SS Benjamin Noble by Roger Pellett - 1:96 - Great Lakes Freighter

[Roger Pellett]

CHAPTER 6. Hull plating

 

By the early 1900’s, following the lead of the great British Civil Engineers of the Mid 1800’s American Naval Architects had come to realize that the primary structural element of the hull of an iron or steel ship was its shell plating.  Steel plates together with hot driven rivets provided a monocoque structure to withstand stresses from hogging and sagging of the ever longer hulls.

 

The wrought iron plating of the first metal hulls was layed up clinker style with the bottom edge of the plate fayed tight against the frame and the top edge overlapping its neighbor.  Experience with these early iron hulls showed that the entire plate needed to be riveted to the frame so tapered liner plates were added to close the tapered gap between the plate and the frame.  These tapered plates were expensive to make and nearly impossible to taper accurately leading to the In and Out system of hull plating which remained in effect as long as riveted ships were built.  The In and Out Bsystem is shown along with the clinker system in a 1916 drawing from Practical Shipbuilding by A. Campbell Holms.

 

Edited June 2, 2021 by Roger Pellett

[Roger Pellett]

Benjamin Noble’s construction was typical for steel hulled vessel’s built ob the Great Lakes prior to World War II; plates assembled by the In and Out method and joined by riveting.  I have posted elsewhere about showing rivets on ship models.  Since at a scale of 1:96, viewing the model from a distance is equivalent to looking at the actual ship from a distance of 96 feet, I have elected not to show them.  I have decided to accurately show plate seams.

 

My original idea was to plate the model with copper or brass using transfer tape that when applied to a surface and the paper backing removed leaves a thin pressure sensitive adhesive film.  When I tried this, it failed when the metal plates curled up after a short time.  I put the model on the shelf while I considered other options.

 

Contact cement-  The “good stuff” emits strong explosive fumes, and is incompatible with copper bearing materials.  Like most eco friendly stuff the newer formulations that don’t give off fumes don’t seem to have much longevity.

 

Other adhesives-  Mixing up tiny batches of epoxy to affix 200 or so plates wasn’t something that I wanted to do.  CA- I am allergic to the fumes.

 

Paint- I have done this on another model, masking the “In” plates and painting the “out”.  It worked but doesn’t show the transverse seams between plates.  I filed this as a last ditch choice.

 

The idea that I finally chose was quality bond paper attached with the old standby yellow titebond glue, but I was concerned with the water content in the glue raising the fibers in the paper.  I, therefore, tried first spraying the paper with Shellac.

 

The first thing that a Naval Architecture student of my generation learned is that I square foot of steel plate 1in thick weighs 40.8lbs.  Since other thicknesses are proportional, shipbuilders talk, or used to talk, about 20lb plate, 15lb plate, 10lb plate, etc.

Most of the plating on the Noble’s hull was 20.4lb or 1/2 in thick. Approximately .005in to scale.  The paper and it’s thin shellac coating measured .006in.  Close enough!

 

My wife says that it’s getting late so I’ll finish this tomorrow.

 

Roger

 

 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2021 by Roger Pellett

[Roger Pellett]

CHAPTER 6- Conclusion

 

From the plating expansion drawing, the plates are mostly 24ft or a scale 3in long.  I estimated that 200 plates will be required.  I selected a common width of 7/8in.  A number of sheets of quality bond correspondence paper were sprayed with a coat of shellac and then standard 3in x 7/8 plates were cut with  guillotine type paper cutter.  As one end of each plate laps it’s neighbor I used a simple jig to mark a 1/8in overlap on one end.

 

With plates mass produced, I began plating.  The In and Out system requires plating two In strakes first, and then an Out strake in between.  The process for each strake begins at the stern and proceeds forward as the aft edge of the forward plate laps over the forward edge of the after plate.  90% of the time the plates proved to be a “developed shape”  in other words curved in only one dimension if at all.  In fact there were only 2 or 3 plates per side that had a complex shape.  These were shaped by draping a wet, untreated piece of paper over the hull and letting it dry.  It was then trimmed to shape.

