Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company

{{Infobox company

|name = Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company

|logo =

|type = Public

|caption =

|fate = Acquired

|successor = C. A. Parsons and Company

|foundation = 1897

|defunct =

|location = Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

|industry = Engineering

|key_people = Charles Algernon Parsons

|products =

|num_employees =

|parent =

|subsid =

}}

Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company was a British engineering company based on the River Tyne at Wallsend, North East England.

History

Charles Algernon Parsons founded the company in 1897 with £500,000 of capital. It specialised in building the steam turbine engines that he had invented for marine use.[http://www.birrcastle.com/inventionsAndExperiments.asp Chronology of Charles Parsons Life] {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081225130458/http://www.birrcastle.com/inventionsAndExperiments.asp |date=25 December 2008}} The first vessel powered by a Parsons turbine was Turbinia, launched in 1894.{{cite book |url= http://www.axfordsabode.org.uk/pdf-docs/glamor01.pdf |title=HMS Glamorgan: the first two years |page=4 |via=Axford's Abode}} The successful demonstration of this vessel led to the creation of the company and the building of engines for the first two turbine-powered destroyers for the Royal Navy, {{HMS|Viper|1899|6}} and {{HMS|Cobra|1899|6}}, launched in 1899. Although both these vessels came to grief, the new engines were not to blame, and the Admiralty was convinced. Parsons' son became a director in the company and was replaced during the First World War by his daughter Rachel Parsons.

File:Wirnik turbiny parowej ORP Wicher.jpg File:Parsons helical wheel gearing (Rankin Kennedy, Modern Engines, Vol II).jpg

Parsons turbines powered the Royal Navy's first turbine powered battleship, {{HMS|Dreadnought|1906|6}}, and the world's first turbine ocean liners, {{RMS|Victorian}} and Virginian. {{convert|73000|hp}} Parsons turbines powered the {{GRT|31000}} Cunard express ocean liners {{RMS|Mauretania|1906|6}} and {{RMS|Lusitania}}.

All early marine turbines drove their propellers directly. Parsons developed helical reduction gearing for marine turbines, and in 1908 converted the cargo ship {{SS|Vespasian||2}} to turbine propulsion with reduction gearing.{{cite book |last=Parsons |first=Charles A |author-link= Charles Algernon Parsons |year=1911 |title=The Steam Turbine |series=The Rede Lecture |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |via=Wikisource |url= https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Steam_Turbine |pages=48–53}}

Four direct-drive Parsons turbines powered battleship {{USS|Arizona|BB-39|6}}. They were designed to produce a total of {{convert|34000|hp}}, but achieved only {{convert|33376|hp}} in Arizona{{'}}s sea trials, when she met her designed speed of {{convert|21|knots|km/h}}.{{cite book |last=Breyer |first=Siegfried |year=1973 |title= Battleships and Battle Cruisers, 1905–1970 |place=Garden City, NY |publisher=Doubleday |oclc=702840 |page=214}}

The Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Australian Navy used Parsons turbines on their {{sclass2|Tribal|destroyer (1936)|0}} destroyers. The {{sclass|Invincible|battlecruiser|2}}s all used Parsons propulsion systems.

In 1944, Parsons was one of 19 companies which formed the 'Parsons and Marine Engineering Turbine Research and Development Association', usually known as Pametrada.

The destroyer {{HMS|Glamorgan|D19|6}}, launched in 1964, had a Parsons propulsion system.

The Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth 2, launched in 1969, had Parsons turbines.

The company was absorbed into C. A. Parsons and Company and survives in Heaton, Newcastle as part of Siemens Energy, a German energy industrial conglomerate.

Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company

History

See also

References

Further reading