Thornycroft Water Tube Boilers and Oil Fuel Gear, Trade Catalog.
London: John I. Thornycroft & Co., ca. 1915. Paperback. Trade catalog for this shipbuilding firm with many diagrams and printed photos of a wide range of vessels "engined and boilered" by the Thornycroft company. It also includes detailed tables for evaporation, specific gravity for fuel oil, heat values for coal and oil, etc. This was a trade catalog for a large and prosperous firm with an international clientele, in a period before W.W.I. During the war, the yard at Woolston yard made 26 destroyers, 3 submarines and a large number of smaller craft for the Royal Navy. Interestingly, John's daughter, naval architect Blanche Thornycroft worked alongside her father (and after his death) testing models, calculating and recording results (Wikipedia).
John I. Thornycroft had shown shipbuilding ability when aged 16 he began building a small steam launch in 1859... it proved to be the first steam launch with enough speed to follow the contenders in the University race... the company developed a water-tube boiler, patented in 1885..." (Wikipedia) Detailed tables throughout, for example "Table Giving Average Heating Values of Various Coals and Oil Fuels" lists coal heating values from South Wales, Best Yorkshire, Midlands, England, Canada, the US and Russia. Oil heating values include Russian Fuel, Oklahoma Crude, Texas Sour Lake, Mexican Fuel Oil, Roumanian & Texas Residuum, Borneo Fuel, California, Trinidad Crude, Shale Oil, Blast Furnace Oil and Heavy Tar Oil or Creosote. The vessels pictured "Engined and Boilered" by the firm include H.M. Mystery Vessel; HMTBD Leader; HMTB Destroyer, Light Cruiser, Customs Cruiser, Steam Yacht, Cruiser Yacht, Side Paddle Tug (Sea Going); Shallow Draft Side Paddle Vessel, Very Light Shallow Draft Side Paddle Vessel, and seven more.
Oblong sml. 4to pamphlet, 63pp, with silk cord binding. Brown card covers, red and black embossed titles on front. Closed tear at back spine corner, a faint crease along many pages, light foxing on title otherwise very good condition. OCLC 39114883 cites 1 copy at the Mariner's Museum Library, Virginia. Very good overall. Item #26803
Price: $175.00