Books offered by JF Ptak Science Books LLC

An Early Drawing of a Revolutionary Design--the Modern Propeller, 1855

The U.S.S. San Jacinto--Propeller, Feb 3, 1855.
1855.  New York.  Manuscript drawing on thin tracing paper., by the engineer John Shearman.  Good condition.
20x16"
Drawing in pen and ink, on very thin paper, completed in 1855, by John F. Shearman. Rare. $2500.

This is an extremely early engineering drawing of a modern propeller, executed only a dozen years or so after the creation of the modern screw propeller by John Eriksson. Shearman's creation is devoid of the extra blades that appeared on the edges of the fans of Eriksson's first attempts, and as ultimately adopted as the standard response to this knotty fluid dynamics problem. The propeller pictured here was for the USS San Jacinto, a mail packet that ran along the west coast in the 1850s until it was sunk operating as a blockade runner for the Confederate States in 1864. It was a pretty large propeller--more than 15 feet in diameter--and moved the ship it was attached to more than 22 feet for every revolution of the blade.

The  USS San Jacinto was an early screw frigate in the United States Navy, and was named for the San JAcinto River, of importance during the Texas Revolution. She is perhaps best known for her role in the Trent Affair of 1861...see more here from Wiki. 

Shearman was an engineer who worked at the Brooklyn Iron Works, Roslyn Navy Yard (New York) and a number of other places, practicing his trade from 1845 through 1888. 

The U.S.S. San Jactino:

 

Name:	USS San Jacinto
Builder:	New York Navy Yard
Laid down:	August 1847
Launched:	16 April 1850
Commissioned:	late 1851/early 1852
Fate:	Ran aground, 1 January 1865
General characteristics
Type:	Steam frigate
Tonnage:	1,567 long tons (1,592 t)
Length:	234 ft (71 m)
Beam:	37 ft 9 in (11.51 m)
Draft:	16 ft 6 in (5.03 m)
Depth of hold:	23 ft 3 in (7.09 m)
Propulsion:	Steam engine, screw propeller
Speed:	8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph)
Complement:	278 officers and enlisted
Armament:	• 2 × 8 in (200 mm) guns • 4 × 32-pounder guns

Engineering Art: Cross Sections of the HMS Olympic (1909) and HMS Mauretania (1906)

ITEMS: (1)  Full-page, 15x10 inch cross section frm the 14 August 1909 issue of The Illustrated London News featuring the Olympia. Very good condition.  $50 

(2) Full-page, 14x9 inch cross section of the HMS Mauretania.  1907.  Good condition. $50

ref:  JF Ptak Science Books  Post 1382

"...And a Gymnasium."

Resting comfortably in-between this blog's Cross Sections and Looking-At-Things-Straight-On series is this straight-on cross section of the midship section of the HMS Olympic.

This cross section appeared in the 14 August 1909 issue of The Illustrated London News, just six months or so after she was laid down. The Olympic was finished in 1911 and sailed through until 1935, a considerably much-longer career than her two sister ships, the Titanic and the Britannic.  The Titanic of course was launched in 1911 and went down on 12 April 1912; the Britannic lasted a little longer, though this ship never really had much of a career, launched just before the beginning of WWI and then used immediately as a hospital ship, striking and being sunk by a mine in 1916.  The three ships were beasts, about 882 feet long and about 53,000 tons displacement. The viewer certainly gets a good idea of the scope of the ship from this image.  

Third class looks pretty rustic, a no-bones approach to ocean travel, stuffed into the space next to the squash courts and under the gym. 

Next comes the HMS Mauretania, again form The Illustrated London News right at the time of its record-setting speed attempt to cross the Atlantic in November 1907.  The ship was long (almost 800 feet) and about the fastest ocean-going ship in the world,. crossing and re-crossing the Atlantic in 12 days.