In the "bow region" two contrarotational "wheel" with eccentric rotating centres that set the boat in stamp motion! Outside??? any body know how to get the patent with internet?
-- Peter and Christine Bendall The description I have is from Andreas Westphalen's book 'Dampfeisbrecher STETTIN' (Hauschild, Bremen ISBN 978-3-89757-4229) - there is apparently and article by Dipl-Ing H Waas in the VDI-Z 101 Nr 32, November 1959. The descriptions are a bit difficult to understand as they are written in almostinterminableandtotallyunintelligibletechnicalwords, but from the diagram the wheels resemble a locomotive driving wheel with a rim weight; in EISFUCHS there are two pairs of wheels belt-driven in opposite directions at 120 rpm, each pair by a 140 hp diesel motor (hence the 140T I guess as the ship's total displacement was 300 tons). They occupied what would be the fore-hold (this space was previously empty or used for water ballast as I imagine the ride quality there left something to be desired) and in EISVOGEL and EISBAR there is a conspicuous hatch over this space - I imagine it was important to keep them well maintained as I imagine they could do quite a lot of damage if they got loose. I guess they were not very satisfactory as MAX WALDECK, built with them in 1968, was rebuilt in 1981 with a Thyssen-Waas bow which was a swim bow with the air / water jets described for the St. Lawrence icebreakers. Sean [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
