Steam Windlass

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JK
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Steam Windlass

Post by JK »

All the hours I spent working on this little darling and I have 1 crappy photo.
When you fit new bearings, there was a lot of scrapping, because the shaft had a wobble, good thing for that powder called Timesaver!

WINDLASS.jpeg
bhaven
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Re: Steam Windlass

Post by bhaven »

I recently had to answer a question about a steam windlass in a TC exam, the exam sheet was dated 1997! My father quit working on ships in the sixties, he knew a bit about those, but me? Good thing I bought some old english seamanship books, with stuff in it about steamers and sailing vessels, might come in handy for the next exam :shock: .
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JK
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Re: Steam Windlass

Post by JK »

the big question about steam winches is water hammer.
We would get all the deck winches running at a good clip with the drains on the cylinders open, at the end of the working day and call the boiler room to shut off the deck steam.
That prevents the steam condensing in the lines and getting a shot of water to the piston cylinder in the morning on startup.
Of course, in the morning, the steam was cracked with all of the drains open to allow the machinery to warm through before anything was rolled over.
There has been more then one person killed by neglecting to properly drain and start up steam machinery.
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Re: Steam Windlass

Post by jimmys »

You can google it , the Reid Gear Co and Thomas Reid of Linwood, Windlass Manufacturers and gearcutters. I served my apprenticeship with them. My father served his apprenticeship with them. My grandfather worked for them as a turner. We are back in the 1880,s. A long time ago.
I was up on the Canadian East coast and we built wendy houses around them to keep going. Not good for Canada in those temperatures.
I was born in Linwood, father born in Linwood. Family there since 1880.

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JK
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Re: Steam Windlass

Post by JK »

Well that is pretty neat Jimmy.
That windlass is a 1949 model, the ship worked the east coast of Canada for almost 40 years. The engineers on her were very particular on how those winches were treated in the winter, there was no protection other then asbestos rope insulation with a sewed canvas cover on the lines.
By the sounds of it, at least one of your family may have worked on the variety of winches on this ship:
windlass
2 mooring winches
#2 hook winch
5-barrel winch
lifeboat winch
and a winch on the aft derrick. I think it was a regular winch, because I can't remember it being used or working on it.
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Re: Steam Windlass

Post by Big Pete »

I sailed on several cargo ships some designed in the 1930's but not built until the 1950's they were all Electric (D.C.so easy to control the speed), no steam machinery on Deck although one had steam turbine propulsion.
I think after the war steam Deck Machinery was mainly used on Tankers because of the danger of Electricity in hazardous areas. They were then replaced with Hydraulic Machinery which was intrinsically safe and gave better control than A.C. Electric Motors in those days. When A.C. came in, there was no speed control for A.C. motors, you either had to use the Ward Leonard system, generate A.C. power, use that to drive an AC motor, use that to drive a D.C. generator (Dynamo) and use that to drive a variable speed D.C. motor, or use an A.C.motor to drive a Hydraulic pump and control the winch speed with mechanical valves, which was a lot cheaper and easier.
With modern, variable frequency A.C. drives, an A.C. Motor can be smaller, lighter, cheaper, quieter and more controllable than any of the alternative winch drives, also more environmentally friendly, no oil leaks and more energy efficient.

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JK
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Re: Steam Windlass

Post by JK »

hydraulics are much easier! men on the 5-barrel winch had an extensive workout over a day and not everyone could run them.
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Re: Steam Windlass

Post by jimmys »

I went to attend an accident in West Scotland, it was at the windlass. It was a first generation RoRo ferry and she was in the middle of berthing when a very severe blow came up. Windlass very similar to the one in the picture. The beak was up and she driving on to the linkspan. The two windlasses had a wire drum and rope handling and the wire was hauling around an old man on a pedestal and out through a multi angled lead on to the linkspan bollards. Deck steam was around 80 psi but not enough. Bridge asked for max. deck steam 150 psi and as the engine room increased it, the starboard windlass old man and pedestal was hauled from the deck and propelled over the front end. Left a big hole into the fore end. The windlass was intact and continued to haul through the lead. The ship was berthed. No injuries.
It was a Clarke Chapman windlass, when they both were tested 80 psi gave the required pull and the test was over. Goodness knows what it hauled at 150 psi. The windlass was undamaged. New wire needed. Repair the hole. new old man and pedestal.

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Re: Steam Windlass

Post by Big Pete »

I was Second on a ship once, I think it was the Harting, tied up in Port eating our Dinner when a ship passed close and we could feel our ship surge, there was a big "BANG" and we all rushed out on Deck to see what had happened, The Fairlead had ripped out of the Deck and was hanging on the nooring rope!
When we looked cloesely we could see that the Fairlead had only been tack welded to the Deck, it had never been properly welded down.

BP
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JK
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Re: Steam Windlass

Post by JK »

"old man" there's a term I haven't heard for awhile.

We also used it to refer to the intermediate FO tank heating steam coil returns observation tank. It was fitted on a platform in the boiler room over the FO pressure pumps and heater in the opposite side of the space from the WT door. Every step you took over to that area, I think the temperature increased by at least 10*C.
I once had a Greek CE pooh-pooh my steam time because I hadn't done it in the PG or some other southly clime. Maybe so, but it was still somewhat warm ontop of the boilers.
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