A Catechism of the Steam Engine Part 7

121. _Q._--What are the princ.i.p.al varieties of screw engines?

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 27.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 28.]

_A._--The engines employed for the propulsion of screw vessels are divided into two great cla.s.ses,--geared engines and direct acting engines; and each of these cla.s.ses again has many varieties. In screw vessels, the shaft on which the screw is set requires to revolve at a much greater velocity than is required in the case of the paddle shaft of a paddle vessel; and in geared engines this necessary velocity of rotation is obtained by the intervention of toothed wheels,--the engines themselves moving with the usual velocity of paddle engines; whereas in direct acting engines the required velocity of rotation is obtained by accelerating the speed of the engines, and which are connected immediately to the screw shaft.

122. _Q._--Will you describe some of the princ.i.p.al varieties of geared engines?

_A._--A good many of the geared engines for screw vessels are made in the same manner as land engines, with a beam overhead, which by means of a connecting rod extending downwards, gives motion to the crank shaft, on which are set the cog wheels which give motion to pinions on the screw shaft,--the teeth of the wheels being generally of wood and the teeth of the pinions of iron. There are usually several wheels on the crank shaft and several pinions on the screw shaft; but the teeth of each do not run in the same line, but are set a little in advance of one another, so as to divide the thickness of the tooth into as many parts as there are independent wheels or pinions. By this arrangement the wheels work more smoothly than they would otherwise do.

123. _Q._--What other forms are there of geared screw engines?

_A._--In some cases the cylinders lie on their sides in the manner of the cylinders of a locomotive engine. In other cases vertical trunk engines are employed; and in other cases vertical oscillating engines.

124. _Q._--Will you give an example of a geared vertical oscillating engine?

_A._--The engines of a geared oscillating engine are similar to the paddle wheel engines (figs. 27 and 28), but the engines are placed lengthways of the ship, and instead of a paddle wheel on the main shaft, there is a geared wheel which connects with a pinion on the screw shaft. The engines of the Great Britain are made off the same patterns as the paddle engines constructed by Messrs. John Penn & Son, for H.M.S. Sphinx. The diameter of each cylinder is 82-1/2 inches, the length of travel or stroke of the piston is 6 feet, and the nominal power is 500 horses. The Great Britain is of 3,500 tons burden, and her displacement at 16 feet draught of water is 2,970 tons. The diameter of the screw is 15-1/2 feet, length of screw in the line of the shaft, 3 feet 2 inches, and the pitch of the screw, 19 feet.

125. _Q._--What do you mean by the pitch of the screw?

_A._--A screw propeller may be supposed to be a short piece cut off a screw of large diameter like a spiral stair, and the pitch of a spiral stair is the vertical height from any given step to the step immediately overhead.

126. _Q._--What is the usual number of arms?

_A._--Generally a screw has two arms, but sometimes it has three or more.

The Great Britain had three arms or twisted blades resembling the vanes of a windmill. The multiple of the gearing in the Great Britain is 3 to 1, and there are 17-1/2 square feet of heating surface in the boiler for each nominal horse power. The crank shaft being put into motion by the engine, carries round with it the great cog wheel, or aggregation of cog wheels, affixed to its extremity; and these wheels acting on suitable pinions on the screw shaft, cause the screw to make three revolutions for every revolution made by the engine.

127. _Q._--What are the princ.i.p.al varieties of direct acting screw engines?

_A._--In some cases four engines have been employed instead of two, and the cylinders have been laid on their sides on each side of the screw shaft.

This multiplication of engines, however, introduces needless complication, and is now but little used. In other cases two inverted cylinders are set above the screw shaft on appropriate framing; and connecting rods attached to the ends of the piston rods turn round cranks in the screw shaft.

128. _Q._--What is the kind of direct acting screw engine employed by Messrs. Penn.

_A._--It is a horizontal trunk engine. In this engine a round pipe called a trunk penetrates the piston, to which it is fixed, being in fact cast in one piece with it; and the trunk also penetrates the top and bottom of the cylinder, through which it moves, and is made tight therein by means of stuffing boxes. The connecting rod is attached at one end to a pin fixed in the middle of the trunk, while the other end engages the crank in the usual manner. The air pump is set within the condenser, and is wrought by a rod which is fixed to the piston and derives its motion therefrom. The air pump is of that species which is called double-acting. The piston or bucket is formed without valves in it, but an inlet and outlet valve is fixed to each end of the pump, through the one of which the water is drawn into the pump barrel, and through the other of which it is expelled into the hot well.

THE LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE.

129. _Q._--Will you describe the more important features of the locomotive engine?

