The Engine and Boiler Works.
RAPIDITY of construction has been characteristic of the engine and boiler works of the Scotts to at least as great an extent as in the shipbuilding yard. Several instances might be noted, beginning with six blockade-runners, built in a very short period, in 1864, and fitted with engines to give a speed of 12 knots at sea and 13-1/2 knots on trial. A recent and striking instance is the construction of boilers and engines for twenty of the passenger steamers built for traffic on the Thames, to the order of the London County Council, and described on pages 83 and 84, ante. The contract for this work was signed towards the end of November, 1904, and work was commenced about the beginning of December. The various parts of the engines were being machined and finished during the month of January and the beginning of February, 1905; and all of the twenty sets of engines and boilers were completed by the end of May. Another noteworthy case is the construction of the machinery for the steamship Fengtien, described on page 80, ante. Work was commenced on the machinery in the middle of January, and finished about the end of April. The machinery was fitted in the ship and ready for the trials on the 29th May. The total time taken from the beginning of work was well under five months.[69]
Plate XLIX.