Document M4ZmLYv4mbYEyMk2D1JzqqY1z

SPEAKING Correspondence with Power readers in foreign countries is always interest* Ing and sometimes has a peculiar charm. We have never forgotten one communication from South America, apparently laboriously produced by consulting a dictionary for the literal English equivalent of each Spanish word. It was evident that the writer wanted help, that he wanted to know where he could buy something.' What had us licked was what he said he wanted*-a "male water sheep." Finally one of the smarter editor* (now on the businesa stnS and beaded for a vice* presidency or something) came up with the answer; our friend wonted a Ay* droulic ram. *** Joe Van Denburg, McGraw-Hill World News man on the India beat, reports from Ceylon that cocoanut oil pinch-hit successfully for diesel oil when a flood recently upset fuel deliv eries in parts ol the island. Since then researchers have studied cocoanut oil's properties, and find It a safe and praeties! fuel (or slow-speed engines if pre heated to 120 F before injection. British Interest In the gas turbina as a stationary power unit Is demonstrated by two recent reports. The Contra! Electricity Board has ordered -instal lation of a 15,000*kw oil-fired opencycle plant at Trefford Power Station, which now contains 60,000 kw ol steam capacity with 30,000 more being added. To be built by Metropolitan Vickers, tbe gai*turbine unit Is expected to op erate st a thermal efficiency equal to that of Britain'* best steam plant ` (Battersea Station registered 26.5% in 1946, based on units sent out.) Toward the end of last year, John Brown and Co, British licensees of Esther Wysa, started construction of a 12,500-kw closed-cycle gas-turbine plant This will resemble In many re spects tbe plant of the same size bring built by Eacher Wysa for Gennevilliers Power Station, near Paris. Marine development is never very far from the British mind and the gas turbine Is no exception. British Thomon-Hoaston Co Is installing e 1200-hp 2-shaft gas turbine in a tanker, where 4 (164) OF POWER it will operate in conjunction with ex isting diesels. A 3500-hp marine unit, arranged to reverie by means of hy draulic couplings in the reduction gear ing, is under construction by the vari ous companies united for gas-turbine development under the name Femetrada (Parsons and Marine Engineer ing Turbine Research and Develop ment Association). Further reports have it that John Brown end Co is working on a closed-cycle plant for a Channel steamer. It is understood to be a twin-screw plant, 6000 hp on each. Drilling contractors in the oil fields of the Southwest now turn to a mobile laboratory for water-treatment service. Making the rounds of tbe rigs, the truck crew analyzes boiler-water condi tions on the spot, to arrive at a tailormade treatment, or to check the results of previously prescribed dosage. The same truck delivers treating ohemlcals ready for use. Reader John S Kemachan says, "This I gotta see," about a statement In a used-machinery ad In the January Searchlight section of Power. It read "1000-kw Westinghouie 250-volt 514rpm generator direct-connected to 3600rpm Westinghouse bleeder condensing turbine." We'd like to see it,'too. Although we usually think of Insula tion as keeping the heat from leaking into a refrigerator, it's o good idea sometimes to remember that It works both ways. For example, refrigerator cars bound East from the Coast could profit from the cold air In the moun tains, which the Insulation nicely shuts out. Operating regulations are being relaxed to make it possible to take ad vantage of this "free cold." * Graduate engineer* In the Detroit area are to bare their own "university" staffed by practicing members of the profession, and It Is expected that this pilot operation will be followed by others In key cities of the country. The Engineers Connell for Profes sional Development Is sponsor of the plan, which has been devised as a much-needed help to the young engi neer in the early days ol fcj, Many authorities feel that h first few years after leaving itl school that the engineer makes his future. ECPD, under Us chniron^ j W Parker, president of Detroit E Co. will work with Detroit's neering society and its affiliate^ ^ comprise some 30 local tecUoai rf tlonal engineering societies. Tbs"* varsity" wlU sponsor corns**, fc and guidance consultations ,, neer graduates. "Regents" of ^ university will be past president* ej, society, end outstanding cnginecra1 the community trill serve on its fi Use of high-temperature bigk.pl KsitlCM. hooking down, from obove, on wotetKSraK" wore; is discharging from It* buckets PLANT HTL Two 100-yoor old turbines ora Installed tn flour mill owned former. 