Makes a lot of sense, Fritz. If the safety valves started blowing off steam in rough seas, it would affect not only the main engines but also the blower and other auxiliary engines. Could be if the USS Monitor had used spring loaded instead of weighted safety valves, she might have survived Hatteras.
Phil, many thanks for this technique. I thought a cylinder, because of its simplicity, would burn less memory. The octagon effect is intriguing and your wiring as I have often noticed, is phenomenal.
Now we are into the problem of plumbing the turret engines. Here is schematic representation from the Swedish museum overhead view, superimposed on the 3D model of the engines and gearbox.
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The green is low pressure, exhaust steam. The red is high pressure steam from the boiler. What we can learn from this is just that the drawing is a schematic, not a pictorial. It shows short, direct paths that can be drawn with a pencil to indicate where the steam comes from and where it goes. The practical problem is that these lines run, for examples, straight through the crankshaft and the main spur gear. The real piping configuration must be different -- longer and more curved, probably flanking the gearbox and then looping down to the engines.
We have a couple of other clues.
One is the fanciful Harpers cartoon:
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This shows what might be an intake conduit running outside the gearbox, high on the port side, and a couple of goofy, swoopy pipes running down to and converging at the level of the steam chest of the port side engine cylinder. This cartoon is very little help except that it gives us a real world artist's subjective impression -- he was in the galley, and he actually saw the thing.
The other image is the photo of the turret engines of the Comanche:
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The photo shows the intake and exhaust pipes doubling back in 180 degree curves from the steam chest. The other cylinder follows the same pattern.
In trying to work this out I will take the initial approach that the steam lines run above the engine, at about the same vertical level at which they enter the galley. Another option would be to route the steam pipes down underneath the gearbox, but I think this would take too big a bite out of the crews' space -- notably that of the cook.
I have sought the counsel of Rich Carlstedt on the steam system.
http://www.stationarysteam.com/http://www.stationarysteam.com/u.s.s.-m ... llery.html No one -- no one -- knows the USS Monitor as Rich does. He has been most helpful in suggesting in detail how the steam system valving and drain cocks were most probably worked out for the turret engines. Many thanks to Rich and to Devin for helping me get in touch with him!