A history of cepstrum analysis and its

application to mechanical problems

Robert B. Randall
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/a-history-of-cepstrum-analysis-and-its-application-to-
mechanical-problems-robert-b-randall/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Spatiotemporal Analysis of Air Pollution and Its

Application in Public Health Lixin Li

https://ebookmass.com/product/spatiotemporal-analysis-of-air-
pollution-and-its-application-in-public-health-lixin-li/

Freedom of Speech and Expression: Its History, Its

Value, Its Good Use, and Its Misuse Richard Sorabji

https://ebookmass.com/product/freedom-of-speech-and-expression-
its-history-its-value-its-good-use-and-its-misuse-richard-
sorabji/

Overdoing Democracy: Why We Must Put Politics In Its

Place Robert B. Talisse

https://ebookmass.com/product/overdoing-democracy-why-we-must-
put-politics-in-its-place-robert-b-talisse/

The Aqueous Chemistry of Polonium and the Practical

Application of its Thermochemistry 1st Edition Susan A.
Brown

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-aqueous-chemistry-of-polonium-
and-the-practical-application-of-its-thermochemistry-1st-edition-
susan-a-brown/
Modeling and analysis of modern fluid problems Zhang

https://ebookmass.com/product/modeling-and-analysis-of-modern-
fluid-problems-zhang/

Truth to Power: A History of the U.S. National

Intelligence Council Robert Hutchings

https://ebookmass.com/product/truth-to-power-a-history-of-the-u-
s-national-intelligence-council-robert-hutchings/

Groundwater Sustainability: Conception, Development,

and Application Robert E. Mace

https://ebookmass.com/product/groundwater-sustainability-
conception-development-and-application-robert-e-mace/

The History of Texas 6th Edition Robert A. Calvert

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-history-of-texas-6th-edition-
robert-a-calvert/

You: A Natural History William B. Irvine

https://ebookmass.com/product/you-a-natural-history-william-b-
irvine/
 Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ymssp

A history of cepstrum analysis and its application to mechanical

problems
Robert B. Randall
School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: It is not widely realised that the first paper on cepstrum analysis was published two years
Received 9 August 2016 before the FFT algorithm, despite having Tukey as a common author, and its definition was
Received in revised form 13 December 2016 such that it was not reversible even to the log spectrum. After publication of the FFT in
Accepted 20 December 2016
1965, the cepstrum was redefined so as to be reversible to the log spectrum, and shortly
Available online 30 December 2016
afterwards Oppenheim and Schafer defined the ‘‘complex cepstrum”, which was reversible
to the time domain. They also derived the analytical form of the complex cepstrum of a
Keywords:
transfer function in terms of its poles and zeros. The cepstrum had been used in speech
Cepstrum analysis
History
analysis for determining voice pitch (by accurately measuring the harmonic spacing),
Gear diagnostics but also for separating the formants (transfer function of the vocal tract) from voiced
Machine diagnostics and unvoiced sources, and this led quite early to similar applications in mechanics. The first
Operational modal analysis was to gear diagnostics (Randall), where the cepstrum greatly simplified the interpretation
of the sideband families associated with local faults in gears, and the second was to extrac-
tion of diesel engine cylinder pressure signals from acoustic response measurements (Lyon
and Ordubadi). Later Polydoros defined the differential cepstrum, which had an analytical
form similar to the impulse response function, and Gao and Randall used this and the com-
plex cepstrum in the application of cepstrum analysis to modal analysis of mechanical
structures. Antoni proposed the mean differential cepstrum, which gave a smoothed result.
The cepstrum can be applied to MIMO systems if at least one SIMO response can be sepa-
rated, and a number of blind source separation techniques have been proposed for this.
Most recently it has been shown that even though it is not possible to apply the complex
cepstrum to stationary signals, it is possible to use the real cepstrum to edit their (log)
amplitude spectrum, and combine this with the original phase to obtain edited time sig-
nals. This has already been used for a wide range of mechanical applications. A very pow-
erful processing tool is an exponential ‘‘lifter” (window) applied to the cepstrum, which is
shown to extract the modal part of the response (with a small extra damping of each mode
corresponding to the window). This can then be used to repress or enhance the modal
information in the response according to the application.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

The first paper on cepstrum analysis [1] defined it as ‘‘the power spectrum of the logarithm of the power spectrum”. The
original application was to the detection of echoes in seismic signals, where it was shown to be greatly superior to the auto-
correlation function, because it was insensitive to the colour of the signal. This purely diagnostic application did not require

E-mail address: b.randall@unsw.edu.au

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ymssp.2016.12.026
0888-3270/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
4 R.B. Randall / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19

returning to the log spectrum, and the reason for the definition was presumably that software for producing power spectra
was readily available. Even though [1] had one of the authors of the FFT algorithm (John Tukey) as a co-author it was pub-
lished two years before the FFT algorithm [2] and thus the potential of the latter was not yet realised. Tukey himself in [1]
writes ‘‘Although spectral techniques, involving second-degree operations, are now quite familiar, the apparently simpler
first-degree Fourier techniques are less well known” (he then refers to a paper of which he is the sole author, which confirms
that he made the remark). Thus, the original cepstrum was not reversible even to the log spectrum, and so even though the
word and concept of a ‘‘lifter” (a filter in the cepstrum) was defined in the original paper, this was enacted as a convolutive
filter applied to the log spectrum rather than a window in the cepstrum. The diagnostic application was also satisfactory for
determining the voice pitch of voiced speech [3], so speech analysis was one of the earliest applications, much of the devel-
opment being done at Bell Telephone Labs.
The early history of the development of the cepstrum was recently published by the two pioneers Oppenheim and Schafer
[4], but their paper primarily covers applications in speech analysis, communications, seismology and geophysics, and no
mechanical applications are given. They describe how Oppenheim’s PhD dissertation at MIT [5] introduced the concept of
‘‘homomorphic systems”, where nonlinear relationships could be converted into linear ones to allow linear filtering in the
transform domain. Typical examples were conversion of multiplication into addition by the log operation, and conversion
of convolution by first applying the Fourier transform (to convert the convolution to a multiplication) followed by the log-
arithmic conversion. It was a small further step to perform a (linear) inverse Fourier transform on the log spectrum to obtain
a new type of cepstrum, and this was the basis of Schafer’s PhD dissertation at MIT [6]. By retaining the phase in all oper-
ations, the ‘‘complex cepstrum” was defined as the inverse Fourier transform of the complex logarithm of the complex spec-
trum, and this was thus reversible to the time domain. Oppenheim and Schafer collaborated on a book [7], in which a
number of further developments and applications of the cepstrum were reported, in particular the analytical form of the cep-
strum for sampled signals, where the Fourier transform could be replaced by the z-transform.

2. Basic relationships and definitions

2.1. Formulations

The original definition of the (power) cepstrum was:

C p ðsÞ ¼ jIflogðF xx ðf ÞÞgj2 ð1Þ

where Fxx(f) is a power spectrum, which can be an averaged power spectrum or the amplitude squared spectrum of a single
record.
The definition of the complex cepstrum is:

C c ðsÞ ¼ I1 flogðFðf ÞÞg ¼ I1 flnðAðf ÞÞ þ j/ðf Þg ð2Þ

where

Fðf Þ ¼ Iff ðtÞg ¼ Aðf Þej/ðf Þ ð3Þ

in terms of the amplitude and phase of the spectrum. It is worth noting that the ‘‘complex cepstrum” is real, despite its name,
because the log amplitude of the spectrum is even, and the phase spectrum is odd.
The new power cepstrum is given by:

C p ðsÞ ¼ I1 flogðF xx ðf ÞÞg ð4Þ

which for the spectrum of a single record (as in (3)) can be expressed as:

C p ðsÞ ¼ I1 f2 lnðAðf ÞÞg ð5Þ

The so-called real cepstrum is obtained by setting the phase to zero in Eq. (2):

C r ðsÞ ¼ I1 flnðAðf ÞÞg ð6Þ

which is seen to be simply a scaled version of (5).
It should be noted that the complex cepstrum requires the phase /(f) to be unwrapped to a continuous function of fre-
quency, and this places a limit on its application. It cannot be used for example with stationary signals, made up of discrete
frequency components (where the phase is undefined at intermediate frequencies) and stationary random components
(where the phase is random). This point is taken up later. It can only be used with well-behaved functions such as impulse
responses, where the phase is well-defined (and often related to the log amplitude). The unwrapping can usually be accom-
plished using an algorithm such as UNWRAP in MatlabÒ, although the latter may give errors where the slope of the phase
function is steep. This problem can usually be resolved by repeatedly interpolating the spectra by factors of 2 until the same
result is obtained with successive steps. The penultimate step can then be used. Errors in unwrapping can also occur when
the amplitude is very small, so that noise affects the phase estimates.
 R.B. Randall / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19 5

As mentioned above, Oppenheim and Schafer in [7] derived the analytical formulation of the cepstrum for transfer func-
tions, from digitised signals, expressed using the z-transform in terms of their poles and zeros in the z-plane. Thus, for a gen-
eral impulse response function:

X
2N X
2N
hðnÞ ¼ Ai esi nDt ¼ Ai zni ð7Þ
i¼1 i¼1

where the Ai are residues, si and zi poles in the s-plane and z-plane, respectively, and Dt the time sample spacing, the transfer
function in the z-plane is given by:
QM i Q o
B ð1  ai z1 Þ Mi¼1 ð1  bi zÞ
HðzÞ ¼ QNi¼1 Q No
ð8Þ
i¼1 ð1  c i z Þ i¼1 ð1  di zÞ
i 1

where the ci and ai are poles and zeros inside the unit circle in the z-plane, respectively, and the di and bi are the (reciprocals
of the) poles and zeros outside the unit circle, respectively (so that jai j; jbi j; jci j; jdi j < 1). Oppenheim and Schafer [7] show that
for this transfer function H(z), the cepstrum can be represented as:

