A Catechism of the Steam Engine Part 11

_A._--In locomotive engines the use of cams is inadmissible, and other expedients are employed, of which those contrived by Stephenson and by Cabrey operate on the principle of accomplis.h.i.+ng the requisite variations of expansion by altering the throw of the slide valve.

205. _Q._--What is Stephenson's arrangement?

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 35.]

_A._--Stephenson connects the ends of the forward and backward eccentric rods by a link with a curved slot in which a pin upon the end of the valve rod works. By moving this link so as to bring the forward eccentric rod in the same line with the valve rod, the valve receives the motion due to that eccentric; whereas if the backward eccentric rod is brought in a line with the valve rod, the valve gets the motion proper for reversing, and if the link be so placed that the valve rod is midway between the two eccentric rods, the valve will remain nearly stationary. This arrangement, which is now employed extensively, is what is termed "the link motion." It is represented in the annexed figure, fig. 35, where _e_ is the valve rod, which is attached by a pin to an open curved link susceptible of being moved up and down by the bell-crank lever _f"_ _f"_, supported on the centre _g_, and acting on the links _f_, while the valve rod _e_ remains in the same horizontal plane; _d d'_ are the eccentric rods, and the link is represented in its lowest position. The dotted lines _h' h"_ show the position of the eccentric rods when the link is in its highest position, and _l l'_ when in mid position.

206. _Q._--What is Cabrey's arrangement?

_A._--Mr. Cabrey makes his eccentric rod terminate in a pin which works into a straight slotted lever, furnished with jaws similar to the jaws on the eccentric rods of locomotives. By raising the pin of the eccentric rod in this slot, the travel of the valve will be varied, and expansive action will be the result.

207. _Q._--What other forms of apparatus are there for working steam expansively?

_A._--They are too numerous for description here, but a few of them may be enumerated. Fenton seeks to accomplish the desired object by introducing a spiral feather on the crank axle, by moving the eccentric laterally against which the eccentric is partially turned round so as to cut off the steam at a different part of the stroke. Dodds seeks to attain the same end by corresponding mechanical arrangements. Farcot, Edwards, and Lavagrian cut off the steam by the application of a supplementary valve at the back of the ordinary valve, which supplementary valve is moved by tappets fixed to the valve casing. Bodmer, in 1841, and Meyer, in 1842, employed two slides or blocks fitted over apertures in the ordinary slide valve, and which blocks were approximated or set apart by a right and left handed screw pa.s.sing through both.[1] Hawthorn, in 1843, employed as an expansion valve a species of frame lying on the ordinary cylinder face upon the outside of the valve, and working up against the steam side of the valve at each end so as to cut off the steam. In the same year Gonzenbach patented an arrangement which consists of an additional slide valve and valve casing placed on the back of the ordinary slide valve casing, and through this supplementary valve the steam must first pa.s.s. This supplementary valve is worked by a double ended lever, slotted at one end for the reception of a pin on the valve link, the position of which in the slot determines the throw of the supplementary valve, and the consequent degree of expansion.

208. _Q._--What is the arrangement of expansion valve used in the most approved modern engines?

_A._--In modern engines, either marine or locomotive, it is found that if they are fitted with the link motion, as they nearly all are, a very good expansive action can be obtained by giving a suitable adjustment to it, without employing an expansion valve at all. Diagrams taken from engines worked in this manner show a very excellent result, and most of the modern engines trust for their expansive working to the link motion and the throttle valve.

[1] In 1838 I patented an arrangement of expansion valve, consisting of two movable plates set upon the ordinary slide valve, and which might be drawn together or asunder by means of a right and left handed screw pa.s.sing through both plates. The valve spindle was hollow, and a prolongation of the screw pa.s.sed up through it, and was armed on the top with a small wheel, by means of which the plates might be adjusted while the engine was at work. In 1839 I fitted an expansion valve in a steam vessel, consisting of two plates, connected by a rod, and moved by tappets up against the steam edges of the valve. In another steam vessel I fitted the same species of valve, but the motion was not derived from tappets, but from a moving part of the engine, though at the moderate speed at which these engines worked I found tappets to operate well and make little noise. In 1837 I employed, as an expansion valve, a rectangular throttle valve, accurately fitting a bored out seat, in which it might be made to revolve, though it did not revolve in working. This valve was moved by a pin in a pinion, making two revolutions for every revolution of the engine, and the configuration of the seat determined the amount of the expansion. In 1855 I have again used expansion valves of this construction in engines making one hundred revolutions per minute, and with perfectly satisfactory results.-- J.B.

CHAPTER IV.

MODES OF ESTIMATING THE POWER AND PERFORMANCE OF ENGINES AND BOILERS.

HORSES POWER.

209. _Q._--What do you understand by a horse power?

