The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-12
THE FUTURE OF STEAM.
NEW AND FASTER ENGINES MUST
BE INVENTED.

BE INVENTED.
Ninety Niles an Hour for Long Dis
tsnces Impossible Without New
Machinery and Roadbeds - Talk
With Noted Engineers About Steam
In Railroad Trsvel-Recent Expert
ments With Big Locomotives.
tCopsri1htl
New YORK, June 11.--"Can the present
standard locomotive be depended upon to
perform eighty or ninety miles an hour for
long disbancssr
This was the question which I pat 30 one
| Of the chief engineers In charge OF the
many varied engineering departments Of
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He
expressed the opinion that long run at
any such rate Of speed would mean the
destruction of the engine. He admitted
that the power for making such speed is az
hand, whether 1t be electricity, steam, air
and oil combined, or compressed air
and electricity. He said, however,
that the machinery has not yet
been invented which can endure the
! fearful strain of such O speed 1.-THE pres
| emit difficulty" said he, lilies in the fact that
the steam is applied with each revolution at
alternate ends OF the piston head. Great
power is lost in driving this steam back and
| forth. Some system of gearing must be
invented that will yield speed with fewer
revolutions of the wheels so as to do away
with some of the wear and tear of rapid
| running. Until that is accomplished even
sixty miles an hour continuously is out of
the question.
The question Of obtaining this result of
slower revolution and faster speed is con-
| fronted by one of the main laws of mechan-
les. What is gained in speed is lost in
| power" and ''in slow motion is power, in
! fast motion is speed" Speed has been
| vital factor in passenger transportation since
| the introduction OF steam as a motive
power, and although the principle and its
| application have been wonderfully i'm
proved. we have yet to determine the limit
| of development. The mechanical man
| figuratively washes bis hands Of the whole
affair Of future fast time, claiming that his
| part of the contract is fulfilled by the pres
emit high standard Of machinery which is
able to perform q seemingly high rate Of
| speed, and now, all that is needed is a cor
responding advance in the transportation
| department OF railroads.
The transportation department claims
that the speed qualities of the present day
| locomotive do not surpass those OF its
predecessors of thirty years ago. The i'm
| provements, they say are all in the direction
| of tightening the machinery and increasing
its durability, while it the transportation de-
| partment) upholds its claim by wonderful
improvements roadbeds, rails, track tanks,
Strengthened lines and such a line of block
| signals as the Pennsylvania sytem has en-
| ployed.
AT this point third party steps in and,
like the story Of old n which the knights
and a chameleon figured, says. you're
| both right in way and both wrong :"
claiming that the speed power is at hand,
but that before it can be applied the trans
portationj department will have to make
even greater improvements. Thus the en-
barrassment Of complicated theories stag
| gers the lay investigation.
After boiling aud reboilinR the arguments
| advanced it becomes apparent that the rail-
road of the future is to be purely the devel-
opment OF money and talent. If, for in-
stance, the wealth Of several ma9nates were
accessible, and it, as the central magnet
were to attract the highest talent from the
| great American trunk lines, the solution OF
400 miles an hour" would be solved in a
short time and after comparatively few ex-
! periments.
The introduction of compound locomo-
| tives, the latest marked advance of the day,
was hailed as the discovery of the speed en-
| CINE of the future, but experiment has some
WIN disappointed OuE OApGSbaCAOhSs ANOW
| they are receiving the careful attention OF
railway officials and projectors on the score
| Of economy and marvellous hauling power,
rather than fast time makers.
They steam freely and effect in their
trials a saving of from 20 to Is per cent. of
| coal
The compound locomotive differs from
| the standard engine in common use only in
| its cylinders and parts attached to them.
| Its principal feature is that it takes adj
| vantage of that valuable quality of steam,
| its expansibility, using the steam in TWO or
more cylinders. The primary object in
| compromising is economy Of steam, and CON-
| sequent saving Of water and coal. The
steam is admitted first to thigh pressure"
cylinder, and there performs a part of the
| duty; it then passes into a larger Flow
pressure cylinder where the remainder Of
| its expansive power is given out. From the
cylinder it escapes into the atmosphere or
condenser at very low pressure. Great
economy is shown in heavy freight service
on grades and curves.
As an illustration of modern Improvement
compound locomotives are interesting. As
a medium for future fast time they could
no more hold the power necessary for speed
even eighty miles an hour-than could the
present standard.
The theory of lighting at night trunk
line from terminal to terminal by electricity
to enable higher rate of speed has been ex-
ploded, as it is q well-known fact that travel
at night is fas er and safer than that of the
day, for the engineer has no chance OF being
confused, having light guides from block
signal and SWITCHES and no conflicting OBJ
struotion.
Future fast time resolves Itself TO this:
An an CINE must be created to hold and dis
burse the power which stands begging for
capture at our door railroads must DO con-
r.