 

I used a palette knife to spread a layer of ordinary titebond PVA Glue to the back of each plate. When in place the plate was pressed down.  After trying various clamping techniques, I eventually learned that the most effective was simply rubbing with my finger until the glue grabbed.

 

When finished, the hull was a mess, with glue smears, and blobs everywhere. I used alcohol to clean up the worst and then sprayed on a coat of flat model paint.  The hull looked better and I found that the paint stiffened the paper to the point where it could be lightly sanded with 220 grit paper.  Another light coat of paint and it looked even better.  The digital photos reveal several areas that still need work but a this point, “It’s a keeper.”

 

Lessons Learned:

 

The shellac made the system possible.  Several plates  which for various reasons I applied without shellac were easily damaged requiring messy repair.

 

Keeping fingers clean to avoid spreading glue where it doesn’t belong is a problem.  A bowl of warm water and a towel next to the workbench is necessary.

 

I made the In plates just wide enough to provide a narrow land for the out strakes to rest on.  A better choice would be to make the In strakes wide enough so the out strake is completely supported.

 

So far,  I have plated one side.  In plating the second side I’ll incorporate these improvements.

 

Roger

[Michael_A]

Roger, Fascinating! Was the paper you used the thickness of office copy paper? Shellac on both sides? Do you think it would be possible to lay down a long pre-made strip, all at once? Or would that have caused alignment issues. Can't wait to see this once it is painted the final color which I assume will be darker.

 

[Kevin]

Lovely work

[FriedClams]

17 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

 Since at a scale of 1:96, viewing the model from a distance is equivalent to looking at the actual ship from a distance of 96 feet, I have elected not to show them.

That's a really good way to think about detail elements, which can sometimes be overdone.

 

Very nice progress Roger. I like your plating method.

 

Gary

[Cathead]

Fascinating and good-looking. Would there have been any reason to ensure that the upper- or lower-most line of plating was In or Out?

[Roger Pellett]

Michael,

I believe that the paper that I used was a little heavier than ordinary copy paper but I’ll measure some copy paper and let you know.  I just sprayed shellac on one side of the paper and once that it dried I didn’t notice any difference between sides.  The grey is just a can that I happened to have on hand.  The final hull color is black with a red oxide bottom.  The grey did a good job of highlighting imperfections.

 

Eric,

I have deliberately left off the sheer strake until I install the bulwarks after joining the two hull halves together.  Whether the final strake is In or Out depends on the number of strakes around the girth of the half hull.  An odd number means that the last strake will be in.  Even means it will be out.

 

I should have noted that the paper is opaque enough to hide the marked out plating lines underneath.  Therefore, as plating of the In strakes proceeds it is necessary to remark the line of the out strake  onto the newly laid plate.  I would therefore, think that it would be hard to work with long strips of plating and still follow the marked out plating lines.

 

I thank each of you for the site visits, comments and likes.

 

Roger

 

 

[michael mott]

Just checking in Roger, the plating is coming along rather well I would say. I agree with the notion of not showing the rivets. The term stand off scale comes to mind.

 

Michael

[Cathead]

Thanks, Roger. I was especially referring to the original ship; was there any engineering reason to lay the plates out in a certain way, i.e. to ensure that the In or Out plate was at the sheer or garboard?

[Roger Pellett]

Eric,

 

The literal answer to your question is, “I don’t know.”  There is, however, some  geometric logic that might provide an answer.

 

These ships did not have actual keels.  As I explained above they were not structurally necessary, but a reinforced structure was necessary to withstand local loads when the vessel was dry docked.  So, there was always a centerline out strake that rested on the keel blocks during dry docking. There was also a very slight deadrise, in Noble’s case 3in, built into the hull to concentrate local dry docking loads on this centerline strake.   This centerline strake will be added to the model after the two halves have been joined.  

 

This is means that the first strake outboard of the centerline needed to be an in strake.  Riveted seams were both expensive and a source of weakness as unlike a present day welded butt joint a riveted seam is always weaker than the plates joining it (see Titanic) so there was an incentive to minimize them.  On the other hand plate widths were limited by the capacity of the rolling mills that produced them.  Once the plate widths had been established it was a simple matter, beginning with an in strake to alternate in and out.

