The Stoker's Catechism Part 2

Jones Morning " 4 to 8 a.m. = 24 hours.

A few hours after leaving Southampton all hands are mustered and apportioned to man the seventeen boats hanging from the davits, eight on each side, and the captain's gig under the stern; after this ceremony we get an allowance of grog. The fires are now beginning to be dirty, having clinkers seven or eight inches thick, which are not allowed to be pulled out until the whole fire is cleaned at the usual time; this order from the chief engineer surprised me at the time, as clinkers are not calculated to increase the steam, so I left them there to deaden the fire, but later on I found the solution; I was told by an old stoker that there was sharp compet.i.tion between the chief engineers as to who could do the voyage at the least expense of coals, and that information explained the action of our chief engineer who would often perambulate the deck till midnight, watching the windsails that they should remain with their backs to the wind in order to prevent a breath of cool air reaching the fires, that would cause them to burn a few more pounds of coals, while some of the stokers were often hauled up in the ash-bucket fainting from the stifling heat of the foul-smelling stoke-hold. We were all supplied with fis.h.i.+ng-lines and hooks of three different sizes, and extra grog when getting steam up. The method of cleaning and polis.h.i.+ng the engines and all bright work was very effectual, and did the stokers great credit; after having scoured and polished the steel and bright ironwork they were frosted, in imitation of h.o.a.r frost. A pot of hot tallow and white lead in which a clean piece of cotton waste was dipped, and the parts smeared evenly in line with the metal, and when this dried it was dabbed, or patted, with another clean piece of waste also dipped in the hot tallow, which gave the metal a good imitation of h.o.a.r frost; the bra.s.s and copper work were burnished and shone like gold. The boat drill and fire drill create some wonder for the pa.s.sengers, as they always happen unexpectedly; the former begins in this way: a large gong is rapidly hit with a mallet by the quartermaster, and all those stokers and sailors, who belong to the seventeen boats hanging from the davits, immediately make their way towards them and commence to clear the falls, and the word is given to lower all boats, while the men hold their oars ready to push off, and the boats are run down nearly to the water's edge; then it is up all boats, and those on deck run them up in a jiffy to their places under the davits, and coil the tails up, and this ends the boat drill. The fire drill takes place on another day, and commences in this manner: the s.h.i.+p's bell is rapidly rung by the quartermaster; the unusual rapidity of the ringing attracts the attention of all the pa.s.sengers who commence to crowd the upper deck; the stokers drop down a dozen hose-pipes on the deck and run them out straight, and screw them to nozzles leading down to the engine room. The engineers pop the pumps on and up comes the water; every hose is now stiffened and the branches are all directed over the s.h.i.+p's side, where they make a grand display.

