A NEW TURBINE.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 9, 24 January 1905, Page 7 (Supplement)

A NEW TURBINE.

In spite of certain drawbacks which ‘have prevented its adoption on a general scale, the steam turbine with which Mr C. Parsons astonished the marine world some years ago has proved not only a scientific but a commercial success. Chief among the short-comings of the Parsons turbine is the fact that it cannot reverse its action, and when applied to the propulsion of ships it is on that account necessary to have two sets of engines—one for steaming ahead and another for moving astern. Apparently the principle on which the Parsons turbine is constructed rendeis it impossible to remedy this defect, in which case the pioneer invention seems likely to be superseded by the new rotary engine invented and designed ay Dr Bucholtz. This is an entirely novel and extremely interesting development of the turbine worked by steam. The name of turbine, however, seems to be somewhat a misnomer. As hitherto understood, the propelling force in a turbine, be it water or steam, impinges on paddles or blades attached to an axis or shaft, which revolves from the force of the impact. In the Bucholtz engine there are discs in which are uored concentric circles of holes. These discs are in pairs, one of which is fixed, while the other can revolve. The steam is forced through these holes, and causes the discs to revolve. As each alternate disc is hinged -»n to the shaft, it follows that the shaft itself revolves. That is a rough, non-te. nical explanation of this invention, which has the enormous advantage over all others that, no matter at what speed the engine may be working, —*e slightest movement of a lever shuts off the steam at one end of the cylindrical casing containing the disc, and admits it at the other end, an act which is followed almost simultaneously by full speed in the opposite direction being developed without the slightest jar or strain to the machinery. So simple and inexpensive in its construction is this machine, and so small is the space taken up by it in comparison with the horse-power developed, that it promises to cause a complete revolution in the building of engines. It is certainly a most interesting application of the direct power of steam to both propelling and driving machinery.