STANDARD LUBRICATING OIL SYSTEM FOR GEARED TURBINES. 



By J. Emile Schmeltzer, Esq., Member, and B. G. Fernald, Esq., Member. 



[Read at the twenty-seventh general meeting of the Society of Naval .Architects and Marine Engineers, held 



in New York, November 13 and 14, 1919.] 



Prior to July i, 1918, vessels propelled by geared turbines which had been de- 

 signed and constructed for private owners had been delivered under requisition to 

 the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation. 



About this time an extensive new construction program was planned, which 

 included many contracts for constructing vessels substantially identical with the type 

 which the contractors had been building for private interests. It was not consid- 

 ered necessary, and would have been most detrimental to rapidity of construction to 

 have started with a clean slate and let the new contracts on completely detailed 

 specifications. It was believed, however, that as experience was gained with ma- 

 chinery of relatively new type, a policy of elimination and standardization both 

 could and should be carried out on the new ships. 



As operating troubles with geared propelling turbines were already being re- 

 ported to an extent considered abnormal, and as many of these troubles were being 

 attributed to faulty operation or failure of the lubricating oil system (in most in- 

 stances the oiling system was not furnished by the builder of the turbine, but by 

 the shipbuilder), it was decided to study all the oiling systems in use on Ameri- 

 can ships, and either to adopt or develop a standard oiling system for use on all 

 geared turbine vessels then under construction or to be built by the U. S. Shipping 

 Board Emergency Fleet Corporation. 



A very small percentage of American marine engineers had had any previous 

 operating experience with direct-connected marine turbines, and a negligible num- 

 ber had ever operated double reduction geared turbines, the type with which most 

 of the vessels under construction were equipped. This fact, together with the mao-- 

 nitude of the projected shipbuilding program, made it necessary to train many new 

 engineers for marine service, and at the same time indicated the necessity of stand- 

 ardizing, as far as possible, the propelling equipment that they would operate. The 

 standard oiling system was therefore primarily expected to accomplish improve- 

 ment in operation rather than a reduction in construction costs. 



It appeared that a standardized system would materially simplify the instruc- 

 tion of the new engineers. Lack of standardization, moreover, would have caused 

 accidents and confusion, even with experienced engineers, as it was frequently nec- 

 essary for engineering crews to go to sea on new vessels without first giving 

 them time to familiarize themselves with the diflferent piping systems on the vessels. 



