Page:Lowell Hydraulic Experiments, 4th edition.djvu/25

 sequently, included between the two surfaces, an aperture gradually enlarging from the exterior circumference of the wheel, to the exterior circumference of the diffuser. When the regulating gate is raised to its full height, the section, through which the water passes, will be increased by insensible degrees, in the proportion of one to four, and if the velocity is uniform in all parts of the diffuser at the same distance from the wheel, the velocity of the water will be diminished in the same proportion; or its velocity on leaving the diffuser, will be one fourth of that at its entrance. By the doctrine of living forces, the power of the water in passing through the diffuser must, therefore, be diminished to one sixteenth of the power at its entrance. It is essential to the proper action of the diffuser, that it should be entirely under water; and the power rendered useful by it, is expended in diminishing the pressure against the water issuing from the exterior orifices of the wheel; and the effect produced, is the same as if the available fall under which the turbine is acting, is increased a certain amount. It appears probable that a diffuser of different proportions from those above indicated, would operate with some advantage without being submerged. It is nearly always inconvenient to place the wheel entirely below low-water-mark; up to this time, however, all that have been fitted up with a diffuser, have been so placed; and, indeed, to obtain the full effect of a fall of water, it appears essential, even when a diffuser is not used, that the wheel should be placed below the lowest level to which the water falls in the wheelpit, when the wheel is in operation.

The action of the diffuser depends upon similar principles to that of diverging conical tubes, which, when of certain proportions, it is well known, increase the discharge; the author has not met with any experiments on tubes of this form, discharging under water, although, there is good reason to believe, that tubes of greater length and divergency would operate more effectively under water, than when discharging freely in the air; and that results might be obtained, that are now deemed impossible by most engineers.

Experiments on the same turbine, with and without a diffuser, show a gain in the coefficient of effect, due to the latter, of about three per cent. By the principles of living forces, and assuming that the motion of the water is free from irregularity, the gain should be about five per cent. The difference is due, in part at least, to the unstable equilibrium of water, flowing through expanding apertures; this must interfere with the uniformity of the velocities of the fluid streams, at equal distances from the wheel.

13. Suspending the wheel from the top of the vertical shaft, instead of running it on a step at the bottom. This had been previously attempted, but not with such success as to warrant its general. It has been accomplished with complete success by Mr. Boyden, whose mode is, to cut the upper part of the shaft into a series of necks,