Browse Topic: Steam engines
Gustave de Ponton d'Amécourt, Gaspard Félix Tounachon and Guillaume Joseph Gabriel de La Landelle, dubbed the "Triumvirat Hélicoptèroidal" by French physicist Jacques Babinet, played indirect and subtle roles in the early history of the development of rotary-wing flight in the latter 19th century in Paris. Tournachon, adopting the professional name of 'Nadar', innovated aerial photography (from a balloon), forever changing the way people viewed the earth and significantly contributing to an enthusiasm for aviation, a term thought to have been coined by fantasy artist Gabriel de la Landelle. Landelle's appealing representations of just-possible future helicopter-ships caught the public fancy, also contributing to an awareness of such potential flight. Vicomte Gustave de Ponton d'Amécourt had begun working on a steam-powered coaxial rotary-wing design in 1853 - in the process, coining the word 'helicopter', and by 1863 a steam powered aluminum model had been produced by mechanic L. Joseph of Arras. Although the model aircraft failed, it represented the first use of aluminum in engine construction and was a milestone attempt to solve the weight/power issues necessary for manned flight that had been set forth by Sir George Caley, the "father of aerodynamics", in his 1809-10 series of papers under the collective title "On Aerial Navigation." These three, under the direction and promotion of Nadar, formed the 'Société d'Autolocomotion Aérienne' in 1862, the name of which was changed two years later to Société d'Aviation – the first organization to employ this term. These efforts resulting in a greatly increased public enthusiasm and awareness among the common people and notables of the time, and came to involve and inspire Jules Verne, who became the organization's secretary and promoter. Verne, in 1886, wrote Robur-le-Conquérant (Robur the Conqueror), known in English as The Clipper of the Clouds, the first helicopter novel, which would be read a young Russian boy and, much later, cited as a seminal inspiration – his name was Igor Sikorsky
Caterpillar believes that a total revamp of its track-type tractors should trim operating costs by 30 to 70%. As Caterpillar's track-type tractors enter their second century, the OEM has dramatically revamped its undercarriage technology. The company claims its SystemOne upgrades extend operating life, reduce operating costs, and improve ride characteristics. A project team created in 1999 redesigned the undercarriage from the ground up, something that Cat hadn't done since the 1970s. That effort yielded more than two dozen patents.
Failure of materials from fatigue was not a problem before 1800. With the invention of the steam engine and the locomotives it powered, the industrial revolution started, and with it the advantages and frustrations in the use of rotating machinery. By 1850, when serious fatigue failures of locomotive axles were first experienced, a systems approach evolved for managing the interdisciplinary technologies that were required. It wasn't till about 1950 that the aircraft industry established systems management approaches for design to fatigue of aircraft structures.
The paper deals with reciprocating and rotary Rankine cycle engines using steam and organic fluids. It compares these theoretical engines to the present existing Otto cycle. The comparison considers size, torque, economy, emissions, response, maintenance, and reliability. Advantages and disadvantages of the various power systems are discussed and problem areas are identified.
The story of Power Farming is the great saga of our times. It is a story of free enterprise, perseverance and endurance of the individual, of vision, idealism and cooperation among men, of the lightening of human toil and the release of millions of workers from farms to feed the ever hungry industrial revolution. By no means least, it is the story of producing food necessary to win two global wars, keep our allies alive and millions of the defeated enemy from starvation. FOREWARD By 1915, the Steam Traction Engine had attained its highest development. It was the forerunner, rather than the predecessor, of the farm tractor. The former was the instrument of expansion; the latter, the instrument of progress. The invention of the tractor, following by only sixteen years Otto's practical embodiment application of the Beau de Rochas power cycle to a heat engine, marked the advent of a new order - - the age of Power Farming. The pattern of progress follows that of the geometric progression; the scientist discovers, the engineer applies. Only the factor, never the formula, varies. Max Beerbaum has written “The past is a work of art, free of irrelevancies and loose ends”. This is an endeavor to write of these portentous times with the objectivity of time, rather than as a participant throughout much of the period; an effort to recreate past events after sufficient time has elapsed to recall them objectively, but not before the “irrelevancies and loose ends”, which are the price of history, have been obliterated. But the winds of change blow long and fierce. Tomorrow's greatest problem may well be that of continuing to feed those now enjoying the highest standard of living ever known and obliterate hunger and starvation from among those hundreds of millions whose abject misery threatens the very pillars of our society. At this time, absolute dates are but ripples on the oceans of time, and lose their meaning in a maze of semantics. It is not known, and is of little significance, whether recorded dates refer to invention, the completion of a pilot model, or of announced series production. In all cases, the author is governed by memory and the most credible published information.
