Difference between revisions of "Kilroy Stoking Indicator"

Revision as of 15:42, 9 April 2012

Kilroy's Stoking Indicator, c. 1908
As shown in Torpedo Drill Book, 1908.

Kilroy's Stoking Indicator was an instrument fitted in the stokehold to guide stokers in firing the boilers evenly by sounding a gong and indicating the numbered furnace door to stoke. The regulator which established the cyclical stoking tempo was mounted in the engine room. Both were powered by the lighting circuits.

The regulator had a rheostat that could set the cycle interval anywhere from 3 to 12 minutes for the entire stokehold series. For instance, if there were 2 banks of 8 stokeholds and the rheostat was set for an 8 minute cycle, the gong would ring every 30 seconds and the number indicated would increment up from 1 to 16. Thus, in 8 minutes, each stokehold would be fed coal once before the cycle repeated.

It appears likely that the system appeared after 1905^[1] and during or before 1908.^[2]

See Also

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