Document rBaOJjOkLnmBNvOBzd1RzEx9E

SPEAKING OF POWER gine of the inverted type, and (W pump, forerunner of the propt]}^ ' hydraulic turbine developed in J"?! cent years. We are constantly plagued by the odd bits that come our editorial way and find no convenient resting place in a maga zine dedicated, in the tnoin, to serving a solid diet of useful technical infor mation. These may vory from nuggets, picked up at engineers' hull sessions and In chats with men on the job, to glimpses of future developments gained in visits to the manufacturing plants and research labs of industry. They may result from our own editorial joumeyingi, from the wanderings of our correspondents in far corners of the world, or from the inces sant stream of periodicals and publicity releases that Rows across an editor's desk. They may range from fact to fancy, from items of significance to items that amuse. Regardless of source and nature, they disturb editors' tidy souls because they defy classification as articles, news, what have you. Because our job is one of communica tion, we itch to pass them along, and with them some of the sidelights of pub lishing s magstine which, like running a power plant, has Its interesting, embarrasing and often huinoious moments. So we herewith revive two war-suspended franchises, roll up the former "Speaking of Power" and "Exhaust Lines" columns into one, and bring you a page in which we "speak of power'-power, the engi neering field, and Power, the mogaiine. May U add the spice of test and human-' ity to the meal and potatoes of prectical information. Beat of the continuing crop of atomicbomb stories is the one quoted by Ben nett Cerf in The Saturday Review. High on a bluff near Los Alamos, New Mex ico, an Indian was sending a smoke message when the experimental bomb went off. Crawling out of the ditch, he pulled himself together in time to see a tower of smoke billow into the sky. Ho watched in awe-stricken silence, clucked his tongue, and murmured, "1 wish I had said that!" * March 1, 1927, p 329). Such a plant was built' on a 10,000-ton cargo vessel and tested (Power, Oct 28, 1930, p 702 and Jan. 6,1931, p. 3$) but failed to pro. (luce enough output to drive the pumps. The controversy that raged over this experiment is likely to be revived if plans revealed recently by the French Embassy in New York materialize. These envision a 2-miUion-ton ship with a 65-ft-tbick hull of a special concrete including sawdust and glass fiber. Pro ponents nf the scheme claim that this Colossal floating power plant, if anchored off the coast of Dakar, would supply energy enough to operate the TransSahara Railway and irrigate parts of the desert. Handling subscription records for magazines of large circulation is, of necessity, carried out on an essentially mechanical and impersonal basis. Such systems work with truly astonishing efficiency, but when the machine alipa the results range from the merely annoy ing to the ridiculous. Thus when the Purdue chapter of Pi Tau Sigmo, me chanical-engineering honorary fratern ity, recently entered a subscription to Power, the letter of acknowledgment was addressed to "Dear Mr Sigma." Purdue alumni By Sawyer ond Bill Poislcy, of the Power business staff, spotted a kidding reference to the in cident in the Purdue Exponent, were properly redfoced, took small comfort from the fact that dignity was main tained and "Mr Sigma" was not greeted with o familiar "Hi, Pi." At the end of 1947, Allis-Chalmcrs Mfg Co, of Milwaukee, completed 100 years of engineering and manufacturing achievement. It was tack in 1861 that Edward P Allis acquired the 14-yearold French burr millstone firm of Decker and Seville and initiated the still-held policy of diverse manufacture that was to lead to the world's largest line of major industrial products. Some twenty years ago the French physicists, Georges Claude (inventor of the neon lamp) and Paul Boucherot, proposed generating power by using the temperature difference between the warm surface of the tropica) ocean and the cold waters of (ho deeps (Power, Old timers in the power field will re member Edwin Reynolds, whose engi neering genius was responsible for such pioneering developments as the improved Reynolds-Corlisa engine, the first directacting metallic-valve blowing engine, the first triple-expansion pumping en M (M) The present Allis-Chalmen*5 formed in 1901 after merger of^'J ward P Allis Co with Fraser A Q|i Co, the Cates Iron Works and the son Mfg Co. (n the years after thtgg of the century, Allis-Cholmeis tj many notable engine-generator saj eluding the 3000-kw ReynoldfrCafil unit that powered the spectacular &Q ing of the Sl Louis Fair of 19Q^ March 1906, the first A-C steam went into operation at the Kent Arts* Station of the Brooklyn Transit De "* inent Co. Following years saw extL of electricoUmanufacturing lines, tinuous development of hydroelemU equipment and pioneering activity iBu gas-turbine field. _Ka>annett S&socioteEdlror . Clutches for Industrial-power'drives ore probably more popular than ever before. Accordingly/ every power and tadustrldfengineer should- undoritand'tkoir MseJnJhosotutlonofpowor-dppUcatlon problems !ln*.