My Very Own Irish Paddle Coal Fired Boiler Steamer!

In my last ‘blog’ I talked about the Belfast & County Down Railway who also operated a series of coal fired paddle steamers along Belfast Lough between Belfast and the seaside town of Bangor, County Down.

The most famous of these paddle steamers was the Palmerston, later re-named the PS Bangor Castle. She was built in 1864 in Glasgow by T Wingate & Co in 1864 and was eventually scrapped in 1899. This paddle steamer was generally a simple twin cylinder diagonal paddle design, with a gross weight of 256 tonnes, a length of around 58 metres and a width of around 7 metres. This Belfast to Bangor paddle steamer service finally ended in 1915 – so how come I, as a small boy aged five, had my first ‘sailing’ adventure on board such a vessel? No, the answer is not that I am now 98 years of age!

The answer is that the last of these coal fired paddle steamers was restored and brought back into service for a couple of years during special summer sailing occasions around 1950. I went on board with my mum, dad and older brother, dressed in my Sunday best clothes and there were three things I remember most vividly about that steamer trip. Firstly they had a PA system which played that famous Irish tenor, Joseph Lock’s music and I especially remember one of his favourite songs ‘When You Were Sweet Sixteen’ – listen to it on this U-Tube link

The second thing I remember, which amazed me at the time, was that I could have an ice cream on board – within my five year old ‘world’ I found this quite exciting. Perhaps for that reason, the ice cream was the best I ever tasted! Ice cream has never again tasted so good until I recently started to make different ice creams at home from the variety of recipes I found on a fabulous ice cream recipes web site.

My third recollection whilst on board was watching the huge paddles churning through the water protected on top by a fancy carved white wooden frame. As I watched these paddles I saw that on occasions they picked up seaweed and other debris from the water and a member of crew was stationed at each of the twin paddles to warn the captain should any of the debris look like blocking the paddle.

I think about these paddle wheels when at Primasonics we are requested to find a solution to vibration problems on ID Fans caused by a build up of particulate on the impeller blades. This can be a very expensive problem as the build causes the unbalance sensor to engage thus triggering the immediate shutdown of a significant section of the plant. By installing the correct model of Primasonics Acoustic Cleaner on the fan casing, the particulate build up is either eliminated or certainly greatly reduced thus removing the necessity for any unscheduled shutdowns.

This next link provides details of one of our many case studies, this particular one involving a FLS Type HAF 290 fan on a cement company’s clinker plant fan.

The innocence of youth and the treat of great tasting ice cream – what a combination!

Letting Off Some Steam!

I am going to write a couple of articles about topics which as a young boy became ingrained in my mind and still remain within my ever-aging memory bank. This first one concerns my experiences of steam trains, especially between my Northern Ireland home town of Dromore, County Down and my favourite seaside town (even to this day) of Newcastle, County Down. The second article will be based on my experience on board an ancient steam paddle boat which sailed along Belfast Lough between Belfast and the holiday town of Bangor. The B&CDR ran this daily service until 1915 (no I am not that old!)

The Belfast & County Down Railway formed in 1848 had several key lines but as I lived in a country town of Dromore, the main line from Belfast to Newcastle was ‘my’ railway line, especially as my love of Newcastle, County Down has never waned. This particular line opened in 1869 and as was the case through the Victorian railway heyday period, the railway companies built grand hotels at the end of key rail terminals. Such was the case in Newcastle with the building of the impressive (and today, totally marvellous) Slieve Donard Hotel in 1897 (see picture). To see the opulent splendour of this hotel today have a look at this site. At the same time they also helped form the Down Royal Golf Club now considered to be one of the finest golf courses in all Ireland.

The steam locomotives were mainly constructed by Beyer Peacock except for two which were built in Belfast by Harland & Wolff. The carriages, I remember well, were simple six wheelers, non-corridor with gas lighting, replaced later by a slightly more modern but similarly designed carriage. A few years before the line closed in 1950, they introduced the first diesel-electric locomotives. When very young I used to hide in the waiting room when, as I then saw the huge, black, soot and steam emitting ‘monsters’ come into view at the Dromore station. Here is a picture of a typical B&CDR steam locomotive at Newcastle station.

As a kid I was fascinated by Newcastle station; although small it had a massive wooden water tower and a mechanically operated locomotive turning table. I also had the opportunity recently to ‘step aboard’ the footplate of one of these old steam engines when I visited the fantastic Ulster Folk & Transport Museum at Hollywood, near Belfast. Here I am, fulfilling one of my childhood dreams.

