Page:The steam turbine, the Rede lecture 1911 (IA steamturbinerede00parsrich).pdf/15

THE FIRST TURBINE 3 Further, in order to prove the advantage of mechanical gearing of turbines in mercantile and war vessels about ￡20,000 has been recently expended, and considerable financial risks have been undertaken in relation to the first contracts. With these preliminary remarks I now come to the subject of our lecture.

Fig.2.Hero's Reaction Steam Wheel.

The first turbine of which there is any record was made by Hero of Alexandria, 2,000 years ago, and it is probably obvious 1-2