Marine engineering

“ But in the side-lever engine lightness and compactness were sacrificed to solidity and length of connecting-rod, and as the use of steam gradually spread in the navy, and it became apparent that for every ton saved in the weight of and space occupied by the machinery valuable increase could be effected in the armament and coal capacity of the ship, it was inevitable that the ingenuity of the first engineering country in the world should be directed to the necessity for improvement in marine motive power. ”

“ In fact, everything that the most modern engineering skill could suggest has been introduced in order to fit the place for turning out not only the largest class of marine engines, but also for the saving of manual labour, and it is expected that 50,000 I.H.P. can be turned out per annum. The entire premises, it should be stated, are illuminated by the electric light, partly on the “Brush” and partly on the “Swan” systems. The vessels on the slips and in the dock are also illuminated by electric light applied in a portable form. ”

“ Progress in shipbuilding and especially in the construction of fast and luxuriously appointed ships has been simply phenomenal, particularly during the past two decades. There is no art in the whole field of engineering that has made such rapid and astonishing strides; and it is not stretching the point too far to assert that man's mastery of the ocean is the greatest engineering triumph of all time. ”

“ This submarine graveyard offers wonderful opportunities for the engineer, because the raising of wrecked vessels is really a branch of engineering. It is a very special branch, to be sure, and one that has not begun to receive the highly concentrated study that have such other branches as tunneling, bridge-construction, etc. Nevertheless it is engineering, and it has been said of the engineer that his abilities are limited only by the funds at his disposal. ”

“ It is well known that engineers can only become acquainted with the true capacity of machinery by long and careful study. Statistics have proved that marine engines in the navy under the direction of good men have been run with less coal, less oil and greater working power year by year when the same man has had control of the engine-room. ”

“ In such huge and complicated structures as ships have grown to be, repairs, naturally, are frequent and vital. The ordinary wear to which the machinery is subjected necessitates constant adjustments and replacements. Improved mechanical apparatus sometimes is installed to take the place of less reliable or less economical apparatus. The action of sea water on the exposed metal and the collection below the water line of barnacles and other marine growths require periodic attention, while paint seems for ever necessary and, at least on warships, wet paint is omnipresent. ”

“ The reason why the engineering arts that are connected with the sea have gone ahead more rapidly than any other arts is simply that they are given wider opportunity and a greater scope. It is inherent in the very nature of things that it is easier to transport things by water than by land; that water transportation lends itself in a higher degree to the exercise of engineering skill, to the attainment of great results. ”

“ The commercial world is indebted to American enterprise for having settled a question of such vital importance. The marine engineer has thus been encouraged to renew his efforts to perfect the steam-engine without fear of rivalry from a motor depending on the dilation of atmospheric air by heat. ”

“ Engineers, however skilled in the shops, are wholly unfit for the service at sea until they have had months of experience, and become accustomed to sea-sickness. When one of our first American mail steamers sailed for Europe, no practised marine engineer could be found to work her engines. ”

“ Commercially, it is of the utmost importance that increase of speed and power should be achieved, with the least possible weight of machinery, water, and fuel to be carried; with the least possible expenditure of fuel; with safety and efficiency in working; with low wear and tear, and cheapness of maintenance.
The efficiency of the ship and machinery in fulfilling the various and often conflicting conditions of economical service is a matter with which the naval architect and the marine engineer have jointly to deal. ”

“ The naval machine having been designed as to both personnel and material, strategy has nothing to do with the material in preparing the machine for use, because the material parts are already prepared, and it is the work of engineering to keep those material parts in a state of continual preparedness. ”

“ The Oil Engine.—At the present time there is no oil motor in existence of sufficient power to give even moderate speed to a large boat, but the ingenuity of the engineer will probably overcome this drawback. ”

“ A century ago the forms of ships were decided by sheer sagacity; to-day, as we have seen in this book, such forms are of definite approved types, each adapted to specific needs, and never departed from by a prudent designer except in slight and carefully noted variations. Such examples may be drawn from many another field where science and industry join hands, especially in every branch of modern engineering. A new power-plant, in every detail of its installation, is so standardized that a competent corps of erectors, from any part of the civilized world, can readily put it together. ”

“ The need for such a work has been felt by most engineers engaged in the construction and working of Marine Engines, not only by the younger men, but also by those of greater experience. The fact that the original German work was written by the chief engineer of the famous Vulcan Works, Stettin, is in itself a guarantee that this book is in all respects thoroughly up-to-date, and that it embodies all the information which is necessary for the design and construction of the highest types of marine engines and boilers. ”

“ The name of “seamanship” still continues to be applied to the art of handling ships under sail, and has never been made the subject of a treatise in so far as it means the management of a steamer. Perhaps it never can be. The art of constructing and managing machines is really “engineering.” It is by “navigation” that the course of a ship is laid. The modern seaman who steers and guides a steamer from the upper deck, or the bridge, must be able to navigate, and must have such a knowledge of engineering as will tell him what he may expect from the machinery and what he must not ask it to do. ”

“ To construct a perfect ship is itself a problem of the highest order, to which the attention of mathematicians and the knowledge, skill, and tact of naval architects have of late years been constantly directed, with as yet no examples of complete success, however much the ships of our own time surpass those of our forefathers. Nor can the construction of safe, effective, powerful, profitable, and durable engines and boilers for marine purposes be a matter of easy determination, as shown from the fact, that there are still continual failures, revealing many difficulties yet to be overcome. ”