 

Roger

[Cathead]

Cool, that's what I wanted to know. Thanks!

[jlefever]

I'm really enjoying following this build.

 

For those interested in this topic (these ships) I'd like to recommend:

 

End of an Era

The Last of the Great lakes Steamboats

by

David Plowden

 

it's available from Amazon and at prices substantially lower than the cover price and is filled with great black and white images of these vessels and the men who operated them. Lots of great detail images.

 

Jim

[Jim Lad]

Just catching up after being away, Roger.  lovely work on the shell plating.

 

John

[cdanly]

Very interesting Roger.

 

My wood hull lumber hooker project is on a fiberglass hull. I wanted a more authentic look - so my plan is to strip plank over the fiberglass.

 

I made a test board with random balsa planks of 2 slightly different thicknesses, and staggered the joints. Afterwards I sanded the surface to eliminate sharp transitions between the 2 thicknesses. Then I used a stiff wire brush to give a bit of a weathered look. Final step was wipe down with Varathane wood hardener and paint. I used Duralux marine bottom paint - "signal red". I like the way my sample turned out and hope the final product looks good too.

 

Now I need to do a plan for exactly how to run the planks!

 

Any comments or suggestions? Has anyone done something similar?

 

-Craig

 

Edited June 7, 2021 by cdanly

[Roger Pellett]

Craig,  I have no experience doing what you want to do.  Your first problem would seem to be finding an adhesive that will stick to both the fiberglass hull and the planking.  Epoxy comes to mind, but it’s slippery, messy stuff and trying to secure planks on curved surfaces would seem to be a problem.

 

Wooden ships built on the Lakes during the second half of the Nineteenth Century would have been built to rules published by the Society of Lake Underwriters.  I have not seen these documents but they should provide rules for planking.

 

You are fortunate living in Green Bay to be within easy traveling distance to museums in either Sturgeon Bay or Manitowoc.  If they don’t have a copy, see if the University of Wisconsin Green Bay can find one within their system.  The Jim Dan Hill Library at UW Superior has a large collection of Great Lakes Shipping documents.

 

Roger

[cdanly]

Thanks Roger, I appreciate your feedback. As for adhesion, I used epoxy for my sample board and it worked well but was only flat. For the curved sections I'm formulating plans for addressing that. I foresee lots of steam and stretch wrap in my future, and I've already resigned myself to a long process - maybe one plank per night?! lol

 

I've been to both Manitowoc and SB, but need to spend more time at the later. Manitowoc has already been a great source of info for this project and others coming up with photos, drawings books (one of yours in fact). Superior as well and also Bowling Green.

 

I found on google books an excerpt from The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review: Volume 35 on the proceedings of the Association of Lake Underwriters, Buffalo: Aug 1856 (page 490). I also located a reprint of the entire proceedings on Abe Books, which incidentally is a good source as well. Ordered that for $12.

 

Hope to learn more from my findings, thanks for the tips!

 

[Roger Pellett]

A brief progress report.  Both hull halves are now plated and I am now adding details while I can still benefit from having a flat centerline surface.

 

First before plating the second hull half I located and drilled the holes for the condenser inlet and outlet piping.  Drilling sidehill holes is always a messy business that often
doesn’t end well.  In this case, I first started the hole with a Spiral End Mill.  This produced a flat shelf square to the drill press drill.  The hole was finished with a brad point drill.  The holes were then lined with brass tubing.

 

The holes were not shown on the drawings so were located by photos and reconstruction of engine room equipment locations. 

 

After plating the second hull half, I began locating the wooden fender that runs just below the sheer strake.  Unlike, the piping inlet and outlet this fender is located accurately on the plating expansion drawing.  Addition of the fender will be covered in my next post.  Unfortunately, after plating the second hull half I discovered that the fender interferes with the condenser outlet hole.  Fortunately I was able to fish the brass insert from the hole with an Easyout and to insert a specially sized plug.  This will be mostly covered by the fender.

