Improvements in Turbine Engines.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Sept., 1893-Accepted, 13th May, 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Turbine Engines.
A communication by WILLIAM EDGAR PRALL, of 26, East 42nd Street, New York,
in the County and State of New York, United States of America, Steam
Engineer.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester,
both in the County of Lancaster, 118, New Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, and 322, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement:—
Fig. 4 is a plan of a nozzle wheel;
Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of Figure 4;
Fig. is a perspective of a bucket with a bevelled tongue;
Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view of an apparatus for utilizing the invention
including a water heater, engine, condenser, and pump with pipe-connections and
valves.
In a turbine engine to be driven by superheated water a large number of bucket
or impact wheels are necessary and also a large number of nozzle openings to
correspond to the number of impact openings. Provision for conveniently replac-
ing the impact buckets and nozzle tubes is also important on account of the severe
wear to which they are subjected. To provide for this necessity and to construct
the parts in a durable manner the engine is made in sections a, see Fig. 1. These
sections with the interposed peripheries i of the nozzle wheels c are held together
by nuts and stay rods 6 which extend from the two outer sections or end plates
between the standards e¹, which standards comprise the cylinder heads such as
shown in Fig. 2. Each section a has at i a ground joint connection with the nozzle
wheel c.
The central shaft d has bearings e in the standards e¹.
Fastened upon
this shaft and rotating therewith are the bucket wheels f. These bucket wheels
are constructed of two sections and arranged to be screwed together at g, one
section having an extension threaded for the purpose. It also has an extension h
on the side opposite the screw threaded extension, of sufficient length for a central
bearing which tightly fits a centre opening of the nozzle wheel c. These exten-
sions establish an equal distance between the bucket wheels which are rigidly
bound together by the nuts ¹ on shaft d. Thus joined in the cylinder, the bucket
wheels and main shaft rotate together. Nozzles made of split tubes of hard metal
are denoted by 1. These being of frusto-conical form are readily inserted in

page_text: seats of similar form and are easily removable and renewable when employed with
the separable partitions c.
The buckets are readily placed in position and securely fastened between the
sections of the bucket wheel by means of their beveled openings m and the beveled
tongues n. These buckets may be made of steel drop-forgings or castings and
then milled and case-hardened, after which they can readily be placed in position
and tightened. The parts rigidly fastened together by the stay rods are secured
to the base plate o by flanges p.
In the operation of this engine, water heated to a greater or lesser degree is
introduced into the first section of the engine cylinder (see Fig. 7) through the
inlet opening or feed pipe r, and exhausted through pipe s. It is proposed in
some cases to employ a condenser w and a pump a driven by a steam engine y, and
to save the heat in the water discharged from the cylinder by returning it through
a pipe z to the generator t for re-heating. u denotes a hot water supply pipe com-
municating with inlet pipe r.
The condenser would be placed at the exhaust opening s. It is evident that if
the vaporization of the water be obtained within the engine and in a partial vacuum,
that a very large percentage of heat will be saved, as water will vaporize under
such conditions at a temperature of from 100° to 150°.
It would be practicable to re-heat the exhaust and return it direct to the engine
or through the medium of a hot water holder or tank.
It has been discovered that in an impact engine which is not subject to the
amount of friction that attends the ordinary piston engine with its valves and
necessary initial condensation, the pressure which may be obtained by vaporiza-
tion of water and the rapidity of the flow from said engine into a vacuum chamber
or condenser, is sufficient for the most perfect utilization of the heat.
In the modification shown in Figure 1 hot water is admitted through a valve D
and enters the cylinder at N, and exhaust occurs at the two ends through pipes h
These communicate with ports in the extensions K of standards L fixed to a
base R. The pipe P has bearings in said standards.
The end thrust of fluid pressure is neutralized by the central admission.
A part of the bucket wheels W are fixed as by bolts X to the cylinder and the
remainder are fixed to the central rotating fluid-admitting shaft P. These wheels
have at their peripheries oppositely disposed buckets whereby the cylinder and
tube are oppositely rotated, the cylinder being suitably geared to the tube as shown
to co-operate with it in driving a pulley P
At one end of the cylinder there is an exhaust through a port or passage M
extending entirely around the cylinder from the vicinity of the buckets and dis-
charging through ports 02 and pipe K. The circumferential continuity of the
port M is favorable to the discharge of exhaust which is opposed to some extent
by centrifugal action.
Referring to the opposite end of the cylinder, Y¹ denotes an opening which
acts to scoop up the exhaust which is discharged through chamber and ports (1.
There are two oppositely situated non-rotatable chambers Y fixed to a tubular
extension of a standard L. Each chamber has a port Y¹ opening in a direction
opposite to that of the rotation of the cylinder. In Figure 1 one of these open-
ings is shown in the lower chamber that of the upper chamber being removed
by the section of the figure.
In some cases hot water instead of being charged from a heater directly to
engines will be stored in portable tanks and charged from them into the engines.
Steam turbine wheels require a high velocity in consequence of the small specific
gravity of the steam. Such engines are practically valueless under ordinary
conditions. The momentum of hot water under high pressure far exceeds that
of steam charged from a vessel under the same pressure and it has been discovered
that the momentum of water used according to the present invention can be utilized 5
and the heat converted into power with comparatively small velocity.