Of course as excited young boys, my brother and I were for ever poking our heads out of the carriage window which usually resulted in us getting particles of soot being ‘deposited’ in our eyes. The main means of removal was for our mother to lick the end of her hanky and poke out the offending ‘soot build up’ – such simple but happy excursions!

It perhaps is somewhat ironic that today my company Primasonics offers an equally innovative, if much more modern means to prevent soot build up (also ash) within industrial boilers, superheaters, economisers and air heaters etc within the power generation industry. Our range of Acoustic Cleaners, also referred to as Sonic Horns, use sound waves to debond the ash from the heat tubes thus significantly increasing the overall thermal efficiency.

This is an effective, economical means of preventing ash build up without any fear of causing physical damage to the heat tubes or structures. Hope you find our web site as interesting and exciting as young Donald found his steam train trips to the seaside!

Samphire Sets Your Taste Buds Tingling

OK after this blog I promise to stop twittering on about seafood recipes - for a little while at any rate!. However last year I discovered a wonderful new taste - the salty, zingy taste of samphire – let me explain.

In Penrith, Cumbria there is an excellent fish, seafood and game shop called The Fish Cellar. Many times during the summer and autumn periods when buying fish and seafood I noticed a large bowl of what looked like fine, green asparagus. One day my curiosity got the better of me and I asked Neil the owner what it was. ‘Samphire – do you want to try some?’ Well I did and am now ‘hooked’ on the stuff. It is usually available in our fish shop from July through to October, some coming from France, some from Mediterranean countries.

Marsh samphire (or salicornia europaea to give it its proper name) is also known as glasswort or pickle-plant and is a fleshy-leaved green plant that grows on seaside marshes. As I mentioned it has a sea-salty flavour and a crisp, interesting texture. Neil informed me that all that is needed to cook samphire is to place it in a colander and pour a kettle of boiling water over it, shake and add a dollop of butter. There are lots of interesting recipes, my favourite involved monkfish and Parma ham. However, I thought that you may like to try my second favourite recipe: Shrimp & Samphire Risotto – its scrumpcious! The recipe if from Rick’s Stein’s ‘Seafood Lovers Guide’.
It needs a little bit of preparation but is so tasty and filling – try it!

Something Fishy!

Since writing about my Irish octopus dish, I have become even more ‘hooked’ (couldn't resist that!) on preparing and enjoying fish dishes. I find that Delia Smith within her Delia Online web site has an excellent section on fish and accompanying sauce recipes. It is well worth taking a look at this site as it also gives loads of useful information on such topics as frying, grilling and poaching fish, making good fish batter and wine recommendations.

So last week I prepared a simple but delicious Fish Banquet. I started off with a delightful little starter called Smoked Fish Creams and then for the main course I tried her Luxury Smoked Fish Pie – well I liked smoked fish!

In between to ‘cleanse the pallet’ I offered my guests an unusual but super white wine sorbet which I found on the Ice-Cream-Recipes. com web site - try it!

I hope you have as much fun preparing (and enjoying) this Fish Banquet as I did.

The Sands Of Time

As I stroll along the lovely beach at Port d’Alcudia in Northern Mallorca I can’t help noticing the ‘growth’ of a new industry – sand sculpting. Most of the ‘creations’ I have seen are truly a patient ‘work of art’ and are very stunning, especially when viewed at night when surrounded by candles. Indeed there are several web sites dedicated to the work of these ‘sand sculpture artists’.

Two examples are: http://www.sculpturesinsand.com/ and http://www.sandsculpture.co.uk

I am told the secret to creating good sand sculptures, in addition to having the talent, is to dampen and compact the sand.

This got me thinking that whilst dampening and compacting a dry material such as sand is an essential plus for creating a sand sculpture, when it occurs in bulk dry material storage silos and hoppers such as cement silos and hoppers, it creates tremendous problems which result in reduced storage, poor material discharge, ratholing and bridging of material.

Thankfully all these problems can be prevented by the introduction of Acoustic Cleaners which both prevent side wall build up and also bridging over the silo outlets. Primasonics International has solved bulk material storage and flow problems in over 45 countries worldwide.

Octopus Hibernia

My local pub is the Crown Inn in a little village called Little Blencow, near Penrith in North Cumbria. The owner/chef is a fellow Irishman called Adrian Carroll and for a small pub, his ‘specials’ board is excellent. As I like to cook, I am forever asking him how you prepare ‘this’ and make ‘that’ and about a month ago we got onto the subject of cooking octopus, which I like to eat when abroad. It is such an interesting creature but usually only has a short life span of around six months. They have eight arms (you should not call them tentacles) and three hearts.

