Friday, January 12, 2007

Propellers

This time I'm going to explain a bit about the Titanic's massive propellers!!!
The top three pictures you see are what the propellers look like today. They haven't changed much from the day when they were constructed, bronze does not rust like steel.







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Steam ships have propellers to drive them through the icy, choppy, or calm seas.
The Titanic had three huge propellers, two three bladed ones, measuring 23ft & 6in, weighing in at 38 tons of solid bronze metal. The center propeller was slightly smaller than her two sisters, the middle one came in at 16ft, & 6in, also weighing in at 17 tons of solid bronze metal.
Each of these propellers were driven by a separate engine, the two side propellers had a reciprocating, four cylinder, triple expansion, direct acting, inverted engines, creating 30,000 hp.
The center propeller was driven by a completely separate engine. The leftover steam from the reciprocating engines went to a third, low pressure, Parsons turbine engine, creating 16,000 hp.



Just by looking here we see the immense proportions Titanic's propellers were given.



If you notice, the men in these pictures seem over-awed at the size of these massive propellers. They completely dwarf the men that built them.


As I will explain at a later time, these propellers would play a major role the night of April 14, 1912...
I did some research, and come to find out, the propellers on the Titanic are bigger than the propellers on the biggest cruise ship to this day.
You really never see the propellers on big ships like this when they are in service, but without them, you're not going anywhere. They play a vital role in the ship getting from point A. to point B.
The propellers on a ship are like the wheels and tires on a car!!!


Well that's all for now, but that's just the "tip of the iceberg" as they say.






9 comments:

Metalmouth said...

nice!!!

TO BECOME said...

Good job , Daniel!! I look forward to learning more. Grandma

Theresa's Notes said...

Well hello Daniel, You getting a blog makes me wonder Who's Next??? I love the pictures of the Titanic, your doing very well thus far.

Love you, Theresa

Daniel said...

Many thanks for reading my blog, and hopefully we'll all learn something.

Anonymous said...

Daniel, My father and I were dicussingus the metal used on those props. He had visted the titantic exibit in Branson, Mo. but could not recall the material used. You cleared that up. Bob.

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much! I am doing a school report on the Titanic and this was very helpful information!

Stephen Collyer said...

My grandad told me that it was his dad that designed and built the propellors but i dont even know his name! can anyone help?

Anonymous said...

hey, nice info i'm a 7'th grader doing a research paper on the titanic and your the best website so far. keep up with it!

Pat-The-Pirate said...

Hi Daniel,

I'm a bit mystified: Bob Ballard on page 155 of his 1987 book "The sinking of the Titanic" says CATEGORICALLY that he did not see any propellers, and the photo on page 156 shows only the very top of the rudder, 40 or 50 feet above the line of the propeller shafts.

However, the photo in National Geographic magazine (April 2012page 84-85 ) shows two propeller blades!

How could Bob Ballard possibly have missed such an obvious item?

As I said, I'm mystified.

Regards

Jim McLay