8uilding is obout six mile* from Trollhotton, Sweden sure water instead of steam for ptoe^lL heating hat been advocated (or anil riely of reasons and Uied out la]^' number of plants In this country ejjL abroad. Right now, fuel-short Aij?t| Waterwheels Operate 100 Years trails is enthusiastic about the lavfaqnBh IlM-Jpossibilities. A complete hlgh-tetttetjl alure high-pressure water plant tjcfll1 been installed In the new textile pUgfl of James Miller A Co, at Warn; Victoria, end a similar plant is ta eraricn In a knitting mill at RtcbssoaU Victoria. Temperatures as high 'ijj 350 F at 120 pal are used. In aiUiiiuj By GEORGE WIUOCK, Tro/fhotlon, Sweden Ofte HUNonco years of service to industry is a noteworthy record (or any company. But It assumes even more signif icance when the first two waterwheels it constructed are still in service, as with Nydqvfst A Holm, of TroHbaitan, to making It possible to transmit mer? heat per unit volume than with rUta," fuel savings as high as 30% claimed. Sweden. fn 1646 a farmer installed these turbines to drive a flour mill. Compared with a modern Installation, the water, wheels are of unusual design. Photo above, at left, shows one of them in operation, and photo st right shows the mill THIS MONTH'S COVER As elomie scientists launch r* .. search program to learn mors of 'j the mysterious forces that kp',(l particles in tbe naeleus from Of: ing apart. Dr William E Sboopp. r directing (be project at WestJaf- J bouse Research Laboratories, 5 checks up on tbe "atom smasher." ' la the cover photo, be Is ailog raais-spectromcter detector to inks sure there ere no leaks in tbs II 40-/t vacuum tube down which tbefj atomic bullets travel before they smith Into tbe target. Helium Is sprayed from s heto l| along every inch of ibo quarter-j mile of surface joint to the vso'j uua lube. If there ft t leak, bcllom enters tbe vacuum y* and activates a special electron^ t tubs, which it preset to "sniff oql J helium. The detector can revesl * J leak of air so tiny it would tsks more than 3000 years ta drflit* u ' eutoraobilo tiro. on one side of the stream. These turbine parts are arranged in reverse to the parts ol a modern unit; that is, the outer part ia the runner, and the inner, the stationary guide vanes and gate mechanism. As the drawing shows, the runner connects to a vertical shaft that drives the millstone. Lower end of this shaft runs in e lignum-vitae step bearing, supported on the heod cover. There are five stationary guide vanes, in each of two openings on opposite sides of the fixed element. Site of openings is controlled by abutter gates, positioned from a hand- wheel on the operating floor. Vane Operation*. When the shutters ere open water pastes through, between the stationary guide vanes, then to the runner, causing It to revolve. Turbin* output depends on the number of openings between the stationary vane* uncovered by the shutter gates. When the gates are fully open, eight jets, four an each side, flow Into the runner, which then develops 20 hp. .at ISO rpm under a 9-(t head. The well-formed vanes of the waterwheels look more like those of a modem steam turbine CROSS SECTIONS. Water enters this turbine' from f.^j^Wh. j* posses through the shutter gates ond the guide ?llT0n**> then discharge* horlcontally through tho runner buckets then a 100-yr-old waterwheel. In celebrating Sts hundredth anniversary Nydqvlst A Holm presented medals to 464 employes with more than 25 yean service. Seven had S? years of unbroken service, and eleven had SO years. Of the 2000 employe# near)y 2S% have been employed 25 yean or more. POWER Meh i^PWEg it: V\ |?4fl (165) 45 AH: jv- |