The Wonderful World of Steam Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1st Century BCE

Hero of Alexandria, a Roman engineer, described a device called an Aeolipile. This was described as a metal ball, filled with water, which had two "nozzles" located at opposite sides of the ball on the same circumference. Each nozzle was bent at right angles to the circumference.

When heated to boiling, steam escaped through the nozzles causing the device to act as a rotating steam turbine. The device was not reported to have done any useful work.

Answer: Used to pump water from mine shafts.

Based on the experimental work of several scientists and experimenters in the 16th and 17th century, Thomas Savery, in 1698, created a low-horsepower, steam-driven pump that would lift water.

Thomas Newcomb built his "atmospheric-engine" in 1712, which combined the features and ideas of Savery and the previous experimenters in the first "practical" steam engine which could "dewater" the many mine shafts in used in England at that time.

Throughout the 18th century, many improvements were made on Savery and Newcomb's engines, but the principal use of these engines was to keep England's mines dry.

Answer: USA

In 1788, John Fitch operated a successful steam driven boat on the Delaware River. The "Perseverance" was powered by a steam engine designed and built by Fitch and was unique in its method of propulsion. The boat was propelled by two banks of six vertical oars, one to each side. The operation of the oars was likened to "paddling of a duck" by an observer.

In 1790, an improved version of Fitch's craft, with stern mounted paddles, could carry up to 30 passengers at a speed of 6 to 7 knots.

Fitch's venture was not a financial success, probably because of availability of other, cheaper modes of transport on the boat's route between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey.

Answer: The SS Sirius

Yes, I know, all the history books state that the SS Savanna was the first steam ship to cross the Atlantic in 1819. Yes, it was the first steam powered ship to do so, but the engine, designed only to be used in calm waters and for short periods of time, actually rarely powered the ship on its crossing.

The SS Sirius was built in 1837 for domestic use around the British Isles. In order to capture the prestige of being the first, fully powered crossing, SS Sirius was overloaded with coal and 45 passengers, the side paddle steamer left Cork, Ireland on April,1838. She arrived a little over 18 days later in New York City, beating the SS Great Western (a trans-Atlantic purpose built steamer) by less that a day.

She made only one more round trip to America as it was obvious to the owners she was not suited for trans-Atlantic service.

She was broken up for scrap in 1889.

Answer: SS Great Eastern

With a length over all (LOA) of 692ft and a displacement of 18,915 tons, the English built SS Great Eastern was the largest ship in the world, until she was displaced by a larger liner in 1899. She was the largest paddle wheel steamer ever built. The fact that she was a paddle wheeler was probably the cause of the demise of paddle wheelers in general. Designed to carry 4000 passengers from England to Australia, without refueling, she carried an immense amount of coal. As the voyage continued the ship rode higher in the water and the paddle wheels became less effective in propelling the ship. Any list in heavy seas would also lessen the effectiveness of the paddle wheels.

Because of a lack of paying passengers the Great Eastern never made it to Australia but competed, unsuccessfully (financially) with other smaller and faster ships in trans-Atlantic service. Going out of passenger service in 1863, she was converted to a cable layer, successfully laying the first transatlantic telegraph cable in 1865.

She was broken up for scrap in 1889.

Answer: France

The first car was built in France by an army captain, Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot. To say that it wasn't practical is an understatement. It weighed 2.5 tons had 3 wheels and carried 4 passengers an at speed of about 2.5 MPH.

From about 1830 on, there were several successful (to a degree) steam-powered vehicles developed in France, England, and the United States. The 1890s saw the startup of several commercial steam car companies.

As steam engines had become better developed than the very early internal combustion engines, there were, in the 1890s more steam (and electric) cars produced than petrol powered. Among the better known companies were White, Whitney, and Stanley. In all, between 1890 and 1910 there were over 30 steam car manufactures, most falling by the wayside after having produced only a few cars.

The demise of the early commercial steam car makers, has been attributed to the development of the electric starter, which made gas powered cars much easier to start, and Henry Ford's introduction of the Model "T" in 1914. The "T" was more reliable and much cheaper any other car of the time.

The interest in and the development of steam-powered cars continues through today, with increasing interest because of the desire to reduce carbon emissions.

Answer: England

HMS Swordfish was an experimental RN submarine built to evaluate the possibility of developing a class of submarines capable of operating with the main surface fleet at a sustained speed of 21kts. As the diesel engines of the day were not powerful enough to generate this speed, steam turbine engines were developed to operate the sub on the surface. Batteries would, of course, power the craft when submerged. The steam plant worked well on the surface and the sub was able to shut the plant down and rig for dive in less that 15 minutes, a respectable time, in 1916, (a fatal time today). The Swordfish, however was not found to be stable in underway surface operations and was laid up immediately after trials.

She was converted to a surface only operations, modified hull gunboat for duty in WW1.

In 1918, the Royal Navy commissioned the "K" class of 18 large steam powered (surface) submarines designed to operate at 21kts with the fleet. As with HMS Swordfish, the class could not do better that 19kts surfaced. At 2166tons displacement (submerged) they were the largest RN submarines then in service. As a class, the "Ks" were plagued with mechanical problems, indeed 6 were lost due to accidents. The class obtained the unenviable nickname; "Kalamity Class" The class was scrapped between 1926 and 1932.

Answer: USA

Strange but true. In 1933, George and William Besler built a 500-pound, 150hp, steam engine, installed it in a modified Travelair 2000 biplane and made several demonstration flights out of the Oakland, CA airport. The plane flew well exhibiting STOL characteristics because of the ability to easily reverse the propeller's direction of rotation.

The Beslers were pioneers in steam-powered, self-contained trains and small, compact steam engines.

To see this plane and its flight, check YouTube: "Besler steam plane". And if you think a steam airplane is weird, check out "steam-driven bicycle" on YouTube.

Answer: Icebreakers

Countries with maritime interests in the far north operate ice breakers to free the shipping lanes from ice. With exception of one country, Russia, all current icebreakers are diesel or diesel electric-powered. Russia pioneered the use of nuclear-powered steam driven icebreakers with construction of the "Lenin" in 1959. The "Lenin" became a museum ship in Murmansk.

Answer: The Fighting Temeraire

Possibly Turner's most famous work, "The Fighting Temeraire", hangs in the National Gallery in London. In 2005, it was voted England's favorite painting.

The painting depicts the Temeraire, a second-rate sailing warship of the line, which had fought at the Battle of Trafalgar, and well known in England, being towed to a breaker's yard by a small, paddle-wheeled tug. Turner, known as "the painter of light", shows the Temeraire in a serene gilded light, juxtaposed behind a small, darker, paddle wheeled tug, belching brown smoke.

Maybe it's just me but I can see the sunset of sail behind the vision of "pedestrian" steam. Anyway I like it, it's my favorite painting, and this is my quiz, so there!