Engine Room Secondary Devices

[AndreaM]

Hi there,

I'm currently building a Titanic model in 1:200 scale which includes a detailed (even if approximate and far from being precise) reproduction of the engine room.

There are many secondary devices which I can't identify. I studied the engine room plans and found out a lot of answers, but still there is a lot of stuff which remains a mistery to me, like:
1. Throttle valve (i.e. the engine speed regulator?) ?
2 Phone box?
3. Circulating pump? Even if in the wrong position (they should be not so close to the thrust blocks)
4. No idea at all
5. No idea at all

Thank you for your help very much, this is only Part 1...

 

[Bill West]

Welcome aboard, Andrea.
Quick answers:
1. is a typical reverser for a smaller ship of this era. The actual throttle is mounted on side of the HP cylinder (2nd from the right). Here are some plans of the Britannic's engine including the large vertically cylindered reverser.
2. there is no phone box in this area, the actual phones are located on one of the engine room columns. See Any online copies of the Electrician 1911 Parts I & II? post#7, one of the files has a picture of the ER phone.
3. is an American pump (Worthington brand), not applicable to the Titanic : (
4. there are 3 oil pumps for the lubrication but they are not in this area and not of this appearance.
5. is the turning engine, used to rotate the engine during repair work.

The model is very good even if it is not a perfect, a visual gives so much more than just a drawing. What is the source of the model? A book I just mentioned, Verbal Notes & Sketches 1916 can be scanned for a more discussion of old marine engineering. The Titanic The Ship Magnificent books are very good at breaking it all down and doing so correctly. The Shipbuilder article about the building of the Olympic is available is in one of these volumes .

360 Views of the Olympic class reciprocating room is a 3D tour of the engine room that was extensively researched at the old TRMA site few years ago.

Bill

 

[AndreaM]

Thank you so much, Bill, your notes are really precious to me.

The model i'm building comes from a partwork published in several European countries. Here are the British website and TV advert:

Your Model - Build the Titanic

buildthetitanic.hachettepartworks.com

And, yes, the engines are really impressive: they are fully working, powered by an electric motor, Probably the best section of the entire model.

In the next days i'll post more pictures of the engines (and a new bunch of questions as well...)

Andrea

 

[Stephen Carey]

Item 4 is the thrust block on each reciprocating engine - shown on the ship's ER plans just aft of the reciprocating room aft WT bulkhead on the shaftline. The others I agree with. The Worthington pump was a turbine pump similar to Weirs, but the Olympic feed pumps were reciprocating.

 

[AndreaM]

Dear all,

one step forward in the engine assembly and some more questions as well, to try to identify specific parts.

1. What is this pipe section with cups, attached to the low pressure cylinder?
2. Albeit in the wrong position, this three-rods assembly should reproduce the engine control rods and wheels, correct?
3. It seems that this part is the turbine change-over?

Thank you for your help!

Andrea

 

[Bill West]

Hi Andrea. I think the model designers just looked for pictures of old ship engine rooms and copied the details.
1. looks like a steam separator on the right and maybe the left drum is the throttle valve
2. may be trying to represent the starting valves. If a steam engine stops with the HP cylinder piston rod in line right over the dead center of the crankshaft it can't start again because the push doesn't cause the crank to turn left or right. Letting HP steam into the IP or LP cylinder can get it to turn a bit and start moving. On the Titanic the valves for this are between the HP and forward LP cylinders with lever handles at floor level.
3. looks like an attempt to show the reverser but it is on the wrong side.

These pieces are more general than exact.

Bill

 

[AndreaM]

Hi Bill,

I agree with you. It's a pity that the model is so rich in details but suffers from a lack of accuracy and unreliable historical research.
However it's better that nothing: during assembly I can feel a smell of authenticity and long time lost technology. I'm aware that it's only my imagination, but that's exactly what scale model making is about...

Thanks to your detailed replies and info I can feel even more immersed in that atmosphere...

Andrea