Sir Charles Algernon Parsons (1854-1931) Born at 13 Connaught Place, Hyde Park, London on June 13 1854 Parsons was the youngest of the six sons of the earl of Rosse, President of the Royal Society, who was famous in the scientific world for his construction of the great 6 ft reflecting telescope at the family seat, Birr Castle, Ireland. There Parsons passed most of his boyhood, having at one time as his tutor the astronomer Sir Robert Hall. In 1871 he entered Trinity College Dublin and 2 years later became an undergraduate of St John's College Cambridge, taking the degree of BA in 1877. From Cambridge he went to the Elswick works of Armstrong at Newcastle upon Tyne and with this began his long association with the North of England. Leaving Elswick in 1881 he came into contact with Sir James Kitson at Leeds and 2 years later joined the Gateshead firm of Clarke, Chapman and Co as junior partner. The following year he brought out his reaction steam turbine the improvement and application of which was his chief concern for the remainder of his life. Severing his connection with Clark Chapman and Co in 1889, at Heaton near Newcastle he founded the firm C A Parsons & Co for the development of steam turbines for use on land and in 1894 the Marine Steam Turbine Company at Wallsend-on-Tyne. Presumably for the skilled labour force and the proximity to England's iron and coal industries. Although the development of the steam turbine was his chief objective, he found time to pay attention to diverse scientific and mechanical problems, and in later life became known for his interest in the construction of large telescopes. Parsons was knighted in 1911 and awarded the order of merit in 1927. His death occurred onboard the Duchess of Richmond in Kingston Harbour, Jamaica, 11th February 1931.
TURBINIA As Parsons saw it, his invention of the steam turbine had direct application to marine propulsion and electrical generation. Both of these require high efficiency and have steady loads. Marine propulsion had the added benefit of requiring smooth operation and a high power density engine. Parsons left Cambridge and established the Parsons Works in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. His first company was established to produce a commercial steam turbine. The risk was formidable, turbines require exacting tolerances on the dimensions. The vane profiles in the turbines were completely new and were very complex shapes to manufacture, even by modern standards. Everything in the design was new and had to be invented. On top of this was trying to maintain financing for the company.
By 1892 the power of his turbines had increased from the very first prototype of 4 kW in 1885 to a respectable 100kW. But there were still no buyers and no market. By now his engines were powerful enough to power small boats. He decided to build a boat that would demonstrate the potential of his machine. In 1894 Parsons took out patent No. 394 for 'Propelling a vessel by means of a steam turbine, which turbine actuates the propeller or paddle shaft directly or through gearing'. The steam turbine blasted jets of high-pressure steam against blades inside a wheel, producing a continuous rotational motion instead of the push-pull action of previous steam engines. The same year saw the formation of the Steam Turbine Company, the prospectus of which stated that:
' The objective of this company is to provide the necessary capital for efficiently and thoroughly testing the application of Mr Parsons well known Steam Turbine to the propulsion of vessels. If successful, it is believed that the new system will revolutionise the present method of utilising steam as a motive power, and also that it will enable much higher rate of speed to be attained than has hitherto been possible with the fastest vessel.'
In pursuance of this objective, after experiments with model boats, the company constructed Turbinia. Built of steel, She was 100ft long, 9ft broad and with a draught of 3ft had a displacement of 44.5 tons. She was fitted with a double-ended water tube boiler working at 210 psi. The first set of machinery consisted of a single radial flow turbine driving a single shaft, which at 2400 rpm developed 960 horse-power. The speed of the boat proved to be much less than hoped for. The highest speed recorded was less than 20 knots. The complication was due to the high rotational speeds of the propellers which caused the phenomenon of cavitation to occur. Like the Wright brothers developing the aeroplane a few years later, the turbine design was pushing many technological limitations simultaneously. Parsons had to remedy this problem also. Cavitation was a phenomenon recognised and named by William Froude. The propellers were spinning at 18,000 rpm, so fast that the water pressure decreased, forming bubbles, a cavity. The power was going into making bubbles instead of pushing the boat.
Turbinia The remedy was to operate at lower rpm with more turbines and propellers. The radial flow turbine was replaced by 3 parallel flow turbines, one high, one intermediate and one low pressure, to reuse the same steam in succession, each driving a separate shaft having 3 triple bladed screws, there being 9 propellers in all. With steam at 157 psi the speed of the central shaft was 2000 rpm and 2230 on the wing shafts. On trial with this new configuration a speed of 34.5 knots was obtained, or about 4 knots more than the fastest destroyers afloat. The results were spectacular, but still nobody was listening.
Turbinia at Speed The trials of Turbinia were conducted off the North East Coast but her debut before the world was made in a daring way on an occasion of pomp and circumstance, and amidst surroundings fitting in every respect for the appearance of a vessel which was to usher in a new era in ship propulsion. To mark the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Victoria a grand Naval Review was held at Spithead. Where on June 26th 1897, was gathered the greatest armada the world had ever seen. No fewer than 165 ships flying the White Ensign were present. There were battleships of the Majestic and Royal Sovereign Class, the Cruisers Terrible and Powerful, Blake and Blenheim, the old Ironclads Devastation and Thunderer, many light cruisers, gunboats, 27 and 30 knot destroyers and at one end of the line 6 sailing brigs, the last remnants of the age of masts and yards. The entire fleet was manned by over 38,000 officers and men. It was on this occasion that Turbinia after permission had been obtained, was to steam up and down the lines and astonish everyone by her performance. . Along with the Queen was the Prince of Wales and Prince Henry of Prussia, the Kaiser's brother were also present. Charles Parsons had once written, "If you believe in a principle, never damage it with a poor impression. You must go all the way." Just as the review began, as Prince Edward appeared, and the bands struck up the national anthem, Turbinia dashed out from her position and into the passing review. The sudden, dramatic, appearance and sped past the line of ships made spectators shouted aloud in amazement. The authorities became alarmed and sent out a picket boat to stop Turbinia but, as she was going so much faster, the wash she created nearly sank the pursuing navy vessel. Before any further disciplinary action could be taken, however, Prince Henry of Prussia sent Parsons his congratulations and asked for a return. Turbinia had triumphed!
Turbinia runs amock at the fleet review 1897 It was a magnificent spectacle and a great lesson in the progress of naval construction and engineering. With the exception of the brigs every vessel at anchor was fitted with reciprocating engines, but when, 17 years later in July 1914, the last pre-war review was held, all the most important ships present were driven by steam turbines in a similar manner to the little Turbinia.
The world could no longer afford to ignore the turbine. It's power had been unleashed. The Royal Navy authorities immediately realised the great advantages of steam turbines and after negotiations an order was obtained from the admiralty for a turbine driven destroyer in 1898 - HMS Viper. Parsons's investment of 24,000 pounds to get to this point had paid off. On a massive scale, turbines were adopted for Navy ships and the large ocean liners. By 1904, 26 ships had been engineer by parsons direct drive turbines. Famous ships like the Mauretania, Titanic and H.M.S. Dreadnought were all powered by Parsons turbines. Electric power generation on land also almost exclusively adopted steam driven turbine generators. In 1909 it was shown that geared turbines, that is reducing the high turbine speed to a more usable shaft speed by means of gears, gave a significant saving in coal consumption of about 15%. In 1912 Parsons wrote to Lord Fisher stating 'I have come to the conclusion that gearing between engines and screw shafting will be essential.' As a result the destroyers HMSs Badger and Beaver with partial gearing (1911) and HMSs Leonidas and Lucifer with fully single reduction gearing (1913) were produced.
