 SS Archimedes
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Archimedes |
| Namesake | Archimedes of Syracuse |
| Owner | Ship Propeller Company |
| Builder | Henry Wimshurst (London) |
| Cost | £10,500 |
| Launched | 18 October 1838 |
| Completed | 1839 |
| Maiden voyage | 2 May 1839 |
| In service | 2 May 1839 |
| Refit | As a sailing ship, date unknown |
| Fate | Reportedly ended career in Chile–Australia service, 1850s |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Steam powered schooner |
| Tons burthen | 237 |
| Length | 125 ft (38 m) |
| Beam | 22 ft (6.7 m) |
| Draught | 8–9 ft (2.4–2.7 m) |
| Depth of hold | 13 ft (4.0 m) |
| Installed power | 2 × 30 hp (22 kW), 25–30 rpm twin-cylinder Rennie vertical steam engines, with 37-inch cylinders and 3-foot stroke |
| Propulsion | 1 x full helix, single turn, single threaded iron propeller operating at 130–150 rpm, auxiliary sails |
| Sail plan | Three-masted, schooner-rigged |
| Speed | About 10 mph (16 km/h) (under steam) |
| Notes | World's first screw-propelled steamship |
SS Archimedes was a steamship built in Britain in 1839. She was the world's first steamship to be driven successfully by a screw propeller.[1][2][3][4][5]
Archimedes had considerable influence on ship development, encouraging the adoption of screw propulsion by the Royal Navy, in addition to her influence on commercial vessels. She also had a direct influence on the design of another innovative vessel, Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Britain, then the world's largest ship and the first screw-propelled steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
- ^ The emphasis here is on ship. There were a number of successful propeller-driven vessels prior to Archimedes, including Smith's own Francis Smith and Ericsson's Francis B. Ogden and Robert F. Stockton. However, these vessels were boats—designed for service on inland waterways—as opposed to ships, built for seagoing service.
- ^ "The type of screw propeller that now propels the vast majority of boats and ships was patented in 1836, first by the British engineer Francis Pettit Smith, then by the Swedish engineer John Ericsson. Smith used the design in the first successful screw-driven steamship, the Archimedes, which was launched in 1839."—Marshall Cavendish, p. 1335.
- ^ "The propeller was invented in 1836 by Francis Pettit Smith in Britain and John Ericsson in the United States. It first powered a seagoing ship, appropriately called the Archimedes, in 1839."—Macauley and Ardley, p. 378.
- ^ "In 1839, the Messrs. Rennie constructed the engines, machinery and propeller, for the celebrated Archimedes, from which may be said to date the introduction of the screw system of propulsion ..."—Mechanics Magazine, p. 220.
- ^ "It was not until 1839 that the principle of propelling steamships by a screw blade was fairly brought before the world, and for this we are indebted, as almost every adult will remember, to Mr. F. P. Smith of London. He was the man who first made the screw propeller practically useful. Aided by spirited capitalists, he built a large steamer named the "Archimedes", and the results obtained from her at once arrested public attention."—MacFarlane, p. 109.