COMPARISON of work capacity per unit mass and volume of different energy carriers shows that liquid hydrocarbons are superior to other energy sources. Solar and nuclear powerplants as well as their use in conjunction with a steam engine are examined in this paper. Suitability of an electric drive is discussed. Using a production 2-stroke diesel engine and its development forecast, a comparison is made of spark ignition, diesel, and gas turbine engines. The status of the free-piston engine turbine combination is reviewed.
GROWTH of mechanical transport since nineteenth-century days, when the steam engine was attached to ships and vehicles, is traced in this historical review. It was appropriately presented in observance of engineering achievements which have taken place during the past hundred years. The author records that development of the internal-combustion engine, replacing steam, led to the appearance of the automobile at the turn of the century. The horseless carriage increased travel speed, setting up immediate demands for more comfortable travel. Good roads, improved tires, new engine and body designs have followed without interruption for more than 50 years, ,with the supply of applied ideas never approaching public demands for still greater improvements. The author summarizes the situation as it exists today, giving many pertinent facts regarding the growth of the trucking industry, its relation to highway facilities and passenger-car travel, together with possibilities for future developments along better lines.
Data regarding the condensation of water on engine-cylinder walls when running the engine at comparatively low temperatures were presented by the author in a previous paper to which he refers. These experiments showed that no water would be deposited when the cylinder-wall temperature exceeded 110 deg. fahr. but that the rate of deposition increased in direct proportion to the drop of temperature below 110 deg. fahr. His present paper describes laboratory tests of an engine equipped with a steam cooling-system, the object being to study the effect upon dilution of high cylinder-wall temperatures. The results show that a sharp reduction in dilution occurs as the boiling temperature is reached, and that the amount of dilution at temperatures of 212 deg. fahr., or more, is much less than would have been anticipated from the results obtained at temperatures below 212 deg. fahr. The author then points out that high cylinder-temperatures reduce dilution to a negligible quantity without introducing any apparent disadvantages. The fact that the elimination of dilution inevitably will produce lubrication troubles, due to the higher viscosity of oil which will prevail, is emphasized, and various methods by which oiling systems can be modified so as to approach nearer to the ideal condition are suggested.
The free, resilient, self-expanding, one-piece piston-ring is a product of strictly modern times. It belongs to the internal-combustion engine principally, although it is applicable to steam engines, air-compressors and pumps. Its present high state of perfection has been made possible only by the first-class material now available and the use of machine tools of precision. The author outlines the history of the gradual evolution of the modern piston-ring from the former piston-packing, giving illustrations, shows and comments upon the early types of steam pistons and then discusses piston-ring design. Piston-ring friction, the difficulties of producing rings that fit the cylinder perfectly and the shape of rings necessary to obtain approximately uniform radial pressure against the cylinder wall are considered at some length and illustrated by diagrams. The best material for piston-rings is stated to be cast iron; the average of 10 different analyses of satisfactory cast iron used for piston-rings is given; the piston-ring specification of one of the large motor-car manufacturers is presented; piston-ring joints and future design are considered; and a recommendation is made toward piston-ring standardization.
A new type of automotive engine should be the quest of all designing engineers. Investigation has revealed the fact that 68 per cent of all tractor engine troubles occur in magnetos, spark-plugs and carbureters, the accessories of the present-day automotive engine. Four-fifths of the fuel energy supplied is regularly wasted, yet the fuel is a liquid meeting severe requirements of volatility, etc., and is already becoming scarce and costly. In an airplane, fuel is carried by engine power. In ocean-going cargo vessels it increases available revenue space. It is at once clear that for purely practical reasons the question of fuel economy, no less than the question of the nature of the fuel, becomes momentous. What fuel will do is entirely a question of what process it is put through in the engine; in what way combustion is turned into power. In the paper the physical processes underlying the conversion of combustion energy into power are discussed, together with the various methods for producing the pressure differences needed for the operation of ordinary heat engines. The author states both the theoretical and the practically attainable energy utilizations of engines and turbines of the compressor, explosion and evaporation types. Improvements are found to be obtainable in all three types and some suggestive lines of work are pointed out. Among these the compressor engine and the steam powerplant offer interesting possibilities in competition with the work already done by the Brayton, Kraus and Armengand-Lemale engines. In connection with the investigation of electrical combustion batteries, the author asks whether it would be possible to use the combustion process with our ordinary fuels to deliver electric current in a primary battery, and what the fuel utilization of such a battery would be. It is known that from 1910 to 1912 Baur, Taitelbaum and Ehrenberg, in Germany, succeeded in combining such fuel batteries and obtaining electromotive forces close to those theoretically possible.
Items per page:
50
1 – 41 of 41