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Afunnel is the smokestack orchimney on aship used to expelboilersteam andsmoke orengineexhaust. They are also commonly referred to asstacks.
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The primary purpose of a ship's funnel(s) is to lift the exhaust gases clear of the deck, in order not to foul the ship's structure or decks, and to avoid impairing the ability of the crew to carry out their duties.
In steam ships the funnels also served to help induce aconvection draught through the boilers.
Since the introduction of steam-power to ships in the 19th century, the funnel has been a distinctive feature of the silhouette of a vessel, and used for recognition purposes.
The required funnel cross-sectional area is determined by the volume of exhaust gases produced by the propulsion plant. Often this area is too great for a single funnel. Early steam vessels needed multiple funnels (SS Great Eastern had 5 when launched), but as efficiency increased new machinery needed fewer funnels.
Merchant shipping companies (and particularly liner companies such asCunard and ferries such asRed Funnel) were quick to recognise the publicity value of distinctive funnels, both in terms of shape, number of funnels, and the colours they were painted. In an era when ship hulls were uniformly painted black (to conceal inevitable dirt when loading the ship with coal) and superstructures were white (to control the temperature in the passenger accommodation in hot summers) the funnel was one of the few parts of the ship that a company could use to clearly differentiate its ships from those of its competitors. Each company would have their own "house colours", which were often used in publicity material as well as for recognition, making funnel colours an early form oftrademark.[1] Some companies became so closely associated with their funnel colours that their nickname became ade facto company name. For example, the shipping line actually registered as 'Alfred Holt & Company' was more widely known as theBlue Funnel Line. The Southampton, Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company has traded under the nameRed Funnel for most of its 150+ year history. Other colours such as the red with black stripes of Cunard and the allbuff colour ofP&O remain icons of their respective lines and have remained in use for over a century through many changes of corporate ownership.
Sometimes the shape of the funnel is used as distinguishing feature rather than just the colour. Cunard fitted ships of itsSaxonia class with streamlined round tops to the funnels. Intended as an aerodynamic aid to keep exhaust clear of the deck the modification had very little practical effect but was retained because it made the four ships of the class immediately recognisable and gave Cunard a suitable modern image. There was a trend for 'designer funnels' on liners in the 1960s as fashion and aerodynamic advances combined to offer designers more options that the traditional cylindrical smokestack. TheItalian Line fitted the linersMichelangelo andRaffaello with funnels topped by flat discs supported on exposed diagonal bracing while P&O'sOriana andCanberra had tall, thin funnels with aerofoil cross sections.
In the late 19th and the first half of the 20th century the number of funnels became associated with speed and reliability. For this reason a number of the great liners carried additional false funnels that they did not need.[citation needed] Examples included theWhite Star Line'sRMS Titanic,Hamburg America Line'sSS Imperator, and later theFrench Line'sSS Normandie. In most cases there was only a single false funnel placed as the aftermost of the funnels. The false funnels did have more uses than simply aiding aesthetics however - a stoker who survived the sinking of theTitanic escaped the boiler room by ascending the false funnel, the aft funnel ofNormandie housed the passengers' dog kennels, andDisney Cruise Line'sDisney Magic's forward funnel plays host to a teens-only club.
A key part of the deception practiced by ships carrying outcommerce raiding during both theFirst World War andSecond World War was to disguise their ship's outline, and this included using false funnels or by changing the height or diameter of the actual funnel(s).[2]
Five naval ships with six funnels each were constructed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: twoItalia-class ironclad battleships operated by the Italian Navy from 1885 to 1921, theFrench armored cruiserErnest Renan, and the twoEdgar Quinet-class armored cruisers operated by the French Navy from 1911 to 1932. Both had their funnels in two groups of three before and abaft of center.
Amack is a combined stack and mast, as fitted to some classes of 20th century warships. Although they can reduce top-weight, they have not gained universal popularity due to the problem of exhaust gases corroding electrical aerials and equipment.