C h ðnÞ ¼ lnðBÞ; n¼0

X an X cn
C h ðnÞ ¼  i
n
þ i
n
; n>0
i i ð9Þ
X bn X dn
C h ðnÞ ¼ i
n
 i
n
; n<0
i i

Here, n is time sample number, known as ‘‘quefrency” (see Section 2.2). It will be seen that the poles and zeros inside the
unit circle, which define the minimum phase part of the transfer function, have a causal cepstrum, with positive quefrency
components only, while the poles and zeros outside the unit circle, defining the maximum phase part, form the cepstrum at
negative quefrency. Oppenheim and Schafer thus were able to demonstrate that the real and imaginary parts of the Fourier
transform of the cepstrum of a minimum phase function (the log amplitude and phase spectra, respectively) are Hilbert
transforms of each other. Hence, if it is known that a transfer function is minimum phase (often the case for many simple
mechanical structures), it is not necessary to measure or unwrap the phase, as it can be calculated from the log amplitude.
In fact, the easiest way to do this is to form the complex cepstrum (one-sided) from the real cepstrum (real and even) by
doubling positive quefrency components and setting negative quefrency components to zero. The log amplitude and phase
spectra can then be obtained by a forward transform of the complex cepstrum.
One further property of the cepstrum, already mentioned as a homomorphic property, was developed quite early, and
that is that forcing function and transfer function effects are additive in the cepstrum. For SIMO (single input, multiple out-
put) systems, any output signal is the convolution of the input signal with the impulse response function of the transmission
path, and this convolutive relationship is converted to an addition by the cepstrum operation as follows:

If yðtÞ ¼ f ðtÞ  hðtÞ ð10Þ

then Yðf Þ ¼ Fðf Þ  Hðf Þ ð11Þ

logðYðf ÞÞ ¼ logðFðf ÞÞ þ logðHðf ÞÞ ð12Þ

and

I1 flogðYðf ÞÞg ¼ I1 flogðFðf ÞÞg þ I1 flogðHðf ÞÞg ð13Þ
Note that this only applies for SIMO systems, since for MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) systems each response
signal is a sum of convolutions. This point is taken up later.
This relationship was used in speech analysis, for example to separate the speech source (voiced or unvoiced) from the
transmission effect of the vocal tract (whose resonances are called ‘‘formants”), and in [7] a vocoder is proposed where the
speech information can be considerably compressed by transmitting only the low quefrency part of the cepstrum (giving the
formants) and an indicator of whether the speech segment is voiced or unvoiced, and if so the voice pitch. To reconstruct the
speech, the formants were used to generate a filter, which was excited either by a noise source (unvoiced) or a periodic pulse
generator with frequency the same as the voice pitch.

2.2. Terminology

In the original paper [1], the authors coined the word ‘‘cepstrum” by reversing the first syllable of ‘‘spectrum”, the justi-
fication being that it was a ‘‘spectrum of a spectrum”. Similarly, the word ‘‘quefrency” was obtained from ‘‘frequency”, and
the authors also suggested a number of others, including:
6 R.B. Randall / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19

rahmonic from harmonic

lifter from filter
gamnitude from magnitude
saphe from phase
darius from radius
dedomulation from demodulation

Of these, cepstrum, quefrency, rahmonic and lifter are useful in clarifying that the operations or features refer to the cep-
strum, rather than the spectrum or time signal, and are still regularly used in the literature, as well as in this paper. Note
that the autocorrelation function is also a ‘‘spectrum of a spectrum”, so the distinctive feature of the cepstrum is the log con-
version of the spectrum.

3. Early applications in mechanics and acoustics

3.1. Diagnostics of families of harmonics or sidebands

The author became aware of the possibility of using the cepstrum to detect and quantify families of periodically spaced
spectral components by reading [3] and realised that this would not only detect families of harmonics, but also equally
spaced modulation sidebands. Local faults in gears give an impulsive modulation of the gearmesh signals (both amplitude
and frequency modulation) resulting in large numbers of sidebands spaced at the speed of the gear on which the local fault
is located. The majority of such sidebands are only visible on a spectrum with a log amplitude scale, and so the cepstrum is
an ideal way to collect the (average) information of a large number of such sidebands into a relatively small number of rah-
monics in the cepstrum, of which the first contains most of the information. He had even experimented with calculating the
cepstrum using FFT methods before joining the company Brüel and Kjær in Copenhagen in 1971. A Fortran version of the FFT
algorithm was obtained from [8]. However, even though B&K had a fully designed mini-computer-based FFT analyser in
1971, this was never released onto the market, and so other methods of obtaining the cepstrum were sought. In 1973 an
Application Note No. 13-150 entitled ‘‘Cepstrum Analysis and Gearbox Fault Diagnosis” [9] was published by B&K, in which
six methods were described for calculating the (power) cepstrum, primarily for the purpose of diagnosing gear faults. Several
were variations on the theme of using a heterodyne analyser for performing the ‘‘frequency” analysis on a linear frequency
scale with constant bandwidth, first to obtain the original power spectrum on a log amplitude scale, and then the second
analysis of the log spectrum to the cepstrum on a linear scale. In between, the log spectrum was stored in a medium, which
could either be a circulating digital memory (a Digital Event Recorder type 7502), or a tape loop on an FM tape recorder. In
both cases the stored spectrum was played back at a much higher rate than recorded. The initial analysis could either be
generated directly from a continuous recording of the signal on a tape recorder, or sometimes from a recirculated section
of signal recorded in a second Digital Event Recorder, possibly using an analogue ‘‘Gauss Impulse Multiplier” type 5623,
to apply a Gaussian, rather than Hanning, weighting to the selected and periodically repeated signal section.
A result using a Digital Event Recorder for intermediate storage is shown in Fig. 1, with both frequency analyses done by a
heterodyne analyser. In the log spectrum on the left, a large number of sidebands are visible around the first three harmonics
of gearmesh frequency, and the cepstrum on the right shows that these are spaced at the high speed shaft speed of 85 Hz.
The machine analysed was a gearbox between a gas turbine at 85 Hz and a generator at 50 Hz, and the cepstrum shows
immediately that the fault is on the gear rotating at turbine speed. The component was much smaller after repair. It should
be noted that the frequency estimation (actually the reciprocal of the equivalent quefrency) is very accurate because it is the
average of the sideband spacing over the whole spectrum.

2×TM

TM = Toothmesh 3×TM

TM

Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 1. Log spectrum and cepstrum for a gear fault.

 R.B. Randall / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19 7

Even though the B&K FFT analyser was not released, the designer, Arne Grøndahl, wrote driver routines to allow the
assembler language FFT algorithm to be called from a Fortran program, and it was possible to perform cepstrum calculations,
even the complex cepstrum, with fully FFT-based methods, as early as 1975, and the author published further results of gear
diagnostics at that time [10].
At about the same time, Georges Sapy, of Electricité de France (EDF) found that the cepstrum could be used to detect dam-
aged or missing blades in a steam turbine [11]. The lack of guidance of the steam by the missing or faulty blades gave rise to a
series of impulsive interactions with each stator blade, so that a casing mounted accelerometer would detect the pulses from
the nearest section at a rate corresponding to the rotor speed, 50 Hz. This then gave rise to an increase in intermediate fre-
quency harmonics in comparison to the normal condition, as shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 3 shows that the power cepstrum (original definition) is an efficient way of detecting and quantifying the pattern of
additional harmonics in the intermediate frequency range (750–5000 Hz).

Fig. 2. Log spectra (a) without blade fault and (b) with blade fault.

Fig. 3. Cepstra (a) without blade fault and (b) with blade fault.
8 R.B. Randall / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19

3.2. Separation of source and transmission path

One of the first groups to apply the cepstrum to the separation of forcing function and transfer function in mechanical
systems was Professor Richard Lyon of MIT, and co-workers. With his doctoral student Afarin Ordubadi he showed how
the complex cepstrum could be used to extract the cylinder pressure (source) signal from measured acoustic responses
[12]. Fig. 4 shows the estimated pressure signals from two cylinders of a diesel engine from this paper.
In 1984, the author proposed using the cepstrum for separating the gearmesh forcing function (single input) from the
structural transfer function in a gearbox [13]. This was considered important because for example an increase in the second
harmonic of the gearmesh frequency might be due to tooth wear (normally in two patches on each tooth, one on each side of
the pitchline, where there is a rolling rather than sliding action). However, it might be because a natural frequency of the
structure or internals has reduced so as to coincide with the harmonic in question because of a developing crack, and this
situation might have a very different prognosis. Fig. 5 shows an example [14] based on this idea, where the periodic forcing
function of the gearmesh was removed in the cepstrum using a comb lifter adjusted to the gearmesh quefrency, leaving a
cepstrum dominated by the transfer function to the measurement point. The edited cepstrum was transformed back to
the log spectrum, which shows that the latter was little changed for two measurements on the same gearbox, where one
had the presence of cracked teeth. Even though a modal analysis was not carried out, it is obvious that the natural frequen-
cies did not change appreciably.

Fig. 4. Estimated cylinder pressure using the complex cepstrum [12].

