Steamboat

The word “ steamboat ” was introduced by the Russian naval officer P. I. Ricord ^[3] , a participant in the first official voyage of the first Russian steamboat , built on the basis of the Elizabeth barge in 1815 . Prior to this, a steam-powered vessel in Russia was called in the Western manner “pyroscope” (after the name of the first French steam vessel “Piroscaff” (from other Greek πῦρ ( pýr ) - fire and σκάφος ( scaphos ) - ship) or "steamboat" (from the English steamboat : steam - steam, boat - boat) [1] . ^[3]

Propeller wheels were initially used as the mover of the steamships (if you do not take into account the first experiments of John Fitch with oars driven by a steam engine). Rowing wheels could be located on the sides in the middle of the mid-frame or behind the stern . By the 20th century, more progressive propellers replaced the propeller wheels. Coal was originally used as an energy carrier in steam engines of steamboats, later oil products ( fuel oil ).

At present, piston steamers (ships with a piston steam engine) are not built ^[4] , although some are still in operation.

Steamboats, unlike steam locomotives , can use steam condensation to reduce pressure at the exit from the cylinders, which significantly increases the efficiency of the ship’s steam engine. In addition, more efficient water-tube boilers can be used on steamers compared to fire-tube boilers installed on steam locomotives, and the maximum power of steam engines until about the mid-1970s exceeded the maximum power of diesel engines. In addition, ships are not picky about grade and fuel quality. Therefore, the construction of steamboats lasted much longer (at least until the 1980s) than the construction of steam locomotives (which ceased in the late 1950s). At present, piston steamers are no longer being built ^[1] , although a sufficiently large number of them are still in operation, but this applies to marine vessels. River steamboats ceased to be built much earlier and were massively decommissioned due to moral and physical obsolescence. For this reason, there are only a few dozen existing river steamers all over the world.

Mover

The first movers of the steamboats were paddle wheels . They could be located on the sides of the hull or behind the stern , there were also designs with a central location of the propeller wheel in the diametrical plane , in a niche inside the hull or between the hulls of a catamaran type ship. The side wheels on some of the first steamboats were located about a third of the length of the hull from the nose, then they began to be installed approximately on the midship . The surface of the side in the area of ​​the wheels was almost vertical, and the front and rear frames had to give a large camber, increasing the width of the deck by a third of the width of the waterline , in order to somehow protect the wheels from shock waves. All this negatively affected stability and seaworthiness . Aft propeller wheels were characteristic only of river steamboats that did not experience pitching - with longitudinal pitching, the wheels located in the midship area (in the middle of the hull) are most effective.

By the 20th century, propeller wheels, with rare exceptions, replaced the technically more advanced propeller . The rowing propeller of the ships is mounted on the same shaft as the steam engine, so the number of screws (number of shafts) shows how many steam engines are installed on the ship. For steamers with a turbine, the propeller is often driven through a gearbox (in this case, the power plant is called a turbo gear unit ) or through an electric transmission . However, on the very first turbo-boats, special low-speed turbines were used that worked directly on the propeller. Such low-speed turbines are also used on modern nuclear submarines to reduce noise.

Propulsion

Historically, the first generations of steamships were driven by reciprocating steam engines that operated directly on the propeller shaft and later on the propeller shaft. Features of the arrangement of the drive steam engine depended on the type of propulsion used (propeller wheels or propeller) and its location on the vessel. But in all cases, the steam engine as the heaviest part of the vessel from the very beginning was located in the middle section. In the hull of a steamer with onboard propeller wheels, the traction steam engine could be located both across (as a rule) and along the hull. In the hull of a steamer with a stern propeller wheel or with a propeller, the steam engine was always positioned longitudinally. Actually, the longitudinal arrangement of the steam engine turned out to be more technologically advanced and reliable, which, along with the appearance of propellers, led to the rather rapid disappearance of steamboats with onboard propeller wheels from marine fleets. It was the combination of the longitudinal arrangement of the steam engine and the use of the propeller that made possible a rather rapid increase in the displacement of steamers in the 2nd half of the 19th and first decades of the 20th centuries.

