STANDARD LUBRICATING OIL SYSTEM FOR GEARED TURBINES. 269 



Mr. C. R. Waller, Member: — The paper presented by Messrs. Schmeltzer and Fer- 

 naJd is, in my opinion, a great contribution to the records of this Society. Three years ago 

 there were very few vessels built in this country where geared turbines were used. Some 

 vessels had been built in, Europe using geared turbines as propelling units, thus giving Eu- 

 ropean shipbuilders some experience of the care and maintenance of geared turbines. When 

 the shipbuilders in this country started to build vessels equipped with geared turbines, they 

 had therefore very little experience themselve,s, and the technical press had not as yet given 

 detailed information covering the European experience. One point must also be remem- 

 bered. When we started to build geared vessels in this country, we did not plan to build 

 one vessel today and one tomorrow, but we started with a plan to finish one in the morn- 

 ing, about fifty in the afternoon and two hundred the next day. In other words, we started 

 out on a very big scale to produce something that had not been manufactured before. 



The trouble first experienced with geared turbines on board these new vessels was 

 found to be due to poor oiling systems, and I therefore think that the work done by the 

 Shipping Board and Mr. Fernald has eliminated a great percentage of this trouble. I do 

 not mean by this that all the troubles that we have had on board geared vessels have been, 

 due to oiling systems, but it is a fact that in the beginning the lack of experience with oil- 

 ing systems for geared vessels was a great drawback. 



To give you a little illustration — I visited a shipyard on the Pacific coast in the early 

 part of 1918. A geared turbine was installed in, a vessel and an oiling system was also pro- 

 vided for. The engineer who was called upon to design this oiling system very likely did 

 not know much about the problem of handling oil, as otherwise he would not have designed 

 an oiling system in such a poor manner. The oil pumps were placed about 6 or 8 feet 

 from the storage tank in the double bottom, and in the suction line were placed an oil strainer, 

 oil cooler, about one-half dozen valves and a number of 90-degree elbows, so that, if he ever 

 attempted to pump oil with the pumps as they were arranged, the oil pumps would have to 

 be operated with slightly over 24 feet suction lift, which of course is ridiculous. Unfortu- 

 nately, the designer undoubtedly did not know much about the details of oiling systems, nei- 

 ther did he know that the handling of oil is entirely different from the handling of water. 



This paper has brought out a great many points, I think, that shipbuilders, in the future, 

 will take advantage of. I would like to mention a few words about the close-pressure sys- 

 tem as compared to the overhead tank system brought out by Mr. Smith. I believe the over- 

 head tank system is far superior, for the simple reason that it gives the personnel in the 

 engine-room a greater safeguard against any sudden failure of the oiling system. Before go- 

 ing on a trial trip on a standard vessel built at one oi the shipyards at the Pacific coast, I was 

 trying tO' convince the shipbuilder to use overhead tanks. The shipbuilder, however, said 

 "No; tanks cost too much money." After considerable persuasion, he installed one tank 

 for handling spare oil. During the official trial trip of this vessel he had six shut-downs, 

 due to the failure of the oiling system. Each shut-down would have been eliminated had 

 overhead tanks been used. As it was, the oil pumps pumped direct, furnishing oil to the 

 oiling systems at about 15 pounds pressure. The pressure was maintained by diaphragm 

 valves, but these valves did not always function properly. With the overhead tank system 

 it is possible to observe if the oil capacity diminishes, and, before the oil supply reaches a 

 dangerous minimum amount, steps can be taken to either shut down the machinery or to 

 start other oil pumps. A great many of the troubles with some of the early vessels were 

 caused by the oil failing, and in most cases it was not discovered that the oiling system was 

 functioning improperly until it was too late and bearings were damaged. 



