Great Eastern's engine performance?

[Tom L.]

Would anyone know, or have access to information regarding Great Eastern's engine performance; particularly her screw engine's RPM?

Also, I've found a couple sources online that state that she had four paddle engines, but how two engines can share one single-throw crankshaft leaves me flummoxed...

[Dave Wooley]

Ok here goes Just for the record The Great Eastern's original name was Leviathan.
The screw engine of the Great Eastern comprised of four horizontal direct- acting cylinders 84inches diameter by 48inch stroke which were to give a total indicated horse power of 4890 at 38.8 rpm .Steam was provided at 25lb/in2 by six double ended tubular boilers with a total heating surface of 30000ftsq. The paddle engine was slightly less powerful. They consistered of four oscillating cylinders 74inches diameter x 14ft stroke with a total Ihp of 3410 at 10 & 3/4 rpm . They were supplied with steam from four separate boilers at a pressure of 24 lb inch sq . These were rectangular or box pattern and their total heating surface was 19200ft sq . Hope this helps . Also for the record the Pub "The Great Eastern" on the banks of the river Mersey not far from were I live has many of the original ornate interior fittings incorporated into the decor.
Dave Wooley

[ARH]

Dave, your not just a good modeller, your a mined of very usefull imformation, well done, and an asset to this web site.

[Tom L.]

Ok here goes Just for the record The Great Eastern's original name was Leviathan.
The screw engine of the Great Eastern comprised of four horizontal direct- acting cylinders 84inches diameter by 48inch stroke which were to give a total indicated horse power of 4890 at 38.8 rpm .Steam was provided at 25lb/in2 by six double ended tubular boilers with a total heating surface of 30000ftsq. The paddle engine was slightly less powerful. They consistered of four oscillating cylinders 74inches diameter x 14ft stroke with a total Ihp of 3410 at 10 & 3/4 rpm . They were supplied with steam from four separate boilers at a pressure of 24 lb inch sq . These were rectangular or box pattern and their total heating surface was 19200ft sq . Hope this helps . Also for the record the Pub "The Great Eastern" on the banks of the river Mersey not far from were I live has many of the original ornate interior fittings incorporated into the decor.
Dave Wooley

Thank you!

There wouldn't be any existing data on her performance under screw alone, would there?

[Roger T]

Also, I've found a couple sources online that state that she had four paddle engines, but how two engines can share one single-throw crankshaft leaves me flummoxed...

The four paddle cylinders were arranged in two pairs, each pair forming an engine driving one wheel. Together with the screw, this made her very manoeuvrable, a useful quality when she was used to lay the Atlantic telegraph cable.

There's a spectacular model of the Great Eastern's paddle engines (sorry, no screw engine!) at the Science Museum in South Kensington. A small photo and some info can be seen here:

http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/ ... 80/IC.002/

[Guest]

Wow, steam pressure =1.8 atms...

[Dave Wooley]

Hi Tom l I managed to unearth a illustration of the propeller that was fitted to the Great Eastern .
Unfortunatly I'm unable to discover any further
information regarding the performance on propeller only.
I hope this may be of some use .

The Propeller as fitted to the Great Eastern consisted of four cast iron blades rivited to a cast boss .

Dave Wooley

[Pieter]

One word of warning when you're going to do your own research on the subject. Until compound engines with multiple screws become the norm in ships (after 1880) the words "cylinder" and "engine" we used in a rather confusing way. Sometimes the number of engines was used to indicate the number of shafts (or paddles), sometimes the number of engines was an indications of the number of cylinders. After 1880 this became very confusing , with multiple screws and triple or quadruple compound engines (think HMS Blake).
After the 1880's the current use of the word 'cylinder' and 'engine' was agreed upon.
About GE , the main "Eastern o holic" on the web is Russell Wild who can be found at a website called The Debris Field; http://russellwild.co.uk/settingsail/index.php

[Tom L.]

Pieter; thank you very much for the link, I've fired off an E-mail to Mr. Wild.

Dave; thank you very much for the drawing, and I have to say I'm awfully jealous of your having such extraordinary relics so close at hand!

Great Eastern pub, how lucky is that?

Roger; many thanks to you, also, for the link to the picture. What the rationale behind those oscillating engines was eludes me, but a more fascinating powerplant is hard to imagine.

[Roger T]

Dave, great drawing of the screw!

Tom, as I don't live far from South Ken, I'll try and get down to the Science Museum soon(ish) and see if I can take some photos of the paddle engine model. I'll post 'em when done.

[Dave Wooley]

Roger T There is one particular publication "A Manual of Marine Engineering� by AE Seaton that is often considered a bible of marine engineering in the Victorian, post Victorian period. The copy I have is the nineteenth edition and although there are no specific references to the Great Eastern the book covers in great detail the marine engines of the period such as the Oscillating engine with charts relating to performance, propellers, rpm etc. Well worth tracking down a copy, you will not be disappointed.
Dave Wooley

[Roger T]

How bizarre, my last repsonse, to Dave, vanished into the aether...

Anyway, all I wanted to say was:

[a] Ta for the book reference, Dave, I've already gone online and ordered a copy!

Damn you, Dave, for making me open my wallet again!

[reigels]

I did a little research on the ship a few years ago. You may find this site to be of some interest:

http://debrisfield.russellwild.co.uk/gr ... index.html

I have a fair number of book on the Great Eastern in my collection and would be happy to offer a little investigation if you are loking for any other information. I don't recall any references to her sailing under screw alone, aside from perhaps after damaging her original paddle wheels at sea.

--Scott

[Andrew G]

Hello,

Doing my occasional net searching for info on the Great Eastern and chanced upon this thread.

Attached is a copy of the engine's indicator diagrams.

This came from a Lloyd's register staff association publication I picked up on ebay.

No figure reference was supplied, but the most likely reference source was the Birmingham Reference Library.



Andrew

[reigels]

I recently found an interesting reference to the Great Ship in the Diary of Sir Daniel Gooch, who served on the board of directors and helped organize the first voyage to NYC, and the Cape May excursion.

http://www.archive.org/details/diarieso ... 00goocrich

Worth a download if interested in the topic due to his personal connection to the ship. Also widely available as a reprint.

[Werner]

<I just have to say this is one of the most interesting threads on the board>

[Andrew G]

I recently found an interesting reference to the Great Ship in the Diary of Sir Daniel Gooch,...

http://www.archive.org/details/diarieso ... 00goocrich

Thanks for the link reigels. Gooch was an inspiring personality.

Andrew