White's Marine Engineering Company

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White's Marine Engineering Company was a British marine engineering company in Hebburn on Tyneside, that made marine steam engines in the 1930s.

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William Albert White

The founder, William Albert White (1879–1940), was a marine chief engineer from Sunderland who had served at sea. In 1904 he worked for the Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company, installing and running steam turbines in destroyers. He then worked in the USA on the building and installation of marine steam turbines. From 1910 he had his own marine repair business in New York. In 1916 he disposed of his New York business and returned to England. [1]

In 1921 White patented a low-pressure system for burning heavy fuel oil, which had become an economical and popular alternative to coal for bunkering steamships. He founded White's Oil Burning Co to manufacture the system in either 1920 [2] or 1922. [1] In 1921 RMS Berengaria was converted to oil-burning with his system. He also invented a pulverizer for coal. [1]

White combination engine

In 1926 two German engineers, Dr Gustav Bauer and Hans Wach, had increased the efficiency of a triple expansion engine by adding a turbine driven by exhaust steam from the low-pressure cylinder, and adding the power from the turbine to the same propeller shaft via a fluid coupling and double-reduction gearing. This increased both fuel efficiency and power, and gave ship operators the option of either more speed or greater economy. [3] By 1928, British ships such as Boniface were also being built with Bauer-Wach machinery.

In 1908 the Parsons company had introduced reduction gearing for steam turbines, as demonstrated in the cargo ship Vespasian. This improved turbine ships' fuel economy. But all reciprocating engines continued to be built with direct drive to the propeller, and therefore ran at the same slow speed as the propeller. In the 1930s White pioneered the application of reduction gearing to reciprocating engines, in order to reduce fuel consumption.

White founded White's Marine Engineering Co, with a factory at Hebburn, and absorbed White's Oil Burning Co into his new company. [1] In 1934 he bought from Lamport and Holt the cargo ship Boswell, created the White Shipping Co Ltd to own her, and renamed her Adderstone. [4]

Boswell's original engines were two turbines mounted side-by-side, either side of the centre-line of the ship, and geared onto a single propeller shaft. White replaced her high-pressure turbine with compound engine that had four cylinders: two high-pressure and two low-pressure. Steam from the boilers passed through a superheater and reheater before entering the high-pressure cylinders. Steam exhausted from the high-pressure cylinders passed through the reheater again before entering the low-pressure cylinders. Hence steam on its way to the high-pressure cylinders re-heated steam on its way to the low-pressure cylinders. [5]

The reciprocating engine drove the propeller shaft via single reduction gearing, which allowed the engine to run several times faster than the propeller. This meant that the reciprocating engine could be much smaller and lighter than in the Bauer-Wach system. [6]

As in the Bauer-Wach system, exhaust steam from White's reciprocating engine powered an exhaust steam turbine which drove the same propeller shaft via double reduction gearing. But because the reciprocating engine had only two stages of expansion, the steam was at higher pressure, and allowed White to use a turbine more powerful than in the Bauer-Wach system. White's system produced about half of its power from the reciprocating engine, and half from the turbine. [7]

Adderstone was a successful proof of concept, and White applied for patents for his propulsion system. In the USA he filed for a patent in January 1936, and the United States Patent Office awarded him US patent number 2,137,934 in November 1938. [8]

Between 1936 and 1938, three shipbuilders in White's native Sunderland installed his propulsion system in new steamships. Bartram & Sons installed it in seven ships [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] and J.L. Thompson and Sons installed it in five. [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] Short Brothers installed it in one ship, Biddlestone, that White ordered for his own White Shipping Co. [21]

White claimed that his system used 35 per cent less fuel than a triple expansion engine of similar power. [22] It was suitable for installation in new ships, but it was not easy to install retrospectively in existing reciprocating-engined ships. The Bauer-Wach system remained more popular because it could be added to an existing triple-expansion engine. [23]

Later history

White died on 9 June 1940. [1] Evan Thomas, Radcliffe and Company bought Biddlestone. [21] White had already sold Adderstone in 1937. [4] White's Marine Engineering Co Ltd was listed in 1951 as a supplier to the British glass industry. [2]

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SS Adderstone was a cargo ship that was built in Ireland in 1920. She was launched as the turbine steamship War Bamboo, and for most of her career she was called Boswell (1920–34), Germa (1937–51), or Norway Maru (1951–1968/70). She spent only about three years as Adderstone (1934–37). However, it was as Adderstone that the ship was the test-bed for an innovative development in marine steam propulsion, which used reduction gearing not only for an exhaust steam turbine but also for a high-speed reciprocating steam engine.

SS St. Elwyn was a cargo steamship that was built in England in 1938 and owned by the South American Saint Line. A German U-boat sank her in the Atlantic Ocean in 1940, with the loss of 24 of her crew.

SS Agios Georgios IV was a Greek-owned cargo steamship that was built in England in 1938 and sunk by a Japanese submarine in the Indian Ocean in 1942. Agios Georgios IV was one of a relatively small number of steamships that had White combination engines. This was a combination of a high-speed four-cylinder compound steam engine that drove the propeller shaft via single-reduction gearing, with an exhaust steam turbine that drove the same shaft via double-reduction gearing.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "White's Oil Burning Co, Hebburn; White's Marine Engineering Co Ltd, Hebburn". Tyne Built Ships. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Suppliers W". Directory for the British Glass Industry. 1951 – via Grace's Guide to British Industrial History.
  3. ↑ Hardy 1954, p. 205.
  4. 1 2 "Boswell". Shipping and Shipbuilding. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  5. ↑ Hardy 1954, pp. 207–208.
  6. ↑ Hardy 1954, pp. 208, 251.
  7. ↑ Hardy 1954, p. 251.
  8. ↑ "Power Unit, 2,137,934" (PDF). United States Patent Office – via Free Patents Online.
  9. ↑ "Nailsea Court". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  10. ↑ "Nailsea Meadow". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  11. ↑ "Nailsea Moor". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  12. ↑ "Nailsea Manor". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  13. ↑ "Llanashe". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  14. ↑ "Llandaff". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  15. ↑ "Agios Georgios IV". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  16. ↑ "St. Helena". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  17. ↑ "St. Margaret". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  18. ↑ "St. Clears". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  19. ↑ "St. Rosario". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  20. ↑ "St. Elwyn". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  21. 1 2 "Biddlestone". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  22. ↑ "50 per cent saving in running costs". Sunderland Daily Echo . 10 June 1936 – via Tyne Built Ships.
  23. ↑ Hardy 1954, p. 209.

Bibliography

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