Book Description

Excerpt from Forged Steel Water-Tube Marine Boilers The marine engineer of to-day, conversant with the current technical literature of his calling, is no longer in doubt regarding the position of the water-tube boiler for marine purposes. He is not only convinced that it has come to stay, but is equally sure that it will, at no late date, supplant the boilers of the fire-tube variety in all important steamers on lake and sea. The question of its advantages and the exploitation of its disadvantages have afforded themes, during recent years, for voluminous discussions both in the technical press and in the proceedings of the great law-making bodies of this and foreign governments. By these mediums the theoretical side of the question has become too familiar to admit of further general interest, and the practical side of the radical change involved alone remains an open and keenly live topic of the times. It will be a surprise, however, to a great number of even the most advanced followers of this subject, to find that there is nothing at present in the market in the shape of a water-tube boiler that can claim great novelty of design or principle. Indeed, it will be seen from the brief outline of the history of the water-tube boiler, as given in the next chapter, that certain types of these boilers, now being pushed into prominence, have fac similes in the archives of the patent office, or are nearly identical with types tried and abandoned as defective years ago. Persevering effort and abundant capital can secure the commercial test of any type with a theoretical claim for efficiency. The type that will endure, however, must appeal to engineers through actual practical advantages both in the operation and in the care of the plant. That such permanent advantages do exist in some types of the water-tube boiler is evidenced by the increasing rapidity with which old steam vessels, formerly using fire-tube boilers, are being re-boilered with the water-tube boiler, and, more forcibly, perhaps, by the almost exclusive adoption of this variety of steam generators for the machinery of new war ships throughout the world. In the simplest form the water-tube boiler closely approaches the ideal. It embodies the greatest strength with least steaming weight. It can be constructed in the ship. Its parts subject to wear or destruction (the tubes) can be bought in any market and do not require to be bent to special forms, and can be readily renewed without specially skilled force. There are no furnaces to threaten with dropping crowns, nor any large flat stayed surfaces under pressure and subject to bulging, or annoying and wasteful leaky seams. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.