256 CHARLES C. FITZMORRIS 



engine is wasteful, and it is only possible to obtain a fraction 

 of the theoretical power in the coal by which the steam is 

 made. Friction, radiation especially, and atmospheric con- 

 ditions in general make it impossible to secure all the power 

 of the coal. Yet there are more steam engines in the United 

 States than any other form of power producing machinery. 

 While inventors have directed their efforts to improve the 

 reciprocating engine, many persons have tried to devise a 

 rotary engine, but none have succeeded, unless the turbine 

 may be called a rotary engine. The piston, in the rotary 

 engine, is in the form of a wheel, flanged at both ends and with 

 a central web. Steam is admitted through this piston wheel, 

 which is revolved by the expansion of the steam before it 

 passes out through the exhausts. Extreme friction or loss 

 of steam or both have been the chief arguments against rotary 

 engines, and the arguments are as good now as they ever 

 were. But the development to its present stage of the turbine 

 engine is directly traceable to the efforts of inventors to pro- 

 vide a rotary engine to supplant the reciprocating steam 

 engine, and the turbine is by far the best result of these efforts. 



There is much to be said for the turbine engine and a great 

 deal that is not so favorable. The engine exists in many 

 forms, but all of them follow the same principles. The first 

 practical turbine was developed by De Laval, in 1883. The 

 principal part of the turbine engine in its simpler form is a 

 wheel, around the periphery of which are small buckets. Steam 

 escapes from a nozzle against the buckets, whirling the wheel 

 at terrific speed. The wheel, being imperfect as all wheels are, 

 and heavier in some parts than in others, is mounted upon a 

 long, slender shaft, which enables it to find its center of 

 gravity quickly, and prevents bursting from centrifugal force. 



One of the greatest objections to the turbine engine is the 

 impossibility to control its speed with any degree of certaintj^ 

 The steam escapes from the nozzles, with a velocity of some- 

 thing like 1,500 feet per second, against the turbine. This 

 difficulty has been partly overcome by using several wheels 

 fixed upon the same shaft with stationary wheels, upon which 

 are cups or depressions curved in the opposite direction, fixed 

 between the movable wheels. This has had the effect of re- 