Fig. 5. Use of liftering in the cepstrum to remove the forcing function component from the cepstra for a gear with and without cracked teeth, leaving the
part dominated by the structural transfer functions [14].
 R.B. Randall / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19 9

4. Later developments up to the present

4.1. Applications of the real cepstrum in machine diagnostics

From 1975 to 1980, the author made a number of further developments to the application of the real cepstrum to gear
diagnostics, presented at a number of conferences, and which culminated in the publication of a second Application Note
with the same title as [9], published by B&K in 1980, but also in the journal Maintenance Management International [15].
In this, a number of practical considerations in the calculation and interpretation of the cepstrum are discussed, of which
perhaps the most important is the recommendation to use the amplitude of the ‘‘analytic cepstrum” in place of the normal
definition of the real or power cepstrum, in particular when it is based on a section of the spectrum not starting from zero
frequency (eg a zoom spectrum) or when sidebands are not simultaneously a harmonic series passing through zero fre-
quency (as can happen with planetary gears because the sun speed is not a subharmonic of the mesh frequency). In this case,
the rahmonics are not necessarily positive peaks, but the quefrency corresponding to a sideband spacing can actually be at a
zero crossing between a positive and negative peak. Fig. 6 illustrates this for two slightly displaced zoom spectra of a gearbox
signal.
The analytic cepstrum is simply calculated using Hilbert transform theory by setting the negative frequency part of the
log spectrum to zero, and doubling the positive frequency part (in dB). This means that the real and imaginary parts of the
resulting analytic cepstrum are Hilbert transforms, but the magnitude or envelope always has its peak at the quefrency cor-
responding to the sideband spacing. Note that the analytic cepstrum (as opposed to the ‘‘complex cepstrum”) is genuinely
complex.
Ref. [16] now contains all this information plus advice on how to optimise the use of the cepstrum by editing of the log
spectrum and of the cepstrum itself to modify the log spectrum.
In 1991, Capdessus and Sidahmed showed how the cepstrum was very useful for separating the effects of two gears with
only a small difference in the numbers of teeth. As mentioned above, the harmonics of gearmesh frequency are surrounded
by sidebands spaced at the two shaft speeds, but when the ratio is close to unity it is difficult to separate the sidebands in the
spectrum. In [17] a case is presented where the numbers of teeth on the meshing gears are 20 and 21, respectively, and the
two components in the cepstrum were quite distinct, allowing diagnosis of which gear developed a defect.
From 1999 to 2004, Mohamed El Badaoui and co-workers introduced a number of new aspects into the use of cepstrum
analysis for gear diagnostics. One was presented in [18] and considerably expanded in [19], and is based on the fact that
under fairly broad conditions there is a tendency for the sum of the first rahmonic peaks, corresponding to each of the

Fig. 6. Advantage of the analytic cepstrum for zoom spectra.

10 R.B. Randall / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19

two gears in a meshing pair, to remain constant, so that if one increases as the result of a local fault, the other decreases
correspondingly. An example from [19] is given in Fig. 7 where A1 and A2 represent the two first rahmonics. The authors
defined a diagnostic indicator d, which is the ratio of specially normalised versions of A1 and A2 which is relatively insen-
sitive to signal/noise ratio, even though this changes the absolute magnitude of the numerator and denominator terms. This
is seen to give a very good trend parameter for a developing fault (in fact the same data as treated in [17]).
The other major contribution was based on the fact that the cepstrum of a signal with an inverted echo is entirely neg-
ative, so that its integral over quefrency becomes markedly more negative when such an inverted echo is in the analysed
section of a time record. The ‘‘moving cepstrum integral” (MCI) [20] was based on this and was applied to the detection
of spalled gear teeth, the rationale being that the signal on exiting a spall would be an inverted version of the signal on entry,
thus giving an inverted echo. The principle is illustrated in Fig. 8a and b shows an example of its application from [20].
Endo in [21] showed that there were inverted echoes in the signals from tooth cracks as well, so the MCI could not be used
alone to distinguish them.

4.2. Applications of the cepstrum in modal analysis

Most of the following is discussed in more detail in [22] and newer developments will be reported in a forthcoming over-
view of this topic. The topic is thus treated here rather summarily, and this paper concentrates on more general mechanical
applications, in particular in machine diagnostics and condition monitoring.

Fig. 7. Application of the diagnostic indicator d from [19].

Fig. 8. (a) Principle of Moving Cepstrum Integral and (b) example of application from [20].
 R.B. Randall / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19 11

4.2.1. The differential cepstrum

One further major theoretical development with the cepstrum was the proposal in1981 by Polydoros and Fam of the dif-
ferential cepstrum [23]. This was originally defined as the inverse z-transform of the derivative of the log spectrum. Thus:
   
d H0 ðzÞ
C d ðsÞ ¼ Z 1 ½log HðzÞ ¼ Z 1 ð14Þ
dz HðzÞ
Because taking the derivative in one domain corresponds to multiplication by the independent variable in the other
domain, the differential cepstrum can be written in terms of the poles and zeros in the z-plane (cf Eq. (9)) as:
X X
C hd ðnÞ ¼  ani þ cni ; n>0
Xi n Xi
n
ð15Þ
C hd ðnÞ ¼ bi  di ; n < 0
i i

Note that in [23] these equations are given for quefrency displaced by one sample (0 ? 1) but the zero origin has been
maintained here to emphasize the similarity with the complex cepstrum. It will be recognised that the form of the differen-
tial cepstrum (sums of complex exponentials) is the same as that of the impulse response function, except that there are
similar terms for both poles and zeros (the latter with negative sign) and all ‘‘residues” are equal to unity.

4.2.2. Modal analysis using the cepstrum of response signals

In 1996, Gao and Randall [24,25] extracted the modal properties (poles and zeros) of a transfer function from measured
response signals, in a case where the forcing function was confined to the very low quefrency region of the response cep-
strum. This applies wherever the excitation is impulsive with a relatively smooth and flat spectrum over the frequency range
of interest, eg a hammer blow, or in fact broadband random noise in cases where the smoothed power spectrum of the
response can be used, eg for minimum phase systems where the phase does not have to be measured.
This is illustrated in Fig. 9, where it can be seen that the regenerated cepstrum cannot be distinguished from the mea-
sured one in the high quefrency region dominated by the transfer function (which was the section curve-fitted for the poles
and zeros).
It should be noted that the force spectrum was quite flat, but fell off by about 15 dB over the frequency range up to
3.2 kHz, though this did not affect the curve-fitting of the poles and zeros. Thus the cepstrum method does not demand that
the excitation is white, as do some other methods of operational modal analysis.
Fig. 9a shows the response autospectrum at the driving point (one end) of a free-free beam excited by a hammer blow.
Noise in the response is negligible. Fig. 9b shows the cepstrum derived directly from this, and the cepstrum of the transfer
function obtained from it by curve-fitting equations of the form of (9) for the poles and zeros inside the unit circle using a
least squares optimisation (Levenberg-Marquardt) method [24]. The cepstrum of the transfer function was then regenerated
using Eq. (9). Minimum phase properties were assumed for this simple structure. Equally good results were obtained by
curve-fitting the differential cepstrum, using both the Levenberg-Marquardt method and the ITD (Ibrahim Time Domain)
method, originally developed for extracting impulse responses from free decay vibration signals.
When an attempt was made to regenerate the frequency response functions (FRFs) from the curve-fitted poles and zeros,
it was realised that there are two pieces of information lacking to fully restore them:

Force cepstrum concentrated here

Dominated by transfer function

(a) (b)

Fig. 9. Extraction of the complex cepstrum of a transfer function from the response autospectrum of a beam excited by a hammer blow (a) driving point
response autospectrum and (b) measured and regenerated cepstra [24].
12 R.B. Randall / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19

1. An overall scaling factor that is part of the zero quefrency value of the cepstrum which is not curve-fitted.
2. An equalisation curve due to the lack of residual information from out-of-band modes that are excluded from the mea-
sured cepstrum.

In [25] it is described how this information can be obtained by other means from earlier or similar FRFs, for example a
finite element (FE) model of the structure. Neither of the two above factors is sensitive to small changes in the exact pole
and zero positions, and so it is possible to track slow changes in the dynamic properties (such as from a developing crack)
or update the FE model to have the correct (measured) in-band poles and zeros. Examples are given in [25].
In [25] the way of generating the equalisation curves was using ‘‘phantom zeros” in-band to compensate for the missing
out-of-band poles and zeros. This was effectively the same as done for the established Rational Fraction Polynomial method.
Even though pole-zero and pole-residue models are identical for systems with a finite number of DOFs, in practice models
must be truncated. For pole-residue models, this means that the residues are correct but the zeros wrong, but for pole-zero
models the zeros are correct but the residues wrong. Almost no compensation is required for driving point measurements,
because there are equal numbers of poles and zeros truncated in the out-of-band region, and these tend to cancel in the in-
band region. However, the fewer zeros there are in the transfer function, the greater the imbalance that has to be compen-
sated for with the equalisation curve.
Later papers, culminating in [26], have developed improved methods for determining the equalisation curve, including
scaling. With respect to scaling, the method in [26] tends to give the correct result for free-free systems if the inertial prop-
erties of the rigid body test object are correct, since these determine the zero frequency values of the FRFs. This will be the
case for example where the reference FRF is an actual measurement and the updating is to follow a change in stiffness (eg a
developing crack). It is also relatively simple to arrange for an FE model to have the correct rigid body inertial properties.
For constrained test objects, it is a little more difficult, because the zero frequency values are then determined by the stiff-
ness properties, and these are likely to be affected by poor modelling of joints, etc. However, a relatively simple updating of
the FE model to match the frequencies of the first one or two elastic modes will usually ensure that the zero frequency value
is correct, even if higher frequency modes are not correct because of local stiffness anomalies.

4.2.3. The mean differential cepstrum

In 2000 [27] Antoni et al. proposed the ‘‘mean differential cepstrum” (MDC), which can be calculated by a formula similar
to Eq. (14), to which it reverts for a single realization:

Fig. 10. Non-minimum phase FRF recovered using the MDC (from [27]).
 R.B. Randall / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19 13

 
E½H0 ðf ÞH ðf Þ
C hmd ðsÞ ¼ I1  ð16Þ
E½Hðf ÞH ðf Þ
This permits averaging over a number of realizations, for example of the response of a system excited by a burst random
sequence. Even mixed phase FRFs can be obtained using the MDC, even in the presence of extraneous noise in the signals. A
typical result is shown in Fig. 10.

