The marine steam engine - Busley

In 1891 when the first portion of Vol. I. appeared it was certainly not my intention to defer the completion of it till now. Had I then foreseen how little free time would be at my disposal for transforming the earlier editions the third would never have been undertaken at all. In my present position, which no longer affords me the leisure foe comprehensive study I formerly enjoyed as a teacher, and hinders the acquisition of suitable matter for the atlas of plates, I can, to my genuine regret make no binding promise to the possessors of the portions already published as to the date of completion of the entire work. All engineers engaged in practice will understand and appreciate the difficulties perpetually confronting me, more especially in the preparation of the plates and in keeping them above the level of a mere rechauffe of drawings already published in the technical periodicals. I hope however that the treatment of the theory of the steam engine and the construction of marine boilers will be found sufficiently exhaustive to obtain popularity for the book as it stands, the more so as a general index and an index of the names referred to are appended to the first volume.

The very brief extract from the mechanical theory of heat in the first edition has now been so extended as to render the third division which is new, intelligible. This division is devoted to modern investigation of the steam engine, giving due prominence to the influence of the cylinder walls on the steam, a more thorough knowledge of which has chiefly shaped the path of advancement in marine engineering. An attempt has been made to compile as tersely as possible the records of various researches from the technical journals of the countries interested in engineering. Investigations based upon the indicator, which faute de misux still furnishes the most useful data, have received thorough treatment.

The fourth division devoted to fuels, has been entirely remodeled. The process of combustion and the losses of heat in the still far from perfect furnaces of marine boilers, as well as the extreme importance of the capability of the firemen have been thoroughly gone into under the light of recent experiments. Liquid fuels have been comprehensively treated of on account of their extending application to warships.

The fifth division is practically identical with the former fourth division. It relates to the performance and economy of marine engines but upon a much more extended basis than before as befits the development of the multiple-expansion principle.

The sixth division is partially compounded of the former sixth and twenty-second divisions. It has been thoroughly-revised and in its present form will be found practically useful in estimating the I. H. P. for a proposed steamer especially by means of interpolation in the table of actual recent performance-coefficients. The selection of a suitable type of engine will be facilitated by the seventh division which contains numerous results of compound and multiple-expansion engines.

The eighth division has been enlarged where it treats of triples and quadruples. It is intended to show the inexperienced how simply by means of Mariotte’s law, a diagram can be constructed to represent the variations of pressure in the cylinders and of the turning moments as well as to enable the degree of uniformity of the working of the engine to be pre-judged. The applicability of Mariotte's law is specially referred to on page 131.

The various types of marine boilers are very much more exhaustively discussed in the ninth division than in the former fifth division. The most notable water-tube boilers are closely described and it is pointed out that as yet no final judgment can be arrived at as to the superior fitness of any one system for marine purposes.

The rules of the principal Classification Societies which relate to the construction of marine boilers have been brought together and the measurements all reduced to the metrical system thus simplifying calculation and facilitating rapid comparison.

In the eleventh division under the heading of furnaces the various arrangements of induced and forced draught have received due attention.

The publishers have striven to maintain the same high standard as before in the get-up of the book and the atlas of plates.