Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-04
THE FUTURE OF STEAM.
An Interesting Talk With Naval Engineer
ON the Subject

ON the Subject
| NOTHING YET DISCOVERED WHICH WILL TAKE IT'S
PLAcE-ExPERIxESTs WITH orHEn MATERIAL
NOT sATIsFAcroRY--So INCREASE OF PRESSURE
| -wrrHoUr NEW MATERIAL FoR BOILERS.
The engineers of the navy are Just now cast
| ing some interested glances ahead at the future
Of steam power and its possible substitute, and
good many experiments are being quietly
conducted with the view of determining the
chances of any further development in the way
of power, speed and other elements that tend
| to make the mechanical advancement of this
century. The naval engineers are. perhaps,
the most progressive body Of men in this line
in the country, and they are constantly making
researches and tests in an endeavor to solve
what they realize is the great mechanical prob
lem Of today: What is the future of steam?
THE PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED.
Said one of them to a STAR reporter this
morning: There is great deal of nonsense
being printed nowadays about the prospect
that electricity will soon drive steam out of ex-
istence. People forget the matter of first
causes. They do not realize the fact that what
ever electricity can do or will do il will in nine
cases out OF ten depend upon steam for its gem
Grafton. There is but one other way to produce
1t, and that is water power. When you come
to consider the vast tracts OF territory that are
unsupplled with water power, that are either
entirely isolated from seas or streams or are on
rivers without currents beyond the slight mo-
ton oceanward, you can see how absurd it is
to speculate on the substitution of even water
power Tor steam In the creation of electricity.
NOTHING SATISFACTORY YET.
Now, then, what else is there? There are al
most as many answers to this question as in
ventive minds, but nothing satisfactory has yet
been offered. Ammonia is about the best sub
stitute for steam that has vet been tried, but
there are doubts OF its value. 1t can do all the
work that steam does, but it is open to objec-
tons. There is q line of French coasting YES
sells that has used it for some time, and their
reports show that, taking everything into ac-
count their running expenses are about as
great as when they used steam. The main
trouble is that there is no degree of certainty
about the supply of material. Ammonia is
more difficult to obtain in unvarying quanti-
ties than water. and this element of uncertainty
ls not wholesome Then, too, the wear and
tear on engines, boilers, &C., is about the same,
and possibly little greater when steam is used,
for ammonia has a certain corrosive influence
on iron and steel that must tell in the end
THE RATIO BETWEEN POWER AND SPEED.
There is another matter Of grave import
ance that is being studied just now and that is
the question of the correct ratio between the
power and speed of vessel. The old and
standard ratio is that the power increases as the
cube of the speed. OF course in this calcula-
ton the coal consumption is the measure of
the power. But it has been calculated that this
ratio Is incorrect and we are trying to deter
mine the exact figure. which would be of great
value to the mechanical world. We have come
to face the unalterable fact that steam pressure
has its limits. and consequently that water
speeds are rapidly approaching the maximum
RAPID INCREASE OF SPEED.
"The speed Of ships has been increased, more
rapidly in the pas. two decades than at any
other period since men began to float on the
water, going up from twelve, and possibly
fourteen. knots in the sixties to the present
average of twenty knots and a maximum OF
about twenty-seveI or twenty-eight. 1t is now
practically at a standstill the only progress be-
ing in the increase in the number of the very
swift ships without any material advance of
the limit. do not think that the limit can be
raised much higher. Steam pressure itself has
a limit. 1t cannot be increased without disin-
constructed. Until We find some other material
than the common steel with which the modern
boilers are made we must be content with our
present pressures.
ALL MATERIALS TOO COSTLY.
'There are plenty Of materials that are well
adapted for such purpose, such as some of
the new alloys but they are too costly and rare
to be put into boilers. l remember the day
when We looked upon common steel i'll that
light. The day will probably come when we
car use aluminium and its compounds. At
present nickel steel seems to be very promising
in this connection. and l should not be sur
prised if we would be able soon to conduct
some experiments In this line"