Show r Tihy milesan jour on the Ocean llarvelous Speed Expected of the British Torpedo Destroyer ViperBuilt Like the Turbinial1ost powerful and Lightest Vessel of Her Class Ever Floated Official Trials Scheduled to Occur In a Few Days Copyright by S S McClure Co 1899 NewcasUeuponT Nov 20In S the yellow waters of the Tyne now lies an unpretentious looking craft which is practically certaIn within the net r few days to wIn thedlstlnctlon of being be-ing the fastest steamship over constructed con-structed She is a naval vessel her majestys torpedo boat destroyer Viper She has been built by the Parsons MarIne Ma-rIne Steam Turbine company of which the Hon Charles A Parsons the originator origi-nator of the turbine engines is managing man-aging director If she fulfills the ex I pectatlon of Mr Parsons and the expErts ex-pErts of the BrItish admiralty office she j wIll bring about an important cliange in the construction of torpedo boat destroyers de-stroyers Therefore the interest of naval J na-val men In all parts of the world Is r fixed at such an angle that the steam as It enters the chest exerts its power agaInst them and turns the shaft SimIlar blades are fixed to the Inner walls of the chest In a stationary position posi-tion These are Interposed between the rows of revolving blades and slant In the opposite dllectlon in prder to turn I the full force of the steam directly upon the latter The steam passing through the chests strikes the face of the hundreds I hun-dreds of Uttle blades and turns the shaft Th action Is the same as that Qf water in driving a turbine waterwheel water-wheel The deice seems simplIcity I Itself although It has taken fifteen I years of experimental work on the part I of Mr Parsons to bring about Its sue cessful application to steam propulsion I I It is easy to see that by applying the steam In thJs manner so that the I motion is steadily in one direction a much hgner rate of speed Is possible than could qe obtained even with the to work In and It Is undisturbed by the action of the others Vibration Done Away With The turbine syatem possesses certain features which its Inventor thinks of particular advantage to torpedo boats One of these Is of course the high speed possible Another is the lightweight light-weight of the engine room mechatsm I and the consequent light draught of the VCS31Js 803 Wjll as the possibility of 1 carrying more weight in the form of armament Another is the complete freedom from vibration All those who have ridden on thc Turblnla agree In saying that there is less vibration onboard on-board her than in any other vessel they have ever knOwn In fact Mr Parsons Par-sons claims that the very slight vibration t10n noticeable in the Turbinia was due to the action of her air pump engine which was of the oldstyle reciprocating reciprocat-ing type In the Viper this has been replaced re-placed by turbine drIven air pumps so L D t i i < PLANS OF NEW TURBINE PROPELLED TORPEDO BOAT VIPER centered upon the boat and upon her impending trial trip The Viper is the first veslel of any practical importance to be built on the turbine princIple It is true that the Turblnla was hardly more than a toy boat She was built as an experiment to prove thE > feasibility of the turbine for marine propulsion What Mr Parsons Par-sons learned from the lurblnla he has embodied in practical form in the Viper In external appearance the new boat does not differ greatly from others of her class now in use Her four short wIde funnels suggest a tremendous draught across her fire grates Her lines are the lines of the fast steam yacht She has a turtlebacl protective protec-tive deck forward where the wash of the waves will come when she strIkes a fort mlle gait Othenns she does not differ from her sister ships of less speed Her length is 210 feet her beam twenty feet and her daught between five and six feetthe latter an evidence evi-dence at the extreme lightness of her norking rnahinery Her displacement In fact is only 325 tons In lnttiojarripgcmeat however tIle VIper is erY different from the ordinary ordi-nary vessel of her class Her boilers are much largerher engines al1d Mnatt ins much smaller and the wnole working work-ing mechanism of the boat seems much more simple than that of the ordinary steam vessel How the New 13011t Works To understand the operation or the new vessel It will be necessary to explain ex-plain briefly the turbine engine on which her claims to superiority rest In ordinary engines of the recIprocating type such as are used generally In steamWlps the steam passes from the boilers through cylinders of high and low pressure and thence Is applied to the shafts wlllch dfIve the vessel by means of pistons In applying the power the motion is changed from the Vertical movement of the piston head to the revolving mOlInent of the shafts The same thltlC may be observed ob-served any day by watching the piston rod that drives the wheels of a loco motiye Br this method of applying the power the piston changes its direction with every revolution of the machinery It drives and this continual change of direction with every stroke of the engine en-gine causes the vibration which is always al-ways present In this method of drIvIng machinery The Turbine Engine F In the turbine engines which Mr Parsons has perfected after fifteen years of experimental work the steam is applied directly to the shafts which i drives There are do cylinders and no pIstons The only gear used 15 or ned by the shaft itself and by the cThest which encloses It This gear consists simply of hundreds hun-dreds of small steel blades prjecting from the shaft Inside the chest and I best app1ant s under the reciprocating