References
- 1870 . Great Britain The discovery of coal enabled much smaller ships, including his to thrive on the route, and Great Eastern was far too large for the traffic available. She never ran to Australia. Brunel's original thoughts on the matter can be read in the biography written by his son, Isambard Brunel, The Life of Isambard Kingdom Brunei (293–300. It shows that he appreciated that there were alternative strategies, and he was in two minds about which one to follow
- The Laird Family Papers, Document No. 26, Hereford and Worcester archives
- Nominal horse power was derived from an Admiralty formula, while the indicated horse power was computed by using equipment attached to the cylinder to measure actual steam pressure and its variation with the piston stroke
- Field , J. 1841 . Glances at Atlantic Steam Navigation The Science Museum Field Collection. This work is a set of notes and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings, copies of ships' logs and the like. It has no pagination
- They owed their efficiency to quadruple expansion with re-heat between the two intermediate pressure stages. They were not generally equalled in land-based engines with one exception—the Argentine national railways, which used the same general type of steam cycle
- Sturgeon , W. Annals of Electricity, Magnetism and Chemistry. This multi-volume work is a good verbatim record Sturgeon made of as many scientific and engineering meetings as he managed to attend over a period of many years. It has received less attention than it warrants. When the author wanted to copy some of the papers it contained, it was found by library staff that the Royal Society's copy had many uncut pages
- Hills , R. L. 2005 . James Watt, Vol. 2: The Years of Toil, 1775–1785 93 – 121 . . This period of the development of Watt's engine is described in full
- Watt's boilers were little more than large kettles towards the end of the eighteenth century, but they seem to have been as good as any of the others; they would not have done for maritime service, and Watt seems to have realized this
- 1785 . Watt became aware of these problems about
- 2006 . James Watt, 2 Hills, 174–5. This engine was a compound engine, but this feature was intended to bye pass Watt's patent, not increase its efficiency. Its operating pressure was too low to benefit from compounding. It also failed in its objective, Watt obtaining judgement against Hornblower and his customers after a seven-year legal battle. Hills, James Watt, 3 205–17
- Many people had tried their hand at this, including James Watt, but few had any commercial success. Chlorine-based bleaching was tricky to control, and linen was harder to bleach than cotton
- Dalton , John . 1793 . 1766 – 1844 . , was Teacher of Science and Mathematics at Manchester by. He was famous for two things—he was colour blind, and was the first to describe the phenomenon, and he also devised and proved the modern Atomic theory
- The world was only just being alerted to the existence of gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and the gases produced by combustion such as carbon dioxide
- This is the generic name for instruments used to measure high temperatures. The sensing head of a pyrometer, which is the only part of the instrument that needs to be exposed to the temperature to be measured, can be very small, and can therefore avoid interference with the process under investigation
- Oldham's main claim to fame is that he produced the first machine for automatically numbering bank notes
- Williams , C. W. 1840 . The Combustion of Coals and the Prevention of Smoke Chemically and Practically Considered 1
- 1801 . This was seventy years before a similar act was passed in England. The act remained valid in Ireland after the Act of Union in, but could not be applied to an English, Welsh or Scottish company. To obtain limited liability in these countries, an Act of Parliament had to be obtained
- 1822 . Aaron Manby The French were the first to employ an iron vessel for river work, putting the on the Seine in
- 1810 . Few had any idea of the brand new Atomic Theory in the early days of the nineteenth century. Even scientific experimenters like William Armstrong,—1900, at first expressed doubts about Williams's experiments, although, in his case, it was not long before he was carrying out experiments of a similar nature to those of Williams, confirming his results
- 1837 . This ship was originally built for Sir John Tobin in, and was purchased by Williams in 1838
- Williams . The Combustion 6
- 1485 . James Watt, 3 James Watt took out a patent on a smoke consuming furnace (No. which tried to burn the smoke in the coal bed, but it was a failure. On one occasion another of his furnaces did operate with little smoke, but he failed to understand why. See Hills, 46–50
- Smoke was also recognized as an environmental hazard in Manchester as soon as steam engines began to be employed. However, smoke reduction techniques were late coming on the scene, and were counteracted by vast increases in the number of steam engines employed locally, and the laissez-faire attitude of mill owners. No satisfactory solution was found until after the Second World War, when the city introduced the first smokeless zones, gradually increasing them until the whole city was covered. Even this was not a complete solution, as smoke from surrounding mill towns still drifted in
- Williams , C. W. 1862 . “ ‘On the Construction of Marine Steam Boilers’ ” . In Trans. INA III 118. This paper was delivered to the newly-formed Institution of Naval Architects when Williams was eighty-two years old, and virtually presents his own and some other people's work on the subject in his lifetime. Consequently, it does not present events in chronological order
- Engineers were nevertheless concerned about the suppression of smoke, and had experimented with some surprising ideas as to how to suppress it. They included a shower system in the chimney, and a primitive centrifugal precipitator
- Williams . The Combustion. An eight-page preface gives his account of the inadequate knowledge of the subject among engineers
- He pointed out that smoke was due to unburned carbon in the flame, and that this also condensed on the cooler boiler surfaces as soot, where it interfered with the heat transfer as well as requiring removal from time to time
- Sturgeon , W. 1841 . Annals VII 216
- 6 April 1866 . Engineering 6 April ,
- Foster Petree , J. 1966 . “ ‘Charles Wye Williams’ ” . In Proceedings of the Newcomen Society * 35–45
- The boiler of Stephenson's Rocket used the blast tube, using exhaust steam to produce a blast in the chimney that was proportional to the steam demand; the more strokes the engine performed, the greater the blast and the greater the rate at which fuel was burned. Trevithick had first used the idea on his Pen-y Daren locomotive. The other vital difference was due to Henry Booth, who suggested to Stephenson the use of the firebox, surrounding as much as possible of the fire with a water container. This design feature must have won Williams's approval, as it pre-empted the conclusions of one of his later experiments
- Great Western Field built the engines for Brunel's so that he was in a better position than most commentators to assess Williams's work
- Glances. Field
- Ibid.
