The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-10-13
The Steamboat Connecticut Put
Into Repair and Ready to Do
Service Through Advice of
Jerome WheeIoCk
TROUBLE WITH ENGINES
IS NOW AT AN END
Errors in Construction of the
Steamers Engine Determined
at an 0verhauIing and the
Cause For So Many Break
downs Shown Clearly

| The October number of Power, pub
lished in New York, and devoted to
| the interests of mechanical engineer
ing, contains an illustrated article on
the remodelling of the engine of the
steamboat Connecticut, as suggested by
Jerome Wheelock of Worcester. The
article is not only interesting to ma
chinists in showing what can be done
to make a success of a failure, but is
also of interest to all in Worcester who
appreciate the mechanical genius of
which this city has been the mother.
The Spy reprints the article in part:
The Connecticut was originally
| owned by the Providence & Stoning-
| ton Steamship Company and came into
the possession of the New York, New
Haven & Hartford Railroad Co.. when
| it absorbed the Sound lines, with her
engine in a wrecked condition, with a
divided sentiment as to repairing for
further use.
Built in 1888, with a wooden hull and
| oscillating engine, this steamer was
launched at Palmers yard, Nohank,
Conn.,, with great expectations. The
contract for the engine which was
built by the Cramps of Philadelphia,
called for a compound oscillating en-
CINE with cylinders Sc and 1O4 inches in
diameter and 1872 inches stroke, both
cylinders connected to one crank and
| fitted with the Jerome Wheelock valve
system.
The steamer made her first trip early
| in 1889, and from the first was unfor-
tunate. Breakdown after breakdown
gave plenty of reason for giving the
boat a bad name. Two or three gem
eral overhauls kept the steamer in
commission for several years, but with
untold misery for the engineers de-
partment
The pistons and piston rods were a
great source of annoyance, the rods
daily becoming so hot as to sizzle and
burn every kind of lubricant in spite
of extraordinary efforts by swabbing
and otherwise. The huge trunnions
which support the cylinders were a
constant source of anxiety, requiring
continual streams of water and oil with
results that We're far from satisfac-
tory.
One evening in the summer of 1885,
while the steamer was making one Of
her regular trips up the Sound, one of
the low pressure piston rods broke
square off about four feet from the out
board end, smashing the low pressure
| cylinder and making a general wreck
of the engine. The possibilities of the
valve gear and the prompt action of
the engineer on the watch prevented
any Toss of life and the Connecticut
was once more toWed in. After being
out of commission for several years,
during which time the steamer changed
ownership the new owners concluded,
after getting opinions of experts, that
the steamer could be made to do good
service. A contract was placed with
the North River Iron Works of w & A.
Fletcher & Co. of Hoboken, N. j., to
put the engine in order under the di-
rection of George Pierce, superinten-
dent of marine construction for the
New York New Haven & Hartford
Railroad Company. Jerome Wheelock,
who had been called to make a detailed
report of the possibility of making
changes in the steamers engine, was
also called to suggest changes as the
work progressed. A new low pressure
cylinder and piston, a new single pis-
ton rod to replace the double piston
rods before used, also new cylinder
head with improved construction, were
provided The trunnions received
special consideration and the changes
in this detail are worthy of special in
terest The valves and valve gear were
subjects of careful overhaul and re-
arrangement.
AS the work of dismantiling the en-
CINE progressed, important errors de-
veloped that fully justified previous
failure. The double piston rods on the
low pressure cylinder with short mar
row guides and wedging piston rod
packing have been replaced by a single
piston rod 16 1-2 inches in diameter
with long continuous slaves of steel,
Rabbit lined, that completely surround
the piston rod and are continuously lu-
bricated by being continually exposed
to the steam and oil lubrication in the
cylinder and the red packing being al
| lowed to adjust automatically gives
| free action without undue friction
| The cylinder heads are provided with
an annular space in the guide holders
that completely surrounds the piston
! rods and through which a portion of
the boiler feed water circulaters and
conducts off at every stroke any undue
| friction heat produced by the severe
duty at this point The packing in the
cylinder around the rods is Wheelock' s
| improved
The Importance of correct alignment
| is well known and this feature is
| especially emphasized on an oscillating
engine. The imperfect holding of the
trunnions in true position will give and
did give, untold trouble In the original
construction the lateral thrust caused
| by steam pressure entering the trun-
Mons was lost sight of and the made
quate shoulders soon cut away and
much chatting of the bearings was
caused by the grit. The original half
brasses cut and tore until the action
was a sight to behold. The expansion
| Of n
length, was inadequately controlled and
was allowed to push the trunnions out
| of line and in various ways bring extra
| strain. In the new arrangement this
has been remedied by the use of over
100 two-inch hardened steel balls, run
ming in hardened steel ball tracks that
| entirely control the lateral thrust, and
| the trunnions are now supported by ad-
| Unstable quarter boxes that are provid-
ed with annular circulating holes that
extend forward and back throughout
| their entire length.
| The encouragement of valves was
made necessary to get proper openings
| and steam distribution, which detail
was reelected in the original efforts.
The steamer has been in commission
! and in constant service since her last
overhaul, running from New York to
Providence, r. l., with results that
prove conclusively that the failures of
| her early history were not due to in
herent fault, but imperfect carrying out
of original design. The Jerome Vince
! lock system of valves and valve gear
as used on this engine has demonstrat-
ed that unbalanced valves of very large
dimensions can be successfully used.
| The huge valves of this engine (some
13 feet long, have worked easily and
shown very little wear, aiding much by
| IN