1985 Parsons Memorial Lecture 1884: the rebirth of steam power

Abstract

In the early 1880s the steam engine was considered to be obsolescent and it was predicted that the internal combustion engine would become the more efficient machine of the future. Both engines relied on the conversion of reciprocating to rotary motion, and thus their speed and output were limited by inertial forces. The paper suggests that in 1881 Parsons foresaw that the infant market for distributed electricity would develop into one of immense size requiring prime movers of vastly increased powers, and that his initial ideas were centred on a rotary internal combustion engine. The paper describes the 1884 Patents, their practical details and their wide coverage. Parsons had to circumvent them when he lost their use in 1890, and it is a measure of his immense determination and courage that he persevered both to win through to the ultimately successful exploitation of his inventions in the field of electrical generation, and also to establish his steam turbine for marine propulsion. Any major innovation requires a long term and absorbs much effort and money before its exploitation yields financial returns. This fact is as true today as it was at the end of the 19th century.