Paddle steamer

Saturday, 1 April 2023 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: Yacht of the Month
Reading Time:  3 minutes

SS Montreux outside Lutry on Lake Geneva, Swiss © Barryfromwales/cc-by-sa-4.0

SS Montreux outside Lutry on Lake Geneva, Swiss © Barryfromwales/cc-by-sa-4.0

A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans.

In the early 19th century, paddle wheels were the predominant way of propulsion for steam-powered boats. In the late 19th century, paddle propulsion was largely superseded by the screw propeller and other marine propulsion systems that have a higher efficiency, especially in rough or open water. Paddle wheels continue to be used by small, pedal-powered paddle boats and by some ships that operate tourist voyages. The latter are often powered by diesel engines.

Hohentwiel in Bregenz on Lake Constance, Austria © JoachimKohlerBremen/cc-by-sa-4.0 Ox-powered Roman paddle wheel boat from a 15th-century copy of De Rebus Bellicis © Gun Powder Ma Mahsud in Morrelganj, Khulna, Bangladesh © A.Rahim3106/cc-by-sa-4.0 Riverboat Natchez off the foot of Canal Street on the Mississippi in New Orleans © flickr.com - David Reber/cc-by-sa-2.0 Showboat Branson Belle on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, USA © Lwsimon/cc-by-sa-3.0 SS Montreux outside Lutry on Lake Geneva, Swiss © Barryfromwales/cc-by-sa-4.0
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Riverboat Natchez off the foot of Canal Street on the Mississippi in New Orleans © flickr.com - David Reber/cc-by-sa-2.0
The paddle wheel is a large steel framework wheel. The outer edge of the wheel is fitted with numerous, regularly spaced paddle blades (called floats or buckets). The bottom quarter or so of the wheel travels under water. An engine rotates the paddle wheel in the water to produce thrust, forward or backward as required. More advanced paddle-wheel designs feature “feathering” methods that keep each paddle blade closer to vertical while in the water to increase efficiency. The upper part of a paddle wheel is normally enclosed in a paddlebox to minimise splashing.

The three types of paddle wheel steamer are stern-wheeler, with a single wheel on the rear, a side-wheeler with one on each side, and an inboard with the paddlewheel mounted in a recess amidship. All were used as riverboats in the United States. Some still operate for tourists, for example on the Mississippi River.

Read more on Wikipedia Paddle steamer. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.


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