Science: Steam v. Oil

Announcement came out of England that the shipbuilding firm of William Denny & Brothers, of Dumbarton, Scotland, was to build an experimental ship whose propulsive steam would be retained in water-tube boilers capable of sustaining a pressure of 550 Ibs. to the square inch — more than twice the steam pressure of any steam installation used aboard ship today. This announcement, though it followed close upon the heels of a paper read by a famed engineer before the British Institution of Naval Engineering suggesting that steam turbines could be developed with pressures hitherto undreamed of, might have attracted little notice but for the fact that it went on to say that the Parsons Turbine Co. would build the experimental machinery. When that name Parsons—Sir Charles Algernon Parsons—is mentioned, engineers pay attention.

It was nearly 30 years ago that an engineer named Parsons plagued the British Admiralty to take up his steam “turbine” and try it in driving battleships. The Government skeptically observed the plans for a machine which applied the energy of a jet of steam impinging upon the blades or vanes of a wheel to produce the rotation of a shaft to which the wheel was fitted. The Government shook its head and Engineer Parsons returned to Scotland, not unruffled. He had discovered the turbine principle a decade before, had perfected it for small units, was convinced it could drive a ship if built big enough.

At the Spithead naval review of 1897, a trim ship some 100 feet long with Turbinia on her taffrail was observed by irate officials to be cutting deliberately across the bows of the royal yacht. Immediately patrol boats gave chase. But the Turbinia showed a clean pair of heels to the fastest ships of the line. Aboard her stood Engineer Parsons, grinning. He had the fastest ship in the world. Within seven years, every British man-of-war and most large passenger ,ships were being fitted with steam turbines. In 1911 the inventor was knighted.

Until the introduction of the oil-combustion motors, no power unit approached the steam turbine for efficiency, economy, and simplicity of operation. Lately the trend has been toward Diesel type motors for all but the largest of ships. The Denny experimental ship, plying as a ferry on the River Clyde, will be closely observed to see if steam has caught up with its rival.