The Pioneer Steamship Savannah: A Study for a Scale Model: United States National Museum Bulletin 228, 1961, pages 61-80Chapelle, Howard Irving
History
The Pioneer Steamship Savannah: A Study for a Scale Model: United States National Museum Bulletin 228, 1961, pages 61-80
Chapelle, Howard Irving
Savannah (Steamship); Ship models
Models have been built of the _Savannah_ in which the engine and
boilers are forward of the paddle wheel shaft, and the shaft below the
main deck. This was accomplished by placing the engine off center so
that the stack came through the decks alongside it. This is an
impractical arrangement because it would have created an impossible
ballasting problem. The weight of the engine, to port in the models,
would have to have been counteracted by ballast to starboard. Due to
the coal bunkers, and the possibility of two boilers below the engine
in the hold, there would not have been room for sufficient ballast. In
addition, were such ballasting possible, the combined weights were too
far forward to give proper trim, and a great deal more ballast would
have been required far aft, a most impractical proceeding.
The position of the wheel shaft was determined as described earlier.
The ship was apparently well-advanced in construction at the time of
purchase. Her clamps and shelves supporting her upper deck beams,
which then would have been in place, were important strength members.
In reconstructing, to place the wheel shaft below these members would
not only bring the engine nearly level--it is described and shown
inclined by Marestier--but also would immerse the paddle blades too
deeply for the draft and depth of the hull. To place the shaft below
or through the lowest clamp member would require the shaft centerline
to be at least 3 feet below the upper deck, and this would contradict
Marestier. These questions indicate the importance of a scaled drawing
when deciding arrangement in the reconstruction of a ship under the
circumstances existing in the _Savannah_. Some models have been built
with the shaft below deck by disregarding the structural and
dimensional objections just outlined.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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