How A Victorian Era Engine Made Spaceflight Possible... Let's Look At A 125 Year Old Turbine!

[@Simple_But_Expensive]

DeLaval still makes oil/water separators also. I disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled one every day when I was in the Navy. Our ship’s fuel (1/2 a million gallons) was stored in tanks in the bottom of the ship. Since you only want a fuel/air mixture in your engines (gas turbine propulsion), not in the tanks, the fuel was “floated” on seawater to keep the storage tanks full of liquids. This meant that to get the water (and any solids) out of the fuel, we had to run it through a purifier. This machine, made by DeLeval, was essentially a centrifuge. The fuel/water mix was injected from the bottom, spun at high speed to separate it, and then the fuel was drained off the inside layer while the water was drained off the outer layer. Sludge was captured on the surfaces, which is why the whole cleaning thing. This particular design was famous for catching fire when the bottom bearing failed, which destroyed the bottom rotary seal, dumping fuel oil on the now red hot bearing housing.

[@nickhahn3276]

Ah, the oil purifier. I never quite got the magic knowledge down to get that thing running proper in my time on board lol. I'll take the feed pump startup (single stage steam driven for the uninitiated) instead please.

[@HotelPapa100]

Heh. I am familiar with the device as well. My employer delivers the drive belt powering the rotor. We occasionally her from them when the belt does not perform as expected...

[@nofider1]

That name brought back unpleasant memories of cleaning DeLavel lube oil seperators... removing carbon from the 50+ stainless cones. The fuel oil sep wasn't so bad. All part of the watch routine duties some 26 years ago. :-)

[@Simple_But_Expensive]

@@nofider1 I was lucky. We used Sharples lube oil purifiers. I could clean one of those and have it back on line in ten minutes. No cones.🙂

[@Dave5843-d9m]

Steam turbine power stations use Alpha Laval oil separators. It was the out put from one of these that let us know our turbine was letting oil into the HP turbine shaft. The hot oil was cracking to petrol at about 50 imperial gallons per day. Fixing that was very long story.

[@anumeon]

I love that the Royal navy refused to purchase the original steam turbine. Which lead to the inventor becoming so angry that he built Turbinia and raced her straight through the naval review. Easily avoiding the navys fastest old school torpedo boats.

[@maughan3061]

Turbinia was launched in 1894. So 130 years ago. Built by Charles Parsons based in Wallsend-on-Tyne. Parsons' ship turned up unannounced at the Navy Review for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria at Spithead, on 26 June 1897, in front of the Prince of Wales, foreign dignitaries, and Lords of the Admiralty. As an audacious publicity stunt, Turbinia, which was much faster than any other ship at the time, raced between the two lines of navy ships and steamed up and down in front of the crowd and princes, while easily evading a navy picket boat that tried to pursue her, almost swamping it with her wake.

[@mikesmith7447]

Wow what a story to tell

[@GrigoriZhukov]

​The near swamping was a bit rude, the lads were doing there job. Hmmph, hmmph.

[@gbcb8853]

But they did get the patent for nuclear fusion

[@kurtwinter4422]

You got a permit for that wake?

[@unknown-ql1fk]

I love it, he called the coal on a ship a "propellent" and it made me chuckle. Of course scott is not wrong, but the slip of the tongue was just funny

[@BigDaddy-yp4mi]

WAS it a slip of the tongue? Seems to fit the definition….

[@fisheye42]

Yes, 1:53 , I was going to point it out, too. Funny. Well, now I’m going to fill up my car at the propellant station. 😅

[@HALLish-jl5mo]

I'd have called coal the fuel, water is the propellant.

[@MichaelWinter-ss6lx]

Water is only the reactive mass. It holds no energy in itself. Steam does, only not for very long time. Coal and oil contain energy. Also wood;• and even diamonds could serve as a propellant. 🚀🏴‍☠️🎸

[@qoph1988]

It is wrong, coal isn't ejected out the back at high velocity to propel the craft. It's a bit more complicated for a vehicle which operates in a fluid like a jet or boat, but strictly speaking the coal is fuel and the water going over the propellers is the propellant. Luckily there's always more of it, which is what makes rockets so much harder than terrestrial vehicles.

[@alanblasczyk1779]

@Scott, I am a retired steam turbine design engineer. This is really up my alley. Thanks for covering it Brother.

[@TurboMeatWagon]

My dad was a marine engineer on HMS Fearless, it was the last steam turbine driven ship in the royal navy. He and his coleagues figured out it burned about 4 gallons of heavy oil per foot at full tilt.

[@JoshuaTootell]

Just did the math, it was 46 feet (14 meters) per gallon of JP5 on my last ship at flank.

[@kenoliver8913]

Surely the RN's nuclear subs use a steam turbine?

[@Pamudder]

Scott: for someone with a lifelong fascination with steam and maritime history, your video was an 11 out of 10. BRAVO!!!

