The FORD Lounge

[Gary Lewis]

Bill - Please keep us posted.  Many of us will keep you in our prayers.

As for the steam engine, that's cool.  What RPM did it run at and what kind of power did it produce?  Obviously a LOT.

[ArdWrknTrk]

The Titanic or Texas?

Titanic was 75 rpm and 16,000hp
Her sister ships were turbine powered

(There's all kind of esoteric and arcane minutae rattling around in my head. )

[Gary Lewis]

If Horsepower = (Torque x RPM) / 5,252 then Torque = (Horsepower x 5252)/RPM.  My math says (16,000 x 5252)/75 = 1,120,427 lb-ft.  

[ArdWrknTrk]

Steam is incredibly powerful.
Superheated saturated steam will slice you in half like a laser beam.
There was an incident at the VA hospital in West Haven, where my brother is a police captain...🙄

Surprisingly, water has a greater expansion ratio than nitroglycerin.

Why do you think we still use steam catapults on nuclear aircraft carriers
(Other than EMALS, experimental)

Consolidated....

[ArdWrknTrk]

Now convert to BTU.
You worked on the railroad.

Think of how much coal had to be bunkered to get that heat (even figuring 100% efficiency, which is FAR from reality)

[85lebaront2]

The sign for the completed model says "15,000 hp @ 75 rpm". For those who are not familiar with these, they were directly connected to the propellers, no reduction gear like steam turbines. This was one of the contributing factors. In order to reverse the engines they first had to be stopped, the reversing gear activated, and finally restarted in reverse.
     

[grumpin]

That's cool Bill!

Sorry about your back, hope you get better.

I have stenosis in three places (I know, stay outta those three places!). Shots haven't helped, just dealing with it.

Standing is the worse for me.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I follow a YouTube channel- alistairc123 -that has huge equipment, like a horizontal boring mill the size of a large house!
... from the Belfast yard that built these ships.

If you like shipyards and heavy repair (like mining equipment) or tractor pulling, or collecting old steam powered tractors n' stuff, check it out


Edit:  https://youtu.be/qFAVVTIirv4?si=Svvwbi_hQrwMb2YS

[ArdWrknTrk]

I remember that my dad had a cartoon of two vultures on a branch with the backdrop of a desert in his basement shop.

One vulture turned to the other, saying "Patience my ***, I'm gonna kill something!"

Yes, this was completely normal for my childhood.  😂

[85lebaront2]

Jim, I spent a bit of time doing hardness and other tests in the NNS main machine shop. During the "Naval Holiday" in the 30s, NNS supplemented their income and kept a valuable workforce employed by overhauling C&O locomotives inside that shop. The hydraulic turbines (the ones that spin the generators) in the Hoover dam were made by NNS.

I have run hardness tests on the propeller shafts of Nimitz class carriers in there, they are huge hollow beasts probably around 10' in diameter. During sea trials of the Theodore Roosevelt, Adm Rickover told the NNS and NAVSEA personnel that he was assuming command and taking full responsibility for any problems. Following this he said "NNS has been telling me for years how fast these carriers are, full war emergency power!" At some unknown speed one of the 4 USN provided propellers cracked, the resulting strain put 1.5 turns of twist in the affected shaft!

There was a picture in our company newsletter of a Soviet Bear turboprop bomber pacing one of our new carriers during the high speed portion of the sea trials, no flaps deployed, just flying just far enough away to not be deemed a threat. After Nauticus opened in Norfolk, they have an adjacent slip that is big enough for a cruiser to tie up in. One of the newer gas turbine cruisers was there and after touring the bridge, I let the Chief giving the tour know my employment and asked how their "excess of 30 knots" compared to a carriers. His reply was "their excess is far in excess of our excess".

[ArdWrknTrk]

As with most things, it's FAR better to under promise and over deliver.

Things have changed, as you well know! 🙄

[Nothing Special]

This is what Lesley posted on her Facebook page today (the old people are us from a cruise we were on in November, the young couple is on our honeymoon in Hawaii, and we already have a trip to Hawaii booked for our 35th!):

Today is our 34th Anniversary!  And to think this basketball loving girl almost walked right by this guy who was wearing a hockey jersey!  Basketball and Hockey don't mix (or Coke & Pepsi, Democrat & Republican, sweet & salty, Crest & Colgate, Skiing & reading by the fire, etc.).  Opposites do attract, and can stay together!  We've changed a bit but still loving each day we spend together!  

[Gary Lewis]

Congratulations!!!  You are keeping life fun and active!  

[85lebaront2]

Looks great! Glad you enjoyed the cruise.

[85lebaront2]

Jim, the Navy had, in the days of coal and oil fired boilers, two main levels of steam, 600 psi and 1200 psi. From what I remember my dad telling me the temperature in degrees F is the same as the pressure. The 600 psi was usually what is called "saturated" steam and may have some water droplets. It is what most people think of when you say steam. A leak manifests itself as a visible white cloud at the leak source. The 1200 psi is "super heated steam" and a leak is invisible and deadly. Method for finding a leak, broomstick held out and slowly swung in a circle as you advance with it. When the end vanishes, you have found the leak.

Due to limitations and safety concerns Nuclear plants run 600 psi as the primary loop pressures would be astronomical to get 1200 psi and 1200 deg steam in the secondary. Our first nuclear carrier, USS Enterprise, CVN65 had 8 reactors, each having 4 steam generators (nuclear plant equivalent of a boiler) so she had 32 steam generators.

Now, for a little more information. At the end of WWII, there were a number of ships under construction at NNS and government yards and other civilian yards. All the battleships were essentially scrapped on the shipways. The recently launched USS Kentucky was towed to Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth VA. A lot of her and other canceled BBs main propulsion machinery ended up in the SS United States as she had to be capable of conversion to a high speed troop transport. FWIW, her record speed run that took the Blue Riband from the Queen Mary was with 8 of her 12 boilers on-line and 3/4 throttle. Her main machinery spaces were off limits to all except US lines and NNS employees.

Gibbs and Cox designed her hull, 990 feet waterline length and 101.5 feet beam. Largest dimensions to fit through the Panama Canal at that time. Her basic hull design became the Forrestal class carrier hulls. The Enterprise was a stretched Forrestal hull from 990 feet to 1011 feet because of the extra space needed for the reactor plants.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Just look at those kids, living the life!
Congratulations to you both!  

[BigBrother-84]

Nothing Special wrote

Today is our 34th Anniversary!
[…]
We've changed a bit but still loving each day we spend together!

😍
Congrats!  Don’t let the ol’ man in, and have lot of wonderful years ahead together!

We two just hit 42 years together,  and we have changed a little bit too.


But who doesn’t?
Well… Tom Cruise, maybe?

[ArdWrknTrk]

Shrimp needs to go back to his cult

[85lebaront2]

Here are a couple of pictures of the RMS Titanic Port engine model. The gray columns showing above the model are the rods for the cylinders.

[ArdWrknTrk]

This is the very same mill that machined those engines....  😳

https://youtu.be/SQQjU1dGf7I?si=VyQ0nf7Z_bLf3LLb

And some more machines salvaged from the same shipyard when it closed.

https://youtu.be/qFAVVTIirv4?si=8pMqm8Sz-BNnX-1K