All those of the s.h.i.+p's company who take no watches, as cooks, stewards, bandsmen, etc., have each a pail full of water in hand, others a blanket over their arm, all in exact line, and ready to help if required; and after a few minutes' display of the hose-pipes, the boatswain's whistle ends this drill for this voyage, and the hose-pipes are disconnected, rolled up, and hung up, to be ready at any moment if required. There are plenty of amus.e.m.e.nts on board, such as single-stick, glove-boxing, wrestling, etc. But the game of the "Man in the Chair," is one of the most laughable. A piece of board, 12 inches by 18 inches, in which a strong rope is inserted in a hole in each corner and knotted on the underside, the four ropes are carried upwards and made fast to the forestay, and the "chair" has to be 6 feet from the deck. There are perhaps thirty stokers in this game, and each one has twisted his black silk neckerchief into rope shape, and a volunteer sits on the chair, holding on to one of the chair-ropes with one hand and in the other his silken rope. During these preliminary tactics the pa.s.sengers are crowding round to see what may happen. At last the man on the chair gives the word "Ready Boys," and then commences a real slogging match, hitting the chairman on legs, arms, face, neck, anywhere they can hit him, and every hit being a matter of chance the pa.s.sengers roar when the man in the chair delivers a stinger to his tormentors; his blows come with double force, as he is high above them, and swinging round and round, and to and fro, they come unexpectedly and cause roars of laughter; while this is going on a little tub, called a spitkin, is surrept.i.tiously pushed in view, and a few silver coins dropped into it by one of our men, which causes the audience to dip their hands in their pockets and a few pounds in silver are quickly thrown in; and after half an hour's play this game comes to an end. One more specimen of the many games that delight the pa.s.sengers: about twenty men stand close together and in line, their faces to the s.h.i.+p's head, the front man has a bandage on his eyes, any one in the rank is at liberty to step out and go up to him and slap his cheek, and dart off to his place in the rank before the blindfold touches him; if he does, the touched one has to don the bandage, and the other pulls his bandage off and takes a place in the rank. When the slap is delivered, the slapper darts back to his place in the rank with all possible speed, and the slapped one darts after the other like greased lightning, and touches the wrong man perhaps, and pulls the bandage off, only to have to put on again, while the pa.s.sengers roar with delight; the little tub is not forgotten in this game; and then the climax comes when we think the blindfold has had enough of it, and when a burly stoker steps out to deliver his slap, the rank closes up tightly, and on rus.h.i.+ng back to his place with the blindfold at his heels, and the wild exertions of the man to squeeze himself into the rank before he is touched and the joy of the blindfold who has just touched his man, creates loud cheers and laughter, and the burly man has to don the bandage and take his stand in front. Before arriving at St. Thomas, there is a general clean up, bilges pumped out, engines cleaned, boiler fronts and lagging polished; the pa.s.sengers are preparing for another voyage to some of the islands further west, as Trinidad, St. Vincent, Barbadoes, Martinique, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, etc.

On entering the harbour guns are fired in our honour, and we return the compliment by firing our six-pounder from the forecastle, the Colonial steamer comes alongside our s.h.i.+p, when there are cheers and waving of handkerchiefs and handshaking; the b.u.mboats come alongside also and many people, and board our s.h.i.+p, offering us a great variety of things for sale; women galavanting over every part soliciting the officers'

was.h.i.+ng, etc., etc. Our engines receive a thorough overhaul, boilers are cleaned, cabins and stairways painted, and all bright metal cleaned and repolished; our coals are delivered on board by a swarm of men, women and youths, of both s.e.xes, carrying them in small wicker baskets on their heads, and stepping on a scale or counter on their way to the s.h.i.+p, the process occupying about three days for about 800 tons of Welsh coal. At last the time has come for starting for home; all visitors are ordered off the s.h.i.+p: moorings are cast off, and a man at the voice-pipe speaks to the engineers down below, and the great paddle-wheels revolve slowly for a minute, while the band strikes up some appropriate air, as "Afloat on the Ocean my days gaily fly," or "Afloat on the Ocean Wave."

Then commence the wild cheering and waving of hats and handkerchiefs while the great paddles have lashed the water into white foam, and we are fairly off for a fourteen days' voyage home. In all our games on board in which I took part I noticed the distinguished presence of our highly respected captain, which I am sure greatly enhanced our takings in the little dish.

34. _Question._--How is a hydraulic pump constructed?

_Answer._--There are various sizes, ranging from a 1/4-inch to 4 inches in the diameter of the plunger or piston, as it is sometimes called; the larger size would be constructed in this manner; the barrel of the pump is 3 feet long, and on its top, and in line with it, and in the same casting, an air chamber is situate into which water and air enter at every suction of plunger, and serve as a buffer or cus.h.i.+on in the delivery stroke. The spindle of the plunger is connected to the piston of the steam engine by a hole and stuffing box in the cylinder cover, and a connecting crosshead secures the spindle of the plunger and the extra piston, so that would bring the crank of the engine, the connecting rod, piston, extra piston, and plunger all in a straight line, and a direct stroke. About 6 inches of the plunger is occupied by the packing at the outer end; a solid ring of iron an inch wide, and an inch high, and securely pinned to the plunger, has a leather cup pushed on to it, then a loose ring is slid up against the back of the leather cup and another cup, and another ring, until the s.p.a.ce for the packing is filled up; then a nut is screwed up behind these which brings cups and rings tightly together, and a jam-nut with a split-pin going through nut and spindle and opened wide enough to clear the sides of the barrel, and the hydraulic pump is ready for work.

