Couplings help refurbish a fire-fighting icon

After logging thousands of sea miles during 40 years of faithful service, the William Lyon MacKenzie, Toronto harbour's faithful fireboat, has received a well-deserved refurbishment.

After logging thousands of sea miles during 40 years of faithful service, the William Lyon MacKenzie, Toronto harbour's faithful fireboat, has received a well-deserved refurbishment.

The sole fireboat responsible for the 80km around Toronto and its suburban area responds to just fewer than 400 calls per year.

The vessel is responsible for ice breaking, search and rescue, fire keeping and shipping traffic travelling through the area.

The ship's ice-breaking capabilities allow it to perform search and rescue missions in wintry conditions that prevent other vessels or equipment from accessing frozen areas on the lake.

Toronto turned to the Marine Engineering Division of Toromont Cat, which turned to a trusted, reliable supplier, Lovejoy, for the right couplings for the refurbishing.

Toromont Cat is the Caterpillar dealer for Ontario and Newfoundland and the Marine Engineering Division concludes sales and refits.

The stalwart fireboat was actually built of surplus battleship steel left over from WWII.

According to Toronto Fire Service Public Relations Co-ordinator Sean Pearce, the hull has lost just 1mm worth of steel since commissioning.

And the engines were actually still running, but according to Pearce, due to the age of the equipment, the crew had to search for replacement parts at antique shops, instead of a usual marine outfitter.

In addition, modern-day fire vessels across the USA and Canada are based on this vessel's design.

"It was light years ahead of its time for a fire-fighting ship", said Pearce.

According to Sean Goodman, Marine Sales Engineer for Toromont Cat, even though the vessel runs in a fresh, not saltwater environment, which creates more harsh conditions for equipment, 40 years is considered well overdue for this type of basic refurbishing.

Replacement value of the vessel was estimated at more than $15 million, whereas refurbishment cost just under $1 million.

This refurbishment will enable the crew to perform maintenance more easily and improve the boat's performance.

"We're estimating the pump volume will be one-third higher than before because of the raw horsepower remaining from the engines to turn the pumps", said Pearce.

Pumping capacity before refurbishing was 37,000 litres of water per minute - the equivalent of eight road-based pumpers.

During refurbishing considerations, said Goodman, an important factor in selecting parts and parts suppliers was the quality and durability of those parts.

"The fireboat serves quite a different purpose than a pleasure craft", says Goodman.

"We needed to consider parts that would suit a continuous duty application, taking into consideration the stress faced in a worst-case scenario".

"We had to factor in engine ratings and performance".

"The parts could not be overrated", said Goodman.

Toromont Cat supplied four new Caterpillar marine engines yet kept existing hydraulic pumps.

The challenge was connecting the new engines with the hydraulic pumps.

One needed to span a 10in gap.

The company sought state-of-the-art couplings with zero backlash and more positive driving power to keep this icebreaker churning through the frigid waters of Toronto's bay.

Lovejoy supplied one SXFA202-6 disc coupling with 10.000in spacer and an SX0202-6 disc coupling, with an application rating of 515kW and 2054rev/min, giving it an acquired torque of 2427Nm.

On one engine, the company mounted a flange on the coupling to bolt to the gearbox, standard procedure for some power transmission applications.

The disc pack design has the lowest amount of stress compared to any other type of system.

In addition, the disc coupling requires no lubrication and the condition of the discs can be checked while the motor is running using a simple strobe light.

The disc coupling is torsionally rigid with zero backlash, and its high resistance to harsh environmental conditions poses applications within many different types of industries, including mining, rolling mills, metal working, chemical and food.

The disc coupling supplies high power density, or more torque for a given overall diameter.

Over the past seven years the two companies, Toromont Cat and the local Lovejoy representative, have built a reliable business relationship, based on performance, meeting quality standards and product reliability, even in tough situations.

For example, in far northern climates, it isn't unusual to get a request for equipment that can withstand the harsh conditions imposed by arctic temperatures and winds.

Lovejoy supplies couplings that can take this punishment, for example, parts that will dampen vibration on an engine in the arctic for water pumping and generating stations that run 365 days a year.

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