A Catechism of the Steam Engine

by C. E. John Bourne

576. Q.--And seeing that the vessels are of the same mould and power, so that neither can derive an advantage from a variation in that condition, does not the preponderance of the screw vessel show that the screw must be the most powerful propeller?

A.---No, it does not.

577. Q.--Seeing that the vessels are the same in all respects except as regards the propellers, and that one of them exhibits a superiority, does not this circumstance show that one propeller must be more powerful than the other?

A.--That does not follow necessarily, nor is it the fact in this particular case. All steam vessels when set into motion, will force themselves forward with an amount of thrust which, setting aside the loss from friction and from other causes, will just balance the pressure on the pistons. In a paddle vessel, as has already been explained, it is easy to tell the tractive force exerted at the centre of pressure of the paddle wheels, when the pressure urging the pistons, the dimensions of the wheels and the speed of the vessel are known; and that force, whatever be its amount, must always continue the same with any constant pressure on the pistons. In a screw vessel the same law applies, so that with any given pressure on the pistons and discarding the consideration of friction, it will follow that whatever be the thrust exerted by a paddle or a screw vessel, it must remain uniform whether the vessel is in motion or at rest, and whether moving at a high or a low velocity through the water. Now to achieve an equal speed during calms in two vessels of the same model, there must be the same amount of propelling thrust in each; and this thrust, whatever be its amount, cannot afterward vary if a uniform pressure of steam be maintained. The thrusts, therefore, caused by their respective propelling instruments, when a screw and paddle vessel are tied stern to stern, must be the same as at other times; and as at other times those thrusts are equal, so must they be when the vessels are set in the antagonism supposed.

578. Q.--How comes it then that the screw vessel preponderates?

A.--Not by virtue of a larger thrust exerted by the screw in pressing forward the shaft and with it the vessel, but by the gravitation against the stern of the wave of water which the screw raises by its rapid rotation. This wave will only be raised very high when the progress of the vessel through the water is nearly arrested, at which time the centrifugal action of the screw is very great; and the vessel under such circumstances is forced forward partly by the thrust of the screw, and partly by the hydrostatic pressure of the protuberance of water which the centrifugal action of the screw raises up at the stern.

579. Q.--Can you state any facts in corroboration of this view?

A.--The screw vessel will not preponderate if a screw and paddle vessel be tied bow to bow and the engines of each be then reversed. In, some screw vessels the amount of thrust actually exerted by the screw under all its varying circumstances, has been ascertained by the application of a dynamometer to the end of the shaft. By this instrument--which is formed by a combination of levers like a weighing machine for carts--a thrust or pressure of several tons can be measured by the application of a small weight; and it has been found, by repeated experiment with the dynamometer, that the thrust of the screw in a screw vessel when towing a paddle vessel against the whole force of her engines, is just the same as it is when the two vessels are maintaining an equal speed in calms. The preponderance of the screw vessel must, therefore, be imputable to some other agency than to a superior thrust of the screw, which is found by experiment not to exist.

580. Q.--Has the dynamometer been applied to paddle vessels?

A.--It has not been applied to the vessels themselves, as in the case of screw vessels, but it has been employed on shore to ascertain the amount of tractive force that a paddle vessel can exert on a rope.