Posted by Bruce Beveridge on October 27, 1999 at 00:06:32 in 199.179.162.165 :
In Reply to: Vent Tip posted by Lee on October 26, 1999 at 23:35:40:
Though it is true that the cowls could have been rotated to induct air, they were attached to suction fans. This means that the cowls were venting air and not pulling it in from the outside. They would be turned to adjust the amount of pull caused by the physics of the forward motion of the ship through the air. They could be spun forwards on some occasions and used backwards if needed to push air in. The curls pulled the air in, that is why most of them face forward into the wind. None of the vents leading to the engine rooms could be turned as none of them were cowls. The boiler room vents were the big center stokehold ducts with the screens on them. Or in the case of the reciprocating engine room, the open skylight provided extra air along with its own stokehold type vent that was located on the aft bulkhead of said tank room.
Bruce