MYSIMULATORUNITED STATES / INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE
AN INTERACTIVE ENGINEERING EXHIBIT 01 / USA
MUSEUM ENGINEERING COLLECTION / TRANSPORT

Mississippi Sternwheel Steamboat: 3D Cutaway

Steam pressure drives horizontal engines; pitman rods turn the stern paddlewheel.

ORIGINAL 3D EXHIBIT
SCALE REFERENCE 2 m
ILLUSTRATIVE RECONSTRUCTION · NOT AN OFFICIAL MODEL
CAMERA
DRAG TO ORBIT · SCROLL TO ZOOM
Loading detailed 3D reconstruction…— triangles
ENGINEERING NOTES / EDUCATIONAL ASSUMPTIONS

How the sternwheel works

Illustrative reconstruction, not an official model and not affiliated with any institution, company or manufacturer.

Horizontal engines and a common wheel

Steam admitted to cylinders creates force on piston faces. Two double-acting cylinders turn a common shaft by way of long pitman rods and staggered crank pins. The visible animation is schematic rather than a geometrically constrained full valve-motion solver.

Ideal calculations in this page

Piston area: A = πb²/4, with bore b = 0.42 m. Nominal piston force: F = pA. Indicated work per revolution: W = 2NpAsf, for N = 2 cylinders, stroke s = 1.15 m, effective pressure factor f = 0.55. Delivered torque: T = Wηₘ / (2π). Shaft power: P = Tω, where ω = 2πn/60 and n is rpm.

Wheel rim speed: u = ωR. Proxy vessel speed: v ≈ u(1 − slip). Equivalent useful thrust: Fₜ = ηₚP / max(v, 0.2 m/s). The independent check rearranges the final relation as P = Fₜv/ηₚ, not a second physical simulation.

Limitations

The vessel dimensions, colour scheme, boiler arrangement, pressure, bore, stroke and efficiency values are selected for illustration rather than taken from historical measurement. The water scene is stylised. Hydrodynamic resistance, changing river current, hull drag, bucket immersion, steam expansion, valve cut-off, feedwater heating and safety valves are not resolved. Do not use this simulation to size machinery, predict thrust or operate a steam plant.
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