Ernest Bazin

From Engineering 1897/01/15

From Engineering 1897/01/15

The Man

Engineer and seaman. He gave his name to his 'roller ship'.

Born May 1826 at Angers, France

Died 18 January 1898 in Paris

'M. Ernest Bazin, the inventor of the roller boat, has just died at the age of seventy-one. He had been a captain in the mercantile marine, when he turned his attention to engineering. A hard worker and a man of a very original turn of mind he made successful experiments in different departments of science, but he has not lived to witness the triumph of his latest enterprise, although favourable reports have been given of the trial trips of the roller boat in the neighbourhood of Havre.'

Bazin died aged 71.

The Roller Vessel

Bazin invented the sea-going 'roller' vessel, the navire rouleur. A 16 ft model gave sufficiently encouraging results to persue the construction of sea-going example, made. Work on the Ernest Bazin started at the works of Cail et Cie in 1896.

The hollow lenticular-shaped wheels were approximately 33 ft diameter and 10 ft wide at the hub. The platform or deck was 126 ft long and 40 ft wide. M. Parrot provide technical expertise.

The vessel had a steel truss girder chassis.

A drawing here indicates that the axles were driven by cranks. . The drawing may be schematic, otherwise the arrangement looks far from satisfactory.

See US Patent here.

1897 'THE BAZIN ROLLER-BOAT.— EXPERTS' REPORT. Several engineers in the service of the French Government have been experimenting with the Bazin roller-vessel in the Seine and in the open sea off Havre. They have now come to the conclusion that M. Bazin is right in principle, and that the use of rollers or wheels economises 70 per cent. of power as compared with an ordinary keel. Still, in their opinion, M. Bazin's construction can only be regarded as a satisfactory experiment, having several defects, chief among them being alleged to be want of bulk and of screw-power.'

1897 'THE ROLLER-STEAMSHIP. FROM A CORRESPONDENT
M. Bazin's much-talked-of roller-steamship has made a number of experimental sea trips in the course of the past few months, and if the performance of this boat on wheels — for such, in point of fact, it is — has fallen short of the anticipations of the inventor, the trials appear to have demonstrated, according to the account given by Sir Edward Reed, that the novel method of propulsion relied on by the eminent French engineer is in the main not unsound.
When the roller-vessel was in process of construction last autumn we devoted some space in our columns to a full description of the new type of steamer projected by M. Bazin. As many of our readers will possibly recollect, the roller-boat is singular in having no hull whatever, consisting solely of a deck superstructure mounted on a series of circular hollow discs, exactly in the same way as a locomotive is mounted on a set of wheels. These discs, or rollers, are thick in the central portion, but decrease in thickness as they approach the circumference, so that the edges cut the water like a knife. But, although the rollers support the vessel and revolve upon suitable axles, they are not intended, as in the case of the locomotive, to propel the superstructure mounted on them. The roller-boat is really propelled in the same way as an ordinary steamship of modern construction, by means of a screw or screws placed amidships between the revolving discs on each side. As regards the employment of the rollers, they were not intended to aid in the propulsion of the vessel at all, as many imagined who read the accounts given last year of M. Bazin's invention. Their real purpose, as insisted on by the French engineer, was to add to the effective power of the screw by diminishing largely the friction of the vessel as it made its way through the water.
Briefly put, M. Bazin contended — on principles, be it added, that were mathematically demonstrable — that a small portion of the horse-power of the engines applied to turning the rollers would go so far to lessen the friction of the water that there would be a positive gain of energy available for the propulsion of the boat. By means of a suitably built roller-vessel, say 300 ft. in length, M. Bazin asserted it would be possible to cross the Atlantic at a speed of 40 miles an hour with engines only one-fourth of the power required to propel steamers of an ordinary form of construction at a speed of 20 miles.
The French inventor, in spite of his reputation as a practical engineer on the other side of the Channel, was well laughed at in this country, and it is not satisfactory to reflect that some of the leading engineering journals were the foremost to poke fun at the "roller express " of the future as a possible curiosity that might take Cockneys to their tea and shrimps at Greenwich, but would never be fit for the open sea. However, the trials of the experimental boat built by M. Bazin in bad as well as good weather have shown that the rollers undoubtedly have the singular effect of adding to the effective driving power of the engines. Thus when the roller-boat was going at the rate of 4 1/4 knots with 112 horse-power indicated, with the rollers at rest, the application of 25 1/2 horse-power to turning the rollers had the effect of raising the speed to over six knots. The same additional horse-power applied to the screw direct would only have resulted in a gain of about half a knot, instead of 1 3/4 knots which the rollers helped the boat to reach. The result of the experiments, as summed up by Sir Edward Reed, is that additional horse-power when applied to the Bazin rollers is much more effective than when applied to the screws, and so far M. Bazin's views have been fully established.
Unfortunately the experimental boat is too small to demonstrate to the full the advantages insisted on, for the immersion of the screw is not sufficient and the rollers are too close together to allow the waves created by their revolution to pass freely. It is to be hoped that some enterprising firms on this or the other side of the Channel may be induced to carry further the experiment, so as to exhibit the full benefits of the system, as Sir Edward Reed points out. Finality in naval construction and means of marine propulsion is far from being reached as yet, and no country in the world is so greatly concerned as Great Britain in all that tends to increase the speed of ocean-going vessels and at the same time effect an economy in the steam power required for the purposes of propulsion.'