I system In fact the only limit of speed I is the amotnt of steam power tat can I be applied The urblnlas screws were run at Z500 revolutions per minute r which Is ten tImes the rate attained in vessels of the ordinary type I Another advantage of the turbine sYstem Is that I utilizes practically the I j whole power of the steam As the I I steam travels away from the boilers i ccnstant expands of ouse and I i therefore exerts less pressure to the I I square inch But by increasing the I size of a shafts collar and of the blades i I t 1lch i cafies the same number of I I revOlution per minute may be obtained 1 t from steam hf a lower pressure in the Turblnl they passed through three of these phases beginning with a 11 pressure of 225 pounds to the square inch and emerging wIth a pressure or less than i pound while by the arrangement II ar-rangement described the three shafts all revolved at the same speed I I I I Eorous > Steam Power I The Turbinia had three propellers all I driven by one set of engines The Vlprearries I a double set of engines pbrt and sarboardeach working two prQpellrs The horse power of her engines is i 10000 in real it is probably I prob-ably more than that against the 2000 I horse power of the Turbinia and she Is I expected to make something like forty I I knots an hour considerably surpassing i the Turblnls record of thirtyfive I knots IotsTe VIper has boilers oneffth larger than thoseoEtherdlnary torpedo boat of her size there are nearly 200 feet l of additional heating area When one I rellects that by using turbines 20 percent I per-cent increased efficiency Is obtained I from the steam I will be seen that in the matterS of available steaii i I mater avaiable stea power the Viper possesses an immense advantage i ad-vantage over other ships Another factor i fac-tor which adds to this advantage Is her extreme lightness her tonnage Is a third less than that of other destroyers 1 j of her dimensions She has twice the 1 horse power of thes thirtyknot boats I to drive less body weight Certainly that makes the claim of superior speM 1 1101 reasonable From the Vipers boilers the steam passes to two high pressure turbine I motors which drive the two outer aro peler shafts From there it Is conducted con-ducted to two low pressure and two rcering turbine motors driving the Inner has These propellers it should be borne in mind do not project pro-ject beyond the stern of the vessel I They len the engine room at a slight downward angle which carries them further below the surface than would be pondble I they extended directly astern and gives them a grip of the water which the light draught of the vessel would otherwis prevent The forward screws are some thirty feet ahead of the stern By thus separating thf srews each set has its Own water that the Inventor Is confident that in I the new vessel there will be a complete absence of vibration I Is easy to I understand that this is a mater of the greatest importance in launching a torpedo I tor-pedo ur firing guns The one point to which theopponents of the turbine have clung Is the assertion I asser-tion that wIth the terrific speed which I imDarts I wI be impossible to reverse re-verse a vessel eo quickly as can be done r with those of fe i speed Of course it is I a matter cf prIme importance that a torpedo boat destroyer should be able i t stop to turn and to run away quickly Orrthd basis of the Turbinias 1 I bt performances in this respect Mr Parsons Par-sons I confident that the VIper will do all these things as well as any other vessel If not better Of course the only way to reverse any ship is to set her propellers to revolving In a backward direction On the Viper th5 can be done to all intents and pur poS instantly and the fact that she carries four screws to each propeller I enables her to overcome the forward i Impetus more quickly than can be done I in the case of a vessl wIth single I i ew po rs XheeforetheVlp r carl come to a stop a qUickly a an I ordinary vessel in pie of her greater I fprward speed and she can run backward back-ward at a rte estimated by Mr Par f eons as slteen knots per hour or rhther less than half sped On the other hand the Vipers engInes can be worked UII to top notch of efficiency much more quick than the of the J ordinary t pe She can go from a I stanstill to full speed In about thirty seconds Instead or in ten to fifteen minutes as Is regulred by reciprocatIng reciprocat-Ing engines This 15 a factor in imparting importance Im-parting agility which Is of the highest A Event of Importance On aU of these accounts the result ot the Vipers trIal test will be looked upon with the keenest interest by aU naval men I she proves a success i will mean that aU the torpedo boats and torpedo boat destroyers in exIstence exIst-ence today representing Investments of hundreds of millions on the part of different dif-ferent governmts are put out of date by that very fat The usefulness of such boat lies In being ale to outrun and outneuer aU other crafts As son as this superiority dIsappears their usefulpe is gone There is no reason to doubt that the Viper trill prove a success Her builder I is serenely confident Moreover he asserts as-serts not without reason that within ten years aU steamers traveling asI passenger routes and makIng sort journeyssuch as croshnnnel and coast boatwI be driVen by turbine motors I The British government too seems to have confidence In the new boat for they have already ordered another to be built on practically the same plans Evidently the English naval eXPerts be I leve that the turbine vessel is the com Ing type and desire to be first In the 3eld In securing representative of f iI i |