The Library of Congress

[steamboatmodel]

I came across this link on the RC Groups Forum someone was looking for "side wheeler tugboat plans" and the Eppleton Hall was suggested.
The Library of Congress
http://memory.loc.gov/pp/pphome.html
(search on Eppleton Hall)
There may be other interesting items on the site.
Regards,
Gerald

[Dinosaursoupman]

Here is the first page of drawings that the Historic American Engineering Record from the
library of Congress has on the Eppleton Hall; http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=pphhsheet&fileName=ca/ca1500/ca1508/sheet/browse.db&action=browse&recNum=0&title2=Steam%20Tug%20EPPLETON%20HALL,%20Hyde%20Street%20Pier,%20San%20Francisco,%20San%20Francisco%20County,%20CA&displayType=1&maxCols=2&itemLink=r?pp/hh:@FIELD(DOCID+@BAND(@lit(CA1508)))

The HAER also contains drawings of the EUREKA, a sidewheel walking beam railroad/car ferry here;http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=pphhsheet&fileName=ca/ca1500/ca1504/sheet/browse.db&action=browse&recNum=0&title2=Ferry%20EUREKA,%20Hyde%20Street%20Pier,%20San%20Francisco,%20San%20Francisco%20County,%20CA&displayType=1&maxCols=2&itemLink=r?pp/hh:@FIELD(DOCID+@BAND(@lit(CA1504)))

Enjoy, Randy

[derekwarner_decoy]

Hi PD's & thanks Gerald & Randy.....the Eppleton Hall detail is very interesting....the Drawings appear to be dated 1990 so are clearly not original masters

However I have never seen the tables that relate to the hull expansion & the assembled flat plates all to do with computers .............. I will have a with a few older colleagues who were 'Loftsman'....as apprentices...... Derek

[Dinosaursoupman]

the Drawings appear to be dated 1990 so are clearly not original masters

That's correct Derek. The page with the plate expansion drawing and table of offsets explains how and I believe when the measurements were taken.

Here's a link that explains the purpose of the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER); http://www.nps.gov/history/hdp/haer/index.htm

There are a handful of historic ships included in the joint HABS/HAER/HALS collection but, unfortunately, nowhere near the amount of historic vessels that are still (at least for now) in existance. Wouldn't it be wonderful if all these vessels could be documented and then placed on the web for all to enjoy, and free to boot.

Randy

[greateastern]

Randy,
 The government did survey 426 historic working vessels and plans were drawn up from the surveys. They were originally published in 7 large  volumes by  the Ayer Co and many were available as individual drawings. Model Expo in Florida used to sell them years ago but eventually had a "fire sale" to clear out the plans bin. They went for a song. They used to be available from the Smithsonian which published a catalog of drawings available from their collection. This particular collection  is called the Historic American Merchant Marine Survey (1936-37). They don't seem to be answering their email these days but their snail-mail address is on their website.
  THe Eppleton Hall drawings are taken off in dry dock and they are of the tug at that time.  It is a pity that PD's have to continue to "find" this site as I listed it last year. Perhaps the link could be put in the downloads section or plans section.

[Dinosaursoupman]

GE,

I have the catalog from the Smithsonian that lists the plans from the HAMMS volumes. I know that they sell copies, or at least they used to,  since I also have a couple of the plans that are available from the HAMMS collection. It can get expensive because each sheet has a base rate of at least $10 with several sheets often available for a particular vessel. Another caveat emptor is that you don't always know what you will get. For instance; Years ago I ordered the plans of the walking-beam sidewheeler CHICAGO of 1874 and got only the lines. Of course that was all that was advertised on the sheet but in my naivety, I thought there would be a little more to work with. I still think it would be great if these were all available online like the few on HAER. I believe the last time that one of the very few complete HAMMS catalogs went on sale, they were asking several thousand dollars, and that was several decades ago.

Randy

[greateastern]

Randy, I'm  sure that digitizing the plans wouldn't fit the American government business model though it would be great to see it done. They can spend the time digitizing the ragtime sheetmusic collection because it can be a political issue but who cares about the plans to the USS Arizona except a few modellers? The National Archives is the treasure trove were all waiting for. Even though we have paid for these treasures for years as taxpayers, they will attempt to ring out from us as much as they can, though even at 10$ a sheet, that's cheap compared to the 75$ a sheet that Stuart  paid for some copies from the British Library.  It's kind of like photography though, film is the cheapest part (or was) of the process.
   At this point though, I have more than I can possibly  use in what's left of my lifetime , but I am still on the lookout for other intersting paddlers. If I'm not near the paddler I love, I love the paddler I'm near.
Sigh!