Modern Machine-Shop Practice Part 258

Expansion joints are joints which permit the parts they connect to expand and contract without straining them. They are necessary on the steam pipe connecting one boiler to another, and on the main steam pipe from the boilers to the engine. The working surfaces require to be of bra.s.s, so that they will not corrode.

They require the collar on the internal pipe of the joint (on which the gland fits) to be permanently fixed by soldering or brazing, and check nuts on the studs, so that the internal pipe shall not be blown out from the steam pressure.

This pipe is also sometimes fitted with chains or stops, in case the studs should break, or the nuts or collar strip.

An oil cup is either a cavity cast in the piece or a cup shaped vessel or hollow cylinder screwed in. It contains a pipe extending up about three-fourths of its height, and through this pipe the oil is fed to the surface required to be lubricated. A hinged lid or, in some cases, a screwed cap covers the oil cup to exclude dust, etc.

The syphon or worsted consists of a number of threads of worsted or lamp wick of equal lengths; a piece of lead or copper wire is laid across the middle of the worsted, the copper wire is doubled and twisted and is then pushed down the tube, carrying the doubled end of the worsted with it. The upper ends of the wire are bent over the end of the tube so as to hold the worsted, whose lower end should pa.s.s down below the level of the bottom of the oil cup. The oil feeds (on the syphon principle) through the medium of the wick or worsted, which should not fit the tube tight but quite easily, its upper ends hanging over the top of the tube to the bottom of the cup.

The worsted may be cleaned with scalding water, or by water thrown upon it from the boiler.

Tallow cups for high pressure cylinders must have two c.o.c.ks, so that after the cup is filled the top c.o.c.k may be closed and the bottom one then opened. The top c.o.c.k prevents the tallow or oil from being blown out of the c.o.c.k by the steam. For the low pressure cylinder a cup with a single c.o.c.k will answer, as the c.o.c.k may be opened when the vacuum is at that end of the cylinder, and the air will force the oil or tallow in.

A steam lubricator or impermeator is an automatic oil feeding device placed on the steam pipe of the high pressure cylinder. Steam lubricators are made in various forms, some having a positive feed by a pumping arrangement, while in others the oil floats upon water in the body of the lubricator to which steam is admitted; the condensation of the steam increases the quant.i.ty of water and causes the floating oil to overflow and feed through a pipe leading into the steam pipe or steam chest, as the case may be. Cooling the impermeator causes more rapid condensation, and increases the amount of oil fed to the steam.

Cylinder escape or relief valves do not let all the water out of the cylinder because of the clearance,[59] hence the amount of water left in will equal the amount of clearance.

[59] See page 372, on clearance.

The small cylinders on top of the steam chest are for the purpose of guiding the upper ends of the valve spindles, and are fitted with pistons having steam beneath, the upper end being in communication with the condenser.

The effort of the piston to rise supports the weight of the valves and valve gear.

The valves of a marine engine that are worked by hand are, the stop valves for letting on steam from the boiler, the safety valve, which is lifted to see that it is in proper working order, the Kingston valve for letting in the circulating water, the blow through or starting valve for warming the cylinders and starting the engines. The valve for adjusting the rate of boiler feed has its lift adjusting screw operated by hand.

The slide valve may also be operated by hand before the engine is started, or it may be operated by a steam reversing gear. The expansion valves are also set by hand to regulate the point of cut off or amount of expansion. The valves that are operated automatically, or from the motion of the parts, are the slide and expansion valves, the suction and delivery and check valves of all pumps, the air pump bucket valves, the snifting valves, and the s.h.i.+p's side overboard discharge valves. When the engine is stopped and the steam shut off, close the dampers to check the draught and open the drain c.o.c.ks on the high pressure cylinders.

If the engine is soon to start and the pressure in the boiler is at the blowing off point, start the boiler feed, if the height of the water in the boiler will permit it, and this is a good time to clean the fires.

If the engine is to stop for any length of time, shut off the impermeator and the injection supply.

A vacuum gauge is an instrument for measuring the total or absolute pressure, or pressure above a perfect vacuum, and it is used to indicate the degree of vacuum that exists in the condenser, which, when the various joints about the cylinder and condenser are tight, averages about 27 inches of mercury when the temperature in the hot well is about 100 Fahrenheit.

In round numbers a column of mercury 32 inches high equals the weight of the atmosphere,[60] hence taking the weight of the atmosphere at sea level to be 15 lbs. per square inch, then each two inches of mercury represents an atmospheric pressure of 2 lbs. Suppose then that a bent U shaped tube, each leg of which is 30 inches high, is half filled with mercury, and that one end is in communication with the condenser, and the other end is open to the atmosphere, and if there was a perfect vacuum in the condenser, the pressure of the atmosphere in the open leg would force all the mercury into the leg that communicated with the condenser, hence there would be a column of 30 inches of mercury in one leg, and air in the other.

[60] See "Barometer," Chapter XL.

