Discoveries and Inventions of the Nineteenth Century

a gyroscope, worked by a small turbine, filled with water from one of the gudgeons, enabled Mr. Bessemer to dispense with the services of a man, and thus completed his scheme of a steady saloon, by making the machinery completely automatic. The saloon was 70 ft. long, 35 ft. wide, and 20 ft. high. The Bessemer ship proved to be a total failure, and never went to sea as a passenger boat. On board of some modern war-ships where speed is essential, and where the engines are driven at a very great number of revolutions per minute, as in the case of torpedo-boat catchers, the vibration throughout the whole of the vessel becomes extremely trying, not only for the nerves of the crew, but for the security of the structure itself. The cause of this vibration and consequent strain and loss of power is not far to seek. The cylinders of marine engines are always of a large diameter, 6 feet, 8 feet, or even more sometimes, and the pistons and piston-rods are necessarily of great strength and corresponding weight. Now, at every half revolution of the engines, this heavy mass of piston and piston-rod, though moving at an exceedingly high speed in the middle of the stroke, has to be brought to a standstill, and an equal velocity in the opposite direction imparted to it. A large portion of the power is therefore uselessly expended in stopping a great moving mass, and reversing its motion. All the force required to do this reacts on the vessel’s frame. Many attempts have been made to construct rotatory steam-engines, and some hundreds 144of patents taken out for such inventions, which in general have a piston revolving about a shaft; but the great friction, and consequent liability to wear out, have prevented their practical use. Lately, a method of using steam on the principle embodied in the water turbine has been developed, and within the last six or seven years has found successful application in propelling electro-dynamos at very high speeds. In the steam turbine there are no pistons, piston-rods, or other reciprocating parts, the effect depending on the same kind of reaction that is taken advantage of in the water turbine (which has a high efficiency in giving out a large proportion of energy), and the power is applied with smoothness and an entire absence of the oscillations that would shake to pieces any vessel that an ordinary steam-engine could propel at the same rate. The advantages of the steam turbine have been proved by the performances of a small experimental vessel lately built at Newcastle, and appropriately named the Turbinia. She is only 100 feet in length, and 9 feet in breadth, with a displacement of some 44 tons. Now the highest record speed for any vessel of that size is 24 knots per hour; but the Turbinia, in a heavy sea, showed, at a measured mile, the speed of 32¾ knots, which is believed to be greater than that of any craft now afloat, being nearly 37¾ miles an hour, or equal to that of an ordinary railway train. Besides that, it has been found by experiment, that an arrangement of the blades of the screw propeller more suitable to high velocities will enable a still greater speed to be obtained. The weight of the turbine engines of this vessel is only 3 tons, 13 cwts., and the whole weight of the machinery, including boilers and condensers, is only 22 tons, with an indicated H.P. of 1576, and a steam consumption of but 16 lbs. per hour. The weight of the turbine is only one-fifth of that of marine engines of equal power; the space occupied is smaller; the initial cost is less; not so much superintendence is required; the charges of maintenance are diminished; reduced dimensions of propeller and shaft suffice; vibration is eliminated; speed is increased; and greater economy of fuel is secured.