1898 'FRENCH STEAM ROLLER BOAT AT HULL.
There is now in the Humber the French steam roller-boat, Ernest Bazin, which has left Havre for Hull for disposal either as a going concern or for dismantling purposes, by the instructions of the French liquidators in the estate of M. Ernest Bazin, her designer and owner. No invention involving so radical a change in the construction of steamships has been put before the public since the beginning of the century, when steamers were first produced. Hitherto the hull of a ship has been more or less egg-shaped, but the Ernest Bazin consists of a flat rectangular deck, made of steel, 130ft. long by 44ft. broad, and this rests on six huge floats or rollers 3Oft. in diameter. Failing disposal as a whole, the intention is to sell her piecemeal. The fine platform will be offered for a pier or jetty or landing-stage. Her boilers and engines are warranted of the very best, the work having been done by the engineers who have the French Government torpedo work. She cost £20,000, end her failure to give the results expected both in regard to speed and motion completely broke the spirit of her designer. Nearly 20 years ago the twin boat Bessemer — built, like the Ernest Bazin, to overcome the effects of pitching and rolling at sea — was taken to Hull after she had proved a white elephant. Is Hull a dumping ground?'

1898 'SHIPS FOR SALE.
The Owner, Captain BLACKBURN, Instruct us to offer for SALE,
THE Celebrated Roller Steamer ERNEST BAZIN. LEADING FEATURES: — Three sets of high-class engines driving the rollers, well-suited for fitting in barges or lighters; high speed main set of engines and fittings, with water-tube boiler indicating 500-horse power : a floating platform, built regardless of expense of Cresuot steel, 126 ft. 6 in. long by 40 ft. wide. suitable for floating landing-stage, hospital, or permanent bridge over river. Now at Hull.
Further particulars and price on application to W. A. MASSEY and Co., Selling Broker, Hull.'

1898 'M. Bazin, the inventor of the famous roller steamboat, has died at an advanced age without being able to realise his dream of sailing round the world in his own vessel and revolutionising the system on which all modern steamships are constructed. Like the Great Eastern, M. Bazin’s vessel was a signal failure, and the liquidators of the deceased inventor’s estate have sold the luckless “roller” to en English syndicate for the modest some of £1,200. The steamer is now moored at Portsmoutb, where she will be transformed into a floating concert bar for the benefit of the people and sailors of the town. This destiny of the Bazin “roller” is very far indeed from that dreamt of by the old engineer.'

1899 'THE ROLLER STEAMER “ERNEST BAZIN." The French roller steamer Ernest Bazin has arrived in the Thames. The Ernest Bazin roller boat was launched in the Seine in August, 1896, the object aimed in the design being to reduce the resistance of the water to the vessel’s forward movement, The steamer consists of a flat rectangular deck, supported upon hollow disc wheels of steel running upon their axes.'

1899 'The roller steamer Ernest Bazin, having exhausted herself as a show ship at Manchester, is about to be broken up, for which purpose she was originally bought by the present owner, Mr. T. W. Ward, of Sheffield.

1900 Preston - ship-breaking yard of T. W. Ward - 'Perhaps the most interesting and curious vessel ever brought to this or any other breaking-up yard is at present in the dock. This is the Ernest Bazin, a roller boat .....'.

Photo here showing the ship in Preston.

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