_A._--An amount of mechanical force that will raise 33,000 lbs. one foot high in a minute. This standard was adopted by Mr. Watt, as the average force exerted by the strongest London horses; the object of his investigation being to enable him to determine the relation between the power of a certain size of engine and the power of a horse, so that when it was desired to supersede the use of horses by the erection of an engine, he might, from the number of horses employed, determine the size of engine that would be suitable for the work.

210. _Q._--Then when we talk of an engine of 200 horse power, it is meant that the impelling efficacy is equal to that of 200 horses, each lifting 33,000 lbs. one foot high in a minute?

_A._--No, not now; such was the case in Watt's engines, but the capacity of cylinder answerable to a horse power has been increased by most engineers since his time, and the pressure on the piston has been increased also, so that what is now called a 200 horse power engine exerts, almost in every case, a greater power than was exerted in Watt's time, and a horse power, in the popular sense of the term, has become a mere conventional unit for expressing a certain size of engine, without reference to the power exerted.

211. _Q._--Then, each nominal horse power of a modern engine may raise much more than 33,000 lbs. one foot high in a minute?

_A._--Yes; some raise 52,000 lbs., others 60,000 lbs., and others 66,000 lbs., one foot high in a minute by each nominal horse power. Some engines indeed work as high as five times above the nominal power, and therefore no comparison can be made between the performances of different engines, unless the power actually exerted be first discovered.

212. _Q._--How is the power actually exerted by engines ascertained?

_A._--By means of an instrument called the indicator, which is a miniature cylinder and piston attached to the cylinder cover of the main engine, and which indicates, by the pressure exerted on a spring, the amount of pressure or vacuum existing within the cylinder. From this pressure, expressed in pounds per square inch, deduct a pound and a half of pressure for friction, the loss of power in working the air pump, &c.; multiply the area of the piston in square inches by this residual pressure, and by the motion of the piston, in feet per minute, and divide by 33,000; the quotient is the actual number of horses power of the engine. The same result is attained by squaring the diameter of the cylinder, multiplying by the pressure per square inch, as shown by the indicator, less a pound and a half, and by the motion of the piston, in feet per minute, and dividing by 42,017.

213. _Q._ How is the nominal power of an engine ascertained?

_A._--Since the nominal power is a mere conventional expression, it is clear that it must be determined by a merely conventional process. The nominal power of ordinary condensing engines may be ascertained by the following rule: multiply the square of the diameter of the cylinder in inches, by the velocity of the piston in feet per minute, and divide the product by 6,000; the quotient is the number of nominal horses power. In using this rule, however, it is necessary to adopt the speed of piston prescribed by Mr. Watt, which varies with the length of the stroke. The speed of piston with a 2 feet stroke is, according to his system, 160 per minute; with a 2 ft. 6 in. stroke, 170; 3 ft., 180; 3 ft. 6 in., 189; 4 ft., 200; 5 ft., 215; 6 ft., 228; 7 ft., 245; 8 ft., 256 ft.

214. _Q._--Does not the speed of the piston increase with the length of the stroke?

_A._--It does: the speed of the piston varies nearly as the cube root of the length of the stroke.

215. _Q._--And may not therefore some multiple of the cube root of the length of the stroke be subst.i.tuted for the velocity of the piston in determining the nominal power?

_A._--The subst.i.tution is quite practicable, and will accomplish some simplification, as the speed of piston proper for the different lengths of stroke cannot always be remembered. The rule for the nominal power of condensing engines when thus arranged, will be as follows: multiply the square of the diameter of the cylinder in inches by the cube root of the stroke in feet, and divide the product by 47; the quotient is the number of nominal horses power of the engine, supposing it to be of the ordinary condensing description. This rule a.s.sumes the existence of a uniform effective pressure upon the piston of 7 lbs. per square inch; Mr. Watt estimated the effective pressure upon the piston of his 4 horse power engines at 6-8 lbs. per square inch, and the pressure increased slightly with the power, and became 6.94 lbs. per square inch in engines of 100 horse power; but it appears to be more convenient to take a uniform pressure of 7 lbs. for all powers. Small engines, indeed, are somewhat less effective in proportion than large ones, but the difference can be made up by slightly increasing the pressure in the boiler; and small boilers will bear such an increase without inconvenience.

216. _Q._--How do you ascertain the power of high pressure engines?

_A._--The actual power is readily ascertained by the indicator, by the same process by which the actual power of low pressure engines is ascertained.

The friction of a locomotive engine when unloaded is found by experiment to be about 1 lb. per square inch on the surface of the pistons, and the additional friction caused by any additional resistance is estimated at about .14 of that resistance; but it will be a sufficiently near approximation to the power consumed by friction in high pressure engines, if we make a deduction of a pound and a half from the pressure on that account, as in the case of low pressure engines. High pressure engines, it is true, have no air pump to work; but the deduction of a pound and a half of pressure is relatively a much smaller one where the pressure is high, than where it does not much exceed the pressure of the atmosphere. The rule, therefore, for the actual horse power of a high pressure engine will stand thus: square the diameter of the cylinder in inches, multiply by the pressure of the steam in the cylinder per square inch less 1-1/2 lb., and by the speed of the piston in feet per minute, and divide by 42,017; the quotient is the actual horse power.