page_text: discharging water and steam from the cylinder, and a condenser, substantially
as described.
10. The combination of a receptacle containing highly heated water under
pressure, a cylinder containing power-receiving and transmitting buckets or the
like adapted to be rotated by the impact of water, a conduit whereby hot water
can be projected against the power transmitting devices, means for discharging
water and steam from the case, and means for heating and returning the discharge
for re-use, substantially as described.
11. The combination of a receptacle containing highly heated water, a water-
conveying pipe, an enclosing cylinder, and a shaft, the cylinder and shaft each
having fixed thereto separate wheels having curved faces to receive the impact
of water, the faces on adjacent wheels being oppositely curved, and gears inter-
mediate the cylinder and shaft, whereby the several disks co-operate to turn the
shaft in the same direction, substantially as described.
Dated this 5th day of September 1898.
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents.

page_text: The amount of water admitted should be approximately that which would be
required for the production of steam for doing the same work by the use of
ordinary steam engines or such that a large part will be converted into steam
during its progress through the cylinder. If too much water is admitted there
will be too little room for the generation of steam within the cylinder and too
little steam expansion, it being necessary for the production of steam that the
water-confining-pressure of the hot water tank be taken off the water admitted
to the cylinder by giving room therein for steam expansion. The water admis-
sion is therefore small in volume as compared with that of steam in turbine or
other engines and such that sufficient space is allowed in the cylinder for the pro-
duction and expansion of steam therein by the heat of the water. The water will
not necessarily be entirely converted into steam and the expansive force of steam
and the weight of water co-operate to effect work with less speed of the mingled
fluids than is necessary when steam alone is used owing to its small specific
gravity.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is;-
1. The cylinder of an impact engine, constructed in sections, which sections
hold in position the nozzle partitions c making a series of chambers in which the
impact wheels rotate, substantially as described and as shown in Figure 1.
2. The frusto-conical nozzle tubes of hard metal combined with nozzle-holding
partitions having similarly shaped openings to receive the nozzles and with
wheels f having impact faces as described and as shown in Figures 1, 3 and 5.
3. The construction of an impact bucket wheel, of a turbine engine in two
sections and beveiled so as to receive and clamp and rigidly hold the adjustable
buckets, substantially as described and as shown in Figures 1, 3 and 5.
4. The arrangement of a series of revolving bucket wheels in separate chambers,
said wheels being held rigidly to the revolving shaft by the sleeve extensions
made to connect the various wheels together, said extensions being passed through
the nozzle partitions and fastened together rigidly around the centre shaft, as
described and as shown in Figure 1.
5. The improvement in the art of converting heat into power which consists
in charging highly heated water into a cylinder having alternate fixed nozzle
partitions and bucket wheels fixed to a rotating shaft and exhausting from the
cylinder through a condenser, the water being held under pressure until admitted
to the cylinder in small quantity to produce steam expansion therein to propel
the wheels.
6. A stationary hollow sleeve forming a bearing for the cylinder situated at
its end and provided with an exhaust opening M around the rotating shaft of
a turbine engine and leading on all sides from the periphery of the cylinder to
near said shaft, and central escape ports, as described and as shown in Figure 1^.
7. In a rotary engine, the rotating cylinder, the stationary scoop situated within
and extending from near its centre to the periphery of the cylinder and having
an open port at its outer part in communication with said cylinder to take water
from the outer part of the rotating cylinder and having a port to discharge the
water from the cylinder, substantially as described and as shown in Figure 1.
S. The combination of a receptacle containing highly heated water under
pressure, a cylinder containing power-receiving and transmitting buckets or the
like adapted to be rotated by the impact of water and a conduit whereby hot
water can be charged into the cylinder and projected against the buckets and means
for discharging water and steam from said cylinder, substantially as described.
9. The combination of a receptacle containing highly heated water under
pressure, a cylinder containing power-receiving and transmitting buckets or the
like adapted to be rotated by the impact of water, a fluid discharge pipe whereby
hot water can be projected against the power-transmitting devices, means for