Mr Monkey scampered around the hull. He inspected the Deep Thought machine, which is nothing to do with the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but is actually controlling the environment of the dry dock to preserve the hull, and prevent the small holes getting any larger. At the stern, he admired the replica propellor and rudder. Brunel's design for the propellor was extremely efficient, if you ignore the metal becoming overstressed and bits falling off. For most of its career, the S.S. Great Britain used a normal propellor. Brunel also invented a new energy efficient rudder, with the pivot in the middle of the rudder instead of at one end.
Copyright Rik Shepherd and Mr Monkey. This page last modified 14 May 2006