Abstract
THE history of the steam turbine previous to the reign of Parsons, whose first patents were applied for in 1884, may be made out from chapters i. and ii. But descriptions of inventions in the language and with the illustrations usual in patent specifications are not quite what is expected from the author of such a book as this. There is an appendix giving the names and dates of all patents relating to steam turbines. The history and construction of the Parsons and the Laval turbines are given at some length, with the results of practical tests for power and consumption of steam, and the reader gets an opportunity of understanding the construction of modified forms which are now, under various names, coming into use. Students are anxious to examine good drawings and descriptions of the details of the Parsons turbine, and it would appear that these are difficult to obtain. The author of this book has given much information and many illustrations somewhat in the style made familiar to us in the engineering newspapers. Much more information is given about the Laval type of turbine. As to the theory of these turbines, the essentially important points seem to be ignored, and yet all the theory of any turbine known to anybody may be given very shortly indeed. There is a particularly interesting point in connection with the Laval turbine to which the author might have directed attention, namely, the exceedingly great speed reached by fluid at the end of an expanding mouthpiece. So far as we know, the reason for this has never been published, and yet any student of the papers of Osborne Reynolds ought to be able to give it readily.
The Steam Turbine.
By Robert M. Neilson. Second Edition. Pp. xvii + 294. (London: Longmans, Green and Co.) Price 10s. 6d. net.
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The Steam Turbine . Nature 69, 4 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/069004a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/069004a0
