A steering engine is a

power steering A power steering is a mechanical device equipped on a motor vehicle that helps drivers steer the vehicle by reducing steering effort needed to turn the steering wheel, making it easier for the vehicle to turn or maneuver at lower speeds. Hydraulic ...

device for ships.

History

The first steering engine with feedback was installed on

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "one ...

's ''Great Eastern'' in 1866. Designed by Scottish engineer

John McFarlane Gray John McFarlane Gray (7 April 1831 – 14 January 1908), also known as J. Macfarlane Gray, was a Scottish engineer who invented a portable steam riveting machine and a steam steering mechanism for Isambard Kingdom Brunel's famous ''SS Great Easte ...

and built by George Forrester and Company, this was a steam-powered mechanical amplifier used to drive the

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse ya ...

position to match the

wheel A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axles, allow heavy objects to be ...

position. The size of ''Great Eastern,'' by far the largest ship of her day, made power steering a necessity. Large steam-powered warships with manual steering needed huge crews to turn the rudder rapidly. The Royal Navy once used 78 men hauling on

block and tackle A block and tackle or only tackle is a system of two or more pulleys with a rope or cable threaded between them, usually used to lift heavy loads. The pulleys are assembled to form blocks and then blocks are paired so that one is fixed and on ...

gear to manually turn the rudder on HMS ''Minotaur'', in a test of manual vs. steam powered steering. Steam-powered steering engines were employed on large steamships thereafter. The Mississippi River style steamboat '' Belle of Louisville'', (originally ''Idlewild'' and oldest in her class), is fitted with a steering engine. Original equipment when the boat was launched at Pittsburgh in 1915, the engine consists of a single double-acting steam cylinder mounted aft of and above the engines, coupled to the rudders, with the motion of travel abeam. The steam valves of the engine are controlled by mechanical linkages which extend up to levers mounted either side of the engine order telegraph, just aft of the pilot wheel in the pilot house above. The steering engine is open to public view. A functional description is given in the 1965 book ''Str. Belle of Louisville,'' by Alan L. Bates, the marine architect who supervised the restoration of the boat, who comments that when in use, the steering engine causes the pilot wheel to whirl "as fast as an electric fan." The same source also describes the functional need for steering hard-to in vessels of its type, whose combination of shallow draft and high above-water profile require rapid changes in rudder under shifting wind conditions, a need which is addressed by the steering engine.

References

{{reflist Control devices Mechanical amplifiers Watercraft components

History

See also

References