Posted by Roy Mengot on October 31, 2000 at 08:01:23:
In Reply to: How They Made Propellors posted by Raymond Youm on October 31, 2000 at 02:27:34:
: Out of curosity, how do they make propellors for ships, like Titanic. I know it is golden or brass colored. I am wandering how back then they can make a 22 feet diameter propellor, with technology back then.
Technology in metal bashing was very advanced. The props were cast in manganese bronze. The center prop was one large casting while the blades of the outboard props were case separately and bolted to the steel hub.
Een back then, naval architects understood stress loading and damage stability for a large ship. Today the same basic formulas are used but computers aid the design work. They had a lathe that could turn the 60' rudder post weighing tons to fine tolerances. The massive engines on Olympic went 25 years without a major problem or total overhaul. The gears on the steerin gear had intricate herringbone grooves cut in them and turbine was a mechanical engineering marvel. I have a lot of respect for those guys back then.