July 2, 1903] 



NATURE 



209 



for success in this particular kind of craft. The paper was 

 illustrated by a large number of drawings of various 

 vessels. 



A paper '* On Registered Tonnages, and their Relation to 

 Fiscal Charges and Design " was read by Mr. James 

 Maxton. In this the author pointed out some of the 

 absurdities and anomalies incidental to the present stage 

 of the law in regard to the tonnage of ships. A long dis- 

 cussion followed, in the course of which many speakers gave 

 expression to the opinion that a change in the law was 

 absolutely necessary in the interests of shipowners, harbour 

 luthorities, and, also, passengers. Several shipowners who 

 -poke laid it down as a principle that in cross-channel 

 steamers every passenger should have a separate berth, and 

 it was only the way in which tonnage was measured that 

 prevented such a desirable feature being introduced. 



Prof. W. H. Watkinson read a paper in which he de- 

 scribed some new features of superheaters. He pointed out 

 that, even with a separate condenser, and all the other 

 improvements that have been made since the time of Watt, 

 from 12 per cent, to 30 per cent, of the steam supplied to 

 an engine is condensed during its admission to the cylinder. 

 The steam turbine is the only engine in which this condensa- 

 tion of the steam by previously cooled surfaces does not 

 take place, but the steam in turbines is wet from expansion 

 while doing work. Liquefaction of steam may be reduced 

 by steam jacketing ; by compounding the cylinders ; by 

 steam separators ; by a special arrangement for sweeping 

 the condensed steam out of the cylinder at each stroke ; 

 by reduction of clearance surface ; and by superheating. 

 The last, the author said, was by far the most effective. 

 During superheating, although the pressure of the steam 

 TPinains constant, its volume is greatly increased. The 

 I mount of heat required to superheat ilb. of steam by 

 150° F. is 72 British heat units; this is only about 6 per 

 cent, of the heat required to generate ilb. of dry saturated 

 steam. The increase in volume due to this additional 6 per 

 cent, of heat averages about 30 per cent. In some cases 

 where superheated steam is used, the superheating is only 

 carried so far as to reduce, or at most to annihilate, initial 

 condensation. In these cases the steam, after it has been 

 admitted to the cylinder of an engine, becomes ordinary 

 saturated steam before or at cut-off, so that during ex- 

 pansion some condensation of steam takes place, due to 

 work being done at the expense of the internal heat of the 

 steam. There is, then, no advantage due to the increase 

 of volume of the steam during superheating, but there is 

 great saving in steam and in coal, due to the reduction of 

 initial condensation and leakage of steam past the valves 

 and pistons. In the case of large engines of the usual 

 type, it is not possible to superheat the steam by more 

 than 200° F., and in some cases there is trouble with the 

 valves if the degree of superheat exceeds 150° F. With 

 piston valves the limit can be considerably exceeded. The 

 author next discussed the question of independently-fired 

 superheaters, and those in which the apparatus is jilaced 

 In the uptake of the boiler or is heated by gases from the 

 furnace. A superheater to which a gas-producer was 

 attached was also illustrated and described by the author. 



In the discussion on this paper, Mr. A. F. Yarrow said 

 that superheating was the direction in which engineers 

 must look for improvement in the economy of the steam 

 engine. The difficulty in lubricating the cylinders of steam 

 engines had been spoken of, but it was well known amongst 

 engineers that for years the torpedo boat builders had never 

 used internal lubrication for the engines of the craft they 

 built. It was interesting to note that water would ooze 

 through places where steam would not pass, and for this 

 reason piston valves might be worked with superheated 

 steam without metal being in rubbing contact with metal. 

 Mr. A. Morcom gave some particulars of a vertical engine 

 in which superheated steam had been used. It was a 

 Sockw. engine, and the steam was at 600° F. With 

 saturated steam the consumption of water per kilowatt- 

 hour was 2 lib. ; with superheated steam it was i61b. 



During the stay in Belfast, the shipyard and engine 

 works of Messrs. Harland and Wol^, and' those of Messrs. 

 Workman and Clark, were visited. There was a steamer 

 trip down Belfast Lough, a reception at the harbour offices, 

 and a dinner given by the Right Hon. W. J. Pirrie at his 

 residence at Ormiston. 