4.2.4. MIMO systems

As mentioned above, the cepstrum can only separate forcing and transfer functions for SIMO systems, so in the more gen-
eral MIMO case, it is first necessary to convert it into a sum of SIMOs, or at least extract one SIMO response from the total.
This is the subject of the topic ‘‘blind source separation” (BSS), and so in principle any BSS method could be used to extract
responses to a single excitation. Ref. [28] is a special issue of Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing devoted to the appli-
cations of BSS to mechanical systems.
One application of particular interest, not discussed there, is the extraction of the cepstrum of the transmission path for a
single cyclostationary source with a particular cyclic frequency from a MIMO response signal [29]. The intended application
was to diesel railcars where the engine combustion pulses would constitute such a source, since the combustion signal is a
typical second order cyclostationary (CS2) signal, with a broadband carrier, amplitude modulated by a deterministic signal at
the firing frequency. In [29] it is shown that in the spectral correlation diagram for such a CS2 signal, the cyclic spectral den-
sity at this cyclic frequency contains transfer function information only for this particular source, and thus constitutes a
method to extract SIMO information in the presence of multiple other sources. The cyclic spectral density can be curve-
fitted for this modal information, as for any other single source response. This was demonstrated using cepstral curve-
fitting in [29].

5. Editing time signals using the real cepstrum

A new development, published after both [22] and [16], introduces the possibility of editing time signals using the real
cepstrum. It was previously thought that this could only be done using the complex cepstrum, but as pointed out above this
is not possible for stationary signals and so a large number of applications are excluded. It was realised [30] that there are
many situations where editing could be carried out by modification of the amplitude only, which could be achieved using the
real cepstrum. The modified amplitude spectrum can then be combined with the original phase spectrum of each record to
generate an edited time record. A case in point is where discrete frequencies are to be removed. Whole families of uniformly
spaced harmonics or sidebands can be removed by removing a small number of rahmonics in the cepstrum. Removing a dis-
crete frequency really means setting the value at that frequency to the expected value of the noise, of which the best guide
are the frequency components on either side of the discrete frequency, but usually at a much lower level. Setting the value of
the discrete rahmonics to zero automatically smooths over the amplitude of the log spectrum in the vicinity of the corre-
sponding harmonics and/or sidebands (since notches in the log spectrum would equally give non-zero cepstrum components
as for peaks) so at least the amplitude estimate would be correct. The phase in the modified spectrum at the position of the
removed components would still be the same as that for the original discrete frequencies, and thus in general incorrect, but it
should be kept in mind that these are typically spaced by 20 lines or more, and thus often negligible once their amplitude is
reduced to that of the noise components, which in any case have random phase. The principle of the procedure is shown in

Fig. 11. Schematic diagram of the cepstral method for removing selected components such as families of spectral harmonics and/or sidebands from time
signals.
14 R.B. Randall / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19

Fig. 11, where the original phase of each record is retained for combination with the modified amplitude obtained by liftering
the real cepstrum.
Fig. 12 shows a typical application to signals from a gearbox with a faulty bearing. It shows the original time signal, and
compares it with the result of removing all harmonics of the gear signal by two methods (the gear ratio is 1:1 so only one set
of harmonics had to be removed). The first method, Fig. 12b, removed the Time Synchronous Average (TSA), while the cep-
strum method results are shown in Fig. 12c. Even though the result of the cepstral method is slightly noisier than for the TSA,
the subsequent envelope analysis of the edited signals for the bearing diagnosis was just as successful.
Note that this cepstral method can also remove families of equally spaced sidebands, even where these are not simulta-
neously harmonics, something which cannot be done by TSA.

5.1. Application to operational modal analysis

A frequent problem with operational modal analysis (OMA) is the presence of disturbing components in the signal, for
example discrete frequencies. These are often treated by the OMA software as modes with very low damping. Families of
harmonics and sidebands can be individually removed, as just described, but another alternative that is often possible is
to apply a shortpass lifter to the cepstrum to greatly enhance the modal information with respect to everything else. By com-
paring Eqs. (9) and (15) it is seen that both contain damped exponentials, with the frequencies of the modes (and similar
terms for the zeros), but the cepstrum is additionally weighted by 1/n, making it shorter than the equivalent impulse
response. Thus the information about all modes is concentrated at low quefrency. Applying an exponential window (short-
pass lifter) to the cepstrum removes almost all extraneous information (including discrete frequencies) at higher quefren-
cies, and the only effect on the modal information is to add a precisely known amount of extra damping to each mode.
This is the same in principle as using an exponential window in impact tests to cause impulse responses to die out before
the end of the record, but can in this case be applied to stationary signals, rather than just transients starting at time zero.
Fig. 13 shows an example where this has been applied to a signal from a high speed gas turbine, whose spectrum is dom-
inated by multiple families of discrete harmonics. Fig. 13a is the cepstrum of the original log spectrum Fig. 13d, and Fig. 13b
is an exponential lowpass lifter chosen to have a time constant of about 0.0025 s, this being approximately equivalent to the
damping of the lowest frequency mode (the lowest frequency peak in Fig. 13e). Thus, after applying this lifter, the damping
of this lowest mode would be approximately doubled, but since the added bandwidth is constant it would have progressively
less effect on high frequency modes. The damping of all modes can in any case be compensated.
It will be seen that this almost blind operation has resulted in processed data almost completely dominated by the modal
information (as characterised by the log spectrum in Fig. 13e). Even though only the spectrum is shown, time records are
available which could be processed by standard OMA software. Unfortunately, a modal analysis could not be carried out
in this case as only one signal was available.

20

0
(a)
-20

-40
0 1 2 3 4
Acceleration (m/s 2 )

20

0 (b)

-20
0 1 2 3 4

20

0 (c)

-20
0 1 2 3 4
Shaft rotation

Fig. 12. Time domain signals for gearbox test rig (a) Raw signal, (b) residual signal (after removing the synchronous average) and (c) residual signal after
editing the Cepstrum to remove the shaft rahmonics.
 R.B. Randall / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19 15

4
0.06 10
0.04 (a) (d)
0.02
3
0 10
-0.02
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
2
10

1
(b) 10
1

0.5
4
10
0
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 (e)
3
10
0.06
0.04 (c) 2
0.02 10

0
-0.02 1
10
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 0 10 20 30 40
Quefrency (s) Frequency (kHz)

Fig. 13. Use of an exponential lowpass lifter to enhance modal information (a) Full cepstrum (of (d)), (b) exponential lifter, (c) liftered cepstrum, (d) original
spectrum and (e) liftered spectrum.

Examples of application of these procedures to OMA are given in Refs. [31,32].

5.2. Application to diagnostics of variable speed machines

It has recently been realised that the ability of an exponential lifter to isolate the modal properties of the signal transfer
path are very valuable in the diagnostics of variable speed machines, such as wind turbines, which typically vary in speed by
±30%. In particular the signals from gears and rolling element bearings vary in completely different ways under speed vari-
ation, something that was disguised by constant speed operation. A recent paper [33] demonstrates this for gears and bear-
ings, showing that for gears, the effects of dominant forcing frequencies passing through resonances impedes the diagnostics,
whereas the opposite is the case for bearings where resonances carry the fault information. In both cases the signals should
be processed by an exponential shortpass lifter prior to the order tracking used to compensate for the speed variation. In the
case of gears, the modal information is removed before order tracking, while for bearings it can be retained and the deter-
ministic forcing frequencies removed since they often mask the bearing signals. In any case, a number of bearing diagnostic
techniques make use of the resonance information, and should be applied before order tracking. Examples of each are given
in [33] and a short résumé is repeated here.

Fig. 14. (From [33]) (a) Original spectrum (Signal 1-2) and result of exponential lifter (red) and (b) spectrum with modal information removed. (For
interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
16 R.B. Randall / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19

Fig. 14a shows the spectrum of a signal (No. 1-2) from a speedup gearbox driving a pump, where the speed varied around
22 Hz by about ±15%. It also shows the result (in terms of spectral amplitude) of applying an exponential shortpass lifter with
time constant 5 ms (3 dB bandwidth 64 Hz). Fig. 14b shows the result of subtracting this modal information in the cepstrum,
leaving primarily the spectrum of the forcing functions from the gears.
Fig. 15 compares the order tracked spectra for these two cases and also for another signal (No. 2-1) where the speed var-
ied around 15 Hz by about ±15%. It is seen that without the pre-processing, the order spectra are quite different, with the
harmonics of the gearmesh frequency (GM) being greatly affected by the fixed resonances at different speeds, whereas
the liftered signals have quite similar order spectra. It would be much easier with the cepstrally processed signals, for exam-
ple, to detect an increase in the second harmonic of the forcing function as a result of uniform tooth wear.

Fig. 15. (From [33]) Effect of liftering on order tracked spectra (a, b) Signal 1-2, (c, d) Signal 2-1, (a, c) Original and (b, d) Liftered.

Fig. 16. (From [33]) Signal envelopes for different methods (Row 1) Original (Row 2) SK filtered (Row 3) MED (Row 4) Exponential liftered (Column 1)
A - 25% (Column 2) A - end (Column 3) C - 25% (Column 4) C – end.
 R.B. Randall / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19 17

Fig. 17. (From [33]) Envelope spectra at different positions along record; Left: 25% (half speed), Right: near end (a) Point A, (b) Point C, (c) C after MED and
(d) C After exponential liftering.

