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In reading a poem by Kipling, I encountered a phrase I do not understand:
The Ballad of the 'Bolivar'
Felt her hog and felt her sag, betted when she'd break;
Wondered every time she raced if she'd stand the shock;
Heard the seas like drunken men pounding at her strake;
Hoped the Lord 'ud keep his thumb on the plummer-block.
What do the last two words mean? I looked up nautical terms in Internet, could not find it;.
I finally found a glossary that translates "plummer block" into four foreign languages!
plummer block=saft yatagi=Stevenrohr= tube d'étambot= bocina
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I found a German site that gives information about "Stevenrohr" but I cannot quite translate it.
Als Antwort auf: Stevenrohr geschrieben von Dirk Leumann am 12. November 2000 21:04:49:
hallo d.l.
meines wissens nach werden auch heutzutage die wellen mit sogenannten stopfbuchsen abgedichtet.diese machen natürlich immer
etwas wasser, welches in die bilge läüft.wenn noch jemand mehr infos hat,kanner ja auch noch schreiben
The best French dictionary I could find had no definition for étambot", even though I found many French sites that used it. Etambot : pièce verticale assemblée sur l'arrière de la quille, doublée par le faux-étambot à l'extérieur et le contre-étambot à l'intérieur à l'extrémité duquel prend place l'arcasse.
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Bill, from what little I can remember about ships' engineering, a plummer block houses each of the main bearings on a ship's propellor shaft. Or at least in this context. Kipling was praying that the prop would keep going round, I guess.
But this is little more than a guess. Plummer blocks and split plummer blocks are to be found in most large engine and drive shaft applications, I think.
But I could be wrong...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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wenn noch jemand mehr infos hat,kann er ja auch noch schreiben
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Dearest Dr. Bill, I found a place that sells plummer-blocks, and it even has an illustration--but I still hardly know what one is! http://www.arvis.co.uk/main/din505sizes.html
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Dear Jackie: Those can only be main bearings for the propellor shaft. I really have no knowledge how the propellor shaft in a steamboat goes through the hull without water leaking in.
So perhaps what Kipling was saying that if the Almighty didn't hold down the top of that main bearing, enough water could come in to sink the ship.
Thanks a lot for finding that site.
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http://www.dpaonthenet.net/products/September2000/prod_mechtext01.htmlApparently (subject to further googling) "plummer block" is a general (not nautical) term for a kind of housing for bearings. "The quality of the housing in which a bearing is secured has a significant effect on the performance and life expectancy of the bearing. Even bearings of the highest quality, correctly specified and diligently lubricated can fail prematurely if the housing is not concentric or if it has been over-tightened. The development of an easy-to-install and flexible bearing housing solution was first addressed many years ago with the introduction of what is often referred to as a split plummer block."
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Dear Keiva: My most sincere admiration for your peerless penetration of the plummer block puzzle.
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Bill:
Try this as a translation as well as explanation:
This ship is in a major storm, wallowing (hogging) in the water (the sagging probably refers to the feeling that the ship is flexing, which all such creatures do). Someone was placing bets on when the ship would break apart. Whenever the ship crested a wave and careened down the other side, her propeller would come free from the water, meaning it would spin freely (race). When this happens there is sudden strain on the entire power train, particularly on the bearings, which operate best at a steady rate.
The sea was pounding on the outside of her hull, and the crew hoped the drive train bearings would not fail. This latter is very important because a ship not under power cannot keep the head into the wind. It will quickly turn sideways to the waves and founder or at least capsize. About the only thing the crew can do when there's a catastrophic power failure is to put out a sea anchor and hope it keeps the ship bow on to the waves.
As a woodworker who likes exotic lumber, I have some interest in odd types of wood, one of which is called lignum vitae. This wood is extremely hard and durable, and very difficult to find now. It was routinely used for bearings in ships as well as in other applications. In fact, there is a power plant built by Edison somewhere in the US Northeast that has LV bearings in the generators. Believe it or not, these wood bearings have been in continous service for a hundred years!
Ted
TEd
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Dear TEd: your description of "race" reminds me of the troop-ship I came home on. It had been bought from government before construction was complete, and rushed into service without having any ballaxt installed. The Captain himself got seasick on it, and said it had a motion like a French whore. In even a moderate sea the propellor would come halfway out of water and the whole ship would shake,shake shake until the bow came up again. The rigging was festooned with latex because there was a company of nurses aboard. We called the ship "The Honeymoon Express" because no copulatory movement was necessary. Forgive the ribaldry.
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Pooh-Bah
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The rigging was festooned with latex because there was a company of nurses aboard.
-- insert own punchline here --
>rimshot<
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Ted, you cannot tell me there is a kind of tree called lignum vitae. (Is there??) ============================================================ Sparteye: fools rush in... 
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Sparteye: fools rush in...
where who fears to tred? surely not you, intrepid J?
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to wwh, who says, "Forgive the ribaldry."Forgiven -- but not forgotten. Unforgettable! 
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