Cultureshock

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Video transcript

My name is Keith Halliday, for a number of years I was a Doxford Service Engineer which involved travelling around the world mending Doxford Engines. This story is about a repair I did in Shanghai in China in November 1991. I was approached to attend a vessel in the Yangtze River in China which had suffered major crankshaft damage. This damage had occurred in northern France with the engine over speeding and the vessel had proceeded normally to Shanghai. The ship’s staff had discovered that the shrink fittings on the crankshaft had moved, putting the main shaft out of alignment. This is a rather large shaft. To get some idea of the size, look at the photographs above and beside the shaft is the chief engineer who is over five feet tall. The repair is done by cooling the shaft using dry ice, which is solid CO2, and then heating the periphery of the web with heating torches. The two gases used in the torches are oxygen and propane. When the web is up to a certain temperature the shaft is moved around the shrink fit that has moved to put the reference marks back in line. This is done by suitably positioned hydraulic jacks. The repair was carried out successfully and the vessel was then put back into service.