Feb. 16.
The death of a Fellow of the Royal Society and Member of the Order of Merit is no ordinary. event. Sir Charles Parsons who died last week and possessed the two distinctions named—as well as the Faraday Medal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers—was no ordinary man. Thirty-four years ago a 100-ton ship called the Turbinia made! from the Tyne to Cowes and back a journey in which with her 2100 horse-power engines she attained the unprecedented speed of 30 knots. Her chief engineer—and chief stoker—was Charles Parsons. Thi Journey set the seal on the dis. covery which, in 1884, he had announced tothe world by the introduction of his compound steam turbine. Like other! inventions it was the product of many years of persistent research, of refusal to admit defeat, of triumph over disappointment. It was not until, in 1891, the principle of con-sensation was applied that the possibilities of the new discovery which placed Parsons for all time in the front rank of engineers, were fully explorable. The rapidity of the development however indicated the immense benefits. Seven years after the Turbinia had made her historic trip, HAMS, Amethyst successfully demonstrated the value of the turbine to the British Navy three years later still the Mauretania with her 41,000 h.p. and 25-knot speed began her long supremacy on the Atlantic run.
In praising the work of a craftsman no better tribute can be selected than to use the words of his fellow-craftsmen. Dr. S.
de Ferranti, himself a distinguished engineer, has placed on record the view that even engineering experts do not realize the full extent of Sir Charles Parsons' work:
He has revolutionized the yo duction of power from coal.
fore his time the prevailing idea was that reciprocation was, necessary in order to get work from coal. "He had the boldness:
to see, to believe, that. that was an indirect process and that by.
adopting. a process "much more direct and efficient he would obtain immensely better results." Nor should it be overlooked that, the turbine effected as big a revolution on land as it did on the sea. As soon as it became fitted with a condenser it was used in electric supply and its, value there need not be elaborate-_ ed in Shanghai where one of the largest and finest power stations in the world provides a vivid illustration of this point. The' award too of the Faraday Medal sufficiently indicated the gratitude which the electrical engineering profession felt towards the father of the turbine, Parsons has been called an Englishman; the designation is strictly, if not technically. correct. He was descended from Sir William Parsons who migrated from Leicestershire to Treland in the 16th century, who became Lord Justice and baronet and whose great-grandson was the first Earl of Rose.
The third Earl, who was the father of Charles Parsons, has his niche in fame as the inventor of the improved reflector telescope which was one of the wonders of the mid-Victorian era and greatly assisted the study of astronomy. Charles— his fourth son—born in the year
up to St. John's College, Cambridge, and graduated as 11th wrangler in T8?6. That suees gained him admission to the famous Armstrong works Elswick and" his previous experience when, as a boy he had worked in his father's. telescope workshops in Ireland, was invaluable to him. Five years after his discovery of the turbine's possibilities—he was then a partner in another firm—he decided to. make. his great effort. He built his own works. meat Newcastle and the rest followed. During the Great War his technical skill and scientific knowledge were amply used by the Government on several committees of research. In considering the career of this great engineer it is useful to attempt to obtain some idea of the man himself. Perhaps the best inspiration which his, countrymen and the members of his profession can derive) from him is that afforded by. quotation from. the" modest speech which he made when presented with the Faraday Medal in 1922. He contented himself with a tribute to Michael Faraday himself and commended to notice the qualities observed in that great gen He loved truth beyond _all other' things: his second: great Gtuality was his kindness, Sora In "him, and by' hi. caret culture it grew up to be the rule
always—in thought, in wor hin lifes Kindness to. everyone; indeed. His third' great qui was his energy. This was no strong effort for a short time, but a lifelong lasting, strife to seek and say that which he thought was true and to do that which he thought was kind Charles Parsons himself could have no finer and better deserved epitaph,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.