Benjamin Franklin Isherwood, Naval Engineer

Оглавление

Edward William Sloan III. Benjamin Franklin Isherwood, Naval Engineer

Preface

Contents

Illustrations

I. The New Engineer in Chief

II. Building the Union Navy

III. Isherwood and the Ironclads

IV. The Unwelcome Pioneer

V. The Lawyer and the Engineer

VI. Trials and Tribulations

VII. The Steam Bureau under Attack

VIII. The Inventor and the Engineer

IX. Isherwood’s Masterpiece

X. Line against Staff

XI. Triumph of the Reactionaries

XII. Always the Engineer

Notes

Chapter I. The New Engineer in Chief

Chapter II. Building the Union Navy

Chapter III. Isherwood and the Ironclads

Chapter IV. The Unwelcome Pioneer

Chapter V. The Lawyer and the Engineer

Chapter VI. Trials and Tribulations

Chapter VII. The Steam Bureau under Attack

Chapter VIII. The Inventor and the Engineer

Chapter IX. Isherwood’s Masterpiece

Chapter X. Line against Staff

Chapter XI. Triumph of the Reactionaries

Chapter XII. Always the Engineer

Bibliography

PRIMARY SOURCES. 1. Manuscripts

II. Published Material

SECONDARY SOURCES. I. Biographical Articles on Isherwood

II. Books and Articles on Marine Engineering and Naval Architecture

III. Biographical Works

IV. Works on Naval and Maritime History

Index

Отрывок из книги

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ISHERWOOD NAVAL ENGINEER

THE YEARS AS ENGINEER IN CHIEF, 1861-1869

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Unfortunately for Benjamin Isherwood, the trial run of the Allegheny when finally held in 1853, was pronounced “an absolute and unqualified failure,”12 and brought forth an investigation by a board of engineers. Not only were the boilers inadequate, it was discovered, but, in particular, the engines had not been adequately braced, and the resulting vibration had broken the bed plates in the bottom of the vessel. Criticized for not providing strong enough frames to compensate for the weakness of the Allegheny’s hull, Isherwood tartly replied that he had been asked only to build engines, not a hull to support them. Nevertheless, he must not have dismissed such criticism, for during the Civil War his engines were attacked for their excessively heavy frames.

After sponsoring a new type of steam boiler which would not only be 40 per cent more efficient with only half the volume of the usual type, but would also be so much less expensive that its cost new would be less than the scrap value of an old one, Isherwood turned again to the drawing board and produced a plan which excited interest throughout the American engineering profession.

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