Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-05
The Passing of Steam
Bv Frsderic j. HaSkin

utilized in gainful work when the
reciproeating engine is the medium by
which heat is turned into work.
Steam has seemed most safely in
trenched as a motive power in what
are known as the heavy industries.
such as steel and iron foundrles The
metal industries alone have con-
sumed 80 per cent of all the steam
power used in manufacturing. But
even here the gas engine is making
inroads on it's steam competitor A
recent order placed by the United
States Steel corporation is only one
of hundreds that are contained in the
current news Of the engineering
world. 1t calls for twenty-four gas
engines with frames weighing lis tons
each, all of the twin tandem, double
acting type. Half of these are for
blower service and half for power The
blowing engines will weigh 100000
pounds and the others only slightly
less. A hywheel weighs 100000 pounds
each crank has a five-foot stroke and
each crank shaft weighs 100000
pounds.
II is said that If a census of flying
machines were taken today it would
be found that there are fully 1000 OF
them in Europe and America which
actually fly. The United States has
more than 200 of these. 1t had been
thought prior to the demonstrations
of the Wrights that the success of
aerial navigation depended upon the
construction of engines which could
register almost as many horsepower
as they weighed pounds. Some had
been built which could develop a
horsepower for less than two pounds
of weight. But the Wright expert
ments showed that, while minimum
weight was very desirable attribute
of an airship engine. it need not be
obtained at the sacrifice of efficiency.
The enormous waste of power in the
United States through the average
steam plant is illustrated by H. st.
Clair Putnam in an article on the. con-
serVation of power. He says that
there is S0,000,000 horsepower being
lost by failure to harness the water
courses of the country, and that it
would require 650,000,000 tons of coal
year to duplicate this power-prac-
tically one-half more coal than the
annual production of the country. He
states further that if the most perfect
steam electric plants known were used
it would still require 225, 900 tons of
coal a year to duplicate the power the
raindrops possess as they hurry on to
the sea through the river beds.
II VIII De seen from ItllS IndC ne re-
CARDS the best steam electric plant
practically three times as efficient as
the average steam plant with recipro-
eating engines. He figures that this
power would suffice to move every
railroad train and street car and turn
every wheel of industry in the United
States if it We're utilized through
hydro-electric plants. The practica-
bility of this is shown at Niagara
Falls and elsewhere. In some places
one may look from the car window
and see the water in the act of turn
ing the big wheels of a hydro-electric
plant, which means that it is pulling
the train up the mountain with the
force of it's downward rush.
But even the new powers that are
being used are wasteful only in q
less degree than steam through the
reciprocating engine. While it requires
1920 heat units in the firebox to give
100 at the shaft with the reciprocating
engine the producer gas engine gets
its 100 effective units from 525 in the
fireboX. The saving as compared with
the steam engine amounts to more
than half, yet even at this only 19 per
cent of the inherent power in the coal
is made to do effective work at the
shaft.
tive purposes may be transmitted for
considerable distances just as well as
electricity. This is leading many en-
gineers to consider the feasibility of
locating central gas power stations at
the coal mines thus saving almost the
whole cost of transportation of fuel
for manufacturing. The sawmill is To-
Gated contiguous to the forest, and the
packing house stays reasonably close
to the stock raising section, because
the finished product is much cheaper
to transport than the raw material. In
the case of the central gas power sta
tion the gas would be transported in
pipe lines and would represent the fin
ished product.
A wave engine was tested recently
on the California coast, and it devel-
oped fifteen horsepower. AS 1t is esti-
mated that the average wave breaks
upon the beach with a force of seven
teen tons to the square yard, it will be
seen that if way Is found to harness
the waves power may soon become
still more inexpensive.
Tomorrow-TURBULENT CENTRAL
AMERICA