4

WORKS BY W. J. MACQUORN RANKINE, LL.D., F.R.S.,
Late Regius Professor of Civil Engineering in the University of Glasgow.
A MANUAL OF APPLIED MECHANICS: Comprising the Principles
of Statics and Cinematics, and Theory of Structures, Mechanism and Machines.
With numerous Diagrams. Crown Svo, Cloth. SEVENTEENTH EDITION. 12s. 6d.
A MANUAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING: Comprising Engineering
Surveys, Earthwork, Foundations, Masonry, Carpentry, Metal Work, Roads, Rail-
ways, Canals, Rivers, Waterworks, Harbours, &c. With Illustrations. Crown Svo.
TWENTY-SECOND EDITION. 168.

A MANUAL OF MACHINERY AND MILL-WORK: Comprising the
Geometry, Motions, Work, Strength, Construction and Objects of Machines, &c.
With nearly 300 Illustrations. Crown Svo, Cloth. SEVENTH EDITION. 12s. 6d.
A MANUAL OF THE STEAM ENGINE: With a Section on Gas, Oil,
and Air Engines by BRYAN DONKIN, M.Inst.C.E. With Folding Plates and
numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, Cloth. SIXTEENTH EDITION. 12s. 6d.
USEFUL RULES AND TABLES: For Architects, Builders, Engineers,
Founders, Mechanics, Shipbuilders, Surveyors, &c. With Appendix for the Use of
Electrical Engineers by Professor JAMIESON, F.R.S.E. SEVENTH EDITION. 10s. 6d.
A MECHANICAL TEXT-BOOK: A Practical and Simple Introduction
to the Study of Mechanics. By Professor RANKINE and E. F. BAMBER, C.E. With
numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, Cloth. FIFTH EDITION. 9s.

MISCELLANEOUS SCIENTIFIC PAPERS: Part I.-Papers relating
to Temperature, Elasticity, and Expansion of Vapours, Liquids, and Solids. Part II.
-Papers on Energy and its Transformations. Part III.-Papers on Wave-Forms,
Propulsion of Vessels, &c. With Memoir by Professor TAIT, M.A. Edited by W. J.
MILLAR, C. E. With fine Portrait on Steel, Plates, and Diagrams. 31s. 6d.

*The "Mechanical Text-Book" was designed by Professor RANKINE as an
Introduction to the above Series of Manuals.

VALVES AND VALVE-GEARING: A Practical Text-Book for the
Use of Engineers, Draughtsmen and Students.
EDITION, Re-written and Enlarged. 10s. 6d.

By CHARLES HURST. FOURTH

By W. F. PETTIGREW
Fully Illustrated. 21s.

A MANUAL OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERING.
and A. F. RAVENSHEAR. SECOND EDITION, Revised.
A MANUAL OF MARINE ENGINEERING. Comprising the Designing,
Working, and Construction of Marine Machinery. By A. E. SEATON, M. Inst.C.E.,
M.I.Mech.E., M.I.M.A. FIFTEENTH EDITION, Revised and Enlarged. 21s. net.
ENGINE-ROOM PRACTICE. A Handbook for Engineers and Officers in
the Royal Navy and Mercantile Marine. By J. G. LIVERSIDGE, A.M. Inst. C. E.
Fourth Impression. In large Crown 8vo. 6s.

STEAM AND STEAM ENGINES (A Text-Book on). With numerous
Illustrations, Plates, and many Examination Questions. By ANDREW JAMIESON,
M.Inst.C.E. FOURTEENTH EDITION. 10s. 6d.

STEAM BOILERS: Their Defects, Management, and Construction. By
R. D. MUNRO. Illustrated. FOURTH EDITION, Revised. 4s. 6d.

BOILERS, MARINE AND LAND: Their Construction and Strength.
By T. W. TRAILL, M.Inst. C.E., F.E.R. N. FOURTH EDITION, Revised and Enlarged.
12s. 6d.

HEAT EFFICIENCY OF STEAM BOILERS (Land, Marine, and Locomotive). By BRYAN DONKIN, M. Inst.C.E. In Quarto, Handsome Cloth, with numerous Plates. 25s.

GAS, OIL, AND AIR ENGINES.

By BRYAN DONKIN, M. Inst. C.E. FOURTH EDITION, Revised, Enlarged, and Re-Set throughout. Very fully Illus

trated. 25s. net.