[@kjh23gk]

Are you in the UK? If so, you can see the Turbinia at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle. Nearby, on Forth Banks, was the first power station in the world to generate electricity using turbines, and Mosley Street was the first street in the world to be lit with electric light. Newcastle has such a wealth of industrial heritage (Stephenson, Armstrong, Swan, etc.).

[@Pamudder]

@@kjh23gk Thank you for your response. I am in California, but someone did a detailed video tour of the TURBINIA on display, which I greatly enjoyed.

[@musicman53]

Your mention of DeLaval unsuccessful steam "rocket" engines triggered a memory of the DeLaval dairy equipment suppliers in all the small dairy towns in New Zealand, so I was chuffed to then hear they were the same company, cleverly transformed. Thanks for the cool history lesson Scott!

[@allangibson8494]

Not particularly transformed - they still make dairy equipment…

[@absurdengineering]

I used an old Laval hand-crank milk centrifuge in the 1980s. The farm still used it to make cream. Spinning this thing up was such a joy for a kid.

[@petergreenwald9639]

Milked a lot of cows with those De Laval toys in NY state in the Catskill Mt.s when it was still dairy country. Late sixties to early seventies.

[@otpyrcralphpierre1742]

I worked on offshore drilling rigs, and they are powered by large diesel engines. All of our diesel fuel went though a fuel/water separator to remove any water that contaminated the fuel. The were De Leval separators. They are still widely used to this day.

[@johnhupp8444]

I was a member of the team that machined, assembled, and tested the main propulsion steam turbines for three aircraft carriers. CVN 77 George Bush, CVN 78 Gerald Ford, and CVN 79 John F Kennedy.

[@RightWingNutter]

Fascinating history lesson. I had no idea turbines had been developed so early. It seems the 1890’s were to mechanical innovation what the 1990’s were to electronic innovation.

[@bradnail99]

Agree. The 1890’s saw new technologies being introduced that are still with us today, and which made possible the tremendous advances of the 20th century. It must have need a heady time for tech enthusiasts of the day!

[@riparianlife97701]

Boeing rebuilt an airplane factory with turbine-powered belt drives to run machines. My modern factory ran on a huge, screw compressor. Funny that using gases to do work has been around so long.

[@kurtwinter4422]

The tech was there in the 1700s but lacked standards and assembly lines for high precision and repeatability.

[@musiqtee]

Yes, such “positive development” happens when most of society is, eh… positive to whatever is developed, gaining _something_ from it. And… positivity vanes when or if (critical part of) society can’t see what / who any “development” actually contributes to. Recurrent, still never familiar - since the “positivity cycle” is around three-four generations of time passing…

[@MichaelWinter-ss6lx]

What we need next are some real breakthroughs in material science. I'm thinking of more effective rockets, easy atmospheric reentry and self-sealing orbital modules. Einstein knew already how to manipulate gravity;• that was 120 years ago. Yet our materials can not even handle 0.1% of the needed energy. 🚀🏴‍☠️🎸

[@OscarSommerbo]

de Laval's steam turbine actually gave rise to the sealed ball bearings we use today, when developing the turbine he worked with the famous SKF company to address the steam leakage and friction issues. This led to the creation and refinement of sealed bearings, very similar to what we use today.

[@JoseCamoesSilva]

Minor curious point on timecode 13:08 - Most utility gas turbines (technically, gas generators with a power turbine) have two turbines for generating power (in addition to the turbines that drive the compressor in the "jet engine" gas generator): one that captures the kinetic energy of the "jet exhaust" (basically 1/3 of the chemical energy of the fuel is captured here, at max efficiency) and a heat exchanger plus steam turbine to capture the usable heat of the now not-energetic-enough exhaust (about 1/3 of the chem energy of fuel; the remaining 1/3 is for the turbine driving the compressor - approximate numbers, obviously). Because they combine the jet (Brayton) and the steam (Rankine) thermodynamic cycles, they are called "combined cycle gas turbines," or CCGTs. California relies on these to ramp up power generation several times a day, because of intermittency of renewables and the big swings in demand. Just FYI.

[@scottmanley]

Yes, there’s a whole separate discussion on these details that I could spend forever on

[@iddn]

@@scottmanleyyou have my permission to make a video about this

[@Vtarngpb]

@@scottmanley On a related note: How did Alan Parsons and his project fit into the family story? 🥸

[@leaj847]

Yes, these units are typically refereed to as "peaking" machines. Interestingly, the turbine section of these machines use steam to cool down the casings.

[@chriskaldro9335]

As a 18 year journeyman millwright, this is a pretty cool old girl. I'm on a gas turbine shutdown as I speak.

[@randomnickify]

"Can you fuel rocket with cream" - as a Lactose intolerant person, yes, you can 😅

[@WOFFY-qc9te]

Have you tried Goats milk

[@IanValentine147]

What kind of nozzle are u using to increase thrust? Is the exhaust velocity near super sonic? 😂

[@mutelatedLEMON]

Thats pretty much the plot of Thunderpants

[@qoph1988]

Perhaps as a propellant, but I don't think it would burn well as fuel. The nitrous oxide however..

[@MarcoTedaldi]

​@@IanValentine147 at least that's what it tends to feel like...

