Omaha daily bee., 1909-11-21
LOCOMOTIVE WONDER
steam and Electricity Are Combined
in = Turbine-Driven
Machine.

President Hugh Reid OF the Glasgow
University Engineering society has an
nounced that a new locomotive is under
construction which may lead to the tur-
bine system, which revolutionized steam
propulsion on the Atlantic, being applied
to the railway engines Of the world.
Reid describes this engine as the first
steam-turbine-electric locomotive. Various
proposals have been made to e~lectrify the
existing steam railways, but the antici-
pated cost of conversion and Of the pros
pective maintenance hitherto has pre-
vented progress.
Attempts nave been made to introduce
Independent, self-generatlng electric units
that might operate over existing railway
systems without necessitating any electri-
cal equipment on the railways themselves.
The Heilmann steam-electric locomotive,
which was built in 1894, was the most not
able Of these attempts, but Reid declares
that the new steam-turbine-electric loco
motive, now being built by the North
British Locomotive company, is of much
more practical development.
The steam is generated in a boiler Of the
ordinary locomotive type, superheated
steam from the boiler is led to a turbine
Of impulse type, running at a speed Of
5000 revolutions a minute, to which is
NOuplGu hlIttliN a CONTINUOUS current, va
riable voltage dynamo or generator. The
! dynamo supplies electrical energy of from
200 to 600 volts to four series of traction
motors, the armatures of which are built
on the four main or driving axles Of the
locomotive.
The exhaust steam from the turbine
passes into an ejector condenser, and, to-
gether with the circulating condensing
water, is delivered eventually to a hot
well. As the steam turbine is unlike a
reciprocating steam engine in that it re-
quires no internal fabrication, the water
of condensation is free from oil and con-
sequently is returned from the hot Well
direct to the boiler by means of a feed
pump. The water evaporated by the boiler,
therefore, is returned to the boiler again
and again, and the supply of water carried
in the tanks is actually circulating water
for condensing purposes.
This condensing water is circulated
within a practically closed cycle by means
OF small centrifugal pumps driven by aux
Hilary steam turbines placed alongside the
main turbine and dynamo.
Reid declares the idea is the outcome of
much thought and experiment over a pc
riod Of several years and is being carried
out on a large scale. AS the engine under
construction is intended for express and
passenger work, Reid hopes to obtain from
its actual working comparisons with the
performances of reciprocating steam loco
motives, especially as regards the relative
consumption of fuel and water, and also
as to the efficiency of transforming the
energy Of steam into the drawbar or train
pull, and also the relative rapidity of &C
CELEBRATION under the old and new systems.
The component parts Of this steam
urbine-electri locomotive already have
proved themselves effective and efficient
in other applications, and the novelty lies
in the combination Of the different eli
mnts of which the locomotive is COM
posed. The expected results in this case
should not, therefore, Reid believes, be
so p~roblematical as in an invention where
the novelty is in the details.-Chicago
Tribune.