- 1831 . Report into the Loss of the Rothsay Castle Lieutenant Morrison, (She had taken on some water in rough weather, and this entered the bunkers and wet the coal. The loss of draught eventually caused complete loss of steam. Rothsay Castle did not have to set out from Liverpool in the teeth of a gale, and her journey was foolhardy, but a small vessel in winter mid-Atlantic did not have a choice
- 1842 . Annals See, for example, Sturgeon, VI, Charles Wye Williams's addresses to the British Association 65–7, 150–6 & 216–9, and Lecture by Charles Wye Williams Delivered at the Royal Victoria Gallery, Manchester, VII (1842), 152–6. Also, C.W. Williams, ‘On the Preparation, Properties and Uses of Turf and Turf Coke’, Transactions of the Institution of Civil Engineers, vol. III (1842), 163–81
- She also had to run downwind for 24 hours at one point, which suggests that her engine power and hull form were not suited to the Atlantic winter
- 1850 . Royal William Although the smaller wooden vessels such as theSirius had hulls that were undoubtedly fit for Atlantic winter weather, only the Great Western among the larger ones was truly adequate. Patterson's achievement in constructing her hull is not sufficiently acknowledged. Up until the s large wooden ships that were built with great hopes and to very advanced specifications continued to suffer hull damage and even be lost in the Atlantic winter gales
- Harcourt , F. 1992 . ‘Charles Wye Williams and Irish Steam Shipping, 1820–50’ . Journal of Transport History , 13 (2), third series (Sept., 143
- Until the twentieth century, when a hydroelectric scheme at Ardnacrusha cut off the last few miles. Locks were built to overcome this problem, and at 50 feet they are some of the deepest canal locks in the British Isles
- 1966 . Canals of the South of Ireland For details of these developments, see V.T.H. and D.R. Delaney, and the summary in D.B. McNeill, Irish Passenger Steamship Services, vol. 2 (1971), 168–9
- Father of the shipbuilder of the same name
- Clanricarde was Williams's only excursion into building wooden ships for inland waterways, although he also acquired the wooden Mountaineer from the Shannon Steam Navigation Company at the same time as he took over the Marquis of Wellesley.
- They were well capable of doing this without outside help. Williams had his own workshops for refitting his fleet, and he used them for projects such as this during slack times. He bought engines, but often built his own boilers, etc. He stated that having his own establishment brought in a direct profit of about £2000 per annum, and enabled him to schedule refits to suit his running schedules
- Mariner's Mirror , 309 – 25 . See A. Bowcock, ‘Early Iron Ships on the River Shannon’, 92, for an account of these vessels
- Charles Wye Williams, ‘On the Preparation’, 164–5
- Experiments with Lancashire peat showed that this was a common feature of peat bogs
- 10 May 1837 . 10 May , British Patent 7468
- 26 Jan. 1838 . 26 Jan. , British Patent 7744
- Williams observed that, apart from water vapour, these volatiles were mainly ammoniacal, and of no significant value as a fuel
- 26 Jan. 1838 . 26 Jan. , British Patent 7744, 166
- He also tried using molasses, which needed no heating, but, as he made no claim for this in his patent, it does not seem to have been satisfactory
- Williams . ‘On the Preparation’, 164
- McNeill . Steamship Services , 2 168 – 9 .
