Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-20
IN THE POWER PALACE
Source Of Vitality Of the st.
Louis Exposition.
THE SCIENCES APPLIED
NO MACHINES EXHIBITED THAT
WERE AT THE CHICAGO FAIR.
Steam Turbine and Gas Engine the Two
Great Examples of Develop
ment Since Then.
THE SCIENCES APPLIED
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

By WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
| Special Correspondence of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald.
ST. LOUIS, October s, 1904.
| The power palace is the heart of the fair,
the center of it's life and the source of it's
| vitality. This is more of a moving EXPOSE
| ton than was ever held before; more
| wheels are running, more machines are in
| operation; more processes for the produc-
| ton of manufactured goods are exhibited
| than were ever brought together. 1t is emf
nently a school of applied sciences. The
| people can see articles of daily use made
from the raw material before their eyes.
The great lesson-and there is a lesson in
everything-is the constant evolution that
| Is going on in the mechanical industries
the continual improvement Of today upon
yesterday; that advance is being directed
by the ingenuity Of American workmen to-
ward economy of production, the improve
| ment of the quality of the products and the
multiplication of human power and skill
| Every brain in the mec 1anical world seems
| to be studying how to assist the hand of
| the operator to make more and better
things in given time, and thus enhance
[ the value of intelligence and energy. The
| machinery, electricity and transportation
buildings are monuments to American in
6Shuity, "hiSh AcNSI tiIeS duu HeFeF SlOpS
working
None of the machines that are here were
| at. the Chicago exposition. In some indus
| tries they have been changed twice since
then, and suppose If another exposition is
held ten years from now all of the wonder
| full mechanisms we admiring today will
| be obsolete and condemned to the museums
| or the junk yards.
If you will stop to think a moment, any
one of hundred cities within the limits of
Louisiana territory is a conclusive demon
stration of the value of this mechanical de-
| velopment, for it will produce this year. yes
| even while the exposition is open, enough of
| value to pay the cost of the Louisiana pur-
| chase. The products of many of the cities
| last year, this year and next year will sell
| for many times the price that Thomas JEFF
! ferson paid Napoleon Bonaparte
The Steam Turbine.
| But here We are measuring everything by
| the standard set at Chicago in 1893. The
most important developments in the me-
chanical world since then have been the
| steam turbine and the gas engine. Several
notable examples of both are in motion
| here. Neither of them is a new invention
| The turbine principle was described by
| Hero 120 years before Christ; an engine
based upon it was in operation in Italy in
| 1922 Charles A. Parsons introduced it into
England in 1884 and in 1889 four 100-horse-
| power turbine engines were installed at
Newcastle-on-Tyne, where they are still in
continuous service, furnishing power for
the electric lighting company. Public at
tention, however, was not generally at
tracted to this modern adaptation of an
old principle until the little steamer Tur-
bina made nearly thirty-five knots an hour
| in 1897. In 1898 the Parsons patents were
purchased by the Westinghouse company
| of Pittsburg, which has been turning out
| engines of all sizes ever since, the largest
| having a capacity of 5000 horse power. A
| turbine steamer called the Queen has been
| running across the English channel be-
| tween Dover and Calais for three years at
| the rate of twenty-five miles an hour, and
| greatly to the satisfaction of people who
| are compelled to make the 'nastiest sea
| voyage in the world.
| Two new monstrous passenger steamers
| now being built by the Cunard company
will each have 60 000-horse-power turbine
| engines, and will cross the Atlantic in less
| than five days. The aggregate capacity Of
| turbine engines now in operation in vari-
/ Gus parts of the world will exceed 100000
| horse power; yet this is the first time that
| such machines have ever been exhibited at
| an exposition.
| Parsons steam turbine in Machinery Hall
| was started at o'clock on the morning of
| June 20 1T has been running continuously
at the rate of sixty revolutions second.
or 5000 revolutions minute and driving
| generator at the average rate of 800 miles
| an hour, or 1900 miles day, and it has
| never yet stopped for repairs.
One great advantage Of the turbine is Its
| economy of space. 1t takes up about one
| fifth of the room required for an ordinary
| steam engine of the same capacity; 1t costs
| about one-fifth less; 1T requires about half
as much fuel; it produces very much
higher speed with no disturbance, no VI
bration, shaking and hence compare
lively little cost of repairs The man In
charge here will place ten-cent piece or
silver dollar on any part of the framework
of his engine and it will lie as mot1onless
as If it were resting upon quarry or rock.
When l crossed the British channel on the
CT Queen last year the mo-
ton of the engines was not percept1ble on
either of the decks or in any of the state
rooms.
The Gas Engine.
| Tho gas engine is old also 1t has been
used for centuries, but only recently mas
IT been applied to everyday machinery, ana
the mechanical world is just beginning to
appreciate its economy simplicity, cleanli-
ness and reliability. The engineers here
tell me that the ordinary steam engine
saves only II or ID per cent of the energy
of the fuel consumed. The gas engine will
utilize 50 and 50 per cent, and 1t does not
require boilers, steam pumps, conoensers'
return traps and other expensive auxillaries
of ordinary steam plants, which are not
only expensive but cause losses of heat and
leakage of power and large expense for
installation and repairs.
With a gas engine coal Is not burned 10
heat water to make steam, but to make
gas which Is fed directly to the engine
The coal is made to burn slowly so as to
secure perfect combustion and give off the
maximum of gas. In one type of engine
the gas is conducted into a storage reser-
voir, such as you find at an ordinary city
gas plant from which 1t is fed by pipes
as needed. In another type of machine the
gas is made in front of the engine as fast
as it is needed and fed directly without the
intervention of tank AS the piston Is
drawn to one end of the cylinder the gas is
admitted to the chamber. When 1t has
gone as far as 1t can go, 1t makes an cleo
trical connection which creates spark,
which explodes the gas, which drives the
piston to the other end. This Is repeated
many times a second, and thus the piston
| Is kept in motion.
The engine is not only simple but can be