[@GentlemensWatchServices]

Obviously I like all your videos, but this one was absolutely top notch! It was like what factual TV used to be like before the great dumbening.

[@twinarmageddons2438]

Well said. I'd love to see Scott narrate a new Modern Marvels kind of show.

[@Archgeek0]

HEH, yeah, this could've been about half an episode of _Connections_ .

[@tomainsworth5656]

You just invented a new word ! 😂

[@GentlemensWatchServices]

@@tomainsworth5656 I English real good

[@painmt651]

Pity that television was never lived up to its potential, or rather was never utilized to maximum advantage for education.

[@cogoid]

The direct link between steam turbines and rocket engines was the book "Steam Turbines" by Aurel Stodola, published in the early 20th century. He made the definitive study of the de Laval nozzle, establishing for the first time that it did produced supersonic flow. This book was the main reference for the German rocket engine designers.

[@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke]

Actually it was German engineer Ernst Körting.... his work predates de Laval..

[@cogoid]

@@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke Sloboda's 1903 book gives some historical overview of developments in turbines, and mentions perhaps a dozen of German engineers and scientists. But the work of Ernst Körting was not mentioned. On the other hand, many inventions of de Laval related to the turbines are discussed at length. This is what the team working on developing large rocket engines in Germany read, and used as the foundation for their designs. And this later influenced rocketry worldwide. So, Ernst Körting may indeed have secretly invented wonderful things, but these things had no influence on the development of rockets. The best that we can do is to describe precisely what happened.

[@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke]

@@cogoid Oh dear, you don't know anything about Ernst Körting do you? His pioneering company is one of the world leaders in steam injectors and built the first Gas Turbine engines in Germany in 1920... and rocket engine nozzles. The company still manufactures steam nozzles and vacuum venturi pumps today.

[@cogoid]

@@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke That's great. But the Peenemünde engine development team of Dr. Walter Thiel used specifically Stodola's book as a reference for designing the engines for their rockets. That's what the former members have put in their memoirs. As Germans, they certainly would have mentioned Ernst Körting, if his work had an impact on their project. They did not mention him. That's just how it is.

[@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke]

@@cogoid Lol! The V-2 was not the only rocket program in Germany during the war... Walter Thiel was an innovator in his own right, one of the top pioneers in his field.

[@MyMongo100]

As a turbine engineer responsible for 3.4GW of steam turbines, I think this is a very good explanation. I started my career at CA Parsons works in Newcastle- then owned by Siemens.

[@douglasnerwagner7474]

I loved working on the old tired iron in the power generation industry. 250-700+ MW steam turbines designed with mechanical drafting and slide rules. Built on manual mills and lathes. Still purring almost 100 years later. Granted a lot of maintenance has been completed in that century.

[@tronxp81]

Turbinia can be found at the discovery museum, Newcastle upon Tyne, my father worked for Parsons in Newcastle from apprentice at 16 until retirement.

[@AbrasiveScotsman]

She's been chopped in half too, which is a shame. Apparently at one stage they wanted to exhibit her somewhere she wouldn't fit, so out came the saws...

[@zephrizi9034]

I just read that while looking it up on Wikipedia, it's nice they didn't scrap it.

[@Lensman864]

I'm 60, born in Newcastle but I've not lived there since 1987. Turbinia was part of my youth because regularly I visited the museum.

[@tisFrancesfault]

@@AbrasiveScotsman As it stands, shes fully intact.

[@AbrasiveScotsman]

@@tisFrancesfault It's a cosmetic repair for display purposes as I understand it. It wouldn't be possible to return her to seaworthy condition.

[@dougirvin2413]

WOW! Scott, fascinating vid! I grew up on a dairy farm in the American rust belt in the 70's. We had a bunch of DeLaval milking equipment...it's a small world! Keep up the good work, we're all counting on you!

[@paulgracey4697]

As a docent at the Mt. Wilson Observatory in California, I was aware of Lord Ross' great telescope known as the Leviathan of Parsonstown, but did not know of the connection to the Parsons Steam Turbines. Thanks Scott.

[@Blackburnian737]

I visited the transport museum twice while I was in Scotland and loved it!

[@myparceltape1169]

Did you see the barrow they used to transport the drunks on? I looked and laughed.

[@KevinBalch-dt8ot]

That naval review where Turbinia stole the show was Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. This is recounted in the opening chapter of Robert K. Massie’s “Dreadnaught”.

[@truman42746]

120 years old? That boat's speed of 39mph over a hundred years ago is truly amazing! Very good video Scott. I really enjoyed it as usual.

[@tenaciousrodent6251]

Turbinia making everything instantly obsolete at Spithead was like the booster catch but more than a century earlier. And it turns out there is still a direct connection between both events. That's why Charles Parsons is one of my heroes.

[@cdstoc]

I have many great museums in the UK on my bucket list. Scott has now given me another one, thanks!