Fig. 16 shows the effect of three pre-processing methods applied before order tracking to two signals from a bearing test
machine subject to a linear run-up from 0 to 40 Hz shaft speed over 40 s. The bearing had a localised outer race fault aligned
with the load zone, and measurements were made at two measurement points, Point A on the bearing housing (in the load
direction) and Point C at a remote point on the bedplate.
The three pre-processing methods were:

(1) Finding an optimum passband to maximise the spectral kurtosis (SK) of the filtered signal, using the fast kurtogram
[34]. This usually finds a resonance or band of resonances which give the most impulsive responses (IRs) excited by
the bearing fault, and has to be done before order tracking.
(2) Minimum entropy deconvolution (MED), which generates an inverse filter to remove the smearing effect of the trans-
fer path from the original impulses, and attempt to retrieve the original impulses, which by their nature will be shorter
than the IRs [35]. Since the IRs are constant in time, this also has to be done before order tracking.
(3) Exponential lifter to generate the modal information and remove deterministic forcing functions (as in Fig. 14a) and
generate time signals using this amplitude information and the original phase. These should be dominated by the
bearing fault information carried by those resonances.

Envelopes were generated of the original signal and the three processed signals using standard Hilbert transform meth-
ods, and these are compared in Fig. 16. They were made at one quarter full speed (25% of the record) and at full speed (end of
record). Note that the original IRs, and the results of pre-processing, have the same length, independent of their spacing,
which reduces with increasing speed.
At Point A, the original IRs are just separated, even at full speed, but the other three methods result in much shorter
pulses. The shortest pulses are perhaps given by the cepstral method, although with a little more noise than the SK and
MED methods. At Point C, the original IRs are much longer, and no longer fully separated at full speed. The best result is given
by the SK method, so it is likely the kurtosis was maximised by a high frequency resonance with corresponding short IR. The
MED and cepstral methods do not perform as well at this measurement point, most likely because the transfer function
(measured on the baseplate) contained many resonances over a very wide frequency range, not all of which would have car-
18 R.B. Randall / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19

ried the bearing fault information, and making it difficult to find an inverse filter with limited order. On the other hand this
would not be typical of most measurements in practice, which are made on or close to the bearing being monitored.
Even so, the results of envelope analysis, carried out at half full speed and full speed, for Point A and Point C are shown in
Fig. 17. These include the MED and cepstral methods, and show that the envelope analysis is very robust and allows an easy
diagnosis of outer race fault (order 3.98) in all cases. There is seen to be a component at shaft speed, and also sidebands with
this spacing, more prominent at high speed, so this is likely due to residual unbalance adding to the static load.
It is interesting that the cepstral method shows the least effect of speed variation, as predicted by the theory.

6. Conclusion

Few people realise that the cepstrum is older than the FFT algorithm, or that its original definition made it less flexible as
a result. Although originally applied to problems in seismology and speech analysis, similar background situations meant
that it was applied quite early to mechanical problems as well. There are two main areas of applicability, which have been
considerably developed over the years, one in detecting, classifying and perhaps removing families of harmonics and side-
bands in vibration and acoustic signals, and the other in blind separation of source and transfer function effects, at least for
SIMO systems. The latter leads naturally to applications in operational modal analysis, and in machine diagnostics under
variable speed conditions. It is thought likely that as new methods are developed for blind separation of sources (or at least
the responses to the different sources in the general case of convolutive mixtures), that the possibilities given by the cep-
strum to separate different types of sources, as well as forcing function from transfer function for each path, will become
even more extensive. Despite its long history, the author believes that the cepstrum still has not been fully exploited, and
it is hoped that this paper may stimulate further interest in its possibilities.

Acknowledgments

The contributions of all my co-authors are gratefully acknowledged.

References

[1] B.P. Bogert, M.J.R. Healy, J.W. Tukey, The quefrency alanysis of time series for echoes: cepstrum, pseudo-autocovariance, cross-cepstrum, and saphe
cracking, in: M. Rosenblatt (Ed.), Proc. of the Symp. on Time Series Analysis, Wiley, NY, 1963, pp. 209–243.
[2] J.W. Cooley, J.W. Tukey, An algorithm for the machine calculation of complex fourier series, Math. Comp. 19 (90) (1965) 297–301.
[3] A.M. Noll, Cepstrum pitch determination, J.A.S.A. 41 (2) (1967) 293–309.
[4] A.V. Oppenheim, R.W. Schafer, From frequency to quefrency: a history of the cepstrum, IEEE Signal Process. Mag. (2004), pp. 95–99, 106 (September).
[5] A.V. Oppenheim, Superposition in a class of nonlinear systems Ph.D. dissertation, MIT, 1964 (May).
[6] R.W. Schafer, Echo removal by discrete generalized linear filtering Ph.D. dissertation, MIT, 1968 (January).
[7] A.V. Oppenheim, R.W. Schafer, Digital Signal Processing, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1975.
[8] E.A. Robinson, Multi-Channel Time Series Analysis With Digital Computer Programs, Holden-Day, San Francisco, 1967.
[9] R.B. Randall, Cepstrum Analysis and Gearbox Fault Diagnosis, Brüel and Kjær Application Note No. 13-150, Copenhagen, 1973.
[10] R.B. Randall, Gearbox Fault Diagnosis using Cepstrum Analysis, Proc. IVth World Congress on the Theory of Machines and Mechanisms, Newcastle UK,
IMechE, vol. 1, 1975, pp. 169–174.
[11] G. Sapy, Une Application du Traitement Numérique des Signaux au Diagnostic Vibratoire de Panne : La Détection des Ruptures d’Aubes Mobiles de
Turbines, Tome XX, Automatisme, 1975, pp. 392–399.
[12] R.H. Lyon, A. Ordubadi, Use of cepstra in acoustic signal analysis, J. Mech. Des. 104 (1982) 303–306.
[13] R.B. Randall, Separating excitation and structural response effects in gearboxes, in: Third Int. Conf. on Vib. in Rotating Machines, IMechE, York, 1984,
pp. 101–107.
[14] R.B. Randall, Advanced Machine Diagnostics, The Shock and Vibration Digest, vol. 29(1), Springer, Berlin, 1997, pp. 6–30.
[15] R.B. Randall, Cepstrum Analysis and Gearbox Fault Diagnosis, Maintenance Management International, Elsevier, 1982/1983, pp. 183–208.
[16] R.B. Randall, Vibration-Based Condition Monitoring: Industrial, Aerospace and Automotive Applications, Wiley, Chichester, UK, 2011 (January).
[17] C. Capdessus, M. Sidahmed, Analyse des vibrations d’un engrenage: cepstre, corrélation, spectre, Traitement du Signal 8 (5) (1991) 365–372.
[18] M. El Badaoui, F. Guillet, J. Danière, Contribution du Cepstre d’Énergie au Diagnostic de Réducteur Complexe à Engrenage, Revue Française de
Mécanique, RFM, No. 1999-1, 1991, pp. 4–7.
[19] M. El Badaoui, F. Guillet, J. Danière, New applications of the real cepstrum to gear signals, including definition of a robust fault indicator, Mech. Syst.
Signal Process. 18 (5) (2004) 1031–1046.
[20] M. El Badaoui, J. Antoni, F. Guillet, J. Danière, P. Velex, Use of the moving cepstrum integral to detect and localise tooth spalls in gears, Mech. Syst.
Signal Process. (2001).
[21] H. Endo, R.B. Randall, C. Gosselin, Differential diagnosis of spalls vs. cracks in the gear tooth fillet region, J. Fail. Anal. Prev. 4 (5) (2004) 57–65.
[22] R.B. Randall, Cepstral Methods of Operational Modal Analysis, Chapter 24 in Encyclopedia of Structural Health Monitoring, Wiley, 2009.
[23] A. Polydoros, A.T. Fam, The differential cepstrum: definitions and properties, in: Proc. IEEE Int. Symp. Circuits Systems, 1981, pp. 77–80.
[24] Y. Gao, R.B. Randall, Determination of frequency response functions from response measurements. Part I: Extraction of poles and zeros from response
cepstra, Mech. Syst. Signal Process. 10 (3) (1996) 293–317.
[25] Y. Gao, R.B. Randall, Determination of frequency response functions from response measurements. Part II: Regeneration of frequency response
functions from poles and zeros, Mech. Syst. Signal Process. 10 (3) (1996) 319–340.
[26] W.A. Smith, R.B. Randall, Cepstrum-based operational modal analysis revisited: a discussion on pole–zero models and the regeneration of frequency
response functions, Mech. Syst. Signal Process. 79 (2016) (2016) 30–46.
[27] J. Antoni, F. Guillet, J. Danière, Identification of non-minimum phase transfer functions from output-only measurements, ISMA25 Conference, in:
ISMA25 Conference, KUL, Leuven Belgium, 2000.
[28] J. Antoni, S. Braun (Eds.), Special Issue: Blind Source Separation. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, vol. 19(6), November, 2005.
[29] D. Hanson, R.B. Randall, J. Antoni, D.J. Thompson, T.P. Waters, R.A.J. Ford, Cyclostationarity and the cepstrum for operational modal analysis of mimo
systems—Part I: Modal parameter identification, Mech. Syst. Signal Process. 21 (6) (2007) 2441–2458.
[30] N. Sawalhi, R.B. Randall, Editing Time Signals using the Real Cepstrum, in: MFPT Conference, Virginia Beach, May, 2011.
 R.B. Randall / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 97 (2017) 3–19 19

