steamboat
The word "boat" originated in China in the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, Colliers invented the "paddle boat" (vehicle and boat), with rotating paddle wheels on both sides of the boat. The periphery of the paddle wheel is equipped with blades, the lower part of which is immersed in the water and the upper part is exposed to the water. Wheels are stepped on by people, and blades are used to pump water to propel the ship. Because this kind of paddle wheel is exposed to the water, it is called "open boat" or "steamboat" to distinguish it from wooden boats that paddle manually and sailboats driven by wind.
After the appearance of the steam engine, 1690, Dennis Baban of France put forward the idea of using the steam engine as the power to propel the ship, and made a concrete design. But there was no practical steam engine at that time, so it could not be realized. 1769, the French inventor Joe Frye put the steam engine on board. However, the installed steam engine is simple and bulky, driving a group of ordinary wooden paddles, which is very slow and fails to show the superiority of motorboats. 1783, Joe Frye built the world's earliest steam ship "Poroszka Fei", but after sailing for 30 minutes, the steam boiler on board exploded. 1786, John Fitch of the United States installed a Watt steam engine on the ship to turn the rudder, not as power. The power of the ship is 12 paddle, so it is not a steam engine ship. 1790, Mocky used a steam engine to drive the paddle, which was extremely inefficient and Fitch's invention was not taken seriously. 1802, the Englishman William Simmington used Watt's improved steam mechanism to launch the world's first steam-powered steamboat "Charlotte Dundas" in the Scottish Voss-Clyde Canal, and the trial flight was successful. This is a 30-foot-long wooden boat with a steam engine designed by Simmington in the center, which drives a paddle wheel at the stern. The appearance of steamboat is a blow to tugboat owners, who desperately oppose it on the grounds that steamboats produce big waves. The first steamboat was strangled in the cradle. In 1840, john Stevenson of the United States built the little Julianne with four-blade propellers. This is the earliest ship with propeller in the world. Because the speed of the steam engine driving the propeller is too low, he thinks the propeller is better than the paddle. /kloc-in 0/870, he built the ship "Phoenix" with wheels and paddles. "Phoenix" sailed from the coast of new york to Philadelphia, and was caught in a storm on the way. But after a voyage of 13 days, it arrived safely in Philadelphia, which is the first time in the world that a ship has estimated the voyage at sea. Stephenson and his son have made great contributions to the development of ships. However, because Fulton was the most famous at that time, people gradually forgot Stephenson.
Robert fulton, known as the "father of ships", is an American mechanical engineer and painter. While studying painting in England, he was very interested in the "Charlotte Dundas" steam turbine, which was tried in the river. He studied the structure and working principle of the ship, and inspected the inland river shipping in Britain. He believes that steamships have broad prospects and have manufacturing conditions. 1803, he went to France to design a steamboat and tried it on the Seine, but the speed was too slow. When sailing against the current, it is only equivalent to the speed at which people walk internationally. Fulton did not lose heart. After returning to the motherland, he continued to study. Finally, in July of 1807, the steamboat "clermont" with a displacement of100t, a length of 45.72m and a width of 9.14m was designed. The power of the ship is driven by a 72 horsepower watt steam engine to drive the wheels to dial water. On August 17, the "clermont" with 40 passengers set off from new york and went upstream along the Hudson River. After 3 1 hour, it sailed into Albany Port, 240 kilometers away, with an average speed of 7.74 kilometers per hour, thus opening the curtain of the ship era. Since then, it has sailed regularly on the Hudson River, becoming the first steam ship in the world, and has established an unshakable position as a ship. Less than five years later, there are 50 steamships sailing on regular routes in Europe and the United States. 1829, Austrian Joseph leisel invented a propeller which can be used in ship technology, and Swiss engineer john ericsson and others improved it, so that the ship had no "wheels", thus overcoming the shortcomings of low propulsion efficiency and vulnerability to wind and waves.
In the early days after the birth of the propeller, many people still doubted whether the propeller's propulsion efficiency could be better than that of the paddle wheel. 1in April, 845, the British-built warship "Rattlesnake" with steam power and propeller propulsion started in the opposite direction with another ship of the same tonnage and size. After many rematches, the propeller-propelled ship won an indisputable victory. Since then, the propeller has gradually replaced the paddle wheel.
(The British luxury ocean liner Queen Elizabeth has a displacement of 67,000 tons and can carry passengers 1800 people. It is the largest passenger ship in the world at present. )
The progress of marine engines and propellers has solved the technical power problem of ships, and also made the shipbuilding materials evolve from wood to steel. The early steamboat was powered by a steam engine, with coal sprayed in the boiler and thick black smoke in the chimney, because Nanchang was once called a "steam wheel". 1884, the British inventor Charles Parsons designed the steam turbine. The steam turbine uses fuel as fuel, which not only improves the efficiency of the engine, but also reduces the fuel consumption and the space occupied by the power plant. Since then, the steam turbine has become the main power device used by ships and has the basic form of modern ships. After entering the 20th century, marine diesel engines reappeared, which promoted the modernization of ships, and special ships such as oil tankers and container ships appeared.