[Jim Lad]

Nice work with the condenser piping, Roger.

 

John

[Roger Pellett]

Jim, Thanks.  More to come.  The inlet will be barred to prevent flotsam from being sucked into the condenser.  I will of course have to relocate the outlet.

 

Roger

Edited June 21, 2021 by Roger Pellett

[Roger Pellett]

Chapter 7  Marine Engineering

 

 

Work continues on detailing the two hull haves prior to joining them.  I will describe these details in my next post.  Meanwhile, since several of these details relate to the ship’s steam propulsion plant, this Chapter is devoted to Marine Engineering.

 

Naval Architects design and build ships.  Marine Engineers design the mechanical and electrical systems that propel them and furnish energy for other on board needs.  Today, Naval Architects joke that Marine Engineering is nothing more than selecting a Diesel engine from a catalog, but in the 1960’s when I went to school, for American ships, steam was still king so Marine Engineers had to integrate equipment to produce a workable steam plant.

 

When Benjamin Noble was built in 1909,  for ships sailing the Great Lakes, Marine Engineering meant coal fired Scotch Marine Boilers providing steam to a reciprocating triple expansion engine, steam deck machinery, steam reciprocating pumps and possibly one or two small reciprocating steam driven “dynamos” providing electricity for lighting.  Although there were two other machinery choices, neither was considered suitable for use on the Lakes and the coal burning reciprocating engine steam plant would be the dominant prime mover for US Great Lakes ships throughout the first two thirds of the Twentieth Century, with a few of these still operating into the 1990’s.  As this is written, the repurposed SS Badger Railroad Car Ferry with coal fired boilers and two Skinner Uniflow reciprocating engines still ferries people, cars, and trucks across Lake Michigan.

 

The two other choices were steam turbine and Diesel.  Both of these were considered at the time, to be unsuitable for Great Lakes Service.  In 1909, Diesel was A newcomer with two major disadvantages.  The first was fuel.  In 1909 coal was king along the Lakes with fueling docks spotted along the shipping lanes. Petroleum products in bulk quantities to fuel large Diesel engines were not widely available away from the few refining centers.  Diesel engines were also difficult to reverse.  While inventors offered various linkages to reverse by changing the timing of the cycle, these all involved a complicated sequence to shut the engine down and to restart it in the opposite direction.  When Diesel engines finally became popular on the Lakes in the 1970’s they were paired with controllable pitch propellers to solve the reversing problem.

 

While steam turbines could and would operate with coal fired boilers there were other difficulties with their use.  First, like Diesel’s they were hard to reverse.  While the solution would be to pair them with smaller separate reversing turbines this was not ideal when maneuvering in the narrow canals, rivers, and small harbors of the Lakes.  The second problem involved speed.  Steam turbines work most efficiently at high rotational speeds.  Screw propellers in water work best at low speeds.  The ultimate solution to this problem was a set of very large reduction gears to connect turbine and propeller but these gears required special manufacturing capabilities not widely available in the US at the time.  The first geared turbine steam plants would not be used to propel American ships on the Lakes until the late 1930’s.

 

So, the reciprocating steam engine was well suited for use on the Lakes.  They could be easily and quickly reversed, they were relatively easy to manufacture, and were efficient operating at low speeds that matched that of the propeller.  While their thermal efficiency was low, this was not a concern.  The distance from the Lake Superior iron ore loading ports to the Lake Erie unloading ports is slightly less than 900 miles; short by comparison to Ocean shipping distances, coal was cheap, and several of The Steamship Companies had parent companies that owned coal mines.  These engines were also remarkably low powered.  Benjamin Noble’s engine produced only 800ihp (indicated horsepower) and a vessel with 1800ihp was considered high powered.  The last US steam powered Lake Vessels built in the 1950’s had steam turbines with outputs of 7000 shp, over 10 times that of the Noble.

