staggered wheels, friend or foe

*Staggered wheels/Tom Dunbar*
Hi, AJ & steamboating colleagues:
Catching up on .org fast before steaming out to sea next Monday for several weeks. Interesting questions posted above, and I don't know the answers. QUEEN CITY didn't have a staggered wheel her entire career. Other steam towboats, down until the bitter end in the 1960s, had those peculiar wheels with the indented V shape paddle buckets or 'herringbone.' You and others here no doubt remember them as Bill Judd, Cap'n Walnut and I do.

I've pawed out a document typed on brown paper undated, but possibly done by renowned steamboat designer Tom Dunbar. For a 'bio' on him, check WAY'S PACKET DIRECTORY. Therein is a carefully worked out formual for wheel size, shape, number of buckets, shapes, horse power etc. etc. If I can decipher it, I'll try to post here in time. I know little to nothing, but will share.

R. Dale Flick
Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati

Hey Dale,

Thanks for chiming in. I do recall now some photos of the QUEEN CITY and possibly the VIRGINIA as well with a straight wheel. I will have to go through the reflectors and see if I can pin down whether the staggered wheel was put on later or if the boats started with them. Seems like the SS BROWN, and the HUDSON may have had a staggered wheel as well. Recall also in another thread about the different trials of the NOKOMIS (SP) and paddlewheel efficiency and wonder if any of that information was ever applied to why shafts break. Interesting information in another thread about drain cocks, warming of engines, valve timing etc. as to additional wear and tear on the engines. Hopefully the AQ's issues will be solved with the new shaft.

Safe travels out on the high seas Dale!

Aaron

AJ, I know that the S.S.Brown did have a staggered wheel for a period of time. I don't remember if she came out new with it or not. Do you or does anyone have or know where I can get (borrow) a copy of the Nokomis trials? I used to have one but can't find it anymore. They did some tests with her pertaining to the efficiency of Radial VS feathering wheels. I believe that one of the conclusions they reached was that feathering wheels were not practical for use on the Western Rivers due to the amount of drift and trash in the water that could foul the mechanisms.

Experimental Towboats Report

John, I have attempted to attach a scanned copy of "Experimental Towboats" which is a government report that includes the Nokomis experiments that I think you are asking for. It is included here as an attachment if I have completed all the computer magic correctly.

Attachment too large

John, Sorry. I just discovered the .jpg attachment is too large. It is over 139,000 kb and the maximum for the Discussion Board is 488.3 kb.

Experimental Towboats

Here is a link to a web site where you can read a copy of the government report on the Nokomis trials. Sometimes it is good to work in a library where there are people smarter than me when it comes to computers. 🙂

Experimental Towboats - Nokomis Trials

Here is a link to government document that includes the Nokomis Trials on paddlewheel efficiency.
Experimental towboats. . - Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library

Where's the Jump"

The emasculated, GRAND VICTORIA II, has a mammoth double-staggered stern paddlewheel, 55 X 26 feet with some-20 sets of buckets that could, when running at full-throttle, push the 10,000,000 pound boat along at come 12-15 mph... on paddlewheel alone. The wheel is so large that a center support and bearing helps hold the great load of (I'm guessing) some 140 tons.

Though the center bearing required replacing after the winter of 1996-97 when the GVII continued operating at below zero temps until it was estimated there were ten tons of ice accumulated on each wheel section, the sternwheel gave no more problems other than normal wear-and-tear expected for an open wheel.

The only negative, for me, personally, was the reason the casino builders chose a staggered over a straight wheel, was the fact a staggered wheel takes away the "jump", that beautiful rhythmic bounce a straight produces that adds to the wonderous sensation of riding a paddlewheel boat.

The SPIRIT OF PEORIA also has a staggered wheel, with the exception of her first wheel being too heavy, I don't believe there has been a problem since. I must agree with Shipyard Sam, "where's the jump" ? The SPIRIT OF PEORIA is a beautiful boat, with shear and gingerbread, but you do tend to miss that rhythmic jump.

In my Old Boat Column in this week's Waterways Journal featuring boats that journeyed to the Mardi Gras, the photo I used of the steamer QUEEN CITY shows her with a staggered wheel. The Str. MISSISSIPPI also had a staggered wheel, but in all the photos I have of her, it appears that it was used only briefly,

Like any of those gamblers would notice something as subtle as that... What do you mean "emasculated"?

"Emasculated " Defined...

The GRAND VICTORIA II, formerly, the QUEEN OF NEW ORLEANS and HILTON FLAMINGO, was, perhaps, one of the finest looking and most-assuredly, best-handling passenger-carrying boats ever built on the river. She was modeled after her mother vessel, New Orleans' CREOLE QUEEN, and is the model for the EMPRESS OF THE NORTH.... as both latter boats were designed by the noted marine architect, Mr. George Karantasovelos, of Guido Perla and Associates, Inc. of Seattle, Washington.

With that said....for such a magnificent sternwheel riverboat to sit moldering at her dock, without a full complement of licensed officer (though the Marine Manager is a licensed man) and just sitting there so forlorn until the day the sad paddlewheeler is taken to the breaking yard as so many others have, has been "emasculated" in the sense of being "weakened, deprived of force, crippled, devitalized, disabled, enervated, enfeebled, eviscerated, exhausted, extenuated, harmed, hurt, injured, mared, prostrated, relaxed, sapped, spoiled, unbraced, undermined, unstrengthened, weakened, and worn out..."

May I point out, though, the GVII is serving as a floating casino, and does have qualified maintenance personnel maintaining her in that capacity.... but, she, as one of the finest sternwheel boats ever made, should be out on the river zipping along with flags flying and the spray of her gigantic paddlewheel reaching all the way up to her Third deck.

Guido Perla & Associates Inc. | Naval Architects / Marine, Mechanical & Electrical Engineers

The staggered wheel was built so the gamblers WOULDN'T notice....

emasculated indeed

And so goes the DQ and the world in general.... Since the GVII is no longer moving, I guess that particular construction of the paddlewheel has become moot.