Superheated Steam

Abstract

I HAVE noticed a curious misapprehension, even on the part of high authorities, with respect to the application of Carnot's law to an engine in which the steam is superheated after leaving the boiler. Thus, in his generally excellent work on the steam-engine,² Prof. Cotterill, after explaining that in the ordinary engine the superior temperature is that of the boiler, and the inferior temperature that of the condenser, proceeds (p. 141): “When a superheater is used, the superior temperature will of course be that of the superheater, which will not then correspond to the boiler pressure.”