Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1909-03-05
BIG INTEREST IN TRIALS.
Scout Cruisers Chester, Salem and
Birmingham to Engage In
Machinery Tests.
Special to the Herald.

Special to the Herald.
Washington, D. c., March 5.-The
scout cruisers Chester, Salem and
Birmingham, which formed a part of
the squadron that escorted the Allan
tic battleship fleet in Hampton Roads,
have gone to Bradford, R. l., for coal
ing preparatory to the comparative
machinery tests which they will I'M
dergo. AS soon as they have complet-
ed their coaling the three vessels will
make long cruise to the West Indies
in order to make a comparative test
of the relative merits of the three
types of machinery with which they
are equipped.
The coming tests promise to en-
gross the undivided attention of naval
men. The interest lies in the fact
that while all three of the cruisers
have the same lines, the same ton
mage and the same estimated speed,
2 each has motive power radically diff
ferent from the other. In these types
5 of ships the naval officers will have
an excellent chance to figure out for
themselves the relations between the
turbine and reciprocating engines.
Not only that, the reciprocating en-
gines will be placed in rivalry
against two types of turbine engines
and in the final analysis soon ito be
worked out the navy department will
s:be in a position to know whether the
old-style. reciprocating engine-old,
but still very effective-is the equal
of either the Parsons or the Curtis
turbine engine.
The cruiser Chester is equipped
with the Parsons-W estinghous tur-
bine engines, an English patent with
an American development. The Bir-
migham is equipped with the recipro
eating engines now in use in virtually
every vessel of the United States
navy The third scout cruiser, the
Salem, is equipped with the Curtis or
American type of turbine engines. As
all three cruisers are designed to
maintain a speed of twenty-four knots
an hour, and as each one is equipped
with propelling machinery different
from the other, the study, from an en-
gineering standpoint, at once becomes
interesting and valuable.
Probably the greatest interest will
be centered in the performance of the |
Salem, which is equipped with the
Curtis turbine engines, because this
type of engines is entirely new to
fighting ships and because the ex.
perts ha mad no reasepable chance |
TO watch the workings OF the engine
designed by the young American |
whose name the new type of machin
cry bears. The only large ship now
equipped with the Curtis turbines is |
the Creole of the Southern Pacific |
Steamship company's line, which is a
sixteen knot ship, but which has not
been a great success SO far. This
has been due. though, to several
causes for which the turbine is not to
blame One reason is that a turbine
engine is essentially a fast-moving
engine and the best of results, engi-
neers say, can never be gotten out of
them while going at low rate of
speed.
The turbines of the Salem will be a
quite distinct change from those on
the Creole, several important changes
having been made in their construc-
ton as result of watching the trial
of the turbines on the Creole. Inter
est in the workings of the Salem's
engines will be accentuated by the
fact that it is the type of engine
which the government is installing in
the 10000 ton battleship North Da
kota, recently launched at the yards
of the Fore River Shipbuilding COM
pany.
type of engine that makes the fastest
speed on these new cruisers for there
are many other things to be taken in
to consideration besides speed. The
engineering experts will want to
know the coal consumption neces
sary to produce certain horse power
HUMAN HANDS;