[@Geekofarm]

The DeLaval separator concept has another use: When storing cryogenics in zero g you need to vent the excess pressure as the liquid warms. But in zero g it is not a liquid but a froth, so when venting pressure you are venting a lot of liquid fuel. You can rotate the vehicle, but that is often inconvenient. An alternative is to vent the froth into a separator and pump the liquid back into the tank. I worked on this with the original Artemis Project in the 90's and in practice it's a wee bit more complicated :)

[@alanm8932]

I was expecting you to say the separator was spinning _inside_ the tank, so you don't need to be pumping the separated liquid back into the tank. We're engineers wary of electromechanical devices inside cryogenic tanks after the Apollo 13 damaged (previously overheated) heater wiring, "stir the tank" incident?

[@G-ra-ha-m]

@@alanm8932 Apollo 13 wasn't real. The long dev. time of Artemis is because they wanted that to actually work.

[@Geekofarm]

@@alanm8932 Because of the low proportion of gas to liquid you need a very big separator more or less taking up one end of the tank, but you do it with a vortex rather than spinning disc. Also, you need two of 'em rotating in opposite directions so you don't accidentally spin the tank up. As I say, the exact details are ... complicated :)

[@gchampi2]

@@Geekofarm If the exact details weren't complicated, it wouldn't be Rocket Science!

[@tommix6733]

The sound that occurs in your kettle just before the water starts boiling is caused by cavitation. Steam bubbles appear but then collapse. It's noisy.

[@DavidOfWhitehills]

So why is a saucepan of water on the electric hob near quiet?

[@absurdengineering]

@@DavidOfWhitehillsIt depends on the ratio of the rate of convective heat removal to heating from the hob. When the two are in the same ballpark, you can get full-volume boiling that doesn’t bang the shockwaves from all the collapsing bubbles against the bottom of the pan.

[@plum1959]

Scott actually said that the steam turbine was revolutionary and didn’t crack a grin! LOL

[@tarmaque]

Definitely a missed turn of phrase.

[@jeffsmith8778]

I believe this is why GE was asked to create the first U.S. jet engines. Their experience in steam turbines made them the easy choice.

[@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke]

NO, GE was chosen because of its TURBOCHARGER division..

[@mpetersen6]

There was also their experience building the Turbosuperchargers used in USAAF radial engines bombers and the two staged Allison V-12s used on the P-38. The early Whittle jet engines used compressor turbines similar to the ones used on automotive Turbos and an Axial Power Turbine. There was at least one other effort by Lockheed who had designed their own Axial Flow jet engine in the late 30s. There were a number of people around the world who had looked at building gas turbines for aviation use prior to the successful Power Jets but they were frustrated by the lack of high temperature alloys and the inability to make the designs light weight enough.

[@sandervanderkammen9230]

It was General Electric Turbocharger division that developed jet engines

[@martijn9568]

Facts like these always make me wonder why people claim that the British gave America the jet engine, or that ww2 Germany made the first proper axial flow jet engines. As a matter of fact, the McDonnell FH Phantom made its first flight in January 1945, being powered by, out of all jet engine manufacturers, two Westinghouse J30s. I guess some people only care about those who were first..

[@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke]

@@martijn9568 Excellent remarks, TRUE America had its own axial turbojet program years before the British, but were still years behind the Germans. Operation LUSTY and Operation Paperclip saw the largest transfer of technology between two countries in history, thousands of German engineers and scientists, thousands of tons of data and equipment and entire factories and research laboratories were brought en Masse from Germany back to America. Dr Anselm Fanz who designed the Jumo 109-004 engine for the Me-262 also designed the Lycoming AGT-1500 that powers the M1 Abrams, the T53 and T55 that powers the Bell UH1, AH-1 and the Boing CH-47 Chinook helicopters, he would become Vice-president of Lycoming..

[@Commander-McBragg]

Great to see Graham Obree’s bike!

[@tenaciousrodent6251]

I remember that one too!

[@aalhard]

SCOTT you are channeling James Burke. Manley Connections!

[@disorganizedorg]

Excellent series!

[@BoSmith7045]

That was a great show. Shame they cheaped out in the last season. The first season was very cinematic.

[@Anti_Woke]

Woah! You must be nearly as old as me to remember that show.

[@disorganizedorg]

@@Anti_Woke Speaking of age I was happy to learn just now that Burke is alive (and hopefully well) at age 87. Those who enjoyed "Connections" may also like his "The Day the Universe Changed"

[@fryz]

YES!!!! You reminded me of the perfect rocket launch shot James did, everyone should watch that sometime

[@0tedaCecapS]

Cheers Scott, I was completely absorbed by the telling of this story.

[@thanksfernuthin]

I am in awe of our ancestors. Your hometown should and probably are very proud and rightly so.

[@philcanny6356]

Scott, Turbinia is on display at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Howay the lads!

