to paragraph 5,  'Walking Beam Engine 1830' (with a picture of a sidewheeler named Lancaster) and click on the last line 'view a video on how the walking beam steam engine works' 

[Bierjunge]

It's sad to think that out of the hundreds, if not thousands of walking beam steamers built, only 2 are left in the world.

Though no original, but built to (scaled) blueprints of a 1857 engine, the PL Princess on the Saginaw River in Bay City, Michigan, seems to be the very only operating walking beam paddler in the world.


Regards, Moritz

[Dinosaursoupman]

Hey PDs,

Moritz, your post jogged my memory. When the Disney World Resort opened in 1971 in Orlando Florida, there was a vessel, the Southern Seas I that was a fully operational steam powered walking beam steamer. She only lasted until 1976 when her hull was found to be rotted. She was scrapped but her engine was placed in the larger Southern Seas II. In this case, the engine was only for show as she was powered by a diesel engine. She too was eventually scrapped when reduced usage and mandatory repairs proved to be more than she was worth. I could find no disposition on the engine after her scrapping in 1996.

Is the engine in the Princess fully functional? Steam powered? Or is she too only for display?

Thanks, Randy