The specific gravity steam turbine propulsion systems that appeared at the beginning of the 20th century turned out to be much lighter and at the same time raised the speed limit available to steam vessels, they had a relatively large specific power . Unlike a steam engine, a steam turbine plant, due to its relatively small (compared to a steam engine) weight, could already be located both in the midship region and closer to the stern. In the latter case, the drive propeller shaft, on which the steam turbine works, is shortened, which increases the reliability of the entire ship propulsion system. Steamboats with a steam turbine propulsion system are called steam turbine walkers . Currently, the vast majority of operating steamboats and all steamboats under construction are steam turbo-walkers.

The efficiency of steamboats with a steam engine (built in the 1950s ) is 20–25%, and for turbine ships, 30–35%.

Energy source for a steam generator

A steam generator is an integral part of the propulsion system of any ship. Steam generators of non-nuclear ships use coal or fuel oil as fuel. On nuclear ships, the steam generator receives heat from onboard nuclear reactors.

True, it should be noted that not every nuclear-powered ship is a type of steamboat. For example, if a steam turbine rotates a traction electric generator that feeds traction (propeller) electric motors on an atomic powered ship, then such an atomic powered ship is already produced by an atomic turboelectric ship.

Until the 19th century

Steam energy was suggested to be used by Heron of Alexandria in the 1st century AD to give movement to the body. e. - he described and, possibly, created a primitive bladeless centrifugal steam turbine - “ eolipil ”.

There is an opinion that the first steamer was built by Denis Papen , the inventor of a steam boiler with a safety valve ("father's boiler"). In 1690, he described the closed thermodynamic cycle of a steam engine, but did not build the machine itself. In 1705 he received from Leibniz a sketch and description of the Thomas Saveri steam engine for lifting water (1698), which inspired him to new works. In 1707 he traveled along the Weser River ( Germany ) on a wheeled boat he designed, which, according to some sources (in particular, in a journalistic article by Jacob Perelman in the journal Technika Molodezhi in February 1937), was set in motion by muscular strength, according to others - steam , which seems unlikely. The boat was destroyed by local embittered boaters.

There is a version that in 1736 the English engineer Jonathan Hals designed a ship with a stern wheel driven by a Newcomen steam engine and it passed the test on the Avon River. However, no evidence of this has been preserved, and, given the weight of the structure and the scale of coal consumption, the tests could hardly have been successful.

"Pyroscaphus." First valid steamer test

July 15, 1783 Marquis Claude Geoffrey d'Abban demonstrated "Piroskaf" (from other Greek πῦρ ( pýr ) - fire and σκάφος ( scaphos ) - ship) - the first reliably documented vessel, propelled by a horizontal single-cylinder double-acting steam engine , rotating two propeller wheels located on the sides. The demonstration took place on the Saone River ( France ). The ship passed about 365 meters in 15 minutes (0.8 knots ), after which the engine broke down. d'Abban did not continue the experiments. The common name pyroskaf in France and some other countries, including Russia, has long been used to define a steam vessel, a steamboat. In France, to this day, the term pyroscaphe is a synonym for a ship [2] .

American Steamboats Ramsey ^{[approx. 1]} and Fitch

In 1787, American inventor James Ramsey He demonstrated on the Potomac River a boat driven by a water - jet propulsion device that used steam energy.

His compatriot John Fitch in the same year, 1787, on the Delaware River demonstrated his first steam vessel Perseverance (Perseverance), propelled by two rows of oars, powered by a steam engine. The steam engine was created by Fitch independently together with Henry Voigt, since Great Britain did not give permission to export new technologies (including Watt machines) to its former colony.

In June 1790, Fitch and Voigt built an 18-meter steam boat with an original propeller in the form of oars, which repeated the rowing movements of the legs of a duck. This boat during the summer of 1790 carried out flights between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey carrying up to thirty passengers. Over the summer, the boat traveled about 3,000 miles. Fitch stated that the boat traveled 500 miles without any mechanical problems. The estimated speed was a minimum of 6 mph under adverse conditions and a maximum of 7-8 mph in fine weather. The design of the Fitch steam boat was quite successful, but judicial and commercial failures led to the cessation of its operations and the completion of its steam vessel.

