The Washington times., 1904-12-11
William j. Hoffman Has
Made Rotary Steam
Engine.
He Thus Achieves Goal
Which Has Baffled
Many Men.

Ark Who said the day Of
- steam was past, that an era had
begun IN which electric waves
would play the all-impOrtant
part?
Even while this belief was growing
and spreading throughout the civilized
world William J. Hoffman, or Buffalo.
y. Y. was perfecting a new steam en-
CINE which bids fair 10 revOlutiOniZe the
wnUIe svmeme u mechanical power as
II exists today, 10 reduce the cost OF
living One-half. and still further annihil-
ate time and space.
This wonderful new invention Is no
less than a rotary steam engine. for
years the ambition OF all mechanical
engineers. So elusive had Il practical
working plan FOR such an engine be-
come that the rotary was relegated 70
the same class as the perpetual motion
machine. Thousands OF patents have
been taken out here in Washington,
which the patentees claimed practical,
but all have hitherto proved valueless
except as curiosities and monuments 10
the ingenuity OF the inventors. This is
not the case with Mr.. Honman's engine.
Already Successfully Operated.
For the last twenty-one months this
rotary engine has operated successfully,
furnishing all the power for the shop in
which 81 was built. IT has run lathes.
planers. and like tool machines with no
vibration whatever. That the machine
is a practical invention IS therefore as
sured. The Hoffman engine, which
could by the way. ut into a large
clothes basket, has developed constantly
tWenty-eight horsepower. with only 10
per cent OF the friction and three
fourths OF the steam OF any other en-
CINE OF similar power that ever ran be-
fore.
The most recent test Of this wonderful
engine occurred a few days ago. A
5OO-horsepower type engine IN a brake
test showed but per cent friction load.
whereas tho best reciprocating engines
show Z 10 per cent. The compromising
experiments with this kind of engine
experiments, in other words, with a
similar machine having two or more
cylinders "a which the exhaust steam
from the first IS used in the next cyIin-
der. and so on-have not been com
pleted, but such experiments as have
been made along this line give great
promise OF high presstTes IN the sue
ceeding cylinders
-Four great virtues OF the Hoffman
machine are:
COmpactness-It takes but one-fourth
OF the floor space OF any other steam
engine generating an equal amount OF
power.
Lack OF wastefulness-It uses uncom-
pounded only three-fourths as much
steam When compounded the waste
VIII be diminished tremendously.
Lack OF vibration-A serious obstacle
In the best or steam engines in present
use
An unlimited power Of speed. Indeed.
there Is no limit 10 speed ia the engine
except the limit 10 the expansion OF
steam and the fact that the molecular
resistance OF steel 10 centrifugal force
ends first. and ZOO revolutions in a
ss-inch diameter is safe. and no more.
When II IS understood, also, that the
control OF the engine is so perfect that
u can render 100 horsepower one second
and less than one-half horsepower the
next, there seem 10 be 40 bounds 10 the
possible achievements Of this new me-
chine. The control centers in an auto
matte cutoff. which Hoffman himself
invented 20 make the remainder OF his
machine practicable
Rotary Caps Climax.
How much steam has done FOR the aa-
Vaneement OF civilization can hardly be
reekoned. With the invention OF the
Feciproeating engine In which the piston
and the piston rod move back and forth
IN straight line. absolutely or relative
~ 70 the cylinder. great strides were
made. II meant more 10 mankind than
the invention Of the telegraph. teIe-
ahons. phonOgraph. or any OF the other