SS Badger Carferry

The two 3,500-hp steeple compound Unaflow steam engines powering the S.S. Badger represent one of the last types of reciprocating marine steam engines. Built by the Skinner Engine Company, most Unaflow engines are single expansion. These feature tandem high- and low-pressure cylinders separated by a common head. The Badger's four Foster-Wheeler Type D marine boilers, which supply 470-psig steam to the engines, are among the last coal-fired marine boilers built.

Now a rare mode of transportation, the Badger ferries car-passengers between Ludington, Michigan, and Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Having endured for more than 40 years, the Badger was in continuous service with an exception between November 1990 to May 1992, when the ferry changed ownership. Improved rail switching through Chicago made rail freight around the lake more economical and brought the age of this type of ferry to a close. The Badger was renovated in 1991 by owner Charles Conrad of Holland, Michigan. Renovations included a lounge, restaurant, retail shop, museum, and updated staterooms. No major mechanical overhaul was needed.

The Badger was built by the Christy Corporation of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. It was launched on September 6, 1952, and began regular service in 1953. At a cost of $5 million, it was (and is) the largest of the Great Lakes rail car ferries ever built. Each engine is rated at 3,500 SHP at 118 rpm to give a total of 7,000 SHP, which drives the Badger across Lake Michigan at a maximum speed of 24 mph (usually at 18 mph, with a running rpm at 50-95).

Cruquius Pumping Station

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:39:06 +0000

Cruquius Pumping Station

(not verified) Wed, 07/25/2012 - 03:39

Society

Main Category

Sub Category

Era

Date Created

Location Country

Coordinates

52.338056, 4.638333

Address1

Cruquiusdijk 27

Address2

2142 Cruquius

City

Haarlemmermeer

Country

Netherlands

Website

http://www.asme.org/about-asme/history/landmarks/topics-m-z/pumping/-153-cruqui…

Creator

Cruquius, Nicolaus Samuel

Beijerinck, Jan Anne

This is one of three nearly identical pumping stations that drained the Haarlemmermeer (Haarlem Lake), 1849- 52, then continued to maintain the polder's water table for more than 80 years. The Haarlemmermeer area covers 45,000 acres (about 70 square miles) in a triangular region between the cities of Amsterdam, Haarlem, and Leiden.

The Cruquius pumping station was instrumental in removing millions of gallons of water to reclaim valuable new land for farming, industry, and residences. Steam was chosen to power the pumps, when the traditional solution would have been windmills with Archimedean screw pumps. Designers Joseph Gibbs and Arthur Dean in London based the steam engine design on the mining engines at Cornwall, England, known as Cornish engines.

The Cornish pumping engine is a direct descendant of the Thomas Newcomen engine (introduced ca. 1715), which was improved by James Watt in 1769. Cornish engineers introduced higher steam pressures and a steam valve allowing expansive working. Of these engineers, James Sims designed a two-stage expansion engine, which is seen in the Cruquius design with further modifications.

The Cornish mine-pumping engine design is characterized by a beam pivoted on a massive all with the vertical steam cylinder under one end of the beam and the pump rod suspended from the other. Within a circular, castle- like tower, the eight protruding lift pumps were driven by a single central annular-compound steam engine with pistons of 7 foot (hp) and 12 foot (lp) and 10 foot stroke, working on the Cornish cycle at 5 strokes per minute. The pumps lifted 55,000 gallons a minute 15 feet. Pump buckets are suspended at the ends of the beams, lifting water from the polder level to a drainage canal. All pump buckets descend by their own weight and rise under steam pressure.

Cruquius was retired in 1932 with its original engine and pumps and preserved as a technical monument. The boilers were removed and the boiler house was made into a polder museum, visited by 30,000 annually. The other two stations, the Leeghwater and Lynden, were modernized over the years and are operating today.

The Cruquius engine was built by Harvey & Co. of Hayle, Cornwall, which was the largest manufacturer of engines in Cornwall. The pumps were furnished by Fox & Co., Falmouth, Cornwall, with the beams and boilers supplied by Van Vlissingen & Dudok van Heel, Amsterdam. The building architect was Jan Anne Beijerinck.