Identification of ‘thing’ found on glazed screens

[Armando LoniParticipant @armandoloni78860]

On the cover of the current issue of MB (July 2013), what are the two circular features on the screen of the Vosper? I've seen similar on other boats and often wondered – some form of screen wiper? Many thanks.

[Armando LoniParticipant @armandoloni78860]

[TelstarParticipant @telstar]

Hi, Yes it is a clear view device. **LINK**

[Armando LoniParticipant @armandoloni78860]

Thanks.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

In the 1970s when long hair was the fashion, numerous young ship's officers had huge chunks of hair ripped painfully from their scalps when peering too closely through the rapidly spinning clear view screens!

Bob

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

After seeing tgis post I did a bit of surfing and was suprised to see them still being manufactured, but I suppose why not? I have no experience of them but at the speed at which they rotate they must clear water very easily off the disc.

I remember seeing an old advert for something similar to fit on a motorcycle helmet (a "Corker" or whathaveyou, open-face) and this was a domed circle, doubling as a proper visor, but with vanes, these vanes would catch the air and spin the disc.

I use a good wax polish to keep my visor clear!!

Ashley

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Ashley,

I doubt if a bit of wax polish would help much in a North Atlantic storm with the amounts of water and spary flying about at very high speeds. The clear view screens were 100% effective as the water was thrown straight off the moment it struck the screen. The main disadvantage was that they were not very big and you had to get quite close to look through them, with danger of hair getting stuck in the centre. I have sailed in later ships with windscreen wipers and heated bridge windows, but they were not as effective as the spinning clear view screens.

Bob

[Andy HustlerParticipant @andyhustler32076]

I can rember my dad going on about being on a through deck cruiser coming out of the "stoke hole" and having to time it right to get to his hammock before freezing cold sea water came pouring back down the deck .It must have been a very hard life in the old days .

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

In the days of sail, it was very hard! When steam came along, it could be uncomfortable and very hard work, especially stoking, but it depended on your age. When you are young, a bit of hardship and discomofts doesn't count for much when measured against an interesting life at sea. These days (in my very late 60s), when I see young men working in supermarkets or shops, or a host of other such jobs I feel supremely grateful that when I was at that age, I was out on the high seas living a life of hard work and boredom,with varying amounts of danger and adventure spliced into it from time to time, sailing the whole world all around and venturing as far north as Alaska and as far south as South Georgia almost down by the latitude of Cape Horn.

Can't do it these days. of course, no merchant Navy to speak of and the Royal Navy reduced to a shadow of what it was only a few years ago!

Bob

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