217. _Q._--But how do you ascertain the nominal horse power of high pressure engines?

_A._--The nominal horse power of a high pressure engine has never been defined; but it should obviously hold the same relation to the actual power as that which obtains in the case of condensing engines, so that an engine of a given nominal power may be capable of performing the same work, whether high pressure or condensing. This relation is maintained in the following rule, which expresses the nominal horse power of high pressure engines: multiply the square of the diameter of the cylinder in inches by the cube root of the length of stroke in feet, and divide the product by 15.6. This rule gives the nominal power of a high pressure engine three times greater than that of a low pressure engine of the same dimensions; the average effective pressure being taken at 21 lbs. per square inch instead of 7 lbs., and the speed of the piston in feet per minute being in both rules 128 times the cube root of the length of stroke.[1]

218. _Q._--Is 128 times the cube root of the stroke in feet per minute the ordinary speed of all engines?

_A._--Locomotive engines travel at a quicker speed--an innovation brought about not by any process of scientific deduction, but by the accidents and exigencies of railway transit. Most other engines, however, travel at about the speed of 128 times the cube root of the stroke in feet; but some marine condensing engines of recent construction travel at as high a rate as 700 feet per minute. To mitigate the shock of the air pump valves in cases in which a high speed has been desirable, as in the case of marine engines employed to drive the screw propeller without intermediate gearing, India rubber discs, resting on a perforated metal plate, are now generally adopted; but the India rubber should be very thick, and the guards employed to keep the discs down should be of the same diameter as the discs themselves.

219. _Q._--Can you suggest any eligible method of enabling condensing engines to work satisfactorily at a high rate of speed?

_A._--The most feasible way of enabling condensing engines to work satisfactorily at a high speed, appears to lie in the application of balance weights to the engine, so as to balance the momentum of its moving parts, and the engine must also be made very strong and rigid. It appears to be advisable to perform the condensation partly in the air pump, instead of altogether in the condenser, as a better vacuum and a superior action of the air pump valves will thus be obtained. Engines constructed upon this plan may be driven at four times the speed of common engines, whereby an engine of large power may be purchased for a very moderate price, and be capable of being put into a very small compa.s.s; while the motion, from being more equable, will be better adapted for most purposes for which a rotary motion is required. Even for pumping mines and blowing iron furnaces, engines of this kind appear likely to come into use, for they are more suitable than other engines for driving the centrifugal pump, which in many cases appears likely to supersede other kinds of pumps for lifting water; and they are also conveniently applicable to the driving of fans, which, when so arranged that the air condensed by one fan is employed to feed another, and so on through a series of 4 or 5, have succeeded in forcing air into a furnace with a pressure of 2-1/2 lbs. on the square inch, and with a far steadier flow than can be obtained by a blast engine with any conceivable kind of compensating apparatus. They are equally applicable if blast cylinders be employed.

220. _Q._--Then, if by this modification of the engine you enable it to work at four times the speed, you also enable it to exert four times the power?

_A._--Yes; always supposing it to be fully supplied with steam. The nominal power of this new species of engine can readily be ascertained by taking into account the speed of the piston, and this is taken into account by the Admiralty rule for power.

221. _Q._--What is the Admiralty rule for determining the power of an engine?

_A._--Square the diameter of the cylinder in inches, which multiply by the speed of the piston in feet per minute, and divide by 6,000; the quotient is the power of the engine by the Admiralty rule.[2]

222. _Q._--The high speed engine does not require so heavy a fly wheel as common engines?

_A._--No; the fly wheel will be lighter, both by virtue of its greater velocity of rotation, and because the impulse communicated by the piston is less in amount and more frequently repeated, so as to approach more nearly to the condition of a uniform pressure.

223. _Q._--Can nominal be transformed into actual horse power?

_A._--No; that is not possible in the case of common condensing engines.

The actual power exerted by an engine cannot be deduced from its nominal power, neither can the nominal power be deduced from the power actually exerted, or from anything else than the dimensions of the cylinder. The actual horse power being a dynamical unit, and the nominal horse power a measure of capacity of the cylinder, are obviously incomparable things.

224. _Q._--That is, the _nominal_ power is a commercial unit by which engines are bought and sold, and the _actual_ power a scientific unit by which the quality of their performance is determined?

_A._--Yes; the nominal power is as much a commercial measure as a yard or a bushel, and is not a thing to be ascertained by any process of science, but to be fixed by authority in the same manner as other measures. The actual power, on the contrary, is a mechanical force or dynamical effort capable of raising a given weight through a given distance in a given time, and of which the amount is ascertainable by scientific investigation.

225. _Q._--Is there any other measure of an actual horse power than 33,000 lbs. raised one foot high in the minute?