_A._--The locomotive employed to draw carriages upon railways, consists of a cylindrical boiler filled with bra.s.s tubes, through which the hot air pa.s.ses on its progress from the furnace to the chimney, and attached to the boiler are two horizontal cylinders fitted with pistons, valves, connecting rods, and other necessary apparatus to enable the power exerted by the pistons to turn round the cranked axle to which the driving wheels are attached. There are, therefore, two independent engines entering into the composition of a locomotive, the cranks of which are set at right angles with one another, so that when one crank is at its dead point, the other crank is in a position to act with its maximum efficacy. The driving wheels, which are fixed on the crank shaft and turn round with it, propel the locomotive forward on the rails by the mere adhesion of friction, and this is found sufficient not merely to move the locomotive, but to draw a long train of carriages behind it.

130. _Q._--Are locomotive engines condensing or high pressure engines.

_A._--They are invariably high pressure engines, and it would be impossible or at least highly inconvenient, to carry the water necessary for the purpose of condensation. The steam, therefore, after it has urged the piston to the end of the stroke, escapes into the atmosphere. In locomotive engines the waste steam is always discharged into the chimney through a vertical pipe, and by its rapid pa.s.sage it greatly increases the intensity of the draught in the chimney, whereby a smaller fire grate suffices for the combustion of the fuel, and the evaporative power of the boiler is much increased.

131. _Q._--Can you give an example of a good locomotive engine of the usual form?

_A._--To do this I will take the example of one of Hawthorn's locomotive engines with six wheels represented in fig. 29; not one of the most modern construction now in use, nor yet one of the most antiquated. M is the cylinder, R the connecting rod, C C the eccentrics by which the slide valve is moved; J J is the steam pipe by which the steam is conducted from the steam dome of the boiler to the cylinder. Near the smoke stack end of this pipe is a valve K or regulator moved by a handle _p_ at the front of the boiler, and of which the purpose is to regulate the admission of the steam to the cylinder; _f_ is a safety valve kept closed by springs; N is the eduction pipe, or, as it is commonly termed in locomotives, the _blast pipe_, by which the steam, escaping from the cylinder after the stroke has been performed, is projected up the chimney H. The water in the boiler of course covers the tubes and also the top of the furnace or fire box. It will be understood that there are two engines in each locomotive, though, from the figure being given in section, only one engine can be shown. The cylinders of this engine are each 14 inches diameter; the length of the stroke of the piston is 21 inches. There are two sets of driving wheels, 5 feet diameter, with outside connections.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 29.]

132. _Q._--What is the tender of a locomotive?

_A._--It is a carriage attached to the locomotive, of which the purpose is to contain c.o.ke for feeding the furnace, and water for replenishing the boiler.

133. _Q._--Can you give examples of modern locomotives?

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 30.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 31.]

_A._--The most recent locomotives resemble in their material features the locomotive represented in fig. 29. I can, however, give examples of some of the most powerful engines of recent construction. Fig. 30 represents Gooch's express engine, adapted for the wide gauge of the Great Western Railway; and fig. 31 represents Crampton's express engine, adapted for the ordinary or narrow gauge railways. The cylinders of Gooch's engine are each 18 inches diameter, and 24 inches stroke; the driving wheels are 8 feet in diameter; the fire grate contains 21 square feet of area; and the heating surface of the fire box is 153 square feet. There are in all 305 tubes in the boiler, each of 2 inches diameter, giving a heating surface in the tubes of 1799 square feet. The total heating surface, therefore, is 1952 square feet. Mr. Gooch states that an engine of this cla.s.s will evaporate from 300 to 360 cubic feet of water in the hour, and will convey a load of 236 tons at a speed of 40 miles an hour, or a load of 181 tons at a speed of 60 miles an hour. The weight of this engine empty is 31 tons; of the tender 8-1/2 tons; and the total weight of the engine when loaded is 50 tons. In one of Crampton's locomotives, the Liverpool, with one set more of carrying wheels than the fig., the cylinders are of 24 inches diameter and 18 inches stroke; the driving wheels are 8 feet in diameter; the fire grate contains 21-1/2 square feet of area; and the heating surface of the fire box is 154 square feet. There are in all 300 tubes in the boiler of 2-3/16 inches external diameter, giving a surface in the tubes of 2136 square feet, and a total heating surface of 2290 square feet. The weight of this engine is stated to be 35 tons when ready to proceed on a journey. Both engines were displayed at the Great Exhibition in 1851, as examples of the most powerful locomotive engines then made. The weight of such engines is very injurious to the railway; bending, crushing, and disturbing the rails, and trying very severely the whole of the railway works. No doubt the weight may be distributed upon a greater number of wheels, but if the weight resting on the driving wheels be much reduced, they will not have sufficient bite upon the rails to propel the train without slipping. This, however, is only one of the evils which the demand for high rates of speed has produced. The width of the railway, or, as it is termed, the _gauge_ of the rails, being in most of the railways in this kingdom limited to 4 feet 8-1/2 inches, a corresponding limitation is imposed on the diameter of the boiler; which in its turn restricts the number of the tubes which can be employed. As, however, the attainment of a high rate of speed requires much power, and consequently much heating surface in the boiler, and as the number of tubes cannot be increased without reducing their diameter, it has become necessary, in the case of powerful engines, to employ tubes of a small diameter, and of a great length, to obtain the necessary quant.i.ty of heating surface; and such tubes require a very strong draught in the chimney to make them effective. With a draught of the usual intensity the whole of the heat will be absorbed in the portion of the tube nearest the fire box, leaving that portion nearest the smoke box nothing to do but to transmit the smoke; and with long tubes of small diameter, therefore, a very strong draught is indispensable. To obtain such a draught in locomotives, it is necessary to contract the mouth of the blast pipe, whereby the waste steam will be projected into the chimney with greater force; but this contraction involves an increase of the pressure on the eduction side of the piston, and consequently causes a diminution in the power of the engine. Locomotives with small and long tubes, therefore, will require more c.o.ke to do the same work than locomotives in which larger and shorter tubes may be employed.

