John R Emery

[johnfrombrighton]

William

Thank you - very much - for this. At the BGSU site it says Emery was "reduced to barge" in 1957 & "converted to oil" in 1958.

Does this mean that the new diesels were installed to drive all the machinery associated with the actual dredging equipment (pumps, hoists ...) and that they were not used to propel the Emery? That after 1958 the Emery was no longer self-propelled.

Really appreciate the info & assistance.

John

[William Lafferty]

Do you know how this 500+ combination horsepower would compare the the power of the single cylinder steam engine?

I forgot to add that the ihp of the steam plant was 200. The combined bhp of the Detroits was 550. It is very difficult to compare the two horsepower ratings. Indicated horsepower is more a mathematical calculation that takes into account cylinder pressure, various engine dimensions, and so forth to arrive at more or less a theoretical horsepower. Brake horsepower is far more "real world" oriented, measuring the actual power output of an engine generally by dynamometer that includes heat and frictional losses.

[Guest]

During World War II the power plant of the Emery was a single cylinder, high pressure non-condensing steam engine built 1895 by the Whitman Machine Company, Buffalo, 14" x 16," supplied by a fire box boiler, 7'6" x 11,' built 1910 by Farrar & Trefts, Buffalo. In 1957-1958 it was repowered with twin Detroit 6-110 Diesels.

Each 6-110 would have 250 hp +

Do you know how this 500+ combination horsepower would compare the the power of the single cylinder steam engine?

[William Lafferty]

During World War II the power plant of the Emery was a single cylinder, high pressure non-condensing steam engine built 1895 by the Whitman Machine Company, Buffalo, 14" x 16," supplied by a fire box boiler, 7'6" x 11,' built 1910 by Farrar & Trefts, Buffalo. In 1957-1958 it was repowered with twin Detroit 6-110 Diesels.

[wlbblw]

The 1st pic is Erie, PA, not NY.

[Jared]

Pete, William, Mac and Jared

Thank you - so very much - for all the info. Always so interesting. Can always rely on this website for reliable info.

Jared

Do yo know where in NY the photos were taken? Do you know who took the photos/where they are from?

Really appreciate all the help.

Troy, NY. Here is where I found the pictures at.

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/pho ... lid=150485

And here is a nice story about her work career starting on page 65. (Select pages under Telescope)

https://images.maritimehistoryofthegrea ... 4/data?n=4

[Guest]

Pete, William, Mac and Jared

Thank you - so very much - for all the info. Always so interesting. Can always rely on this website for reliable info.

Jared

Do yo know where in NY the photos were taken? Do you know who took the photos/where they are from?

Really appreciate all the help.

[Pete in Holland MI]

Sand suckers worked by "vacuuming" the sea floor with a large centrifical pump. This sand/water mixture was pumped into a trough that ran along the center of the hold. Every so often, there was a grate where the sand would fall thru, but most of the water pass over the grate and overboard.

I was on the Emery in the early 80's in Sandusky for a tour. It was steam at one time, but was dieselized some time in her career. She did maintain all of her steam winches, and they were run by a large on-board air compressor. Somewhere I have pictures of her engine room, which, at the time, was kept very clean & painted.

[William Lafferty]

The John R. Emery was dismantled at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, in 2006. I wrote a series in the Detroit Marine Historian, July and August 2019 about the F. M. Osborne and Emmet J. Carey that gives a fairly detailed description of Lake Erie sand dredge operations. Your description is close. The sand settled and displaced the water in the hold. Various screens determined what size sand was dredged.

[Mac Mackay]

Yes the sand was pumped from the lake bottom through the suction pipe and deposited in the open hold. There was likely a screen to separate rocks from the sand, but "filtering" per se was not necessary. Sand settled to the bottom of the hold and displaced the water which flowed back overboard. Of course not 100% of the sand settled out, so some sand went back overside, but most was deposited in the hold.

[Jared]

I think she was scrapped in the early 2000's. However there is a picture taken of her in 2005 in NY. The information provided hinted that she might be going down to Panama. However it looks like she was being dismantled.

[johnfrombrighton]

Hope someone can help me on this. During WW2, the Emery was a self- propelled sand–sucker dredge ship & frequent visitor to Wallaceburg, Ontario for deliveries of sand to local docks. I can get the basic data from the BGSU database at https://greatlakes.bgsu.edu/item/440290. From the this website and others (like Balticshipping, Vesselfinder ….) it seems like the Emery could still be in service. Still some info gaps I’m unable to fill.

Is the Emery still in service &, if it is, where?

What was the horsepower of the Emery’s engines during the WW2 years?

When the Emery was delivering sand to Wallaceburg, where did it suck the sand from?

How did a sandsucker work? Would the Emery have lowered the long pipe shown on the starboard side of the Emery to the bottom of Lake Erie, L St Clair (wherever the sand came from) and suck sand and water from the bottom and then pump the sand and water into onboard tanks where the sand was, somehow, “filtered” from all the water? How was the sand filtered from the water?

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you - very much - for your assistance.