Engine Specifications as per the "engineering notebook"
- Thread starter A. Gabriel
- Start date
Mike Spooner
Member
Yes the engine is one used at Kempton in the film. Quite a few of the scenes are taken from the turbine floor too. The boilers room scenes are some were else.
Mike.
Mike.
Mike Spooner
Member
I have now more photos of the Kempton engines as used in films and documentaries. This are the ones not seen in the films. The building is quite impression built to a typical Victoria standard. Last for ever like the engines them self to. Two tall chimneys 135ft can been seen top right of the building.
Mike Spooner
Member
I forgot to add the Mercury ARC Rectifier which you see in the back ground of films. It's believe the only working one in the UK. Rectifier AC current to DC current.
Roger Southern
Member
Quite right Mike, but not the last working one in the British Isles. The Manx Electric Railway still use their original Mercury Arc Rectifiers here in the Isle of Man. The electric tramway runs several time daily from Douglas to Ramsey and, of course, up Snaefell. If you ask nicely at Laxey Station then sometimes they will let you into the rectifying shed to see them in operation. And we also have one of the last remaining daily steam railways (365 days a year) in the South of the Island. Another bit of useless information for the pub quiz answers.
Mike Spooner
Member
Thanks Roger for the information on working Mercury Arc Rectifies. The Isle of Man is a bit far to go, to see one in operation. I have to say the one at Kempton was not the original one as it was damaged when the building became abandon for 15 years from 1980 on. The original built in 1926 was three times bigger. The one now is a cast off from the Royal opera house in London built in the nineteen thirty's but still has the original mercury and mahogany cooling fans. They certainly knew how to build things made for very periods in those days. As we now live in the throw away society. Give it 10-15 years now that's good enough.
Rancor
Member
I've always found the appearance of some early electrical equipment terrifying and the Mercury Arc Rectifier is no exception!
A. Gabriel
Member
Regarding the Titanic's engines, would the connecting rods have had the same diameter as the piston rods? Also, does anybody have specs for the Stephenson linkages?
Mike Spooner
Member
Hi Gabriel,
If you look in the RMS TITANIC Owners Workshop Manual book by Richard de Kerbreach and David Hutchings. They give a load of con rods and piston diameters. As they do vary between HP, IP and LP cylinders.
If you look in the RMS TITANIC Owners Workshop Manual book by Richard de Kerbreach and David Hutchings. They give a load of con rods and piston diameters. As they do vary between HP, IP and LP cylinders.
A. Gabriel
Member
Sounds about right, as the H&W notebook image from the article I linked in my original post indicates that at least four parts varied in size between cylinders: the piston rod, piston rod screw, crosshead pin, and guide shoe had one size for the HP and IP cylinders, and another size for the LP cylinders. Not having access to the Owners Workshop Manual for the time being (still searching for a pdf!), I cannot yet confirm whether the data in the notebook agrees with data given in the OWM.
Mike Spooner
Member
I have photo of the engine facts sizes. If not clear enough I send another one.
A. Gabriel
Member
Many thanks Mike. Crosschecking with the H&W notebook image, it looks like the OWM got everything spot on (and even gives the length of the crosshead pins, which it calls “top ends”). Only the guide shoes and piston rod screws are not mentioned there. Why was the crank pin slightly wider than the crankshaft though, and why the 9" hole?
Mike Spooner
Member
Hi Gabriel,
I am glad you can read the figures. I always think its strange than a con rod has two different sizes. Big end and piston gudgeon pin diameter yet both have equal force?
I am glad you can read the figures. I always think its strange than a con rod has two different sizes. Big end and piston gudgeon pin diameter yet both have equal force?
A. Gabriel
Member
I’m still trying to wrap my head around it myself, not being an engineer. Judging from the figures given, the con rods were designed with a taper to them, and probably had a sort of forked end where it met the piston rod, which the crosshead pin fitted in to link the two together. Would there have been a way to determine the appropriate length of the con rod?
A. Gabriel
Member
Update: I may have struck some gold and found a site with very, very detailed plans of Britannic's engines (which to my knowledge differed only in having piston valves for the LP cylinders instead of slide valves). The only problem with any dimensions given therein is: the plans came from a French publication and are therefore in metric units. For once, I can sympathize with David G. Brown's utter exasperation with the decimal system -- none of these values can neatly fit in feet and inches!