THE CURTISS TURBINE
Diagram of Steam Diaphragm Showing Nozzles and Fixed and Moving Blades
A—Single stage turbine wheel. B—Steam nozzles. B´—Steam exhausts. C—Moving blades. D—Stationary blades.
From this we see the main points of difference between reciprocating engines and turbines, and between most turbines and Tesla's invention.
While most turbines take advantage of the expansive power of steam, the main idea is to make use of the velocity of the vapour as it is driven from a set of nozzles around the turbine wheel, under high pressure.
Also it will be seen that Tesla's invention is a turbine in form, but that it is entirely different from either of the two earlier types, because instead of giving the steam something to push against, it is allowed to follow its own natural course around between the smooth disks, and drag them after it.
Some kind of a crank motion is necessary in all reciprocating engines, to convert the backward and forward movement of the piston to the rotary motion of the shaft, but this is done away with entirely in the turbine. What engineers call a "direct drive" is substituted in its place. In other words, the turbine wheels or disks, fastened to the shaft, turn it, and drive the machinery directly from the source of power. The speed of the machine is regulated by gears.
The great advantage of the "direct drive," particularly for big steamships and for turning big electric dynamos, will be plain to every boy when he thinks of the long narrow body of a ship in which can lie the turbine engines working directly on the propeller shafts (with the exception of certain gears, of course, for regulating the speed) instead of the big flywheels, and flying cranks of marine reciprocating engines. Also with dynamos it is just as important to have the power applied directly to save space and increase the general efficiency of the machine.
The greatest disadvantage of the usual kinds of turbines for most machinery, including steamships, is the fact that they cannot be reversed. To solve this difficulty, all the great ocean and coast liners, battleships, cruisers, and torpedo boats that are equipped with turbines have two sets of engines, one for straight ahead and one for backward.
With the Tesla turbine this disadvantage, as we have seen, is entirely done away with, and the one turbine can be reversed as easily and simply as it can be started.