For full descriptive Catalogue of Engineering and Technological Works see at the end of this Volume.

LONDON: CHARLES GRIFFIN & CO., LTD., EXETER STREET, STRAND.

1

1

OF THE

STEAM ENGINE

AND OTHER

PRIME MOVERS.

BY

WILLIAM JOHN MACQUORN RANKINE,

CIVIL ENGINEER; LL.D. TRIN. COLL. DUB.; F.R.SS. LOND. AND EDIN.; F.R.S.S.A.;
LATE REGIUS PROFESSOR OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND MECHANICS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW,
ETC., ETC.

REVISED BY

W. J. MILLAR, C.E.,

MEMBER OF THE EDINBURGH MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY; LATE SECRETARY,
INST. ENGINEERS AND SHIPBUILDERS IN SCOTLAND.

WITH A SECTION ON GAS, OIL, AND AIR ENGINES,

BY BRYAN DONKIN, M.INST.C.E.

With Numerous Engravings, Folding-Plates, and a Diagram of
the Mechanical Properties of Steam.

SIXTEENTH EDITION.

LONDON:

CHARLES GRIFFIN AND COMPANY, LIMITED;
EXETER STREET, STRAND.

1906.

[All Rights Reserved.]

THE purpose of this book is to explain the scientific principles of the action of " PRIME MOVERS," or machines for obtaining motive power, and to show how those principles are to be applied to practical questions.

It has been deemed advisable to prefix to the Treatise a very brief Historical Sketch, relating chiefly to the Steam Engine, the only prime mover whose history is known.

The body of the work commences with an Introduction, treating of principles, and of mechanical contrivances, which are common to all prime movers, and of the laws of the strength of materials, so far as they are applicable to those machines. Some passages in the Introduction are extracted from a previous Treatise on Applied Mechanics, and abridged or amplified as may be required, in order to suit the purpose of the present Treatise. Such passages are indicated by the letters A. M., with a reference to the number of the corresponding Article in that work.

The first part following the Introduction treats of the use of muscular strength to obtain motive power.

The second part treats of prime movers driven by the motion of water and of air, including water-pressure engines, waterwheels, turbines, and windmills.

The third and largest part treats of engines driven by the mechanical action of heat, and especially of the steam engine. It explains, in the first place, the phenomena of heat, so far as they affect, directly or indirectly, mechanical action in engines; secondly, the laws of combustion and properties of fuel, and the principles upon which economy of fuel depends; thirdly, the laws of the action of heat in producing motive power, or "PRINCIPLES OF THERMODYNAMICS," as applied to the various engines in which that action takes place, and especially to steam engines of all varieties; fourthly, the nature and action of the parts of furnaces and boilers; fifthly, the nature and action of the mechanism of steam engines.

The fourth part explains the principles of the action of electro

magnetic engines; but very briefly, in consideration of their small
importance as prime movers, and absence of economy; the true
practical use of electro-magnetism being, not to drive machinery,
but to make signals; and the subject of telegraphy being foreign
to the purpose of this work.

The principles of thermodynamics, or the science of the me-
chanical action of heat, are explained in the third chapter of the
third part more fully than would have been necessary but for the
fact, that this is the first systematic treatise on that science which
has ever appeared; the only previous sources of information re-
garding it being detached memoirs in the transactions of learned
societies, and in scientific journals.

The experimental and practical examples used to illustrate the
application of the principles of that science, and of rules and tables
deduced from them, are, to a considerable extent, taken from the
Author's personal observations of the performance of marine engines.

At the end of the book, as well as interspersed through it,
are various tables, useful in calculations respecting prime movers,
especially the steam engine; and many of those tables contain
results which have never before been published.

The Author has endeavoured to the best of his ability and
recollection to acknowledge, in the course of the book, the sources
from which he has derived information. For much of that informa-
tion, for opportunities of inspecting furnaces, boilers, and engines,
and of making experiments, and in some cases for drawings of
engines, which have been reduced to a small scale to illustrate this
work, he has to return his most grateful thanks to many engineers,
shipbuilders, manufacturers, and men of science.

W. J. M. R.

PREFACE TO SIXTEENTH EDITION.

FURTHER revision has been made upon the SIXTEENTH EDITION,
and additional new matter introduced.

January, 1906.

W. J. M.