124 THE SCIENTIFIC PAPERS OF 



In the discussion of the Paper entitled 



"DESCRIPTION OF THE STEAM STEERING ENGINE 



IN THE 'GREAT EASTERN' STEAMSHIP," 



By Mr. J. MCFARLANE GRAY, 



MR. 0. "W. SIEMENS * observed that the present paper was the 

 first they had had upon a subject which he thought was a very 

 important one ; for to see a large number of men at the helm of 

 a big ship, trying to bear her round, certainly showed great imper- 

 fection in the present mechanical arrangements for steering. The 

 apparatus now described as applied to the steering of the " Great 

 Eastern " gave evidence of a great deal of thought ; and the 

 details of the arrangement for starting the steering engine, and 

 making it obey signals given from a distant part of the ship, were 

 highly ingenious, and the results of the working in practice 

 showed, that all the requirements of the case had been duly con- 

 sidered beforehand. He inquired whether any difficulty had ever 

 been experienced in starting the engine after it had been standing 

 for a time, owing to accumulation of water in the cylinders ; and 

 whether a difficulty did not arise from the same cause whenever 

 the rudder had to be held by the engine for any length of time in 

 the same position ; and he asked what provision was made for 

 getting rid of water in the steam cylinders. 



Another question that had occurred to him, though somewhat 

 beyond the immediate subject of the paper, was whether the 

 steering engine during the time it was standing might not be 

 made serviceable for aiding in the propulsion of the ship by means 

 of a Ruthven re-action propeller, discharging a jet of water from 

 the stern in the opposite direction to the ship's motion. He did 

 not advocate such a plan of propulsion in substitution for the 

 screw and paddles ; but he thought it might be advantageously 

 applied in conjunction with these, for utilizing a moderate auxiliary 

 power from a separate engine like that employed for the steering- 



* Excerpt Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 

 1867, pp. 279-281. 