If there was in the condenser a pressure of 1-1/2 pounds per square inch above a perfect vacuum, the mercury would stand 27 inches high in one leg, and 3 inches in the other, and so on, hence from the height of the column of mercury above its natural level the degree of vacuum in the condenser may be known. But the pressure of the atmosphere varies with its temperature, and the weight of mercury also varies with its temperature.

To find the total pressure in the condenser, therefore, we subtract height of the column of mercury given by the condenser from the height of the column in the barometer, and divide the remainder by 2.

_Examples._--The barometer stands at 29.5 and the vacuum gauge at 26, what is the absolute pressure in the condenser?

Here,

29.5 - 26 = 3.5 2 = 1.75 Answer, 1-75/100 lbs. per square inch.

A dial vacuum gauge of the Bourdon construction is similar to the Bourdon steam gauge, that is used upon the boiler, except that the inside of the elliptical tube is in communication with the condenser and the atmospheric pressure bends the tube into a curve of smaller radius (instead of to a larger one, as in the case of the steam gauge).

Obviously, therefore, the zero of the dial vacuum gauge is atmospheric pressure.

Suppose the dial vacuum gauge shows 10 lbs., the steam gauge 120 lbs., and the barometer 15 lbs., and we may find the total pressure or pressure above vacuum of the steam in the boiler is as follows:

One-half Pressure by steam gauge = 60 lbs.

A perfect vacuum = 15 lbs.

-- Total pressure supposing condenser had a perfect vacuum = 75 lbs.

To make the correction necessary because there is not a perfect vacuum in the condenser, we then proceed as follows:

Barometer 30 inches of mercury = 15 lbs. per sq. in.

Dial vacuum gauge = 10 " " " "

-- Actual pressure in condenser = 5 " " " "

Then

Total pressure supposing condenser had a perfect vacuum = 75 Actual pressure in condenser = 5 -- Actual pressure of the steam = 70

Racing means a sudden acceleration of the engine speed, and occurs when the propeller is not fully immersed in the sea, as by reason of the pitching of the s.h.i.+p. Racing augments the strain on the working gear of the pumps, and is likely to lead to accident. It is obviated by the use of a governor or by partly shutting off the steam by hand.

A marine governor is a device for controlling the engine speed, by reducing the supply of steam to the engine cylinder whenever the engine begins to race. The governor is driven by band or rope on the crank shaft. Governors are made in various forms; thus, in one the shaft has a fly wheel and a friction clutch, one half of which is fast on the governor shaft, while between it and the other is a spiral spring which connects the two halves. If the speed accelerates, the sliding half of the clutch is moved along the governor shaft, and by means of links it closes the throttle valve of the main steam pipe, thus wire drawing the steam, reducing its pressure and thereby controlling the engine speed.

A common paddle wheel has a cast iron centre into which the wrought iron arms are set and secured by wrought iron bolts and nuts.

The bolts have hook heads to grip the back of the arm, and receive a nut and plate to secure the paddles.

Paddle wheels are sometimes provided with cast iron floats to act as counterweights to some unbalanced part of the engine. They are mostly required on side lever engines having a single crank; they are placed nearly opposite to the crank, but not quite, so that they may prevent it from stopping on the centre, and be difficult to start again.

Paddle wheels for engines having a single crank sometimes have their floats of varying breadths, so as to keep the speed of revolution as uniform as possible. This is accomplished by making some of the floats wider than the others. The broadest floats are in action when the crank is at its points of greatest power, and the narrowest at the time the engine is on a dead centre, hence there are four general graduations of breadth in the circ.u.mference of the wheel.

A radial paddle wheel is one in which the floats are fixed to the paddle arms, and their ends are in a line radiating from the centre of the paddle shaft.

A feathering paddle float is pivoted at the centre of its ends, and so arranged that by a mechanical movement it will remain vertical when in the water, notwithstanding the circular path it revolves in.

The object of feathering is to cause the thrust of the float to be as nearly as possible in a horizontal line, and therefore more nearly parallel to the line of the s.h.i.+p's motion, and thus utilize more of the paddle power to drive the s.h.i.+p.

The eccentric for feathering the floats is fixed to the s.h.i.+p's side, and sometimes carries a plummer block or pillow block for the paddle shaft bearing. The centre of the eccentric sheave or wheel is placed ahead of and level with the paddle shaft axis. The working surfaces of a feathering wheel are of bra.s.s, and the bushes of the paddle arms of lignum vitae.

The surfaces are lubricated by the water, but sometimes oil lubrication is provided for the eccentric sheave.

A disconnecting paddle engine is one in which the paddles may be driven separately or together. This is effected at the inner port bearing by a clutch wheel, which slides endways on the shaft and is driven by feathers seated in the shaft. This clutch wheel is operated by a lever so as to engage or disengage with the crank pin, which is fast in the outer crank.

Disconnecting paddle engines are always fitted with loose eccentrics, such engines being used for steam tugs and ferry boats, where quickness of turning and of reversing is of great importance.

The thread of a screw propeller is its length measured along the outer edge of the blade.

The angle of the thread is its angle to the axial line of the propeller shaft.

The length of the thread is the length of the outer or circ.u.mferential edge of the blade.

The area is the surface of one side of the blade.