The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1912-02-02

ease and rapidity OF repairs, and a small ratio of
weight and space occupied to the power delivered
on the shaft Mr.. Tesla maintains that in the tur-
bine which forms the subject of this article he
has carried the steam and gas motor a long step
forward toward the maximum attanable efficen-
cy, both theoretical and mechanical That these
claims are well founded is shown by the fact that
In the plant where Mr.. Tesla carried out his ex-
perlments, he is securing an output of 200 HIP.
from a single-stage steam turbine with atmos-
pheric exhaust, weighing less than 2 pounds per
HIP. which is contained within space measuring
feet by feet, by feet in height and which
accomplishes these results with thermal fall of
only 100 BTU, that is about onethird of the to-
tai drop available. Furthermore, considered
from the mechanical standpoint, the turbine is
astonishingly simple and economical in construc-
ton, and by the very nature of it's construction
should prove to possess such a durability and
freedom from and breakdown to place it
in these respects far in advance Of any type Of
steam gas motor of the present day.
Briefly stated, Teslas steam motor consists of
a set of fat steel disks mounted shaft and
rotating within casing, the steam entering with
high velocity at the periphery Of the disks flow
ing between them in free spiral paths and finally
escaping through exhaust ports at their center
Instead of developing the energy of the steam
by pressure reaction impact on a series OF
blades or vanes Tesla depends upon the fluid
properties of adhesion and viscosity-the attrac
ton of the steam to the faces Of the disks and
the resistance of It's particles to molecular Sepa-
ration combining in transmitting the velocity
ergy of the motive fluid to the plates and the
shaft.
By reference to the accompanying photographs
1t will be seen that the turbine has q rotor which
In the present consists Of Is fiat steel disks
one one thirty-second of an inch in thickness, OF
hardened and carefully tempered steel. The
rotor as assembled is 31a~nches wide on the face,
by IS inches in diameter and when the turbine
Is running at it's maximum working velocity, the
material is never under tensile stress exceeding
$4,000 lbs. per square inch. The rotor is mounted
in a casing which is provided with two inlet noz-
zles for in running direct and for reversing.
Openings cut out at the central portion or
the disks and these communicate directly with
exhaust ports formed in the side Of the casing.
In operation, the steam or gas the may
be- is directed on the periphery OF the disks
through the nozzles (Which may be diverging,
straight or converging) where more or less of its
expansive energy is converted into velocity en-
ergy. When the machine is at rest the radfal
and tengential forces due to the pressure and Veo
city of the steam cause it to travel in rather
short curved path toward the central exhaust
opening but as the disks commence to rotate
and their spaed increases the steam travels in
spiral paths the length of which increases until
in the case of the present turbine, the particles
of the fluid complete number OF turns around
the shaft before reaching the exhaust covering
In the meantime a 1ineal path some II to 16 feet
in length. During its progress from inlet to ex
haust the velocity and pressure of the steam are