[@yumazster]

I had good fortune to look at prototype Parsons turbine in Birr Castle in Ireland. It was used to run the generator to power the Castle and Village. Good trip. Also realised that Scott is talking about it right now 😂

[@RalooRocker]

Just up the road from me - I've seen the telescope when visited, must take the kids up and look at the turbine

[@yumazster]

@@RalooRocker It's beside the gate opposite visitor's centre. Funnily enough at first glance I just took it for a piece of junk to be moved away because it looks so modern and completely familiar. I guess if it works, don't change it 😁. There is also a small museum there in which I spent a good while, salivating at all the steampunk goodies 😁

[@charlottewebb3364]

Scott Manely geeking out over Victorian tech. Carry on Scott!

[@MCsCreations]

Fascinating history indeed! Thanks, Scott! 😊 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@brandonashley6254]

The R.M.S. Titanic was equipped with a low-pressure Parsons turbine as one of its three main engines. As soon as you mentioned Charles Parsons that immediately came to mind. Great topic, as usual!

[@SternLX]

All 3 of the Olympic class ships built by Harland and Wolff shipbuilders were designed with them. ;)

[@brandonashley6254]

@@SternLX and the steam electric generators! I think Scott briefly mentioned electric generators but not on any specific ship.

[@philipkudrna5643]

Loved the „Hunt for Red October-reference“ (Jonsey: „Captain! We‘re cavitating!“)!😊

[@murasaki848]

Ryan: "...Captain, give the man a chance." Cpt Mancuso: (staring at Ryan) "All back full" Helm: "Say again?" Cpt Mancuso: "I said all back full!" Helm: "All back full, aye, sir. Engines back full." (ship shudders loudly) Jonesy: "Captain, we're CAVITATING! He can HEAR us!" Cpt Mancuso: "Conn, aye! All stop!" Helm: "All stop." Cpt Mancuso: "All right, Ryan. We just unzipped our fly. Mr. Thompson, open the outer doors. Firing point procedures. (to Ryan) Now if that b so much as twitches I'm going to blow him right to Mars."

[@cf3757]

You're awesome Scott. I'm not sure I ever would have made the association with old steam turbines and jet/rocket engines until I saw this. First shot of it the museum, I had a high energy palm to forehead moment. Thanks for the content and keep up the good work!

[@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke]

You shouldn't, steam engines have nothing in common with jets, rockets or gas turbine engines... this is more British story telling than real science or history... the connections presented here are tenuous and highly exaggerated..

[@Rincypoopoo]

Where all the little turbo pumps came from ! First class video as always. Thank you sir

[@caileanshields4545]

This is right up my alley, having grown up in the shadow of the former John Brown's yard in Clydebank and about a half-hour's bus ride away from the Riverside Museum (and the old museum at Kelvin Hall), both giving me a life-long fascination with naval history/engineering and historic ships. The King Edward is one of my favourite Clyde-built vessels, both for her place in history and incredible service record (1901-1951, serving in both World Wars in some capacity).

[@JimmyBoqvist]

DeLaval also make the "eternal" dish brush. 🙏❤💪 "The DeLaval brush lasts forever! The bristles are made of durable polyester and don't absorb water. The brush can be washed in the dishwasher or boiled - it will withstand up to 120° C. Most farmers in Scandinavia are familiar with the brush from DeLaval and have used it for years to clean their milk machines - and discovered how useful it is in the kitchen too."

[@Frank_the_pizza_man]

What an amazing individual. PARSONS. They made things work.

[@sixter4157]

That was a fascinating piece of history. I liked the part on the cavitation and how they solve the issue. I work with swimming pool pumps and know the harms. The one time i heard a pump cavitating it sounded like it was full of gravel.

[@laurenmp7486]

You holding the can of Irn Bru just made me smile so much, and the video just got better from there.

[@Gfc22]

Parsons was responsible for a very large part of the modern world we now enjoy. What a total hero.

[@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke]

The modern world today runs on internal combustion technology... well beyond Parson's capabilities.

[@CountScarlioni]

@@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke Unless the power in your home is coming from wind or solar, then you still get your energy from a turbine. Even nuclear power plants still rely on steam turbines for electricity generation, as will the fusion power plants that will one day replace them.

[@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke]

@@CountScarlioni Where I live, non-renewable electric power is produced primarily by internal combustion, large natural gas fired Gas turbine engines..

[@CountScarlioni]

@@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke Gas turbines were of course based on steam turbine technology, so Parsons was still very much in the picture. Added to that, Parson's own company built and sold gas turbines. Hard to do if they were "beyond" his capabilities.

[@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke]

@@CountScarlioni Steam engine operate on a completely different and less efficient thermodynamic cycle, The Rankine Cycle. Gas turbines operate using the Brayton Cycle principle and were developed directly from _Turbochargers_ that also use the same Brayton principle. Gas turbines are not related to steam turbines in any way.. Parson's only made two gas turbine prototypes, the PU 2279 and the PU 2983. Both were designed by genius German engineer Max Bentele who worked on the Jumo -004 and was hired by Parsons after the war. Parson's abandoned gas turbines and continued making steam engines. Bentele left for America to work on Wankel engines at Curtiss Wright. Any questions?

[@markpitts5194]

One of your better ones Scott! Best cross the pond more regularly!