 

Ships designed to sail only on the Lakes did not have to contend with salt water.  This allowed use of a simple device from the beginning of marine steam propulsion- The jet condenser.  Steam expanded from its boiler pressure and temperature still has considerable energy at atmospheric pressure.  To make use of this energy, the steam must ultimately be rejected to a lower temperature heat sink.  The third and last cylinder of the triple expansion engine, therefore, exhausted into a low temperature chamber called a condenser.  Ships operating in salt water used shell and tube heat exchangers for condenser to prevent salt water from mixing with the condensed steam and fouling the boilers.  Ships on the Great Lakes often used a simpler Jet Condenser that mixed steam directly with water drawn from the lake.  Much of this condensed steam water mix was pumped overboard with a fraction returned to the boiler.   The engineer on watch was, among other things, was responsible for controlling the flow of water into the Jet condenser from the lake.  Too little and he would lose the vacuum in the third cylinder.  Too much and he risked flooding the cylinder with incompressible water and locking up the engine.  The heavy stream of water seen in all photos of old Great Lakes Ships cascading from the side of the hull is the discharge from the condenser.

 

And finally if you’ve followed me this far a quiz!  Can anyone identify this equipment from my collection that was used in the engine room of the Great Lakes ore carrier Henry Rogers?

 

Roger

 

[Keith Black]

 What great information, Roger. Thank you for taking the time to explain the history/use of steam in Lake ships..........jet condenser? 

[Cathead]

The bottom pieces look like valve parts, so is that the valve an engineer would use to control the flow of water into the jet condenser? Not sure what the wooden pulley-like objects would be.

 

Great essay overall, thanks so much for sharing it.

[mtaylor]

It appears to me to be some sort of tool kit.  Other than that... I'm at a loss.

 

Forget what I said... per Google image search it's Steam Engine Tester.  https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/11894889_steam-engine-tester-by-american-steam-gauge-co

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, mtaylor said:

per Google image search it's Steam Engine Tester

If so it's a much simpler version than the one Roger presented as the Google searched one lacks the pulleys and the two valves. Good score, Mark! 

[Roger Pellett]

Congratulations Mark!  You’re close enough.  It’s a steam engine indicator.  It was used to set the “cutoff” on the engine’s valve.  The cutoff is the point in the piston’s stroke where the valve admitting steam into the engine’s cylinder closes.  From that point on, mechanical power is obtained purely by expansion of steam.

 

The point where this cutoff was to be set triggered a remarkably nasty debate between steam engineers about the time of the Civil  War.  Early theory argued for a short cutoff; less steam, more expansion used less energy and allowed smaller boilers.  To refute this, the  American Naval Officer and Marine Engineer, Benjamin Franklin Isherwood ran a series of tests that proved that “short cutoff engine’s” would be underpowered.  The parallels between Isherwood and Admiral Rickover, another Great Marine Engineer working approximately 100 years later are interesting.

 

The indicator actually makes a paper trace of the pressure: volume relationship within the engine cylinder during the working cycle.  This diagram could then be used to calculate the cylinder’s horsepower output.  Hence the term “indicated horsepower” or ihp.

 

Roger

[mtaylor]

Wow.  I'm surprised and also find the use fascinating.   On the Google image search there was bunch of hits with both names along with and sometimes just the different manufacturers.  

[Keith Black]

 If you go to eBay and type in 'Antique Steam Tools' you'll find several indicators plus a bunch of other interesting steam tools. Roger probably knows what item/items are note worthy. 

[Roger Pellett]

Chapter 7 Marine Engineering (Conclusion)

Work continues to detail the hull halves.  Hopefully by next Sunday I should have some pictures to show you.  Meanwhile, I hope that you will indulge me with a little more Marine Engineering.

 

First, two drawings of the indicator in my collection:

 

The spring loaded piston is piped up to the engine cylinder and forces from steam pressure balanced by the spring compression pushes the cylinder up and down actuating the stylus pushing against the cylinder.  A piece of paper has been wrapped around the cylinder.  Different springs can be used to match anticipated steam pressure.