- : group pnd IndlvIdualdrlyotiTpassItthlmj'Jhls special;section, POWER'S 66th, describes pppfliotldnslconxtruttlons, operation*,; and characterls-. V tics of manuo/fy and autpmpfl<aily.Vdp^iedr'powp> takeoffs, fiheihaft V clutches, and efutch couplings, :lntludlng mognof! and hydraulic drives ^' In an effort to reduce Italy's loml fuel requirements, the government ia ister for industry and commerce asked the Fiat Co, at Turin, to imtS gate the possibility of replacing'd steam and diesel machinery la fci power plants with gas turbines L '' nutural gas. n Applications end of left-hand half of the coupling b supported on a ball bearing, B, In the right-bond half, to maintain good alignment between the two. Unashaft Clutches, For drives like THIS MONTH'S COVER Power readers, si evidenced by1 continuing correspondence, well * member W A Doran's chronicles all the OLD CHIEF, his shrewd sndjj lovable mentor in stationary enp-j nearing. No small part of this plu-| out memory is the series of worml;* Inimun sketches mado by Theodwvf Von Gorp, artist in the McCr*\ Hilt Illustration Dept. Others Mu*/ trated the early stories hut it mi molnnd for "Van" to breathe lifeJ into I lie OLD CHIEF and stnidrv: other plant character* -- convivial. Red llogan. Old Bob, the black-* smith. Creeping Jimmy, Green-' house Certie, ond that "honest grafter, floss Ifookem. Like all good craftsmen, Van it versatile. The brush that made die old plant and its denlcens come I* life can, will* equal skill, dramatis* the mechanisms of power engineer* ing. For the February cover, wanted a single, graphic symbol d the clutch, essential power-trto* mission element described in die special aection beginning on p ^ Van found It in the simple and (* miliar jaw clutch, as his cover psiaiJng trjiifies. Application of on electric motor to (pVi'aaehlne or group of machines in^'chides selecting a suitable motor, a '^|rpeed controller or starter, ond a con.l;f,ption to the load. The latter may V,^.require one or more couplings, shafting, ^thjmgen and bearings, belts, chains, ^gears, variable-speed transmissions, v-.r dutches, or combinations of these equipments. For many drives, either ^lidividusi or group, clutches improve ^'machine performance end simplify >(,power applications. This Is olso true ydjInternal-combustion engines. .i-A.'.Ckrtifc Osslgm. Clutches and clutch k^ecupUngj are built in many forms. .{y Bone are not true clutches, but ate to give an over-all picture. '.^^dutch may be considered as a that readily connects two j'f.vwking parts--uiualty a power source ^ s ho its load-or releases them II desired, `ft tUheKsKe devices are in proper condition, input and output ^Twsfts have the same speed, but they 'ftTip..B.c.rally slirp w--hen severely ovver,'Allpadcd. Other -e.q..uti_p_m__e_n_t__a_p__pilsie~d aos, ) {$fches permit! 2 to 4% speed slip tt;1 2^; Fig. 2, the dutch Is located on o line- between power unit and driven ma shaft where power b taken off to drive chine, These are often used as vari o machine, or on a countershaft driv able-speed drives. ing a group of machines, or (or sim friction dutches. These form by far ilar applications. One half of the the largest group and have the widest dutch has o long sleeve that extends use of any equipment classed as along the shaft. In Fig. 2 the sleeve clutches. They are normally engaged supported on two boll bearings, B, and disengaged at full speed under permits the shaft to turn freely In load and, when properly adjusted, this half of the clutch when it Is drive their loads without slip unless disengaged. A pulley, sheave, chain heavily overloaded. They may be op- sprocket or gear mounted on the piled either manually or automatically sleeve drives the load while the other and are built In many designs. But half of the clutch, keyed to the shaft, all transmit torque by friction between engages the pulley half. two or more surfaces, held In contact fewer Vekeoffs. Clutches, built in aa under pressure. .Other friction-clutch part of gasoline engines to permit designs are marketed under different them .to. start before applying load, names derived from the means of en ere known as power takeoffs, Fig. S. gaging and disengaging them, such as But a clutch, to connect an electric those actuated by compressed air or motor to the end of a lineshaft or pressure liquids, p 86. * to the driven shaft of a machine, be Friction dutches are built to apply comes a cutoff coupling. _ oas cutonff couplings or os lilnesanhanft Friction Clwtth Applications. Among clutches. In the former applications, their many applications, friction they serve to connect a power source dutches In group drives either con to its load or os a disconnect coup- nect or disconnect single machines or ling between the helves of a lineshaft, groups. These machines arc' driven Fig. l, p 60. In this design the. shaft by a motor of less horsepower than POWfR February 1 EKe r p eb-r-U e d i *6$ m'(>> ;g'