Charlotte Dandes. The first practical use of a wheeled steamer

In October 1788, Scottish inventors William Symington and Patrick Miller , who was also a banker and investor in this project, they built and successfully tested a small wheeled catamaran driven by a steam engine on Lake Dalswinton Loch, 10 kilometers from Dumfries . In December 1789, they already tested an 18-meter catamaran with a larger steam engine on the Fort — Clyde Canal , during the tests the ship showed a speed of 7 knots. After this test, Miller refused to participate in the project. ^[5]

In 1802, Symington designed and manufactured the engine for the Charlotte Dandes wheeled tug . A seventeen-meter steamer built of wood had a steam engine capacity of 10 horsepower and was safely used to tow barges in the Fort Clyde Canal. However, the owners of the canal, fearing that the wake of the ship would damage the coastline, banned its operation on the canal. In 1802, the ship was abandoned by the owner and rotted until 1861, until it was dismantled for materials.

•  

  Charlotte Dandes Scheme

•  

  Drawing by William Symington

XIX century. First Steamers

The first practically used steamboat was created by Robert Fulton in 1807 . The Clermont steamer (originally called the North River Steamboat), driven by a paddle wheel, cruised the Hudson River from New York to Albany at a speed of about 5 knots (9 km / h). Assessing the results of this trip, Fulton wrote to his friend: “I was ahead of all the boats and schooners, and it seemed that they were all anchored. The suitability of steam power for propelling ships has now been fully proven. On this day, when I left New York, it was unlikely that 30 people would believe that my boat would go at least one mile per hour. When we moved away from the marina, where many interesting spectators gathered, I heard rather sarcastic remarks. Thus, irresponsible people always welcome those whom they call “philosophers” and “projectors”. ” After some design improvements, Fulton arranged regular flights along this river path.

Despite the fact that Robert Fulton is considered to be the “father of the steamboat,” the first Charlotte Dandes ship launched in the world in 1801 is the first working similar vehicle.

In 1819, the American ship with paddle wheels Savannah crossed the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, however, the ship traveled most of the way under sail , which for a long time remained on ships as an auxiliary propulsion . Only in 1838 (19 years after the Savannah) did the English steam ship Sirius cross the Atlantic Ocean for the first time without using sails.

The first screw steamer Archimedes was built in 1838 by the English farmer Francis Smith . With the transition from propeller wheels to propellers, the driving performance of steamboats has greatly improved. This led to the fact that by the beginning of the XX century, such ships almost completely displaced sailboats and their wheeled counterparts at sea.

The introduction of the steam engine in the navy began with the Fulton-built steam self-propelled battery Demologos , which went into operation in 1816. However, the introduction of a steam engine in warships was constrained by the imperfection of the wheel propulsion, bulky and extremely vulnerable to the enemy. The situation with the deployment of weapons was also not easy. There was no longer any talk of a full-fledged onboard battery - for the guns there was only a relatively small space in the bow and stern parts of the hull. The decrease in the number of guns caused a natural desire to make them more powerful, and military steamers were the first to receive large-caliber guns. But because of this, the extremities had to be made more complete in contours and, accordingly, heavier. Only with the advent of the propeller were these problems resolved and steam traction found wide application in the navy.

The first steamboat frigates (all relatively large steam battle ships received this designation) were in fact much more steamers than classical frigates. Their combat power so far did not allow fights with sailing frigates. Attempts to equip large ships with cars and wheels initially stably failed. The British made efforts to create a full-fledged steam frigate since 1822, but, not for the first or not the last time, they were overtaken by the French - the French “Homer” (1841, 2700 tons, 20 guns) is considered to be the first combat steam-frigate in history.

