Charles Gordon Curtis
Charles Gordon Curtis (born April 20, 1860 in Boston , † March 10, 1953 in Central Islip , Suffolk County, New York ) was an American engineer , inventor and patent attorney . He is best known as the developer of the Curtis steam turbine named after him .
Live and act
Curtis studied civil engineering at Columbia University in New York until 1881 , then two years of law at the New York Law School . After graduating in 1883, Curtis worked as a patent attorney before he decided in 1891 to switch to industry and work for the Crocker & Curtis Electrical Motor Company on the development of electric motors and fans .
Steam turbine
In 1896 Curtis patented two types of steam turbine. He combined the principles of the Laval turbine and the Parsons turbine into a multi-stage impulse turbine (similar to the Rateau turbine , which was developed independently at the same time ). Although the Curtis turbine achieved a lower level of efficiency than Parsons' turbine, it was much smaller and simpler in construction and therefore very good for simple applications and for mobile use, e.g. B. on steamships , suitable.
Curtis talked to various companies about the manufacture of his turbines, but initially couldn't find anyone interested until he met Edwin W. Rice of General Electric (GE). From 1897 GE produced Curtis turbines; in 1901 Curtis sold the rights to his patent to GE, which used this type of turbine for many years in vertical (see picture) and horizontal design, especially in power plants . Ultimately, however, the Parsons turbine prevailed here because of its better efficiency.
For use as a ship propulsion system, the Curtis turbine was marketed by the International Curtis Marine Turbine Company , which in turn issued licenses to the British shipyard John Brown & Company . The latter built the Brown-Curtis turbine a . a. in many ships of the Royal Navy . The Curtis turbine is still used today as a ship propulsion system.
In 1910 Curtis was awarded the Rumford Premium Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for his steam turbine development .
Gas turbine and others
In addition to the steam turbine, Curtis also developed the first functioning gas turbine on the American continent in 1899 . For this, Curtis received the annual prize of the gas turbine division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 1948 and the Holley Medal of the ASME in 1950 .
In addition to the above Turbines, Curtis also worked on improvements to internal combustion engines (flushing method for two-stroke diesel engines ) and dealt with the propulsion of torpedoes .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Edison Exploratorium - Charles Curtis (1860-1953) ( Memento of the original from August 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ↑ a b ASME - The First 500-Kilowatt Curtis Vertical Steam Turbine ( Memento of the original from May 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English; PDF; 3.0 MB)
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Curtis, Charles Gordon |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American steam turbine inventor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 20, 1860 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Boston |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 10, 1953 |
| Place of death | Central Islip, Suffolk County, New York |