Propulsion:

The technical installation of the ‘Furie’ comprises of a Scottish boiler with two fire boxes, a Triple Expansion steam engine and auxiliary equipment such as pumps, a condenser and a steam turbine to generate power. Boiler and engine were both made in 1916 by Machinefabriek Fulton, part of the Bodewes shipyard where the tug was built.

Boiler:

The boiler, a so-called Scottish fire tube boiler with two fire boxes and a water capacity of 15.000 liter, used to be fired by coal. In 1957 however, she was converted to oil, for which besides two Ray oil burners of American origin, tanks for 37.000 liters of oil where installed. To start firing up the cold boiler, one of the burners is connected to an electric motor. This motor drives a ventilator with a V-snare to produce the necessary airflow in the burner. The oil is injected with the air through the burner and ignited with a torch.

STEAM ENGINE:

The Triple Expansion steam engine drives the propeller and shaft trough a thrust block. The steam engine has two directions and a Hackworth Reverse System can drive he the tug ahead and astern. Triple Expansion means that the steam coming into the steam engine expands three times . The steam engine has three cylinders , ascending in diameter in order to ensure that the force on each of the cylinders is the same in all three . (force is pressure times area ) . The steam with a pressure of 14 bar , passes through the main steam valve and high pressure slider in the high pressure cylinder . Due to the expansion of the steam , the piston is put into motion.  At the end of the piston stroke , the steam exits the cylinder with a pressure significantly lower than 14 bar . The steam progresses trough the medium pressure slider to the medium pressure cylinder doing her job and continues with hardly any pressure on trough the low pressure slider to the low pressure cylinder. The used steam from the low pressure cylinder goes into the condenser , which cools the steam back to water, which subsequently is pumped back to the boiler again.

PUMPS:

The engine requires steam operated mounted pumps, such as:
• a cooling water circulation pump, which pumps cooling water through the condenser.
• a vacuum pump which extracts the feeding water from the condenser, and pumps it into a hot water tank / oil trap.
• a feeding pump which pumps water from the hot water tank to the boiler.
• a bilge pump which ensures that the bilge of the ship will remain dry.

A lot of machinery that requires a lot of maintenance and technical skills ..

Foto: Jan Steehouwer