The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-01-12
AMAZING STEAM PRESSURE.
AN ENGINE WORKED AT THREE
THOUSAND POUNDS.
A Curious Little Giant, Devised by
De Laval and Recently Shown
at Stockholm.

One Of the most marvellous pieces of
machinery displayed at the great fair
in Stockholm this year was a little
steam engine invented by a Swede, De
Laval, who was already famous in his
own country for his dairy apparatus.
The same genius has also devised
method of reducing iron ore by cleo
tricity. and, with his hackers he has
bought UP a good many of the best
water POWERS in Sweden for use in con-
nectiou with that process.
The first that was heard in America
regarding De Laval's engine was about
four years ago. He had a specimen
on exhibition at the Worlds Fair in
Chicago. 1t was called a steam tur-
bine. That name did not seem to be
a happy description of the device, how
ever. 1t was rotary engine had its
power applied to the exterior of the ro-
tating part, and was encased in shell.
But turbine" has peculiarly twisted
blades on it's side, whereas the new
Swedish wheel is a comparatively thin
disk, which receives the impact of the
steam en- its edge in little buckets or
pockets, somewhat like certain power
fun water motors. Hence those experts
who are fond of precision in their
phraseology prefer to call this modern
wonder an impulse wheel"
One of the distinctive features of the
new engine is its amazing rapidity of
motion. 1t lis claimed that the wheel
shown at Chicago, which was only
about twelve inches in diameter, made
10000 revolutions a minutei OF course,
it was impossible to drive any ordinary
machinery at such q velocity as that,
or oae-half as great: so that it was
foreseen from the outset that gearing
would be necessary accompaniment
of such an engine, in order to reduce its
speed, except in rare instances. For
this and for other reasons the De Laval
motor has not yet found any apprec-
liable market. The very few specimens
thus far introduced in Europe and the
United States have been regarded as
somewhat audacious experiments, al
though the two small ones introduced
by the Edison Illuminating Company of
New York about eighteen months ago
have given fairly satisfactory results.
eretofore, however, the Swedish
wheel has been operated with steam
generated at ordinary pressure, say
from $50 to 200 pounds, and the latter
was reduced at the instant of applica-
ton by means of an charging funnel
at the jet. But the remarkable state
ment is made that De Laval has been
working an engine of only fifty horse
power at Stockholm this season with
steam generated at from 1890 to 5000
pounds pressurei Every trained engi-
knows hnf it iS al
to develop steam at high pressures than
at low ones, and there has been strik-
ing increase in the pressures actually
carried in steam boilers, especially in
marine practice. In 1860 the usual
maximum on ocean steamships was
from 10 to 20 pounds Now it is nearly
200, and a few war vessels notably
torpedo boats) carry as much as $50
and goo.
But there have been times during the
last few months when De LAYERS
gauges showed 1924 pounds to the
square inch! Writing to THE American
Machinist," from Stockholm, recently |
its chief editor. Mr.. Sweet, said that he
understood that the expanding noz-
zle of the steam jet, which it was
claimed was one of the reasons of its
economy, has been abandoned, but
whether in all or only the high pressure
machine do not know" In that case,
the steam ought to strike the buckets of
the wheel with tremendous power.
OF course, a boiler that would carry
5000 pounds pressure safely must be
something almost as strange as the en-
CINE which utiliZes it. Instead of being
a shellandfiu boiler, like that of To-
connective, the generator is merely tube
not over half an inch in diameter and
coiled up over coal fire. Only a very
small amount of water is contained in
1t. and there seems to be no additional
reservoir for the steam to accumulate in
There is something startling in the idea
of a possible explosion under pressure
like this. but inasmuch as the volume
of water and steam on storage at any
given moment is exceedingly limited,
very little damages could be done The
furnaces are stocked and the boiler fed
by automatic devices. incidentally, it
may be remarked that the temperature
of steam bears definite relation to it's
pressure. Water boils in open air, at
sea level, at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. But
pressure of 300 pounds means tenn
perature of about seven hundred de-
grees!
Compactness and simplicity are the |
most valuabletraits of a motor like this |
Moreover, up to certain point and for !
very limited class of work Qike driv-
ing dynamos), high speeds are advan-
tageous. But aside from the dangers of
explosions, the De Laval system has two
or three other drawbacks The shaft |
of the Swedish engine trembles and
springs in an objectionable way. The
high velocity developed subjects the
metal disk to tremendous centrifugal
strains. and threatens the wheel with
temporary or permanent distortion, and
even suggests the possibility of rupture
into numerous flying pieces While in it's
present form this engine may not ever
come into general use, therefore the
venture is likely to have an educating
influence and lead to some notifications
Of present ideas in steam engineering
New York Tribune.
Autido<o for Nor16s-o Dos~o.,s-r