The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-05-29
GAS ENGINES FOR Big SHIPS
SCR HILLIlW WHITE DOESN'T
IHINK THEM POSSIBLE YET.

Wa, Tome N TSInc. says ths FORMER chief
tcnstraeteF gf the british NaNy
New white star Beats 20 ne Bigwer
and slower Than the CmaFd Giants.
SIR William Henry white. for many
wears chief constructor of the Britain
navy, who was called into consulta alton
~ the Cunard company In the designing
AID construction Of the Lnsitania and
Mauritania. thinks that the EaaOlane
batteship or ocean liner IA impractioable
a this stAGs Of the development Of the
gAsolene engine.
sir William u the recognized authority
ca marine construction in England His
health broke down about eight years ago.
bringing about his retirement. but to-
day. At Is. ne looks in bis prime.
Up 10 date the difiiculty In ship pro-
pusion has heen 20 get great engine power
Tor high speed. said Sir William az the
Belmont yesterday. TO accomplish this
with gasolene you would have TO put a
great number Of engines on the shaft,
Tor when you begin 70 make an individual
gas engine II great sire you get into diiYi-
cuItles There must he alienation Of
temperatures In an engine. and in q gas
er qne this Is very high. The gas ex-
p.rdes At a high temperature, and must
get cooler by expansion. That II the
great difficulty TO overcome 30 far.
While up 20 a certain power We can
make an internal combustion engine that
does well. beyond that point it seems at
present impracticable. | don't say that
the problem will not be conquered in
time. There "a an engine being made
over here that u developing some large
power. Submarines are driven by IN
ternA combustion engines. but II you 20
20 board Of one you will nee that the power
= developed by q multitude Of cylinders.
II they wish 20 80 slow they cut Of num-
ner Of cylinders. and work them all u
they wish 20 60 fast. Though they don't
reverse, they give q fairly constant turn
Meantime the Parsons steam turbine,
which was only brought out in 1897. has
proved a marvel Of speed. Twas director
" marine construction In the British
navy a. the time. and the first ship in the
navy upon which We took up the turbine
waa the destroyer Viper, thtak "a isss,
enCe with the turbine. think ! ain right
N saying that PaTsons's turbines are
furnishing between four and four and a
half millions Of horsepower TO ships
already built or nov building.
The power developed on she Lllaitania
and the Mauritania had never bsen APP
preached. The biggest developed hitherto
hal been the t0.00O 10 5000 h. p. on the
kaieer Wilhelm H.. with reciprocating
engines. We slipped this amount up al
e. once 20 1900 or s0.O00. Here too We
got The whole Of this tremendous horse
power directly upon the shaft In re-
oprOcal engines the cylinder takes up
a lot q f. -Four TO 5 per cent. Ia used up
before the power gets TO the shaft. You
cannot really indicate the hOrFe- power
IN q turbine accurately, AZ the engine
always runs one way. And the engines
u the BusitaniA and the Maurstania are
probably not the l1st word in turbine
construction, ~ they are talking a still
greater Onss
In a reciprocal engine, to alternate
the direction. u you lake. for instance.
fong cyllnAss type. yog have Eui 10 aei
ia motion that piston. move u through
q stroke. stop u. and put Il back again.
Il e about the same thing ~ II you saw
q bag locomotive jerking backward and
forward on a railway trnck. just imagine
this being done sixty 10 ninety times q
minute from the time you leafe the other
SIDE until you get over here and the
amount Of power thus lost. ON the Mature
ianla, coming over here az full speed.
The screws made $50 revolutions a minute
ell the way over You can easily figure
out the enormous number made during
the voyage. and the power going one
way all the time.
III we had decided TO put reciprocating
enEinas into the Mauritania. we would
have needed much bigger shafts than
are used. and their manufacture would
have been a serious matter. In fact the
recipTOcating engine is getting to a point
where there are serious manufacturing
difiiculties In the way.
There has been a lot Of talk about gas
turbines. but the temperature question
h 90 far q block in their way. | have
often been asked 20 look AZ gas turbines
but have noticed that when ! exposed
a willingness 70 20 20 see them the in
vieafi0n has never been repeated
Yea have been told the particulars
u the new White Star liners. the Olympic
and Titanic. which will have a tonnage
q between 500 and 300, a. against
the - 600 or - 900 Of the big Cunarders.
Mr.. Bruce Ismay and his colleagues de-
cided not tO 60 in for high speed. but
for great size. splendid accommodation
for passengers and great carrying capa-
city. which would not be possible II high
apsed we're demanded A moderate oper-
ating speed Of say q knots will mean !
that they will have not more than %
per cent Of the Cunaryiers' power and /
that their coal bills viii be proportion /
sicily reduced. They are IN be Of about .
the same speed a. the Oceanic. Indeed, /
the late Thomas IEmay. the father Of
Bruce lsmay, would have got the same !
results with the Oceanic that have been |
attained by the Mauritania II the British |
Government had cared 20 give him the
subsidy required. which the Cunard |
company goo later. He told me that II !
with the Oceanio he went In for unusual
speed Il would not be worth while unless
he took on twelve hours ftom the FIVE and
half day records Of the Lucania and
CampAniA.
! must repeat. 10 return 10 the subject |
n marine gas engines that / am IN no !
sense opposed 10 them. But the DIM |
Guilty about the high temperature. and = |
real one it h, IL ~ yet unoOnquered. |
-'Ill Il would be folly 20 put q limit upon |
mechanical ingenuity and Improvement. !
BIT may say that all schemes about gas |
sngne hattleships with 5olOOO horsepower
are "a far only acheuea