35. _Question._--How is a hydraulic acc.u.mulator constructed, and why is it necessary?

_Answer._--By having an acc.u.mulator, a lift, crane, or press, works smoothly, as there is a steady and smooth supply of the power; whereas without it, the lift, crane, or press, would work in jerks or jumps; with every stroke of the pumps there would be a jerk; it would be an intermittent not a continual power. The acc.u.mulator consists of a cylinder of cast iron about 9 feet in height, 4 feet outside diameter and 3 feet internal diameter; it rests on ma.s.sive oaken timbers about 4 feet from the ground; inside the cylinder is a ram 9 feet high, also 2 feet outside measurement, and 12 inches diameter inside; it is lathe-turned, smooth and bright; four slabs of cast iron, each a quarter of the circ.u.mference of the base of the cylinder, are placed over four steel bolts that have to support the dead weight, each bolt being about 12 feet high, 4 inches in diameter, with square necks and flat heads, and a hole in each slab to receive the bolts; the flat heads of the bolts are to facilitate the acc.u.mulator resting level on the oaken timbers; the slabs would be 2 tons each. On the slabs are fixed small segments all round and round the base of the cylinder until the required number (perhaps 150) is placed one on top of the other, each segment weighing 2 cwt.; then the crosshead is placed over the top tier, and having a hole in each of its four arms it is entered on the bolts which have a screw-thread; the nuts are put on and screwed up tightly, and the acc.u.mulator is erected.

36. _Question._--How is the acc.u.mulator started working?

_Answer._--The engines are started pumping into the ram and cylinder, whose drain-c.o.c.ks have previously been opened, and air and water issues from them; when the air has escaped they are shut off, and then the great ma.s.s of iron and steel begins to tremble and totter and moves upwards and upwards, and on nearing the limit of its journey the top of the acc.u.mulator lifts a projecting lever which has a small chain attached to it, the bottom end of the chain is attached to the steam throttle valve, and when the chain is pulled up at the top the steam is shut off at the throttle-valve and the engine stops, but will start as soon as any water is taken from the acc.u.mulator.

37. _Question._--Is there any similarity in terms used in hydraulic work and steam boiler work?

_Answer._--There are several terms common to hydraulics and steam; the steam boiler might be called an acc.u.mulator of power; there is a slide-valve in hydraulics as in the steam engine, to admit the power and to allow the exhaust to escape; there are stop-valves and intermediate valves in hydraulics, as in steam pipes, also air-vessels in each: there are suction and delivery pipes and valves in each, and relieve valves also in each; there is a cylinder in each in which the power is concentrated; there are reversing levers in a hydraulic crane, as in a steam crane.

38. _Question._--Who invented the atmospheric engine, and how was it constructed?

_Answer._--Savory, a mining agent, invented the first method, which he called an engine, of drawing water up from a well by means of a vacuum which he happened accidentally to discover a method to create, and the pressure of the atmospheric combined with it. He procured a real steam boiler with a safety valve and gauge c.o.c.ks and erected two vessels in which to create a vacuum; a suction pipe from the bottom of each vessel led down into a well beneath the vessels, and a valve that opened upwards was on the end of each pipe. When about to start work, steam from the boiler was turned into one of the vessels, and kept on until it was as hot as the boiler itself, while a drain c.o.c.k was kept open the while, and when air and water had been forced out of the vessel steam was shut off, and water from a tank above the vessel was allowed to flow on it, which soon made a vacuum inside the vessel, and water was sucked up through the valves opening upwards and delivered into a tank placed for the purpose. While this performance was in progress, the other vessel was being charged with steam to repeat the performance, etc. This is the extent as far as I know of Savory's claim to be the inventor of the atmospheric engine.

39. _Question._--Who was the real inventor then?