[31] R.B. Randall, B. Peeters, J. Antoni, S. Manzato, New cepstral methods of signal pre-processing for operational modal analysis, in: ISMA2012, Leuven,
Belgium, 2012, pp. 755–764.
[32] R.B. Randall, M.D. Coats, W.A. Smith, Repressing the effects of variable speed harmonic orders in operational modal analysis, Mech. Syst. Signal Process.
79 (2016) 3–15.
[33] R.B. Randall, W.A. Smith, New cepstral methods for the diagnosis of gear and bearing faults under variable speed conditions, in: ICSV23 Conference,
Athens, July, 2016.
[34] J. Antoni, Fast computation of the kurtogram for the detection of transient faults, Mech. Syst. Signal Process. 21 (2007) 108–124.
[35] N. Sawalhi, R.B. Randall, H. Endo, The enhancement of fault detection and diagnosis in rolling element bearings using minimum entropy deconvolution
combined with spectral kurtosis, Mech. Syst. Signal Process. 21 (2007) 2616–2633.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Merchants were equally quick to see the advantages of punctual
delivery, and the Williams enterprise prospered. The following month
he contracted with Wilson for the building of the Town of Liverpool,
there being some delay in placing this contract as Wilson had just
contracted to build the steamer Henry Bell for the Liverpool and
Glasgow trade. The City of Dublin’s maiden voyage was made on
March 20, 1824.
Meanwhile the Dublin and Liverpool Steam Navigation Company
had been founded, and started trading operations in September
1824 with the steamer Liffey. In December of the same year the
Mersey was added, and in 1825 the Commerce. The last named was
the largest vessel so far employed in cross-channel traffic. She was
built at Liverpool by Messrs. Grayson and Leadley.
The competition among the companies was exceedingly keen, and
increased as they added to their respective fleets. The City of Dublin
Company paid little heed to what was known as the Original
Company, but found its work cut out in competing with the other two.
The first really serious rate war broke out, and seems to have spread
to the steamer companies in the Scottish and North of Ireland
passenger trade.
Not content with cutting rates to vanishing-point, the northern
rivals indulged in lively newspaper polemics in the shape of
advertisements, which praised their own boats and gave the lie
direct to the manifestos of their opponents. The owners of the Swift,
sailing from Glasgow, advertised the “great superiority” of their
vessel “over the cock boat that is puffed off as sailing direct from the
Bromielaw.” “For the sake of strangers coming from a distance it may
be proper to state that her power and size are double, and her speed
so much greater, that when the two vessels start together the Swift
runs the other out of sight in five or six hours.”
The George Canning was the vessel referred to in this
contemptuous manner and her owners retorted in kind. Their
advertisement referred to the “contemptible article in the Swift’s
advertisement” as “stating a gross falsehood knowing it to be such.”
The Swift is challenged to produce a single instance of ever having
accomplished her passage from Belfast in so short a time as the
George Canning, and the public are informed that the two have
never yet sailed together either from Belfast or Glasgow, and the
Swift is asked when and where she ran the other out of sight.[43] So
matters went on until the Swift was sold to the London, Leith, and
Edinburgh Shipping Company in 1826. The companies actually
carried saloon passengers from Belfast to Glasgow for 2s. a head;
second cabin passengers went for 6d., and deck passengers went
free.
[43] Glasgow Herald, June 30, 1825.

The war on the Liverpool and Dublin route ended in the Liverpool
Companies carrying saloon passengers for 5s. and steerage
passengers for 6d. each, one of the vessels conveying on one
voyage seven hundred steerage passengers at that fare.
Negotiations between the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company
and the Dublin and Liverpool Steam Navigation Company followed,
by which the former purchased the Navigation Company’s steamers.
They had then a fleet of fourteen vessels and entered upon a long
career of prosperity, chequered by occasional battles with rival
companies. A rate war with the Langtry Company of Belfast ended in
the steerage fare between Liverpool and Belfast being reduced to
3d., including bread and meat. For a time, too, there was rivalry
between the Dublin Company and the Waterford Commercial Steam
Navigation Company, which in 1837 joined in the trade between that
city and Liverpool with the iron paddle-steamer Duncannon, of 200
tons, built by Laird of Birkenhead. This was probably the first iron
steamer built for the cross-channel service, but by no means the first
to be seen in Irish waters.
While the companies were struggling, passengers were even
carried free between Liverpool and Waterford, and sometimes
between Liverpool and Dublin. “A story is told of a passenger going
into the Dublin Company’s office at Waterford, and inquiring the
cabin fare to Liverpool. He was told he would be taken for nothing, to
which he replied, ‘That is not good enough, you must feed me as
well.’” There is a tradition also that when one of the rival companies
of the Liverpool and Dublin service “advertised its willingness to
carry passengers for nothing, and to give them a loaf of bread, the
other company capped the offer by the addition of a bottle of
Guinness’ stout.”[44] The fight continued for three years, until the City
of Dublin and the Waterford Company came to terms. This
settlement brought about peace between the Belfast and the British
and Irish Companies, the former sharing the Liverpool and Belfast
trade with the Cork Company, while the British and Irish Company
shared the London and Dublin trade with the Waterford Company.
This truce continued for several years, but the war had sent nearly
all the Waterford trade to Liverpool, to the detriment of the line
running between Waterford and Bristol. A dispute followed between
the Waterford and Bristol Companies and was maintained until the
Bristol Company bought off the Waterford Company with an annual
subvention of one thousand pounds.
[44] Kennedy’s “History of Steam Navigation.”

The increase in the number of steamers from 1820 onwards was

extraordinary. In 1825, forty-four steamers were building at London
and Liverpool alone, with tonnages varying from 250 to 500. Most of
these vessels were built for the coastal service, the only international
voyages being between the British coast, France, and the
Netherlands. In 1818, according to Dodd, steamers were employed
on the Clyde in the conveyance of merchandise, though for the most
part vessels propelled by the new invention, as it was generally
called, were confined to passengers, the goods being sent by sailing
boats. In 1820 and 1821 no steamers were employed in the foreign
trade, but in 1822 it appears that the entrances inward of steamers
engaged in the foreign trade numbered 159, with a tonnage of
14,497, while the clearances numbered 111 with a total of 12,388
tons. The coasting trade in that year for the United Kingdom was 215
vessels entered inward, with a tonnage of 31,596, and the
clearances numbered 295 with an aggregate tonnage for the year of
42,743. The year 1823 saw a falling off in the entrances and
clearances in the foreign trade, but in the following year there was a
partial recovery which was continued in 1825; and in 1826 the
number of entrances of steam vessels was 334, with an aggregate
tonnage of 32,631, the clearances being 268 with a tonnage of
27,206. In that year also the coasting trade showed 2810 entrances
of 452,995 tons, and 3833 clearances of 518,696 tons. By 1828 the
coasting entrances rose to 5591, with an aggregate of 914,414 tons,
with 6893 clearances and an aggregate tonnage of 1,009,834.
French-owned steamers first appeared in the United Kingdom
records in 1822, when there were ten entrances of 520 tons
altogether. In 1823 the entrances from France had shrunk to seven,
of a total of 364 tons, and the clearances were the same; but by
1827, 74 entrances of French steamers are recorded, and 43
clearances.
In 1829 Holland appears for the first time in the list with one
steamer entered and cleared. But in 1830 the steamer traffic
between the two countries had grown so that the entries of Dutch
steamers numbered twenty-three, with an aggregate of 6463 tons,
and the clearances thirty-two with 8992 tons. By 1836 the entries in
the United Kingdom coastal trade were 13,003, with an aggregate
tonnage of 2,238,137, and the clearances 12,649 with an aggregate
of 2,178,248 tons. In 1837 Belgium, France, and Spain figured in the
returns, and in 1838 Portugal and Brazil. Russia and Turkey were
added to the list in 1839. In that year the United Kingdom coastal
entries numbered 15,556 of 2,926,521 tons, and the clearances
15,498 of 2,894,995 tons. These figures do not include vessels in
ballast nor those with passengers only.
The report of the Commissioners appointed by the Privy Council in
1839 to inquire into steamship accidents, shows that some laxness
prevailed in regard to registration, no fewer than 83 unregistered
steam vessels being discovered, most of which were in the
passenger trade; thirty-seven of these were on the Mersey, sixteen
on the Thames, twenty-six on the Humber, and four on the rivers on
the east coast of Scotland. The Commissioners added that there
were probably many others unregistered, as they did not visit all the
ports.
On the other hand, there were only twenty-five registered
steamers on the Humber, Ouse, and Trent, and thirty-nine at
Liverpool. Two Liverpool companies owned more vessels than the
total number registered there. The Commissioners found that
nineteen-twentieths of the large number of trading steamers between
Ireland and Liverpool, some of which were registered in English and
some in Irish ports, were owned in Ireland. The report further stated
that of the 766 steam vessels tabulated as belonging to Great
Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Guernsey, and Jersey, 484 might be
considered as river steamers and small coasters, and 282 as large
coasters and sea-going ships.
The total number of registered vessels at the end of 1838 was
677, with a total registered tonnage of 74,510, a total computed
tonnage of 131,080, and estimated horse-power 54,361.
Unregistered vessels numbered 83 of 9638 tons gross, and 2129
estimated horse-power. The foregoing particulars show how rapidly
the number of steamers increased for some years.
Services seem to have been started between almost every two or
three ports of the United Kingdom. The little wooden vessels were
long-lived, and had some unique experiences owing to the
venturesome characters of their captains, owners, or charterers.
Provided the vessel would float and get along it seemed to be the
opinion of its owners that it could go anywhere and carry anything.
Thus a vessel built for river traffic was thought suitable for deep-sea
work also. It is not surprising to find that many of the steamers
changed hands frequently. They were renamed at every change, and
the resulting confusion makes it difficult to trace their history.
It seems fairly certain, however, that accidents were frequent, and
it became necessary to devise means of carrying boats which would
accommodate at least a considerable number of the passengers if
necessary. Regulations as to the compulsory carriage of life-buoys,
life-belts, rafts, floating seats, and other contrivances for supporting
people in the water did not come into force until many years after.
The sole means of safety in the early days of steam navigation were
the boats and such wreckage as happened to float if the vessel sank
or went to pieces. But most of the steamers were so small, and on
their voyages so crowded, that they could not carry nearly as many
boats as were required.
The boats were generally carried on the tops of the paddle-boxes.
A suggestion which was carried into effect, especially in some of the
larger ocean-going steamers, was that the paddle-boxes should be
built square and be detachable from the guards, so that if a disaster
should befall the vessel they could be used as boats. This
contrivance had numerous disadvantages, not the least of them
being the unwieldiness of the paddle-boxes, and the difficulty of
managing them when afloat. Another suggestion was that each
steamer should carry two large boats of equal dimensions which
could be used as the tops of the paddle-boxes. The main advantage
claimed for this idea was that it would not add materially to the
weight of the vessel. Captain George Smith, in the ’thirties, contrived
a peculiarly shaped lifeboat which would fit over the paddle-wheels
and take the place of the paddle-boxes, and might when occasion
required be turned right side uppermost and launched outside the
paddle-wheel. He tried this experiment on the steamer Carron. “The
upper section,” he wrote, “of her paddle-wheel is covered by a
lifeboat 25 feet long, 9 feet beam, and having four air-tight cases
which may be removed if required on particular occasions. This
lifeboat is capable of containing between forty and fifty persons.
When in her place over the paddle-wheel the midship thwarts are
unshipped, which admits of the wheel revolving within 6 inches of
her keelson; she lies bottom upwards on two iron davits, which
enable her to be turned over and lowered by six men in two or three
minutes.”
The early river steamers were often overcrowded, which is not to
be wondered at in those days of insufficient control, and a cartoon of
the period represents the passengers as hanging on to the rigging,
the bowsprit, the funnel, and anything else of which they could catch
hold. Complaints of reckless speed and careless navigation were
frequent, and the Worshipful Company of Watermen and Lightermen
gave orders that the speed should not exceed five miles an hour: but
the captains of the Thames steamers were often fined for breaking
the rules, as they were in the habit of racing against boats belonging
to rival companies. As to overcrowding, the Times of April 16, 1838,
thus delivered itself: “It would be as well if some measures be
adopted to prevent steamers being overcrowded during the Easter
holidays. During the last Easter and Whitsuntide holidays the
steamers were crammed with passengers in a fearful manner, the
small vessels carrying 500 and 600 passengers at one trip, and the
larger ones 1000 and 1500 persons, as closely packed as negroes in
the hold of a slave-ship.”
 By 1846 the rivalry among the companies on the river brought
about the usual rate war. The steamers and the Watermen’s
Company were often at loggerheads, and neither always agreed with
the City Corporation. An attack of the City Corporation employees
upon those of the Watermen’s Company was valiantly resisted, and
the watermen went to gaol in consequence. Punch commented on
this as follows: “Considerable excitement has been occasioned by
some experiments which have lately been tried in the Thames navy,
on the same principle as that recently applied to the Bellerophon,
which was got ready for sea in sixty hours, and got unready again
with equal promptitude. The Waterman No. 6 took in coals and
ginger-beer, manned her paddle-box, lit her fire, threw on a scuttle of
coal, filled her boiler, blackleaded her funnel, tarred her taffrail, and
pitched her stoker into her engine-room, all within twenty minutes,
and sailed away from her moorings at Paul’s Wharf amidst the
cheers of her checktaker. This manœuvre was accomplished for the
purpose of striking terror into the minds of the civic forces at
Blackfriars Pier, who are only tranquil at present in compliance with
the terms of a recent armistice.”
The modern development of the coastal steamer service has
naturally been confined to a strict meeting of its own requirements,
and it is not proposed to go at length into all the minutiæ of the
differences between the steamers of the various lines. Some of the
most famous companies have already been mentioned and their
early struggles with competitors described. In connection with
coastal and cross-channel traffic it will now be sufficient to sketch the
careers of a few others which have helped to make steam-ship
history.
 TRINITY MONARCH ROYAL GEORGE TRIDENT
YACHT

