The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1906-04-11

coal passers. twenty coal trimmers,
four TO six electricians, four wiremen
and six to eight donkey engine drivers.
AS rule most every passenger
aboard liner gets 1t into his head that
the captain Is the most important per-
sonage aboard, and as a rule he is, but
his name would be J. Herbert Mudd
without the engine room staff. Take
quick passage and the passengers will
compliment the captain, when in all
fairness the glory belongs TO the engi'
neering STAFF. Every chief engineer
could. If it were required of him, go
into the chart room and peg out the
vessels path. or he could find her lati.
tude and longitude from her rail, or
mount the bridge and command her,
but not one captain in thousand
could go into an engine room and oil
up an engine let alone run it.
rhe distinction between the vertical
and horizontal reciprocating engines
and the turbine engine lies in the fact
that the latter has no piston; the steam
enters the turbine much as water en-
ters the hood of an overshot wheel,
and being under great pressure, strikes
against flanges which are centred on a
shaft, causing it to revolve at great
speed The motion of a turbine is
therefore continuously forward, or
backward if it is reversed, just like a
wheel moves. A reciprocating engine,
be it vertical or horizontal. drives a
piston out from its cylinder by the pres
sure of steam in front If the piston
head. In other words, the turbine
moves as does wheel clinched TO its
axle and set in frame to prevent It
moving forward and the same distance
back again. 1t is rather difficult to ex-
plain machine construction to the un-
technical mind by the use Of terms
alone, diagrams are required and
elaborate explanatory notes accompa-
nying tnem in order that even an ink
ling may be had as to the general con-
| struction of given machine.
have often wondered why men in
prison do not study the technique OF
some given brand of engineering-take
a man doing a five-year term and he
could by judicious study fit himself to
| take a minor position, such as oiler
| aboard a liner or in q great power
plant, and then learn the practical end
of the business and eventually get an
engineers certificate. | would sug-
gest to those who would take up this
study the following course:
Physics, or the science OF natural
law. wherein one becomes acquainted
with natural phenomena, its applica-
ton to mechanics and the equations
deducted therefrom.
Mathematics. which allows one to
make use of his knowledge of physics
and its equations.
| Chemistry, a useful adjunct to every
J branch of higher engineering and abso-
lutely necessary to some.
t Mechanical drawing. which allows
; one to study the designs of others and
t put on paper ones own ideas and de-
signs.
Mechanical construction or applied
, mechanics, which teaches one why a
, given machine is built one way and
not another; this is simply physics spe-
, cialized.
The evolution of science, because Of
its widening influence on the mind.
, English grammar, because it not only
makes one intelligently receptive Of
the ideas of another, but allows one to
so express himself that the reader or
listener can intelligently understand
what one is trying to say
Logic, because it helps one to be
sane, and that is a requirement of all
higher mechanics.
Geography. history and kindred stu
dies, because they help any man to
more intelligently grasp the great ques-
tions of the day and time and to do his
work with an intelligent understanding
of its purpose and not as a simple ma
chine.
The thing all good engineers must
and do avoid is liquor. An engineer is
dethroned quicker by alcohol than is
any other professional man, and once
, down is name is Denns.-Sing Sing
, Prison Star of Hope.