CHAPTER II.

HEAT, COMBUSTION, AND STEAM.

HEAT.

134. _Q._--What is meant by latent heat?

_A._--By latent heat is meant the heat existing in bodies which is not discoverable by the touch or by the thermometer, but which manifests its existence by producing a change of state. Heat is absorbed in the liquefaction of ice, and in the vaporization of water, yet the temperature does not rise during either process, and the heat absorbed is therefore said to become latent. The term is somewhat objectionable, as the effect proper to the absorption of heat has in each case been made visible; and it would be as reasonable to call hot water latent steam. Latent heat, in the present acceptation of the term, means sensible liquefaction or vaporization; but to produce these changes heat is as necessary as to produce the expansion of mercury in a thermometer tube, which is taken as the measure of temperature; and it is hard to see on what ground heat can be said to be latent when its presence is made manifest by changes which only heat can effect. It is the _temperature_ only that is latent, and latent temperature means sensible vaporization or liquefaction.

135. _Q._--But when you talk of the latent heat of steam, what do you mean to express?

_A._--I mean to express the heat consumed in accomplishing the vaporization compared with that necessary for producing the temperature. The latent heat of steam is usually reckoned at about 1000 degrees, by which it is meant that there is as much heat in any given weight of steam as would raise its const.i.tuent water 1000 degrees if the expansion of the water could be prevented, or as would raise 1000 times that quant.i.ty of water one degree.

The boiling point of water, being 212 degrees, is 180 degrees above the freezing point of water--the freezing point being 32 degrees; so that it requires 1180 times as much heat to raise 1 lb. of water into steam, as to raise 1180 lbs. of water one degree; or it requires about as much heat to raise a pound of boiling water into steam, as would raise 5-1/2 lbs. of water from the freezing to the boiling point; 5-1/2 multiplied by 180 being 990 or 1000 nearly.

136. _Q._--When it is stated that the latent heat of steam is 1000 degrees, it is only meant that this is a rough approximation to the truth?

_A._--Precisely so. The latent heat, in point of fact, is not uniform at all temperatures, neither is the total amount of heat the same at all temperatures. M. Regnault has shown, by a very elaborate series of experiments on steam, which he has lately concluded, that the total heat in steam increases somewhat with the pressure, and that the latent heat diminishes somewhat with the pressure. This will be made obvious by the following numbers:

Pressure. Temperature. Total Heat. Latent Heat.

15 lbs. 213.1 1178.9 965.8 50 281.0 1199.6 918.6 100 327.8 1213.9 886.1

If, then, steam of 100 lbs. be expanded down to steam of 15 lbs., it will have 35 degrees of heat over that which is required for the maintenance of the vaporous state, or, in other words, it will be surcharged with heat.

137. _Q._--What do you understand by specific heat?

_A._--By specific heat, I understand the relative quant.i.ties of heat in bodies at the same temperature, just as by specific gravity I understand the relative quant.i.ties of matter in bodies of the same bulk. Equal weights of quicksilver and water at the same temperature do not contain the same quant.i.ties of heat, any more than equal bulks of those liquids contain the same quant.i.ty of matter. The absolute quant.i.ty of heat in any body is not known; but the relative heat of bodies at the same temperature, or in other words their specific heats, have been ascertained and arranged in tables,-- the specific heat of water being taken as unity.