The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-03-17
The Steam Engines Growth
Marks the Progress Of the Century.
the rest, as
Of the West.

Mechanical engineering is employed in all
dynamical engineering. It covers the de-
signs Of prime motors Of all sorts. steam
gas n gasoline reciprocating engines; also
steam and water turbines. wtnd-mills anc
wave-motors.
power as by shafting, ropes. pneumatic
pressure and compressed air. all Of which
seem likely to be superseded by electricity.
| 1t covers the construction of machine
tools and machinery of all kinds. 1t en-
tiers into all the processes Of structural,
hydraulic. electrical and Industrial engi-
neering. The special improvements are:
The almost universal use Of rotary motion
and of the reduplication Of parts.
The steam engine Is a machine of recipro-
eating, converted into rotary, motion by the
crank. The progress OF mechanical engi-
neering during the Nineteenth Century is
measured by the improvements Of the steam
engine, principally in the direction Of saw
ing fuel. by the invention of internal COM
bustion or gas engines, the application OF
electrical transmission, and. latest. the
practical development of steam turbines. by
Parsons, Westinghouse. Delaval. Curtis and
others. In these a Jet Of steam impingeS
upon buckets set upon the circumference OF
q wheel. 1t was clearly indicated by the
Italian engineer Bronco. in 1929. but ne was
too early. The time was not ripe. and there
were tueH 10 IudCIlHe IOOlS giving thC pei
lection Of workmanship required.
Their advantages are that their motion is
rotary and not reciprocal. They can de-
velop speed of from 5000 to 10000 revolu-
tons per minute. while the highest ever at
tanned by a reciprocattng engine Is not over
LOCO. Their thermodynamic losses are less,
hence they consume less steam and less
fuel.
1t is a very interesting fact that the ba-
sic invention upon which not only steam
turbines and electric dynamos, but indeed
all other parts of mechanical engineering,
depend is Of such remote antiquity that
We know nothing Of its origin. This is the
wheel which Gladstone said was the great
est of mans mechanical inventions. as
there is nothing in nature to suggest II.
Duplication of parts has lowered the cost
of all products. Clothing is one of these.
The parts of ready-made garments and
shoes are now cut into shape in numbers
at a time, by sharp-edged templates. and
then fastened together by sewing machines.
Mechanical engineering is a good example
Of the survival of the fittest. Millions OF
dollars are expended on machinery, when
suddenly a new discovery or invention
casts them all into the scrap heap. to be
replaced by those Of greater earning ca
)acity.
Prime motors derive their energy either
rom coal or other combinations of carbon,
such as petroleum, or from gravity. This
come from falling water. and the old
fashioned water wheels Of the Eighteenth
Century were superseded in the Nineteenth
turbines. first invented In France and
since greatly perfected. These are used In
the electrical transmission Of water power
Niagara of 5%,OOO-horse power and form
q very important part Of the plant.
The other gravity motors are windmills
and wave motors. Windmills are an old
Invention, but have been greatly improved
In the United States by the use Of the self
reefng wheel. The great plains Of the
West are subject to sudden, violent gales
wind, and unless the wheel was auto
matically self-reef1ng 1t would often be
destroyed. Little has been written about
these wheels, but their use Is very widely !
extended, and they perform a most useful I
in industrial engineering.