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engineer who invented the Parsons steam turbine 1884, a landmark in marine
engineering and later universally used in electricity generation to drive
an alternator. Parsons developed more efficient screw propellers for ships and suitable gearing to widen the turbine's usefulness, both on land and sea. He also designed searchlights and optical instruments, and developed methods for the production of optical glass. Parsons was born in London and studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and at Cambridge. He worked for various engineering firms in NE England until 1889, when he set up his first company near Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He developed turbogenerators of various kinds and increasing capacities, which formed the basic machinery for national (and much of international) electricity production. With new propulsion machinery devised by Parsons, his steamship Turbinia reached a record-breaking speed of 34.5 knots in 1897. Parsons's turbines fitted to the liners Lusitania and Mauritania gave them high speed with less vibration, and developed some 70,000 hp/52,000 kW. |