The “Monarch” and “Trident” (General Steam Navigation Co.)

convoying the Royal Yacht with the Queen and Prince
Consort to Edinburgh, 1842.

General Steam Navigation Company

To London shipowners belongs the credit of establishing one of
the oldest steam-ship companies in the world, the General Steam
Navigation Company. It was founded as far back as 1820 and its first
steamer, the City of Edinburgh, was built expressly for trade between
Edinburgh and London by Messrs. Wigram and Green at Blackwall,
and was launched on March 31, 1821. Her engines were by Boulton
and Watt, and were of 80 horse-power nominal.
A steam-ship of any kind was a novelty at that time, and the
launch of such a large vessel on the Thames attracted the attention
of all classes. The Duke and Duchess of Clarence, who were
afterwards William the Fourth and Queen Adelaide, accompanied by
the Duchess of Kent and a large suite, paid a special visit to the
wharf to see her. The royal party expressed themselves as much
surprised by the magnificence of the accommodation provided for
the passengers as by the noble and graceful proportion of the vessel
in which such powerful machinery had been placed. The City of
Edinburgh was followed in June 1821 by the James Watt, launched
by Messrs. Wood and Co. of Port Glasgow, and at that time
described as “the largest vessel ever seen in Great Britain propelled
by steam.” Her engines were of 100 nominal horse-power, and drove
paddle-wheels 18 feet in diameter with sixteen floats, which were 9
feet in length by 2 feet broad.
The company was incorporated in 1824 and then and for many
years afterwards occupied a place second to none in the British
mercantile marine as carrier of passengers, mails, goods, and cattle
on the leading routes from London to the North, and to the principal
commercial ports of Western Europe. The Earl of Liverpool, of 168
tons register and 80 horse-power, was built for the company at
Wallis’s yard on the Thames in 1822.
An early picture of this vessel shows her to have been two-
masted, carrying on the foremast three jibs, two topsails, and a
trysail, and on the mizzen two enormous flags, one several yards
long bearing the name of the vessel, and the other, half the size of
her spanker, being the company’s house flag, while at the stern she
displayed an immense ensign, and at the bows a little Union Jack.
Her paddle-boxes were rather forward of amidships, and a tall funnel
with a spark-catcher above stood a short distance in front of the
mizzen-mast.
In 1833 this company built the Monarch, of which a contemporary
newspaper says, under the heading “Gigantic Steamboat”:
“The dimensions of the Monarch, Edinburgh steamer, launched a
few days since are as follows:—extreme length 206 feet 1¹⁄₂ inches,
width of deck 37 feet, width outside the paddles 54 feet 4 inches,
length of keel in the tread 166 feet; length of deck from the stem to
the taffrail 193 feet, depth in hold 18 feet. The extreme length given
above is within 2 feet of the largest ship in the British Navy; she is
larger than any of His Majesty’s frigates, and longer than our 84-gun
ships. Her tonnage is somewhat more than 1200 tons, and the
accommodation below is so extensive that she will make up 140
beds, and 100 persons may conveniently dine in her Saloons.”

The “Trident,” in which the Queen and Prince Consort

returned, Sept. 1842.

The Trident, built in 1842, was another of the company’s famous

ships, and was probably the first steam-ship in which a reigning
sovereign went for a lengthy sea voyage. Queen Victoria paid her
first visit to Scotland and made the return journey from Edinburgh
with Prince Albert and their suite on this vessel. An interesting
description of the voyage appeared in “Leaves from the Journal of
our Life in the Highlands.” The Queen remarked of the
accommodation on the Trident “that it was much larger and better
than on the Royal George,” which was the royal yacht of the period,
and that it was “beautifully fitted up.” The Trident soon lost sight of all
the accompanying vessels, except the company’s steamer Monarch,
which “was the only one that could keep up with us.” Writing a few
days later to the King of the Belgians the Queen says: “We had a
speedy and prosperous voyage home of forty-eight hours on board a
fine, large, and very fast steamer, the Trident, belonging to the
General Steam Navigation Company.”
These vessels, of course, were of wood, but when iron steamers
were introduced and paddles gave way to the screw propeller, the
company was not slow to see the advantages of the innovations, and
to adopt them for its services.
In modern times this company has distinguished itself by its zeal
for self-improvement. Every important development in steam-ship
construction and engineering has been marked by the company by
an addition to its fleet, one of the most recent being the Kingfisher,
the first steam turbine-driven passenger steamer on the Thames.

London and Edinburgh Shipping Company

Probably on none of the British coasts was the advent of the
steamer hailed with more pleasure than on the east coast. Travel
between London and the east of Scotland, before railways were
possible, and when the land journey had to be made by stage-coach
or on horseback, or a sea journey performed in sailing smacks, was
a tedious operation. The smacks were large of their sort, and as
comfortable as vessels of that period usually were (which is not
saying much), but the North Sea was as turbulent then as now, so
that passengers who went down to that part of the sea in smacks
usually had an experience which lasted them a lifetime.
The London and Leith service of the present day is maintained by
a line of steamers as good as any on the coast. The existing
company was not the first to trade between the two ports whence it
takes its name, but its history connects it with the earliest attempts to
found a regular service between the English and Scottish capitals.
This was established in 1802 by the old Edinburgh and Leith
Shipping Company, with six smacks. About seven years later there
was established a London and Edinburgh Shipping Company, which
possessed ten smacks. There had previously been a Leith and
Berwick Company, so called because Berwick was a port of call
between the Forth ports and London. This was the Union Company,
which for fifty years previously had traded from Berwick. It was
absorbed by the London and Leith Shipping Company in 1812, and
this combination was joined by another in 1815. The existing
company is the lineal descendant of the combination of the three.
Before steam was used “it was not an uncommon experience,”
says an historical publication issued by the London and Edinburgh
Shipping Company, “for a smack to lie windbound in the roads for
days before venturing out of the Forth, and instances were more
than traditional of a smack with a cabin full of passengers being
tossed about on the North Sea for days or weeks, and then forced to
come back to Leith for the replenishment of stores, without having
been any nearer to London than when she set out.” On one occasion
a smack in which there were seven cabin passengers was nine days
at sea, the year being 1825, and the month March. Upon leaving
Leith for London and getting well into the North Sea they were driven
towards Norway for four days, when a “welcome change of wind set
in, which drove them back towards Scotland with equal rapidity.”
Having sighted the Bell Rock they continued the voyage to London,
and made a good run in spite of the loss of some spars and canvas.
The passengers were “unhappy” and at times were not allowed on
deck for fear of being washed overboard. Another smack was three
weeks endeavouring to get to London and then had to return for
more stores. Prior to the smacks the voyages were usually made by
brigs of anything between 160 to 200 tons, which sailed when their
owners thought they had enough cargo and passengers aboard.
 The “Carron” (Carron Co.).

