LAND AND WATER 
March 27, 191 5 
THE HISTORY AND 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
STEAM TURBINE 
IN WARSHIPS 
By "A.M.I.C.E." 
THE development of the steam turbine, both on 
land and sea, has been one of the most remarkable 
industrial developments of modern times. 
Although the first marine turbine was constructed 
in 1894 for experimental purposes and the 
Admiralty adopted it in 1898 as an experiment in a small 
destroyer, we find that at the end of the year 1913 Great 
Britain alone possessed 226 warships fitted with steam 
turbines, having a total horse-power capacity of 4,339,300, 
and 98 merchant ships with a total horse-power capacity of 
928,790 ; truly a marvellous development. 
Mr. Churchill, speaking in the House of Commons on 
the Navy estimates, praised the design and performance of 
British warships. It is only natural that our Navy should 
lead the world in regard to engine-room performances, for the 
steam turbine, the modern propelling engine of the Navy, 
is a British invention, and was tried by our Admiralty four 
years before any foreign power experimented with this type 
of engine. 
The invention of the steam turbine by the Hon. Charles 
A. Parsons has revolutionised the production of mechanical 
power on land and sea. It has rendered possible steamship 
speeds far greater than could ever be attained with recipro- 
cating engines. Although the adoption of the steam turbine 
is quite a modern engineering development it is, as a matter 
of fact, the oldest steam engine in existence. 
The Greek philosopher Hero described a primitive 
turbine in the second century B.C. This turbine consisted 
of a hollow sphere mounted between two bearings. The 
sphere was partially filled with water and placed over a fire. 
The steam escaped from two bent tubes fixed at opposite 
sides, and the reaction of the steam caused the ball to rotate. 
Hero's machine was only a toy, but it worked well and formed 
the earliest-known use of steam for the production of motion. 
Nothing further was done until Branca, an Italian architect, 
constructed — in 1629 — a machine in which a jet of steam from a 
boUer impinged on a wheel and caused it to rotate. Many 
inventors worked at the problem until, at the end of the 
eighteenth century. Watt invented the steam reciprocating 
engine of to-day, in which steam acting on a piston imparts 
a rotary motion to a wheel. Nothing further of any real 
value was done until 1884 because during that period 
inventors were too busy perfecting Watt's steam engine. 
The first turbine brought out by Parsons had a capacity 
of only 6 horse-power, and was used for driving a small 
electric generator. The successful introduction of electric 
lighting about that time created a demand for good high-speed 
steam engines for driving electric generators, and thus gave 
an immense stimulus to the study of the steam turbine. 
A turbine may be defined as a machine in which rotary 
motion is obtained by the gradual change of the momentum 
contained in the fluid, which may be either steam or water. 
Essentially the steam and water turbine (or water wheel, 
which is familiar to everybody) resemble one another. Steam, 
however, is a highly elastic fluid, and water is not, and this 
fact renders several modifications in design necessary. Steam 
eind water turbines are divided into two classes — reaction 
and impulse. In the reaction type, of which Parsons is the 
best known, the steam passes alternately through many 
rings of fixed and revolving blades, and expands shghtly 
during the passage through each ring, at the same time 
imparting its energy to the movable blades. In the impulse 
class the steam is passed through special nozzles, in which 
the steam expands and attains a very high velocity. It then 
impinges on the blades of a wheel, which is set in motion. 
The steam turbine is, therefore, a very simple machine, 
depending for its action entirely on the physical properties 
of steam. It was essentially developed for driving dynamos 
to generate electrical energy. The great difficulty which had 
to be overcome in the early turbines was the excessive high 
speed, but Mr. Parsons, after several attempts, found that 
the most practical method of keeping down the speed was 
the application of " multiple stage expansion." This is the 
combination of several small successive turbines, which 
together form one turbine, the steam passing through all 
iConliniuJ on page J92) 
-^ ^.PROTECTORS 
NORTH BRITI5H&MERCANTILE 
INSURANCE CO. 
BstaSfzsB^^ J809. 
jln old and first class o//ice. 
Zoo) rates a JistinctivQ feature -Th. mes. 
Funds £23,500000. 
LONDON: 6I.THREADNEE0LEST..E.C. 
EDINBURO'.l: 64. PRINCES ST 
A PARABLE OF PARA. 
The tale of the man who bought not 
wisely but too well. 
CHAPTER THE SECOND. 
NOW it came to pass that the two travellers 
were delayed on their journey. "Look!" 
cried he who had bought wisely; "thine 
ass has cast a shoe." And it was even so. So they 
tarried awhile, and he who had bought too well 
shod his beast with a shoe that he had to spare. 
And the wise man smiled again in his beard, and 
they continued on their way, the one with the other. 
And behold the way was exceeding rough, and 
they were yet again delayed. " Look, friend, thy 
beast has cast another shoe ! " And it was even so. 
So he shod his beast with yet another shoe, but 
was sore distressed, for the way was long and 
hard, and he felt not safe. And they continued on 
their way, the one sore troubled in his mind, and 
they spake not the one to the other. (To be continued.) 
MORAL : — Depend not on quantity but quality. 
Published by 
THE DUNLOP RUBBER CO., LTD., 
Para Mills, .. Aston Cross, .. Birmingham, 
feunders •/ the Pneumatic Tyre Industry througltout Uu Wtrld. 
390 