_Answer._--Newcomen and his partner Cawly adopted a working beam, that is, a beam working on a centre or trunnion. At one end of the beam was the pump, at the other was an iron cylinder with an iron piston in it; both ends of the beam were arched or s.e.xton-shaped, and had a chain on each, one connected to the pump rod, the other to the piston rod. When about to start work, the piston being up near the top of the cylinder, steam was let in under it and a jet of water was let in which soon condensed the steam and created a vacuum within the cylinder, and the piston was drawn down to the bottom and the pump drawn up with its load of water; and a counter weight was attached to the pump-rod to always bring the piston to the top of the cylinder after each descent. This is a very brief description of this atmospheric engine; there were now only two c.o.c.ks to open and close--the steam c.o.c.k and water c.o.c.k, and the engine only required a boy for this purpose, but the boy himself added a share in this engine. In order to have a relief from the monotony of opening and shutting the c.o.c.ks alternately, he tied strings to the handles and then connected to the working beam in such a manner that the c.o.c.ks were opened and closed exactly at the nick of time; this caused the engine to work far more regularly and to do twice the work it had done previously, the boy's name was Humphrey Potter.

40. _Question._--What did James Watt do in connection with the atmospheric engine?

_Answer._--Watt being a mathematical instrument maker, was requested to repair an old engine used by some students of Glasgow University; having finished the repairs, and in working this model (the best type of the atmospheric engine), he found and proved by many and various experiments, that an enormous waste of fuel was absolutely necessary in working the engine; he found great difficulty in keeping the air from entering the cylinder, and the cylinder top was so exposed to the atmosphere that the steam was much condensed when it entered the cylinder, and he came to the conclusion to put a cover on the top of the cylinder, and allow the piston-rod to play in a hole in the cover with a gland and stuffing box, and _to press down the piston with steam instead of the atmosphere_. This engine was no longer atmospheric, it was a real steam engine, the first ever seen or constructed, for steam was used to create the vacuum, and steam was used to work the piston; but this was only the beginning of his great improvements. This engine though suitable for the purpose of pumping water, was totally unsuitable for continuous rotary motion, the steam acting only on the downward stroke after the piston had been pulled up to the top of the cylinder by means of the additional weight fixed on the pump end of the beam. He devised a method to admit steam under the piston as well as above it, but the flexible chains although suitable for the down stroke of the piston were powerless in the up stroke, they would hang listless and useless. This being so, he determined to get rid of the chains at both ends of the beam, and also both arched ends, and subst.i.tute a ridged connection at both ends of the beam. He put an iron connecting rod from the end of the beam to the pump rod, and the other end of the beam was connected to the piston rod by a crosshead; to this engine he attached that grand appendage the "Parallel Motion" which is the pride of the beam engine up to to-day. He devised the improvement of the separate condenser for the exhaust steam, instead of the jet of water under the piston. He invented the crank for his engine, also the sun and planet motion, also the throttle valve, also the counter to indicate the number of revolutions the engine had performed, also the "Cut off," the steam moving the piston by expansion when it was cut off at one-third the length of the cylinder, and thus saving two-thirds of the steam and a more uniform rate of speed.

41. _Question._--Give a description of the Sun and Planet method, and why he invented it?

_Answer._--The sun and planet were two cog-wheels geared into each other, the sun being 3 feet diameter and the planet 2 feet diameter, the latter was keyed tightly on the bottom end of the connecting rod, and the sun which was keyed tightly on the end of the shaft, that was to revolve and work the machinery. But although this method did make the machinery revolve, it was not smoothly, for when the planet wheel was at either top or bottom of the sun wheel, the power of the engine was less effective than it was half way in the opposite positions. This led Watt to add a large wheel on the shaft of the sun wheel, called the fly wheel, which equalised the rate of motion to uniformity. Watt invented the crank for his engine, but one of his men gave the tip to an engineer at Bristol, who forthwith took out a patent for it and forestalled Watt, who had to invent another means--the sun and planet. But when the term of the patent expired, Watt resumed the crank method instead of the sun and planet, which was noisy, the wear and tear very great, and also expensive.

42. _Question._--What other things did Watt do towards the perfection of the steam engine?

_Answer._--He added the air pump to his engine to draw the condensed steam and water from his separate condenser; he invented the throttle valve and the governor, in order to sustain a uniform rate of speed in the engine, whatever pressure of steam might be on, or variation of work, whether heavy or light.

43. _Question._--Why is the power of the engine called horse-power?