“ The advantages of science in nautical affairs have rarely been more strikingly illustrated than in the fact, stated in the report of the Navy Department, that by means of the wind and current charts projected and prepared by Lieutenant Maury, the Superintendent of the Naval Observatory, the passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific ports of our country has been shortened by about forty days. ”

“ As the necessity for increased intelligence among these men becomes more manifest, on account of the number of small yet anything but simple engines that have to be confided to their care, it will probably be found advisable to train them up from boys for their particular duties, in the same way as has long been the practice with seamen. What the future of engineering in the navy may be he would be a bold man who would attempt to prophesy. ”

“ Developments in naval technology from the 1880s to the eve of World War II included nothing quite so dramatic as the epochal shifts from sail to steam and wood to iron, but the period saw advances in strategic weapons such as submarines and aircraft carriers, and major innovations that resulted in ships and shipbuilding essentially like what we see today. ”

“ The constructors and engineers of the navy are unsurpassed in professional art or science, and when conjoined with naval officers—who should always determine the war-like essentials of ships—they are capable of producing a steam-fleet that would meet the requirements of all reasonable conditions. ”

“ Even when the {11} Canadians themselves forget, as they are very apt to do, the indispensable naval side of sea-power, they can account for most kinds of nauticality by their economic history, which all depended, directly or indirectly, down to the smallest detail, on the mercantile marine—especially if we give the name of mercantile marine its justifiable extension so as to cover all the craft that ply on inland waterways as well as those that cross the sea. It is calculated at the present day that it is as easy to move a hundred tons by water as ten tons by rail or one ton by road ”

“ Among other investigations promoted have been the study of the rare earths and the heat-treatment of some high-carbon steels. The adjacent field of engineering has not been neglected: funds have been granted for experiments on ship resistance and propulsion, for determining the value of high pressure steam in locomotive service. In geology an investigation of fundamental principles has been furthered, as also the specific problem of the flow of rocks under severe pressure. ”

“ But the very existence of the facilities of the engine-room, of the nimbleness of the clipper-moulded keel, of the capacity of the towering and exquisitely-calculated heights of cloths to snatch a desired power of propulsion from the teeth of the antagonistic gale, is, I take it, an admission of our own weakness when we contrast the ocean-machinery with which science has dowered us with the contrivances with which the early seamen triumphed over the forces of Nature and created new worlds as heritages for a self-complacent posterity. ”

“ There is work, therefore, for all the ships afloat; others and larger ones have to be constructed; and modern engineering skill places on the bosom of the deep sea vessels which few, indeed, of the greatest rivers can accommodate in their channels and bays. ”

“ Astronomy, geometry, and mechanics, which are in the first rank of science, are the materials which form the skilful pilot and the superior mariner. The theory of navigation is entirely derived from the two former, and all the machinery and movements of a ship are founded upon the latter. The action of the wind upon the sails, and the resistance of the water at the stem, naturally dictate an enquiry into the property of solids and fluids: and the state of the ship, floating on the water, seems to direct his application to the study of hydrostatics and the effects of gravity. ”

“ If we would make ocean travel safe we must make the ship, as far as possible, unsinkable. In other words, the naval architect must adopt that principle of construction, common in other lines of mechanical work, which has been aptly designated as "fool-proof." In the building of folly-proof ships, then (the term is here used in a modified sense and with not the least reflection upon that fine body of professional men whose duties lie on the bridge of our ocean liners) , is to be found the one sure protection against the perils of the sea. ”

“ The submarine will have viewing ports for visual observation of its surroundings and of the ocean bottom. A remote grapple will permit collection of marine samples and other objects. The NR-1 is expected to be capable of exploring areas of the Continental Shelf, which appears to contain the most accessible wealth in mineral and food resources in the seas. ”

“ Indeed the perils and discomforts of ocean voyages are now largely reminiscent, thanks to the rapid succession of scientific discoveries and their practical application during the last half century. The size of modern vessels minimizes rolling and pitching. Turbine engines practically eliminate engine vibrations. The danger from fires was practically eliminated by the introduction of iron and steel as building material; the danger of sinking after collisions is now guarded against by the division of the ship's hull into water-tight compartments ”

“ It was sad to realise that the sailing-ship was becoming a back number and that the future for the sea lay with steam—a means of propulsion that would for ever put in the background the manly management of masts, yards and sails. To-day, the period in which this country won its greatest triumphs on the sea is commonly referred to (even in the Royal Navy) as the “stick and string time,” but I am old-fashioned enough to believe that the seamen of the past were in their way as clever engineers as the men that fit and drive the modern turbine engines. ”

“ By means of the improvements introduced into our agricultural operations, the farmer is enabled to get through his sowing and reaping more quickly; by the employment of machinery, all branches of our manufactures have been brought to a wonderful state of perfection, and much of the labour formerly done by hand is now executed by steam-power. In commerce, the old system of navigation by means of sailing-vessels is rapidly giving place to the marine engine, and magnificent steamers now traverse the ocean in all directions with the greatest regularity. ”

“ While the marine steam-engine has been perfected in Europe, it is worth noting by the way that the producer-gas engine, though yet in the experimental stage for ship use, has been brought to a higher state of perfection for land use in America than in Europe. Magazine articles by marine engineers have been published, urging American ship-owners to adopt this new method of propulsion, because it is to make a revolution almost as far-reaching as the iron screw steamer made in 1855. ”