In the middle of the XIX century, a massive alteration of sailing ships into steam ships began. The modernization of sailboats into screw ships, unlike the same into wheeled ones, turned out to be much simpler. The wooden case was cut in half and made a wooden insert with a mechanical installation, the power of which for large frigates was 400-800 liters. from. At the same time, the weight load only improved: heavy boilers and machines were located mainly under the waterline, and the need for receiving ballast, the amount of which on sailboats sometimes reached hundreds of tons, disappeared. The screw was placed in a special well in the stern and equipped with a lifting mechanism, since during sailing it only interfered with the movement, creating additional resistance. The same thing happened with the chimney: so that it did not interfere with the manipulation of sails, it was made telescopic folding - like a telescope. There were practically no problems with armament (unlike wheeled ones): it remained in its place ^[6] .

In 1894, Charles Parsons built a pilot ship, Turbine, powered by a steam turbine . In tests, it showed a record speed of 60 km / h. After that, steam turbines began to be installed on many high-speed vessels.

In Russia, the first ship was built at the Charles Beard factory in 1815 . He made flights between St. Petersburg and Kronstadt .

The first Volga steamboats belonged to Vsevolod Vsevolozhsky , who in 1817 personally made a trip on one of them to Kazan . The designer of one of the ships was Peter Sobolevsky.
The technical characteristics of these vessels have also been preserved: one steamboat was 15.7 meters long, 4.2 meters wide, 2.1 meters high with a 6 horsepower steam engine; the other ship was 30.6 meters long, 6.9 meters wide with a side height of 2.6 meters with a steam engine power of 36 liters. from. The crew of both ships was 21 people.

In 1818, the Admiralty Izhora Plants commissioned the first military steamer Skory with a 32-liter machine. from. By the way, the Skory may well claim the role of the first battle steamboat not only in Russia, but, at least in Europe - the somewhat larger British Comets were laid down only three years later.

The construction of steamboats continued until the 1950s. After the XX Congress of the CPSU, at which a decision was made to stop the construction of steam locomotives, the USSR Council of Ministers decided to stop the construction of ships. Shipbuilding yards that had, on the execution of existing contracts for the supply of steamships, were allowed to complete them. However, new steamboats were no longer designed or laid. The last series of river steamboats was the Joseph Stalin type (later renamed Ryazan). Steamboats of this type were laid before 1958 , surrendered to shipping companies until 1959 . After that, shipyards massively switched to the production of diesel pusher tugs of the RT type and local river passenger ships of the Moskvich, MO, OM, VT type. River passenger sea-going vessels in the USSR ceased to be built (except for two diesel-electric vessels of the “Soviet Union” type), as this type of transportation was considered obsolete: the era of high-speed hydrofoil ships was approaching. In 1957, simultaneously with the decision to build steamboats, it was decided to start mass production of the Rocket ship . Long-distance vessels on the inland waterways of the USSR were transferred to the category of tourist and began to be ordered in the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, Finland and Austria. The construction of sea steamers also ceased. Moreover, a number of vessels previously laid down as steamboats were launched already with new types of power plants: steam turbine or diesel.

The oldest operating wheeled steamer “ N.V. Gogol ” in Russia is now located in the city of Severodvinsk ( Arkhangelsk Region ) and cruised along the Severnaya Dvina River until 2012, becoming in 2013, according to the owners of this vessel, only a banquet boat.

On June 28, 1851, a new wooden steamer descended from the slipway in England, called the Amazon . The hull length was 91 m, the greatest width - 14.5 m. The ship was equipped with a steam engine with a capacity of 800 liters. from. It was the largest wooden steamer of all time. On January 4, 1852, a fire broke out on the ship, resulting in a disaster. Of the 162 passengers, 58 survived, of which 11 went crazy from a nightmare.

On April 14, 1912, the Titanic , the world's largest passenger ship of the time, collided with an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean during its first voyage and sank for 2 hours 40 minutes. As a result of the disaster, 1,517 people died, which made this collision one of the deadliest in the history of marine disasters in peacetime. Such a high mortality rate is attributed to the fact that despite compliance with the standards of the time, the ship did not have enough rescue boats for all passengers. The number of seats in the rescue boats was 1178, while 2208 people were on the ship. A disproportionate number of men died due to the “ women and children first ” rule, which was observed when boarding boats, but they were not completely filled.