[@reddeath4242]

Oh man, I've been into that museum...must be dozens of times. Maratime turbines are insane engineering, especially for the era. I still struggle to process how those were built that early in the industrial revolution

[@G-ra-ha-m]

Look at any old building, how they were built is a mystery. The Chicago World Fair is perhaps the most obvious problem. Look and dig into the history of any old building - choose any you like, and the story rapidly peters out.

[@CountScarlioni]

@@G-ra-ha-m I live in a house built before the Chicago World's Fair. In fact pretty much every building in my town was. There are buildings in my town that have stood since before the Americas were visited by Europeans. There is no mystery as to their history.

[@foremasp]

Awesome stuff Scott, thank you!

[@MikelNaUsaCom]

lots of rabbit holes to go down here... piping systems, pneumatic controls, turbine driven pumps (boiler feedwater), water chemistry, fuel and oil chemistry, valve technologies, control systems, electrical generation systems, water generation systems, liquid storage systems, high pressure oxygen removal systems (DFT - deairating feed tanks) - used to remove oxygen from steam systems to reduce piping system corrosion at high temperatures - a big source of explosions in high pressure steam systems, analog control systems - special purpose computers, liquid testing and quality analysis, periodic maintenance systems, operations of the equipment - it took people to operate these machines, even after automation was in place... because everything breaks. Great topic here. So much more to explore.

[@Tom-Lahaye]

Super interesting story! I have been in that museum 5 years ago and also did see that turbine. I was amazed that they could make such precision machinery in the late 19th century, but when you look back into the history of mechanical engineering the progress over the last 70 years has mainly been made in metallurgy precision and automation of machining. But almost all of the basics of engineering we have today date back quite a while. The De Laval nozzle got widespread use in another form of power generation, that is in water turbines.

[@brucebrazaitis321]

Visiting the museum in Roswell, NM they have a big collection of Robert Goddard stuff. In one of the cases there were turbine parts made out of lids from chewing tobacco containers! Poverty truly is the mother of invention. Forget about the UFO stuff a must see for rocket buffs since they have bits of the first liquid fueled rocket and a more or less complete of the second since he reused parts of the first to build the second . They also had on display the parachute of the infamous "moon rocket". My biggest regret was not posing for a photo with the launch frame don't know if it was the original or not but pretty cool stuff .

[@brucemckean2848]

Thanks

[@aceroadholder2185]

Willy Ley in his book, "Rockets, Missiles, and Space Travel", describes how turbine pumps are critical for the operation of liquid fueled rocket engines. The pumps for the German V2 rocket were based on pumps used in firefighting. The pumps had to come up to speed quickly and deliver high volume flow at a constant pressure.

[@motorv8N]

Fantastic history lesson, thank you Steve. As it happens, my grandfather served aboard the Canadian ship also called Turbinia in the 1920s. It was the first turbine powered steam ship on the Great Lakes offering passenger service between Niagara, Hamilton and other ports of call. Smart looking vessel.

[@JeffreyBue_imtxsmoke]

As always.... another vid that hits the mark.. Love this kind of stuff Scott.

[@LakeCountryKyle]

Stuff like this is why Fluid Dynamics is one of my favorite classes right now! Knowing the practical applications and real world examples make it much more fun to learn.

[@Milosz_Ostrow]

This video is like an episode of "Connections" with James Burke. Thank you, Scott.

[@conororeilly1908]

++ this is totally I was thinking! - thanks for saving me the trouble of making the comment

[@Globbofy]

Hi Scott...awesome stuff! Isnt it. Thanks for bringing back good memories. I am a marine engineer myself and have always been fascinated by the medium steam and its wide application within the broad engineering field. Forgot about the inventors Parson and Laval, since their turbines got replaced at a point in the past by diesel combustion engines. In fact, they have been in use until the 90`s on huge tankers to deal with the boil of gass of their cargo. This boil off gas was burned in boilers and the pressurized superheated steam was then used for propulsion. Since that has been before my time, I never had the chance to run such steam turbines for propulsion in reality but never lost my enthusiasm about the medium. Today, of corse it is still in use for heating purposes on board. I would love to hear you talking about the amount of energy which can be stored when pressurized and therefore the enthalpie as a concept! Pls consider. Also, thanks for calling it a propeller and not a screw! Can we also elaborate a bit more about cavitation on ships propellers??? Anyways keep up with the good stuff on your channel from Kerbal to SpaceX and hopefully a bit of marine engineering in the future :) PS: Seperators are still in use as well on vessels for clarification and/or purification of fuels and lubeoils etc

[@Allen46u5k]

Excellent bit of history, Scott.

[@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke]

Excellent bit or storytelling... the history part was noticeably absent, replaced with a lot of false assumptions, misinformation and wishful thinking.

[@michaelzumpano7318]

Scott, I saw you at the maker’s fair in Vallejo! This video was one of your best in my opinion. I love it when I see some engineers work still relevant 100 years later. I’ve used DeLaval centrifuges in my work but didn’t know about his history. Fascinating! Thanks.

