STEAM VERSUS DIESEL ENGINES.

Shannon News, 24 July 1925, Page 4

STEAM VERSUS DIESEL ENGINES.

SAVING IN WEIGHT AND FUEL 50eib STEAM PRESSURE i IMPRACTICABLE. J LONDON, May 9. | The merits of the oil driven ship I has been the subject of active debate following a lecture by Sir Fortescue Flannery at the Royal Society of Arts and as a result, Sir Fortescue sums | up the points of the discussion in today's "Times." -It is admitted by Lord Bearsted and Sir John Biles, that the weight of oil fuel required by Diesel engines is much less than the weight of the coal required for the same work by a steam engine. It is also admitted that Oil fuel can be stowed on board ship in spaces not available for cargo, while stowage room for coal must of necessity be found in places in a ship which if not occupied, would be available for cargo. Hence there is a double gain to the ship-owner who uses a Diesel engine. But, says Sir John Biles, the Diesel engine itself weighs more, power fOT power, than the steam engine in its highest development of the turbine .engine driven by very high steam I pressure and he also says that on fuel costs more than coal ton for ton. Lord Bearsted alleges that on the contrary, there are some ports where oil fuel is cheaper than coal, and that as regards weight of engine the builders of Diesel engines in Great Britain are far behind their foreign competitors, and he urges British engine builders to show greater energy and enterprise. He also points out that the Diesel engine itself, even in its present development occupies less space and shuts out less measurement cargo than the best steam engine with its necessary boiler equipment. The lesson to be learned from the controversy says Sir Fortescue is that pointed out-in his lecture— namely that when the Diesel engine is so improved by double action, higher speed and consequent increased power weight for weight, it will have attained a saving both in weight and economy of fuel, that will leave the steam engine and boiler out of the race altogether for mercantile purposes, and that even in its present stage of development the Diesel engine offers advantages so fully recognised by the modern shipowner that on the Continent the larger proportion of new tonnage under construction is to be Diesel-engine driven, and that in this country the proportion of such new construction is in a steadily and rapidly increasing ratio. Such enterprising shipowners as Furness, Withy and Co., order in one contract five Diesel ships on the Continent. Other similar contracts are pending and there are few who will agree with Sir John Biles that a suggested increase of steam boiler pressure to 6001 b is within the range of actual practice as effective competition with the Diesel engine. The increased use of that engine is, as Lord Bearsted says, inevitable and the records of new construction and practice at sea in the current year will prove that he is right.