Engine Room

On a ship, the engine room, or ER, commonly refers to the machinery spaces of a vessel. To increase the safety and damage survivability of a vessel, the machinery necessary for operations may be segregated into various spaces. The engine room is one of these spaces, and is generally the largest physical compartment of the machinery space. The engine room houses the vessel's prime mover, usually some variations of a heat engine - diesel engine, gas or steam turbine. On some ships, the machinery space may comprise more than one engine room, such as forward and aft, or port or starboard engine rooms, or may be simply numbered.

On a large percentage of vessels, ships and boats, the engine room is located near the bottom, and at the rear, or aft, end of the vessel, and usually comprises few compartments. This design maximizes the cargo carrying capacity of the vessel and situates the prime mover close to the propeller, minimizing equipment cost and problems posed from long shaft lines. The engine room on some ships may be situated mid-ship, especially on vessels built from 1900 to the 1960s. With the increased use of diesel electric propulsion packages, the engine room(s) may be located well forward, low or high on the vessel, depending on the vessel use.

The engine compartment of a locomotive may be described as an engine room.

Read more about Engine Room:  History

Famous quotes containing the words engine and/or room:

    There is a small steam engine in his brain which not only sets the cerebral mass in motion, but keeps the owner in hot water.
    —Unknown. New York Weekly Mirror (July 5, 1845)

    Haggerty: Girls! Girls! Girls! Be careful of my hats.
    Chorus Girl: Well, we gotta get down on the stage.
    Haggerty: I don’t care. I won’t allow you to ruin them.
    Dressing Room Matron: See, I told you. They were too high and too wide.
    Haggerty: Well, Big Woman, I designed the costumes for the show, not the doors for the theater.
    Dressing Room Matron: I know that. If you had, they’d have been done in lavender.
    James Gleason (1886–1959)