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56 ADVANTAGES OF A SYSTEMAT- IC AND REGULAR METHOD OF WORKING THE FIRES IN A BOILER.* BY LIEUT. COM. R. K. CRANK, U. S. N. It is thought that the advantages of some regular systematic method of working the fires aboard ship over the old unmethodical way of "every man for himself' are so apparent to any one, be he officer or enlisted man, who has had any experience with and with- out any systematic method, that it is unnecessary to dilate unduly upon these advantages. The average sailor man will growl over the introduction of any innovation, for the reason that it is new and because he likes to gfowl; but if one may judge from the experience on this ship (Louisi- ana), not a single fireman would vote to go back to the old way of working the fires. The advantages of a regular system- atic method of working fires, by peri- odic signals to the fire rooms, were deeply impressed on the writer on the trial trips of a number of the new and larger ships which he attended in the winter of 1905-1906, especially when the well-ordered methods in the fire rooms of the Louisiana on her trial were contrasted with the comparatively confused conditions in the fire rooms of the Missouri on the trial of that vessel by the same builders. These two examples alone were sufficiently convincing. Assuming the advantages of a sys- tem to be indisputable, the writer sub- mits these notes in the hope that they may contain some suggestion that may prove of use to officers on board those > ships in which no automatic signals for working fires have been fitted or used and in which no regular system of firing has been employed. In August, 1906, about one month after the Louisiana quitted the Norfolk navy yard on her first service after commissioning, the fire room telegraphs were fitted so as to permit them to be used as transmitters for sending firing signals. The accompanying sketch shows the manner in which each transmitter was fitted. As will be seen, the numbers by which the differ- ent furnaces or fires are designated were marked in large figures on pieces . of sheet brass which were secured to the back of the dial and opposite the lines of demarcation between the di- visions already in the face of the dial (that is, the division marked "Stop," "Slow Speed," "Half Speed," etc.). *Journal American Society of Naval Engi- neers. THe Marine REVIEW When it is desired to send a signal, such as "Stop," "Slow Speed," etc., the pointer of the telegraph is put in the middle of the proper division on the face of the dial (in the sketch, "Slow Speed" is indicated). When the tele- graph is in use for transmitting sig- nals for working the fires the pointer is placed opposite and in line with one of the figures by whicha particular fire is designated. A man is stationed at the telegraph in the starboard en- gine room, with a timepiece, and in- structed to send the signals in rota- tion at a stated interval between two successive signals. After trial it was found that for ordinary cruising speed © eS > 4 4 4 ° Gg |} A U <2 A\ete < & Hf A/ P| rart ® © / Spee? (12 or 13 knots), with about seven- twelfths boiler power, the interval be- tween successive signals should be about two minutes. This interval, for any particular ship, can be determined only by trial. Facing the boiler, the furnaces are numbered as shown below, viz.: This numbering of the furnaces is slightly different from the numbering at the time of the trial for reasons that will be given later. The cycle and sequence of opera- | Boiler. | Fire Room, | Boiler, | tions followed in working the fires are as follows, viz.: Whenever a sig- nal was received in the fire room, the fire indicated by that signal (No. 1, 2, 3, or 4) was raked, and immediately afterwards and without any further signal the fire next to the one just raked and on the same side of the boiler #2with the 'one just raked was coaled. Always, on re- ceiving a signal, the first Operation was to rake the fire indicated by the signal and then coal the one next to it. The sequence, therefore, would be: Signal. First Operation. Second Operati No. 1 Rake Fire No. 1 Coal Fire Noe No. 2 Rake Fire No 2 Coal Fire No, 4. No, 3. Rake Fire No. 3 Coal Fire No. 1. No. 4 Rake Fire No. 4 Coal Fire No, 2. Taking any one fire (as No. 1), it will be seen that it is raked in one cycle and coaled in the next; also, re- ferring to the diagram of the num- bering of the furnaces, it will be seen that there is always a bright fire and a freshly-coaled fire in the same side of the boiler. With the numbering of the furnaces on the trial, there would be always two bright fires together in one-half of the boiler and two green fires in the other half of the boiler. In order to counteract the persist- ent tendency of the firemen to fire too heavily and to pile the coal up in front of the furnace, particularly in the cases of those men who had been accus- tomed to firing Scotch boilers by fir- ing "on the dead plate,' where the fresh charge was allowed to coke be- fore being shoved back, orders were given that not more than four shovel- fuls of coal should be put on any one, fire at one time. With a regular system of firing it was possible to go into any fire room at any time at sea, and by an inspection of any fire to determine whether or not the fire- man had been carrying out orders and whether or not he was firing prop- erly and efficiently. Although great improvement resulted from the use of the system and the limiting the amount to be put on any one fire,, it has not been possible, in the five months of steaming since commissioning, to get the older firemen into the habit of carrying level, light fires, despite en- treaties, prayers, profanity, and dire threats. With a good system of firing signals it would be possible to make better firemen, for a particular type of boiler, from green men who had never fired at all but who were intelligent and willing to do as they were told, than from old men who consider themselves past masters in the art of firing. An efficient feed-water regula- tor would prove of the greatest assist- ance, for the average watertender is so constantly exercised and pre-occu- pied, with a water-tube boiler, in watching the water level in the gage glass and tending the throttle of the feed pump or manipulating the check valve, that he devotes little or no at- tention to the working of the fires. With a system atic method of firing and a feed regulator that would main- tain a constant water level there would result a regularity of steam pressure and an evenness of distribution of