Anyway I digress. Adrian decided to devise an octopus dish with an Irish flavour and he named it ‘Octopus Hibernia’ (Hibernia being the classical Latin name for Ireland). I was not disappointed; it truly is a fantastic dish to make so I thought that I would provide you all with the recipe. By the way if you buy fresh octopus you must put it in the freezer for around 48 hours to break down the cell structure before defrosting and cooking. One of the reasons I was thinking about the octopus was that it has the same number of arms as Primasonics have models of Acoustic Cleaner! ()

Here is the recipe for Octopus Hibernia – cook and enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 x block of butter
1 x large Spanish onion
1 x green pepper
1 x orange pepper
6 x garlic cloves (crushed)
2 x medium octopus cut into finely slices tentacle rings - see NOTE below for preparation

Method:
Melt butter in a large paella type pan (20”)
Heat butter until it foams then add garlic, cook for 20 seconds
Add octopus and fry for 1 minute
Add slices onion and peppers and fry for 2 minutes
Season with salt & Pepper
Bake in the oven 150◦C for 1½ hours, if onions begin to brown too much, cover pan with foil.

NOTE: The fresh octopus should be first placed in a freezer for 12 hours. Then defrost thoroughly and wash. Clean the octopus by cutting the tentacles away from the head, below the beak. Cut away and discard the beak, turn rest of body inside out and remove ink sac plus internal organs.

‘Soots’ You Sir!

As we are involved with clients worldwide within the Power Generation industry in effective ash removal, I started thinking about how soot/ash had always been a troublesome by-product associated with the burning of fossil fuels and how previous generations had attempted to deal with soot/ash removal. With the advent of Victoria Age Britain came a new soot removal system called the ‘climbing boys’. These were young boys who were small enough to climb up chimneys of large houses and clean them from the inside. These poor unfortunates were greatly abused by their notorious employers and as a result suffered from deformed joints, broken bones, burns and various types of cancers as well as sometimes chocking to death by inhaling soot. Indeed it was not until 1840 that parliament passed a law forbidding anyone under the age of 21 to sweep chimneys.

Those employed within ‘Industrial Victorian Britain’ faired little better. Although few employees actually had to physically climb up the inside of large factory chimneys, nevertheless the huge emissions of soot from such chimneys blighted the lives of the factory workers who lived in cramped terrace housing close by their place of work. They seldom saw the sun and blue skies, instead permanent, sooty smog hung over the towns resulting in the guarantee of an early grave. In the cotton towns of Lancashire around 1830, there were some 560 cotton mills, employing 110,000 people, 35,000 of them children, all working a 14 hour day. For more detailed reading go to http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/history/victorian/Victorian1.html

Even during my childhood and teenage years, the cleaning of modern domestic chimneys seemed equally as old fashioned; such as using either retractable soot cleaners with a circular brush at the tip or sucking the soot down, via a suction fan, into a cotton filter, located in the grate. However the infamous big city ‘smog’ of the fifties-early sixties has long since disappeared and we can now all enjoy blue skies and sunshine along with our ‘non- polluting’ central heating systems.

Today within the power generation industry, old technologies such as sootblowers are giving way to cleaner, more efficient innovative technologies such as acoustic cleaners, The soot blower can be one of three types – long or short retractable or rotary, fixed position. The cleaning media is usually a mixture of steam and compressed air which seeks to ‘blast off’ the hard deposits which have built up on the boiler tubes, usually after every 8 hour shift cycle. The main three problems associated with this older ash/soot removal system are:-

1] Because it relies on high pressure, erosion of the tubes is common which results in loss of boiler performance and high repair costs.

2] This steam/air jet can only reach the area of boiler tube surface directly exposed to the sootblower, allowing ash/soot to still build up, sinter and harden on the non-exposed surfaces.

3] The soot blowers themselves, especially the long retractable type carry a high maintenance cost.

There is a solution to preventing ash/soot from building up on all hot boiler tube surfaces whether within the furnace area or down stream, within the superheater or economiser sections and this is the innovative Acoustic Cleaner - sometimes called a sonic sootblower or sonic horn or even an acoustic horn. These devices use audiosonic sound waves at selected frequencies to prevent the soot/ask from building up on the entire surface of the boiler tubes and without causing any structural damage whatsoever and are literally ‘maintenance free’.

So just as innovative technologies moved us from old fashioned ash/soot removal methods within Victorian Britain and in the home, so the same innovative technologies are replacing older systems to improve the overall efficiency of industries worldwide, especially power generation plants.