The oldest steamer in the world, still in operation, is the Norwegian wheeled steamer Skibladner , built in 1856 and sailing along Lake Mjösa .

The Danish Yulland (of the same type as the first in the Zeeland series), one of the few wooden warships that have survived to this day and are preserved as floating museums .

The Dresden Shipping Company Sächsische Dampfschifffahrt has the largest fleet of wheeled steamers in the world. It consists of nine steamships built in 1879-1929. All of them are still in operation. Sächsische Dampfschifffahrt ships carry seven hundred thousand passengers annually ^[7] . A wheeled motor ship (until August 5, 2008, the ship) Goethe (Goethe), built in 1913, runs along the Rhine . It is the largest river ship in the world ^[8] .

Switzerland has a large fleet of historic wheeled steamers. Five of these steamboats operate on Lake Firwaldstätten , five on Lake Geneva (the shipping company Compagnie générale de navigation sur le lac Léman ), two on Lake Zurich and one each on Lake Brienz , Tuna and Lake Constance ( SD Lake Hohentwiel is now flying the flag of Austria) under the flag of Austria) .

On the Austrian lake Traunsee there is a wheeled steamer Gisela built in 1871 ^[9] . Another Austrian wheeled steamer, Schönbrunn (built in 1912), runs on the Austrian part of the Danube ^[10] .

In the US, historic wheeled steamers are used on the Mississippi River . Unlike European ones, these use feed wheels instead of side wheels ^{[11] [12]} .

The design of the nuclear powered engine is similar to the design of the steam turbine engine - in most marine nuclear power plants (though not just marine nuclear power plants ), the turbine is driven by steam, which is created in the steam generator by heating water, but the heating is not due to the burning of fossil fuels (coal, fuel oil), and due to the release of thermal energy during the decay of nuclear fuel . This makes nuclear powered ships (except for atomic turboelectric ships) a kind of steamboats, the key feature of which is the use of nuclear reaction energy.

The first Vietnamese ship was built in 1838 after “having seen the huge potential of steam ships, the Vietnamese emperor Minh Mang tried to reproduce the French ship ^[13] . The first test in 1838 was unsuccessful, as the boiler failed. Those responsible were imprisoned. The new performers carried out successful tests two months later, after which Min Mang ordered the engineers to study and develop steam engines and steamboats to equip their navy. By the end of Ming Mang's reign, 3 steamships were built.

In bonistics

In the philocarty

.

Comments

Sources

• Ed. Dmitrieva V.V. Marine Encyclopedic Dictionary. - St. Petersburg: Shipbuilding, 1993. - T. 2. - 584 p. - 10,000 copies. - ISBN 5-7355-0281-6 .
• Ed. Dmitrieva V.V. Marine Encyclopedic Dictionary. - St. Petersburg: Shipbuilding, 1994. - T. 3. - 488 p. - 10,000 copies. - ISBN 5-7355-0282-4 .
• Lavery B. Ships. 5000 years of shipbuilding and navigation = Ship. 5000 Years of Martitime Adventure. - Moscow: AST (A Dorling Kindersley book), 2009 .-- 400 p. - ISBN 978-5-17-042290-6 .
• Paine L. Ships of the World. An Historical Encyclopedia. - New York, USA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997. - S. [215-216] (stb. 1). - 680 s. - ISBN 0-395-71556-3 .
• Aleksushin G.V. Steamboat “Burlak” and others // River transport . 1995 . No. 3. S. 39–41.
• Aleksushin G.V. The largest monopoly transport enterprise on the Volga // River transport . 1996 . Number 2. S. 30-31.
• Aleksushin G.V. Establishment of the Volga Shipping Company in 1815-1842 // River transport . 1996. No. 4. C. 28-29.
• Aleksushin G.V. Founder of Russian transport P.P. Melnikov // River transport . 1997 . Number 1. S. 32-33.
• Aleksushin G.V. The role of governor's power in the development of shipping in the XVIII - early XX centuries // River transport. XXI century . 2007 . No. 3 (27).

• Steam engine conquers the seas