Power for all purposes

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32861, 9 March 1972, Page 12

Power for all purposes

The fact that air can be compressed and stored under pressure has made it a useful source of power for industry.

Air, like other gases, is “elastic.” It can be squeezed into a smaller space but it never stops trying to expand. When an enclosed quantity of air is compressed there are more molecules per unit volume, which in turn means that a larger number of molecules will strike against the walls of the enclosure per unit time. Pressure increases.

The compressed and stored air retains its higher pressure until it gets a chance to expand again. This energy-laden air can be piped to various kinds of pneumatic machines and made to do useful work.

Providing power in this way is basically a simple process. And the atmosphere is a convenient raw material. It is not surprising, therefore, that the use of compressed air is wide-spread. Safe, clean and relatively easy to install, compressed air has an

inherent flexibility which makes it the ideal energy source for many uses where other types of energy would be inconvenient, or even dangerous.

Compressed air drills through rock, melts ice, drives rivets, files, polishes, paints and cuts sheet metal. It powers loading machines, hoists and pumps, starts jet aircraft, steers ships, brakes trains and drives the den. tist’s drill—to mention just a few of its numerous applications.