[@judet2992]

Glad I saw this right as my lunch started

[@lextacy2008]

How? You only watched 4 minutes of it

[@treehair]

Same

[@Meyer-gp7nq]

Same

[@judet2992]

@@lextacy2008 saw this being uploaded not fully watched

[@darrenritchie82]

Great video! As you probably know, Lusitania (built in Clydebank near Glasgow) and Mauretania were the first turbine-powered express liners and achieved record 27+ knot speeds. However, reduction gearing that could transmit that amount of power hadn't been developed yet, forcing use of direct drive. This meant the turbines were spinning much slower and the propellers faster than ideal, resulting in high fuel consumption and severe cavitation - Lusitania's stern section vibrated so much during sea trials that second class was found to be uninhabitable. Heavy bracing and revised propeller designs helped mitigate the problem but it was never fully solved.

[@myparceltape1169]

The Queens were built there too and I think they put 50000 shp to each of the four propellers.

[@Anti_Woke]

Nice retrospective Scott. Not all science/technology has to be the current latest and greatest.

[@corbechupacabra]

Awesome history lesson. Thank you for spotting the opportunity to share this with us!

[@DaT0nkee]

What a technology history trip.

[@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke]

revisionist history trip...

[@wingman2tuc]

Thanks Scott. Fantastic bit of history.

[@YorenM]

It's not a surprise to me that they could work that precise by that time, first lathe that could work up to a tenth of a milimeter and even smaller was Henry Maudslay's lathe, developed around 1800. Same counts for the milling machine, Eli Whitney 1818 12:30

[@geoff_at_work]

I believe one of Henry Maudsley's descendants was MD of NEI Parsons in the 1980s/90s

[@schwinn434]

Thanks for this video. I worked in a commercial power plant for a while and didn't realize, up until that point, how much precision is involved even in 70-year-old turbine designs. It's certainly safe to say that the invention of turbines tremendously changed our society.

[@DoktorBayerischeMotorenWerke]

It's an interesting but rather childish theory for sure, clearly trying to connect two things that are in fact not related. The truth is Jet engines were developed from _Turbochargers_ which use the same BRAYTON CYCLE as Jets and not the Rankine Cycle like steam..

[@Wowi366]

Graeme Obree’s bikes! He definitely thought outside the box!

[@frankgulla2335]

Scott, what a great report on "ancient" technologies, steam turbines! Thank you, Scott.

[@Baz-er6it]

Much of the efficiency of steam turbines comes from the condenser, which operates at near vacuum, creating a larger differential pressure and extracting meaningful work from the Low Pressure stage as well as enabling feed water recirculation. Superheated steam from multi-drum boilers provides incredibly power dense installations I worked at Devonport Dockyard from the mid 70's and did a couple of jobs on a visiting US vessel that operated a 900 psi steam plant!! Very fast but problematical without proper maintenance.

[@ericplatt6884]

I steamed up the screen looking at these fascinating photos and diagrams…

[@rymdkapseln]

The building where the first de laval nozzels and turbines were built still exists in sickla in stockholm. It is now a shopping center though, but the markings are still there

[@jamesmnguyen]

It's always cool to learn about how different technologies stack on top of each other.

[@zapfanzapfan]

On the family farm (in Sweden) there was a hand cranked cast iron DeLaval milk separator, now I wonder where it went when the farm was sold 20 years ago.

[@trevormatthews7981]

The Budapest transport museum is worth a visit. For me the highlight was a Soyuz return to earth capsule. Basically it looked like an egg that was badly burnt on the outside with a small porthole. The folks that travel in it are brave. Lots of other interesting stuff too, trams, trains, bogies and components.

[@sandmaster4444]

3:55 revolutionary turbine, you say??

[@musiqtee]

Dang it, comment taken… 😂

[@rlrfproductions]

Haaaaaa

[@Broken_robot1986]

​@@rlrfproductionswho made up the turbine?

[@RCrosbyLyles]

Yeah, beautiful! Great content. Those are some big hard steps on those turbine stages!

[@gerryjamesedwards1227]

I had no idea that the Leviathan telescope's maker was the Father of the steam-turbine Parsons. What was it about Scotland in that period that produced so many outstanding engineers?

[@scottmanley]

The Leviathan was in Ireland.

[@gerryjamesedwards1227]

@@scottmanley yes, but I thought Parsons was Scottish. My memory is a bit rubbish though.

[@Zadster]

Edinburgh was possibly the main centre for the enlightenment. Helped by the Scottish Church being separate from the Church of England and not part of the establishment. This meant there was a stronger culture of inquisitiveness about natural phenomena - although England was hardly poor in this regard!

[@edstercw]

Possibly the Reformation helped

[@bricktop7803]

The Enlightenment. The population of Scotland were all taught to read and write, and education become normal for peasants. That is how Scotland engineered everything we take for granted today. Currently Scotland is the most educated country in Europe. The stats show 48% of the people living in Scotland are educated to Hons degree or above.

[@welko8887]

Hi Scott!! I love you content. I was just at a Young Eagles event today at Gnoss Field and I think you were a photographer taking photos of the plane I was in! Great volunteering man!!

