THE HISTORY OF THE TURBINE AND THE APPLICATION OF STEAM AS A MOTIVE POWER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13180, 13 January 1905, Page 5

THE HISTORY OF THE TURBINE AND THE APPLICATION OF STEAM AS A MOTIVE POWER.

TO THB EDITOR. Sip., Tho above history as given by Mi R. M. Noilsori; A.M.1., as published in your issue- of tho 10th ;nst., is scarcely correct. «Vr Wa i S i lioron >" Aloxandria, not Hero as stated ;n tlio issue referred fo, and. tho period 300 years before our era, not the sccond century as stated; and, further, the. principle of tho alopilo, as dcsigoed by Heron, has boon in daily use atRilsland Wells, North Britain, to my know, ledge, for over 60 years, pumninc tho medicinal waters for invalids frequenting tho spa;.and tho transference of the princijjla of tire alopilo to tlio turbine—that is, from the pressure of &team to the pressure of water-is very simple: tho pressure of tho water downwards is equivalent to tho expansive force of steam tinder fixed conditions. The writer, some 20 yeaw ago,.fell foul of' your interesting correspondent "CiVia" p u •this saing question as to the original airitaor of. steam as a motive pom, and to convince liim of Ins error had '.'Heron's". alopilo made and shown at work in tho Daily Times OfficHi. . ' I may mention that the Works of Heron f'l®, Philosopher anil mathematician, were mostly all destroyed, together with 300,000 •volume*; in tlie great firo at Alexandria .about the date I have .quoted. Had this misfortune not occurred, what a iftaeatine of literary wealth would' have beW of disposal'to-day—l am. elc 'a. rt i t ' Jauis FOBSIXB. :