catmandoo
Active member
It must be over a 100 years old by now and perhaps forgotten except by a few , those that built it and those that used it . A bit of Britain's industrial history .
It was an essential part of the closed feed system - invented by G and J Weir coupled on to Watt's condensing expansion engine which must have powered a million ships thus improving the efficiency of the complete steam cycle. The system is now only used in large 1000 MW power stations .
The pumps varied in size from about 2 foot long to the monster vertical units which stood over 9 feet tall. A double acting steam cylinder close coupled to a pumping cylinder made of cast iron for condensate or Admiralty brass for condenser cooling by sea water . Added to that were condensate deaerators , brass condensers , cast iron seawater filters and vacuum freshwater evaporator distillers heated by the hot condensate as well as the various stages of feed water heaters fed by steam bled from the cylinders of the triple expansion engines before being injected into the boilers
I was lucky to do my practical training in Weirs of Cathcart whose apprentice training section must have trained innumerable ships engineers right up until the sixties when only Shell used steam in their tankers ultimately succumbing to the almighty noisy diesel engine . I remember photographs of them in their uniforms hung up on the wal of the training centre I also remember when a lot of my colleagues went on the sea trials of the QE2 which incorporated the whole system .
I assembled and tested the DA pump in the assembly and testing bay with all the parts fitting together like a mecanno set finally lapping the cylinders fitting the pistons and piston rings , lifting the complete assembly over to the test bay connecting steam and water , operning the stop valve watching and listening to the piston rod go up and down bumping at the end of each stroke and then adjusting the rod that operated the steam shuttle valve until the stroke was nicely balanced and dampened at the end of each stroke . There may be some operating today somewhere and many ships engineers may have sat by one listening to its contented hiss and thump
Is there any one left out there who has ever operated or maintained one ? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
It was an essential part of the closed feed system - invented by G and J Weir coupled on to Watt's condensing expansion engine which must have powered a million ships thus improving the efficiency of the complete steam cycle. The system is now only used in large 1000 MW power stations .
The pumps varied in size from about 2 foot long to the monster vertical units which stood over 9 feet tall. A double acting steam cylinder close coupled to a pumping cylinder made of cast iron for condensate or Admiralty brass for condenser cooling by sea water . Added to that were condensate deaerators , brass condensers , cast iron seawater filters and vacuum freshwater evaporator distillers heated by the hot condensate as well as the various stages of feed water heaters fed by steam bled from the cylinders of the triple expansion engines before being injected into the boilers
I was lucky to do my practical training in Weirs of Cathcart whose apprentice training section must have trained innumerable ships engineers right up until the sixties when only Shell used steam in their tankers ultimately succumbing to the almighty noisy diesel engine . I remember photographs of them in their uniforms hung up on the wal of the training centre I also remember when a lot of my colleagues went on the sea trials of the QE2 which incorporated the whole system .
I assembled and tested the DA pump in the assembly and testing bay with all the parts fitting together like a mecanno set finally lapping the cylinders fitting the pistons and piston rings , lifting the complete assembly over to the test bay connecting steam and water , operning the stop valve watching and listening to the piston rod go up and down bumping at the end of each stroke and then adjusting the rod that operated the steam shuttle valve until the stroke was nicely balanced and dampened at the end of each stroke . There may be some operating today somewhere and many ships engineers may have sat by one listening to its contented hiss and thump
Is there any one left out there who has ever operated or maintained one ? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
