- Hunter Wheel
The Hunter Wheel was a device intended to improve the efficiency of propulsion in
U.S. Navy steam-operated ships in the late1830 's and early1840 's. At the time, as ships were transitioning from sail tosteam engine power, the understanding of the principles of efficiency ofpropulsion of steam engine-powered ships was in its infancy, and not totally understood.The "Hunter Wheel" was an experimental device which attempted to improve such propulsion efficiency.
Vessel type
At the time there were two types of machine propulsion for steam operated vessels:
* paddle wheel
* screw (propeller)The "Hunter Wheel" was intended to improve the efficiency of propulsion of the “paddle wheel” type of vessel.
Design of the wheel
The "Hunter Wheel" was named after Lt.
William W. Hunter and consisted of a conventional paddle wheel drum placed horizontally within the vessel below the water-line. The paddles were so arranged as to project from a suitable opening in the side of the ship when at right angles to the keel. Water was kept from entering by acofferdam placed around the paddle wheel drum and against the side of the ship.Testing of the device in "USS Union"
The "Hunter Wheel" was tested in
1843 on the USS|Union|1841 which had been modified to accept the device.Result of test
It was discovered that "Union’s " engines wasted too much energy uselessly driving the paddle wheels through the water-filled cofferdam inside the ship.
Testing of the device in "USS Water Witch"
The device was testing also in USS|Water Witch|1845 with the following result:
The wheels lost much of their power pushing water through the encased area inside the hull, forfeiting between 50 and 70 percent of their potential power.
Subsequent testing of the wheel
Testing continued through
1846 but failed to increase the efficiency of the paddle wheels.The device was also used in the construction of USS|Allegheny|1847 but it was found to be unreliable and inefficient, and "Allegheny" was later converted to screw-propelled.
See also
*
Paddle steamer References
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