GB100013A - Improvements in or relating to Motor Power Plant. - Google Patents

Abstract

100,013. Westinghouse Machine Co., (Assignees of Smith, TV. w.). Jan. 9, 1915, [Convention date]. Motor power plunt.-Motor installations adapted particularly for submarine propulsion and designed to operate efficiently under a wide range of loads include an engine or turbine and an electromotor capable of operating as a generator for charging storage batteries from which it receives current when driving; and the gearing and detachable couplings are so arranged that the propeller shaft may be driven by the engine or by the electromotor, or by both engine and motor; moreover, the engine may drive the motor as a generator either when driving the shaft or not. A number of modifications are described having one or two propeller shafts, each of which is connected through gearing to one or two engines or turbines, which may or may not work in series, and is further connected directly or through gearing to one or two electromotors. Two constructions are shown in Figs. 3 and 10 by way of example. By suitable operation of the detachable couplings or clutches 21, 24, 25, Fig. 3, each propeller shaft 19 may be driven by the turbine 15 through gearing 22, 18, or by the electromotor 16 through gearing 23, 18, or by both turbine and motor; and the turbine may be used to drive the motor as a'generator to charge the storage batteries. The exhaust headers 27 leading to the condensers 28 may extend upwards, Fig. 4, or downwards from the turbine 15. In a modification, the pinions 22, 23 are of different diameters, giving different speed reductions for the turbine and electromotor. In Fig. 10, the electromotor 32 is shown directly coupled to the propeller shaft, and the turbines 31, 42 have pinions 43, 44 gearing with a large gear 18, which is geared to a pinion 45 connected to the motor 32 by a detachable coupling 35, With this arrangement, the propeller shaft may be driven by either or both of the turbine elements (which may be high and low pressure turbines) or by the motor, and the normal speed of each driving-agent may be different. Specification 10374/11 is referred to. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 (3) (a) comprises also a modification, Fig. 8 (cancelled), wherein each propeller shaft is connected on each side to a turbine 31 and an electromotor 39 through gearing 18, 36. The turbines may be connected in series by a pipe 30, and exhaust through a port 34 to a condenser 28. An inlet 41 for astern driving is provided. In another modification, two turbines and one electromotor are associated with each propeller shaft, the turbines being connected to the shaft through detachable couplings and gearing while the electromotor is directly connected to the shaft through a detachable coupling. In a third modification, the propeller shaft is connected through a coupling to a large gear in mesh with three pinions which are respectively connected through couplings to two electromotors and one turbine or engine. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.