[@thehaprust6312]

Dude basically gatecrashed Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee review and spent the day running circles around everything else on the water. Absolute baller!

[@tsclly2377]

Another great oration... and that is a point that makes your channel great.. You got it right and so good.

[@Adallace]

A history episode about Tycho Brahe would be fun. His great accomplishments and his bizarre antics (like a drunken borrowed moose falling down his stairs at a party) and agonizing death by prostate.

[@EbenBransome]

Spending vast amounts of money to prove the Earth was at the centre of the universe and then employing Kepler to analyse his results and prove him wrong was pretty good.

[@Adallace]

@@EbenBransome he did some actually important stuff too like proving that the universe wasn't static and unchanging as had been believed since at least ancient Greece right? I mean his list of achievements is quite long. And wasn't it Kepler who stole Tyco's decades of data and work after he died? I'll have to refresh my memory. Of course he and his ideas weren't all good or all bad. Not to mention Jepp the clairvoyant dwarf is in the mix. Overall his contributions to astronomy and science seem to be very important and everywhere I look he's credited as being an important part of kick-starting the scientific revolution. I'm no historian though, I just like learning about stuff.

[@ernestgalvan9037]

@@Adallace…his contributions to Astronomy were important enough that the largest crater on the moon (visible at that time) was named after him.

[@mikeall7012]

I'm a steam turbine engineer. The current technology isn't that much different than this. However material tech and computer aided modeling has made them more efficient and last longer.

[@howardmaryon]

A nation of engineers. My father was in the Merchant Navy, and he claimed that if you opened the engine room voice tube on any cargo ship and yelled “Scotty” down it, someone would answer.

[@EbenBransome]

The reason? Scottish universities were interested in "Natural philosophy" aka science in the 19th century and produced people like Lord Kelvin and Maxwell. At Oxford and Cambridge the high status subjects were still Latin, Greek, Mathematics and History (though Cambridge had an important geology department, partly because of consultancy fees looking for coal and iron fields.) As a result Scotland was ahead on theoretical engineering, which spread to the North of England. Scotland had electric light before England. Southern English engineering was too trade based and so missed developments like turbines which needed a sound theoretical basis.

[@jimsnee1878]

Even aboard the NCC-1701 "Enterprise". :). Although a Yorkshireman myself, I spent a large chunk of my life in the Merchant Navy wrangling the Djinns down in the Pit, and I can confirm that many fine fettlers of Coal, Steam , and Diesel were raised in Fair Clydeside. Slainte Mhath.

[@Assimilator1]

Fascinating! And I had no idea the turbine design was so old!

[@ffggddss]

Hmmmm . . I'm spotting a book on the shelves behind you that I, too, have a copy of - Numerical Recipes in C. I'm gonna claim that it shows good taste. Hey, though, thanks for this fascinating, not-so-little stroll through some tech history. As an (amateur) astronomer, I recognize the "Leviathan" 1.8-m reflector as what I've seen referred to as Lord Ross' 72", which, yes, was the largest aperture telescope until, I think, the Hooker 100" at Mt. Wilson, California, in the early 1900's. Fred

[@OscarFerro]

Great video! Those diagrams certainly brought back faded memories of having studied fluids mechanics at the engineering school in the eighties. Too bad I finally never got my degree, but I loved that course.

[@davecrook8355]

HI Scott; Both Lusitania (fully) and Titanic (partially) were powered by Parsons steam turbines. Good video. thanks.

[@dwyerpe]

Yep! Center turbine engine of titanic ran off waste steam from port/starboard triple expansion four piston engines. Clever, efficient and good balance of old reliable tech and new for the time. Crazy around the engineering of handling the steam, water accumulation/separators, condensers etc…

[@SternLX]

@@dwyerpe Not just the Titanic. Her sisters the Olympic and Britannic did as well. All three being the same class as it was.

[@mscir]

GREAT history lesson, thank you.

[@jeremyheminger6882]

The original Alan Parsons project.

[@SternLX]

LOL. Great, now I gotta go listen to Sirius / Eye In The Sky.

[@riparianlife97701]

You knew I'd drop everything to watch this.

[@TroyRubert]

The engineer guy has a great video on this.

[@Colin-y2j]

Thanks for that Scott. I grew up in Newcastle quite near the Parsons factory and became aware of Parsons involvement in steam turbines from an early age, but I was not aware of the details you included in your chat. One thing I would add is that the Turbinia still exists and I believe it is housed in the Newcastle Science Museum.

[@nikauswien5863]

4:33 It's Heron from Alexandria

[@AlanMimms]

Wonderful story telling. I think you should consider yourself in the James Burke league. (I miss his shows.)

[@jorehir]

4:33 Technically it was a Roman invention, since Egypt was an imperial province when the inventor Heron lived. And he was ethnically Greek, like most of the Egyptian aristocracy.

[@tylerphuoc2653]

Gotta love those Ptolmaics and their family shrub

[@MarcusHelius]

Gatecrashing a Navy review in a speedboat, awesome. XD