The “Kingfisher” (General Steam Navigation Co.).

Presumably no one sailed by smack who could afford to coach

between Scotland and London, but the coach fare in 1824 was £13
and the smack fare £4. Passengers by smack had a fair chance of
witnessing a sea-fight, during which the ladies would be locked up in
the cabin while the martially-inclined among the passengers might
be called upon to assist the crew in repelling the attack of a French
privateer. The smacks were superseded by the celebrated Aberdeen
schooners or themselves converted to that rig, and the schooners
bravely upheld the reputation of sail as long as possible against the
all-conquering power of steam. But in 1850 the company introduced
steam and the fine clippers were withdrawn. It is this company’s
proud boast that it has never lost a passenger.

The Carron Company

The Carron Company, manufacturers of iron goods, maintained a
passenger service between Carron and London with sailing sloops
long before steam-ships were invented. So long ago as 1779 the
company advertised in the Edinburgh Advertiser as follows:
A t C A R R O N — F o r L O N D O N.
To ſail March 5, 1779
THE GLASGOW, Robert Paterſon maſter, mounting
fourteen twelve pounders, and men anſwerable. For
freight or paſſage, apply to Mr. G. Hamilton,
Glaſgow, Meſſ. James Anderſon & Co. Leith, or the
Carron Shipping Company at Carron Wharf.
N. B. The Carron veſſels are fitted out in the moſt
complete manner for defence, at a very
conſiderable expence, and are well provided with
ſmall arms. All mariners, recruiting parties, ſoldiers
upon furlow, and all other ſteerage paſſengers who
have been accuſtomed to the uſe of fire arms, and
who will engage to aſſiſt in defending themſelves, will
be accommodated with their paſſage to or from
London, upon ſatiſfying the maſters for their
proviſions, which in no inſtance ſhall exceed 10s. 6d.
ſterling.
The Carron veſſels ſail regularly as uſual, without
waiting for the convoy.
 As the sloops carried the company’s famous carronades there can
be no doubt that they were well armed. The company can boast a
more ancient connection with steam-ship building than any other firm
in the British Isles, for they constructed the hull for one of the Miller
boats and assisted in the construction of one of Symington’s
engines. Miller is reported to have examined Symington’s engines at
the Carron works. The company soon ran steamers instead of sailing
vessels along the east-coast route and have continued to do so up to
the present day, the latest additions to their fleet being the Thames
by A. and J. Inglis, and the Carron, 308 feet long, which has her
steering gear fitted aft at the rudder head and controlled by hydraulic
action on the telemotor principle.
An interesting fact in connection with the Carron Company is that
the first set of complete castings for James Watt’s steam-engine
were made at their works, and were erected at the house of Dr.
Roebuck, who was one of the founders of the company and a
personal friend of Watt. A part of the cylinder of this engine marked
“Carron 1766” is still preserved at the works. John Smeaton, of
Eddystone Lighthouse fame, was also associated with the Carron
works.
The “Fingal” (London and Edinburgh Shipping Co.).
 The “Lady Wolseley”
(British and Irish Steam Packet Co.)

Dundee, Perth and London Shipping Company

This company dates, like others on the east coast, from the time
when the voyage between the Thames and Scotland was only
performed by sailing smacks, and of these they ran nineteen. But in
1834 the smacks were removed and paddle-steamers took their
place. Their first steamers were the Dundee and the Perth, each
boat having a commander as well as a sailing master. They were
wonderful vessels for the time, being of 650 tons burden and 300
horse-power. They were advertised as “these splendid and powerful
steamers”; the cabins were “airy, commodious” (epithet beloved of
steam-ship companies), and “elegant.” The company’s present-day
fleet consists of the London and the Perth, each of 1737 tons and
3000 horse-power.
 Isle of Man Steam Packet Company
No steamer company holds a more honourable position in the
coastal and passenger trade than the Isle of Man Steam Packet
Company. The vessels in early years were known as “the little
Cunarders,” a compliment which they well deserved. The
appearance of the vessels of the two companies was much the
same, and the red and black funnel has always been a distinguishing
feature of both lines. The first boat of the Isle of Man Company was
built by John Wood of Glasgow in 1830, and named the Mona’s Isle,
a title which has been borne by more than one distinguished
successor. She was schooner-bowed, and carried on her paddle-
boxes, which were placed well forward, the familiar three-legged sign
of Manxland. The engines of the first Cunarder built for the
transatlantic service were by Napier, who also built the hull, and this
steamer was to all intents and purposes a large edition of the Mona’s
Isle, whose engines he had previously built. Her dimensions were
116 feet in length by 19 feet beam, with a depth of 10 feet, and 200
gross tonnage. She cost £7042, and when sold in 1851 after twenty-
one years’ service, in which she proved a most profitable vessel, she
fetched £580.
But the first steamer seen in Manx waters was the Henry Bell,
named after the constructor of the historic Comet; she was on her
way from the Clyde to Liverpool to be placed on the service between
Liverpool and Runcorn and put in at Ramsey Bay. In May of the
following year the Greenock arrived at Douglas, whence she took
some passengers to Laxey, and, as a local chronicler puts it, “moved
by apparent enchantment.” The Mona’s Isle was thought to be too
large and valuable to risk being used in winter, and a smaller boat
was therefore ordered from the same builder. This was the Mona,
and after her arrival in July 1832, she was engaged in a service
between the island and Whitehaven and in taking visitors on trips
round the island. Even before the advent of the steamers, the Isle of
Man had become a favourite place at which to spend the summer,
especially among the people of the north and west counties. If
affection for the island could induce so many hundreds of people to
brave the discomforts of a voyage from the Mersey to Douglas and
back again in the small sailing packets which then were the means
of communication, it is little wonder that the advent of the steamers,
restricted in dimensions as they were, poor in accommodation, and
slow travellers, should have increased her popularity. Occasionally
the sailing packet took as long as a week to make the trip, and it was
hailed as an extraordinary circumstance that a vessel trading
between Douglas and Whitehaven was able to make fifty-two
voyages each way in the course of a year. In 1813 also, a sailer took
three days and nights to get within sight of Liverpool, and was then
driven back by stormy weather to the island.

The “Ben-my-Chree” (I.). Built 1845.

The Mona had one mast on which she could carry a jib, a forestay-
sail, a mainsail, and a topsail, and her funnel was abaft the paddle-
boxes, which were amidships. She was faster than her predecessor,
and usually did the journey between Liverpool and Douglas in about
seven and a half hours. She once reached Whitehaven from
Douglas in a trifle over four and a half hours, which was claimed to
be one of the fastest pieces of travelling on record. The Queen of the
Isle, which was the company’s third ship, was the fastest vessel
afloat at the time. These three boats, according to a bill issued in
1834, were known as the Royal Mail and War Office steam-packets,
though they never had any connection, so far as the company has
been able to ascertain, with the War Office. A Liverpool firm
purchased the Mona in 1851 and sold her to the City of Dublin
Company, who ran her for several years, until she was hopelessly
outclassed in size and accommodation by newer boats. She was
then used as a tug, and so spent the remainder of her days.
The first steamer ordered by the company to be built in the island
was the first King Orry, by John Winram, with engines by Robert
Napier. This boat was the last of the company’s wooden paddle-
steamers. She was a very reliable boat but not particularly fast, for
she usually took about seven hours for the trip each way. In 1843 the
Queen of the Isle was relieved of her engines, sold, and turned into a
full-rigged sailing ship and met her fate off the Falkland Islands.
The Ben-my-Chree, a three-masted schooner, the first of the
company’s steamers to be built of iron, was fitted with the Queen of
the Isle’s engines. The Tynwald, a larger steamer still, followed in
1845, and was herself followed by the Mona’s Queen, a rather
smaller vessel but faster, and bearing a figure-head which the carver
said was a likeness of Queen Victoria; be that as it may, the vessel
was named in commemoration of the visit of the Queen to the island
in 1847.
Hitherto the company’s steamers had been of little more than local
interest; the Douglas was now ordered and she acquired
international fame. This vessel was the first of the Manx boats in
which the straight stem was adopted. She was built in 1858; her
length between perpendiculars was 205 feet, with a beam of 26 feet
and a depth of 14 feet, and a gross tonnage of 700. The Tynwald,
which was of the same tonnage was 188 feet long, by 27 feet beam,
and 13 feet 6 inches depth. The Douglas was thus longer in
proportion to her beam than any of her predecessors, and being
powerfully engined, made 17¹⁄₄ knots on her trial trip. She did the
passage between Liverpool and Douglas in 4 hours and 20 minutes,
and was the fastest sea-going paddle-steamer afloat.
The situation at this time between the Northern and Southern
States of the United States of America was becoming strained, and
there were already indications of the approaching conflict. After four