Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent 1,061,206 - Turbine Patent Wrapper Page 13

1 T valves 29, tral ring one of the valves being normally closed. of Coperation With the exception of certain particulars, which will be hereinafter elucidated, the mode of oper stood from the preceding description. Steam or gas under pressure being allowed to pass through the valve at the side of the solid arrow, the runner is set in rotation in a clockwise direction. 9077 are connected to the flanged extensions of the cen-9will be underIn order to bring out a distinctive feature, assume, in the first place, that the motive medium is admitted to the disk chamber through a port, that is a channel which it traverses with nearly uniform velocity. In this case, the machine will operate as a rotary engine, the fluid continuously expanding on its tortuous path to the central outlet. The expansion takes place chiefly along the spiral path, for the spread inward is opposed by the centrifugal force due to the velocity of whirl and by the great resistance to radial st. It is to be obsered that the resistance to the passage of the fluid between the plates is, approximately, proportionate to the square of the relative speed, which is maximum in the direction towards the center and equal to the full tangential velocity of the fluid. The path of least resistance, necessarily taken in obedience to a universal law of motion is, virtually, also that of least relative velocity. Next, assume that the fluid is admitted to the disk chamber not through a port, but a diverging nozzle, a device converting wholly or in part, the expansive into velocityenergy. The machine will then work rather like a turbine, 877