_Answer._--Before the invention of the engine, horses were employed in mills and mines, and other places; the number of horses employed in a mill or mine, indicating the amount of work going on, and the necessity of employing them, and when the steam engine came on the scene, and a purchaser wanted, he was told that the engine was equal to so many horses; that comparison gave the purchaser a clear idea of the engine he required. Savory was the first to suggest this comparison, but Watt knew that horses differed in size and strength, and in order to be sure of a safe standard for his engine power he experimented with big horses in some London breweries, and after careful calculation and comparison he fixed a horse-power at 32,000 lb., that is to say, that a horse could lift that weight of water one foot above the ground in a minute for eight hours per day. This standard has remained ever since, although it is above the average of the power of the average horse, it is in favour of the purchaser of an engine, as well as being capable of working more than eight hours a day, or twenty hours if required.

44. _Question._--What is meant by "nominal horse-power"?

_Answer._--It is a rough and ready way of giving some idea of the power of an engine or engines on the basis of the number of inches in the area of the cylinder or cylinders, but when the process of taking the diagram of the engine is gone through the term nominal is dropped, and indicated horse-power is then expressed, because it was proved by actual experiment and certainty.

45. _Question._--How is that performance accomplished?

_Answer._--In horizontal engines there are generally two gun-metal screw-plugs on the top of the cylinder, one over each end and in front of the piston; when a diagram is to be taken, these plugs are taken out and other screws put in their places, to which a copper pipe is attached; the screw plugs are 1 inch in diameter, also the copper pipes; and exactly mid-way on the copper pipe is a small cylinder which moves on a pivot, by means of a string with a turn round it. One end of the string is fixed by a clip on the connecting rod, the other end anywhere to keep the string tight, so that by the movement of the steam entering the cylinder at either end, and the connecting rod working backwards and forwards, the small cylinder is made to turn frontways and backways; and within the small cylinder is another cylinder very much smaller; it has a tiny piston within it, and as the steam presses on the little piston at every stroke of the engine, a pencil from the outer cylinder is fixed in a slot and marks the movements of the little piston on a roll of prepared paper, slid over the inner cylinder for that purpose, the pencil being kept up to the paper by means of a small steel spring. This diagram on the paper cylinder, not only is used for determining the power of the engine, but for detecting any irregularity in the slide-valve movements. Every hour during the trial the finished diagram is torn off the roll and a fresh one started, and when time is up the engine is stopped and the diagrams compared. Then commence the calculations, which are gone through somewhat in this manner: the common multiplier is found by multiplying the area of the piston in inches by the speed of the piston in feet per minute and the product divided by 32,000 (Watt's horse-power), then the effective mean pressure found on the diagram is multiplied by the common multiplier, and the quotient will be the _indicated_ horse-power of the engine.

46. _Question._--How is the consumption of coals apportioned to the horse-power of the engine at the finish of the trial?

_Answer._--The consumption of coals in pounds is divided by the product of the indicated horse-power and the time in hours. The quotient is the quant.i.ty consumed per horse-power per hour.

47. _Question._--Would the quality of the coals used in the trial be of the same quality as will be used in the ordinary working of the boiler after the trial is ended?

_Answer._--No; the coals which are used in the trial are generally the best Welsh, not shovelled up indiscriminately, but carefully hand-picked, weighed and wheeled into the stoke-hold; the engine during the trial is lavishly supplied with oils and tallow, with great regularity. After the trial, and the horse-power is indicated, the boiler resumes her ordinary work; the stoker is ever after expected to create sufficient steam with very inferior coals to develop the same amount of power in the engine as was done in the trial. I think that is very unfair to the stoker.

"Let the finish give you pleasure" was the last headline in my last school copybook in the long, long ago; and it has given me as much pleasure to begin this catechism as to finish it; it has given me pleasure to offer to brother stokers my very long experience in stoking, and kindred vocations, such as hydraulics, steam-pipe joint making, water-pipe joint making, engine driving, etc., in the hope that in the perusal of this catechism they may find something to their advantage.

And with my best wishes for their future success, remain their true friend.

W. J. C.

1906.