 

Meanwhile the drum is rotated by the string connected via the wooden wheels to the piston rod of the engine.  The resulting trace of steam pressure vs cylinder volume looks like this:

 

Without going into the math, the horsepower output is proportional to the area within the diagram.  The horizontal “steam line” on the diagram represents steam at inlet pressure entering the engine cylinder before the piston moving in the cylinder causes the valve to close.  On the 1896 triple expansion engine aboard the SS Meteor Whaleback Museum Ship there are handwheels on the valve train to adjust this “cutoff.  This brings up a question.  History is full of stories of steamboat races and emergencies where the captain demands more power from the engineers.  The engineers often respond by stoking up the boilers and gagging the relief valves.  Assuming that boiler capacity existed, why not just adjust the cutoff to admit more steam into the cylinder?  Maybe, that’s what they did but gagging the relief valves makes for a better story.

 

And finally, I’ll close out this chapter with a personal memoir.

 

I arrived in Duluth from Marietta, Ohio in May of 1989 to accept a new job.  When I arrived, the company was moving to a new shop and headquarters at the end of a slip in the Duluth Harbor.  From my office, I could see the channel that ships used to get to and from the loading docks in the harbor.  

 

While finishing up one evening, I noticed an old “straight deck” lake freighter heading down the channel to pass under the lift bridge into the lake.  I was able to drive to the ship canal leading out to the lake before the boat reached the bridge at the entrance to the canal.  The ship was the Henry Steinbrenner and as she passed by, there stood a bagpiper on a hatch playing Amazing Grace.  It should have been Auld Lang Syne because after unloading her cargo of grain at Buffalo, NY she went to the scrap yard.  She was the last coal fired reciprocating straight deck ship operating on the Lakes.  The other  coal fired old timer still operating on the Lakes,  the Irvin L. Clymer was scrapped two years later in Duluth. She was a self unloader. Truly the end of an Era.

 

Today, I count just 5 steam powered American flagged ships active on the Lakes- all self unloading, oil fired, steam turbine driven.  The Edward T. Ryerson, the last straight deck steam ship (steam turbine) was just drydocked at Fraser Shipyard across the bay from Duluth in Superior, WI after sitting idle for several years.  Maybe she’s going back into service.

 

[Roger Pellett]

Progress continues albeit at the all ahead slow bell, interrupted by the all back full bell.  Hopefully I will get this done before the finished with engine bell.

 

Work has involved getting the hull halves ready to be joined.  The first project was to add the fenders that run along the hull sides.  Whenever a Ship on the Great Lakes is in one of the rivers connecting the Lakes, in one of the two connecting canals, or enters or leaves harbor, the captain is on the bridge and conns the vessel.  Great Lakes Captains are considered by many to be some of the world’s best shiphandlers but never less, the vessel’s that they command do rub against things, sometimes on purpose.  In one of the approaches to the SOO locks ships are controlled by “riding the wall.”

 

Benjamin Noble’s fender was made from 6”x8” oak timbers sandwiched between 3in x 3in structural steel angles, all layed end to end.  In my case, I ripped two 1/16in x 32in maple strips, one per side, and skipped what would have been the four tiny angles.  In my opinion, the slight simplification was better than something over scale.  The fenders were secured with wooden pegs driven and glued into holes drilled into the wood core and through the paper planking.

 

Another project that took longer than expected was the engine room gangway.  The only major opening in the side of lake freighters is the engine room gangway.  In addition to providing access, it also provides a perch for the engineer to watch the world go by.  The door was, and still is on modern vessels, closed by a “Dutch door” with top and bottom sections, and in good weather when entering or leaving port, the top section is often open.  I decided to show the gangway on the starboard side with the top half open and the one on the port side closed.  Although the opening and door frame is done for now, the interior is  too black.  I’ll have to figure out how to tone down the paint job.  Although it now sticks up above the sheer, there is another deck to be added once the hulls, are joined.

 

I also spent considerable time completing the other openings like hawse pipes that attach to the hull.  All are soldered brass.

 

the last distinctive hull feature that I built was the stern frame that holds the upper bearing for the rudder.  The photo below shows the hull frame for the museum ship William A. Irvin in the Duluth Harbor.

 

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by Roger Pellett