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Compound Steam Engine From Tugboat "Socony 5"
Source and photos thanks to Michael Herrick of Southbury, Connecticut.
Compound Steam Engine, from the tug "Socony 5".
Compound Steam Engine, from the tug "Socony 5", at the Mystic Seaport.
Compound Steam Engine, from the tug "Socony 5".
Compound Steam Engine From Tugboat Socony 5
Horsepower: 850
Cylinders: 2
Bore: 19”, 40”
Stroke: 28”
Weight: 40,000 pounds
Length: 8’ 9” Width: 6’ 10” Height: 14’
This large steam engine was built in 1927 by the Staten Island Shipbuiding Company in Staten Island, NY. It turned a 10-foot-diameter propeller on the steel tugboat Socony 5, part of a New York Harbor tugboat fleet owned by Standard Oil Company of New York.
Developed about 1870, the two-cylinder engine was a practical power plant for small to medium-sized vessels for almost 80 years until superseded by diesel engines. This example worked with a steam pressure of 160 pounds per square inch. Steam from the boiler first entered the small high-pressure cylinder, driving its piston, and was then exhausted into the large low-pressure cylinder to expand further.
The engine’s horsepower of 850 may seem modest by today’s standards, but this figure is based on a working load output, unlike horsepower calculations for modern internal-combustion engines. This engine has 10 times the horsepower of the Paine compound engine of the Museum’s passenger steamboat Sabino.
Location. 41° 21.571' N, 71° 57.889'
W. Marker is in Mystic, Connecticut, in New London County. Marker can be reached from the intersection of Greenmanville Avenue (Connecticut Route 27) and Bruggeman Place, on the right when traveling south. Located in Mystic Seaport. Marker is at or near this postal address: 75 Greenmanville Avenue, Mystic CT 06355, United States of America.
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