INDUSTRY: New Turbine Power

INDUSTRY INDUSTRY

On a test run, San Francisco’s new Fire Engine 14 surged effortlessly up the steep streets of Nob Hill. On the flat, it accelerated from a cold start to 50 m.p.h. in 45 sec. (v. 60 sec. for older models). The new American-La France Turbo Chief pumper, which was undergoing performance tests in San Francisco last week, got its impressive pep from a gas turbine engine, the first ever used in a fire truck, and the latest of the expanding uses of gas turbines. Although gas turbines first came of age in turboprop planes, they promise to have a much bigger future in powering everything from road-building machinery to motor boats and refrigeration systems.

The chief advantages of the gas turbine are its simplicity (it has about 80% fewer working parts than a gas or diesel engine) and its compactness (it is only one-third as large as a comparable reciprocating engine and weighs only one-half to one-tenth as much). The gas turbine is extremely rugged, requires few repairs and runs on almost any liquid or gas fuel.

For the Dentist’s Drill? The Turbo Chief’s engine was produced by Boeing Airplane Co., which has been making small gas turbines for the past 13 years, will turn out about 180 engines this year. One important use: in Navy minesweeper launches, where the engines have the added value of not setting off magnetic mines (since the engines are made mostly of aluminum and nonmagnetic alloys). Boeing’s chief output is in gas turbine air compressors, which are used to start the engines of jet aircraft.

On numbers alone, Phoenix’s AiRe-search Manufacturing is way out front in the industrial turbine field. It has built close to 10,000 small gas turbines to account for 80% of the total U.S. output. Like Boeing, AiResearch’s major product is gas turbine air compressors to start large jet engines, but it has found other uses for them, e.g., cleaning pipelines by blowing air and sand through them, boosting pressure on gas wells. AiResearch’s smallest gas turbine, which weighs only 48 Ibs. yet produces 35 h.p., is used by the armed forces as a portable generator to power signal equipment. Looking ahead, engineers foresee gas turbines running dentists’ drills and supplying the power for giant refrigeration systems.

Another major gas turbine maker is San Diego’s Solar Aircraft Co., which was bought this year by International Harvester Co. Solar turns out four series of gas turbines, including the 1,100-h.p. Saturn, which is the power plant aboard the giant “Overland Train,” now being developed by R. G. Le Tourneau Inc. for the U.S. Army.

Price & Fuel. U.S. automakers have been experimenting with gas turbines since the end of World War II in hopes of putting them in cars. General Motors and Ford now think that the turbine will not replace the reciprocating engine in autos, but believe that they are practical for large trucks and tractors. For heavy-duty use, General Motors is developing a 225-h.p. gas turbine engine, and Ford is testing a 300-h.p. engine that weighs only 650 Ibs. Only Chrysler still feels the turbine is practical for autos. By 1966 it expects to sell cars with a 140-h.p. gas turbine engine.

Gas turbines have two chief drawbacks: price and fuel consumption. A $10,500 Boeing engine costs roughly $4,000 more than a diesel engine of comparable power. As Boeing moves into mass production, it expects to cut $3,000 from the price within the next three years, ultimately hopes to undersell diesels. Gas turbines still use 50% to 60% more fuel than diesels, but Boeing engineers hope to improve their economy next year by 10%. Eventually turbine makers hope to make them as economical as diesels.