- Bowcock . ‘Early Iron Ships’, 311
- Williams . ‘On the Preparation’, 180. Manufacture was carried out both in Ireland and Lancashire, but Williams is not specific about which was the dearer
- She was 703 tons builder's measure, and carried 453 tons of coal
- Williams . ‘On the Construction’, 132
- Later practice included forced air draught to boilers, and anthracite then gained substantially, but a near-anthracite generally referred to as ‘Welsh steam coal’ which contained some volatiles was better liked in many quarters
- There were complaints from some competitors that it was useless to instruct firemen in refined techniques, and that simple piling of coal into the furnace was all that could be expected of them. Williams's experience suggests that suitably trained boiler room staff were capable of much more than this
- Until metrication took place the British Thermal Unit was the standard unit of calorific value. The British Thermal Unit was defined as the heat required to raise 1 pound of water 1 degree Fahrenheit. The metric calorie is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius
- Williams . ‘On the Preparation’, 168
- 1861 . Address to the British Association This arrangement was similar in principle to Stephenson's Rocket. It was suggested to Stephenson by Charles Booth. W. Fairbairn
- 1860 . John Percy was given the task of recording all current known metallurgy, and published his results in several volumes in the s. His work was much admired, and became the standard text for several decades. Most of is still valid
- Air is effectively uncompressed under boiler furnace conditions
- In a few of the worst cases this phenomenon could result in ‘blow back’—a tongue of fire projecting out of the furnace. The could be and often was fatal to a fireman
- Williams . ‘On the Construction’, 127
- Ibid.
- Great Eastern For example, John Scott Russell designed the paddle wheel boilers of the with tubes only 3½ feet long. In some cases tubes of up to 25 feet had previously been used
- Williams . ‘On the Construction’, 119
- Sirius, Great Western Royal William all used Hall's condensers. These avoided mixing sea water in with the condensate, which could then be recycled to the boiler, avoiding the accumulation of salt, which necessitated blowing down the boiler and refilling with fresh seawater at intervals. It consisted of a nest of tubes, arranged like the boilers between two tube plates inside a metal shell. Initially, seawater coolant was circulated on the outside of the tubes, and the exhaust steam released into the interior of the tubes. It was found to be easier to clean out the interior of the tubes rather than the outsides when mud or other contaminants were picked up, and the arrangement was reversed, with the steam on the outside and cooling seawater on the inside of the tubes. Once established, these condensers remained in use throughout the era of the steam engine. They are still ubiquitous in coal fired and atomic power stations worldwide as the means of condensing steam from the turbines
- Williams . ‘On the Construction’, 127
- Reynolds's work on fluid flow was to come later, so the phenomenon of streamlined flow was not understood at the time of these experiments
- Williams had a neat way of conducting these experiments without any danger. He soldered the relevant iron components instead of riveting them, and they harmlessly fell apart if the iron overheated. It was not necessary to have the vessel under pressure
- Fairbairn , W. 1858 . “ ‘On the Resistance of Tubes to Collapse’ ” . In Phil. Trans. Royal Society , 389–413. This paper describes the experiments that Fairbairn carried out at the request of the British Association and the Royal Society after a series of disastrous failures of cylindrical boilers. It is a common supposition that cylindrical boilers exploded by failure of the external pressure cylinder. This was practically never the case. One of the features of mill boilers was the use of a single large fire tube whose diameter was over 50 per cent of that of the boiler cylinder. This tube easily became overheated at the top due to reduction in the water level and this was followed by compressive collapse of the tube. The Lancashire boiler used two tubes of much smaller diameter side by side, after Fairbairn had proved that the smaller tubes were much stronger in compression than one large one, and he further strengthened them with external iron bands
- Williams . ‘On the Construction’
- Encyclopaedia Britannica Murray had written the entry on naval architecture for the and subsequently published a book on the subject. It lacks the lucidity and accuracy of the equivalent works by his predecessor, Augustin Cruze
- Water in the cylinders can be a danger to the engine, as it is incompressible, and if trapped between the piston and the end of the cylinder it can give rise to hydraulic pressure sufficient to damage the cylinder
- He thereby started the science of thermodynamics
- 1824 . Absolute temperature could not be ascertained with certainty until William Thomson, Baron Kelvin (-1907) demonstrated practically the temperature scale, which now bears his name and starts from absolute zero. Previously it could only be inferred from Charles's law (Jacques Alexandre César Charles, 1746–1823) which states that a gas at constant pressure expands by 1/273 of its volume at zero centigrade (Celsius) for every degree increase in pressure, which also implies that it would be reduced to zero volume at −273 degrees
- The only realistic way of avoiding the penalties of the heat engine is to use electrochemical energy, e.g. the fuel cell or muscular action
- There are cases where engine torque is the overriding practical factor. Where that is the case, full steam pressure throughout the stroke is used, known as ‘square diagram’ operation
- 2006 . Trans. Newcomen Society , The comparative slowness of engineers to incorporate thermodynamics into their thinking has recently been commented on by Ben Marsden, ‘Superseding Steam—The Napier and Rankine Hot-air Engine’, 78 (1) 1–3
- 1803 . Their machine was not the first attempt at a compound engine. The Hornblower Company had previously used it unsuccessfully as a device to try to circumvent Watt's patent (see Ref. 10). Arthur Woolf produced a compound engine working at an unprecedented higher pressure in, and there is some justification for regarding his engine as the first useful application of compounding