The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-12-11


FT1TFIS period we are told, is the Machine Age"
} Some machines are driven by hand, but when we
speak of the Machine Age with capital letters
think OF huge organisms of steel with parts forced
back and forth by the irresistible expansion OF
steam, held in endless gyration by the force of
NJ electric current
Power of one kind or another is what keeps our
machines moving Hand power, horse power, wind
power, steam power, oil power, water power cleo
ericity-where do they come from? What can We
use them for? How do use them? VIII they
sast forever? Are they being wasted? What is
rsuperpower"?
Hand power or muscle power" is used instinc-
Gvely The food we eat is fuel for our body; it is
rburned up" inside just as coal is burned under
Boiler As long as we last-and get food-our
nuscle power lasts. 1t may seriously decrease in
quantity we get worn out. The earliest factories
at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution operated
entirely on hand power.
If we feed horse and hitch him to wagon we
are using the horses muscle power horse pow
er". For centuries this the last word in trans
poration. The only improvement upon horse was
two horses, and the only improvement upon two
horses was four horses.
With the of steam power, the Machine Age be
gan. But steam is made by boiling water, and to
boil the water you must heat it with something.
Again see that the energy, the power, must come
from fuel. What we use a fuel? What can
we heat the water with? Anything-anything that
will burn and produce heat. Wood peat soft coal,
gas, manufactured gas, fuel oil Hundreds Of miles
Of Russian railways traversed by woodworking
locomotives. Several Russian steamelectric stations
are peat. Brown coal is widely used in Ger
many. The use of powdered coal and of gas
aer boilers is becoming common in America. The
oil burning steamships and locomotives burn oil
nnder boilers in order to generate steam. Any and
svery fuel may be used to produce steam, but steam
hseE is not primary source of power. Its energy
Is derived from the fuel
use of gasoline airDlane
notorboat, Of a heavier oil in the Diesel Gnter-
nal combusion) engine (notorship and submarine)
are cases where the energy of the fuel is transmit
ted directly to the engine without the of
Eernal intermediary such steam. Gasoline power"
Or "oil power must be classed with steam power as
derived from fuel
How long will steam power and oil power
yast? AS long fuel lasts. In America, the
end of oil and natural gas is probably matter Of
decades Coal is good for few centuries yet, but
ts extraction from the mines will become increas-
tngly difficult Already fuel conservation is becom-
1Eg a vital problem
Now for sources of power other than fuel-ready-
made power Two fluids exist upon the earth in
ere in constant motion and this motion means pow
erin unlimited quantities. The motion of the air
NE know wind" that of the water tides" and
Scurrents" Windmills have been used since ancient
Zines, and for centuries wind power was relied upon
exclusively for the whole worlds marine commerce;
1t is barely half century since the steamship be-
gan to encroach seriously upon the realm of the
sailing vessel But wind power aho it is practical
~ something for nothing is uncertain and uncon-
krollable ship stays idle for days in a calm and
then gets wrecked in terrific blow. The Miami
hurricane represented millions OF horsepower turn
ed loose in terrific outburst, destroying every
thing in its path and then dssipating itself useless
BY The Rotor Ship of Anton Flettner will probably
increase in value as welldevised of wind
an auxiliary power, but until method is discov.