A Practical Treatise On Compressed Air And Pneumatic Machinery Classic Reprint PDF Download

Excerpt from A Practical Treatise on Compressed Air and Pneumatic Machinery It is a noteworthy fact that, while compressed air has been we and been used at a time when dynamic electricity was even in its infancy, its properties and possibilities are still, he minds of many practical people, an object shrouded with confusion and mystery, and considered by them as a convenient topic for the scientist's investigation, but altogether too intricate and obscure to be readily grasped by a man possessed of a common and average knowledge of motive machinery. This same man, strange to say, will find no apparent mystery in handling a first-class Compound Condensing Steam Engine, whose thorough comprehension, however, involves a more imposing array of natural phenomena than does the action of an air motor. Mention to him this latter machine, and he will tell you at once that it is useless; he has a vague recollection that compressed air will not yield over 15 to 20 per cent of the power expended to produce it, while an electric motor utilizes 60 or 80 per cent of this power, and that is the end of it. The fact is, however, without in any way disparaging the wonderful strides made by electricity, that, in a great many circumstances, a compressed air power transmission will be found fully as much, and often more effective than an electrical transmission. Within a radius of 10 to 20 miles or more, it is not a matter of theoretical speculation, but a result of actual facts, extending over a period of many years' experience, that compressed air can be economically produced, conveyed, and utilized as a motive power; and if this power is to be distributed throughout a number of buildings or factories, or in the interior of a mine, the absolute safety consistent with the use of compressed air is an element of superiority to which the electrical transmission has no possible claim. However well insulated the,conductors may be, the vicinity of a dynamo is always dangerous, either on the ground of fire or of bodily injury. In a large power station, manned by a picked staff of attendants, this danger is small indeed; but the conditions are altogether different if the motor is under the care of a miner or of an ordinary workman. Again, the location of an air motor is privileged with a constantly renewed and wholesome atmosphere, whose temperature can be, at will, regulated to suit the local exigencies. Accidental circumstances which may occur in the vicinity of an electric wire under high potential are generally fraught with peril. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.