On Thursday, June 25, members proceeded to Dublin, 

 where they attended a garden party given by the Lord 

 Lieutenant at the Vice-regal Lodge ; rain entirely spoilt 

 the pleasure of the reception. In the evening there was a 

 ball at the Mansion House. 



On the following day the members met in the lecture 

 theatre of the Royal Dublin Society, when Mr. A. F. 

 Yarrow, vice-president of the Institution, occupied the chair. 

 A paper by the Hon. C. A. Parsons was first taken, the 

 subject being " Modern Steam Turbines, and their Applica- 

 tion to the Propulsion of Vessels." The paper was largely 

 of an historical nature, and gave particulars of the various 

 vessels in which the steam turbine had been fitted, such 

 as the two unfortunate torpedo-boat destroyers, Vi^cr and 

 Cohra, which were both lost at sea. The King Edward 

 and Queen Alexandra were two passenger steamers that 

 had been running successfully on the Clyde. The Queen is 

 a cross-channel steamer, built for the Dover-Calais route, 

 and has been put on her station since the paper was read. 

 She has machinery of 8000 I.H.P. On her trial on the 

 Skelmorlie mile she made a mean speed of 2173 knots. 

 Another boat of the same type, to be fitted with turbine 

 engines, has been built for the L.B. and S.C.R., and will 

 be put on the Newhaven-Dieppe route. She is 280 feet 

 long and of 34 feet beam, and will shortly be launched. 

 Three large yachts have lately been fitted with steam 

 turbines, the largest being the Lorena, built by Messrs. 

 Ramage and Fergusson, of Leith. She is 25-^ feet in Ipntrth 

 and of 33 feet 3 inches beam. The steam turbines in this 

 vessel are similar to those of the King Edward and Queen 

 Alexandra, but somewhat larger. The trial of the Lorena 

 took place in the Firth of Forth in May, the speed attained 

 being 18 knots. The turbine yacht, the Tarantula, built 

 for the late Colonel McCalmont by Messrs. Yarrow and 

 Co., was of the torpedo-boat type, but with somewhat 

 heavier scantlings. She made 25-36 knots on her trial trip, 

 her displacement being 150 tons. The Velox is a torpedo- 

 boat destroyer recently purchased by the British Admiralty. 

 She has machinery similar to that which was in the Viper, 

 and will be capable of developing upwards of 10,000 H.P. 

 Two small triple-expansion reciprocating engines, each of 

 150 H.P., are fitted for cruising speeds up to 13 knots. 

 The steam from these exhausts into the turbines, where 

 its expansion is completed before it passes to the condensers. 

 Another torpedo-boat destroyer, the Eden, will have 

 machinery of 7000 H.P., and her speed will be 25^ knots; 

 whilst a third-class cruiser. Amethyst, built for the British 

 Government, will have turbines of 9800 I.H.P., her speed 

 being 2i| knots. The author looked forward to the time 

 when steam turbines would be fitted to vessels of the largest 

 size, such as Atlantic liners. The experience with the 

 marine turbine up to 10.000 H.P. in ships of fast as well 

 as of moc'erate speed had tended, he claimed, to justify 

 the anticipation — guided by theory — that the larger the 

 engines the more favourable would be the results as com- 

 pared with the reciprocating engines. The saving in 

 weight, space, attendance and power would be still more 

 marked with turbine engines of above 10,000 H.P., and 

 up to 60,000 H.P., for which designs had been prepared. 



The remaining paper read at the meeting was on the 

 Dublin Harbour works, the author being Mr. J. P. Griffith. 

 During their stay in Dublin the visitors took a steamer 

 trip down the Dublin Bay, and on the evening of Friday 

 the Institution dinner brought the meeting to a close. 



NO. 1757, VOL. 68] 



THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS FOR 

 APPLIED CHEMISTRY.' 



CO many papers on analytical methods were presented 

 ^ that it is impossible even to enumerate them. The 

 International Commissions on Analysis and on the Analysis 

 of Fodders and Manures had not received all the reports yet 

 which the Paris meeting had called for ; the two Commissions 

 over which G. Lunge presided — Maercker (Halle), chair- 

 man of the second Commission, having died — held some of 

 their meetings jointly with sections i. (analysis) and vii. 

 (agricultural chemistry). The proposals for a uniform 

 method of drawing up analytical reports were made by 

 W, Fresenius (Wiesbaden) ; Ch. Guillaume (Sevres) reported 



1 Continued from p. 158. 



