Still engine

History

Still was not the first in this field; a similar system, whereby compressed air (instead of gearing) was to transfer the power from an internal combustion engine and steam recovered from its cooling system was to augment the compressed air, had been patented in 1903 by Captain Paul Lucas-Girardville (a French military aviator) and Louis Mékarski.

Development

Marine

In 1924 Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Greenock, Scotland, put a diesel-fuelled marine version, the Scott-Still regenerative engine, into production, with the first pair of engines installed in the twin-screw M. V. Dolius, of the Blue Funnel Line. The trial was successful and in 1928 Blue Funnel commissioned a larger and faster ship, the Eurybates, with this propulsion system. However the requirement to carry marine engineering officers certified with both steam and motor qualifications, meaning extra crew members and wages, and the extra complexity with consequent higher maintenance costs, offset the fuel savings and conventional diesel engines were later installed in their place.

Railway

In 1926 Kitson and Company, locomotive builders of Leeds, England, produced a steam–diesel hybrid locomotive, the Kitson Still locomotive. This was loaned for trials to the London and North Eastern Railway and used successfully to haul heavy coal trains, but the difference in the cost of coal used by a conventional locomotive, against the fuel oil used by the hybrid, was not great. When Kitson's failed in 1934, a failure to which the development costs of the hybrid locomotive had contributed, the receivers sold the machine for scrap.

Decline

Developments of larger diesel engines in the 1930s, with improved methods of power transmission, meant that the principal advantages of the Still engine – the ability to provide for direct-drive starts from rest and additional power at times of temporary high load – was lost, and further development ended.

References

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References

1. (28 May 1919). "New British Engine Surpasses Diesel". [[New York Times]].
2. William Joseph Still. (19 June 1917). "U. S. patent 1230617". United States Patent and Trademark Office.
3. (27 May 1919). "Waste Heat in Engine Power". [[The Times]].
4. (September 1919). "Getting more out of the Gas Engine". [[Popular Science Monthly]].
5. "Combined Internal Combustion and Compressed Air Motors". [[European Patent Office]].
6. Robinson, William. (1927). "Applied Thermodynamics". Pitman.
7. Self, Douglas. (16 November 2008). "The Still Steam-Diesel Engine". The Museum of Retro Technology.
8. (1992). "Blue Funnel Legend". Macmillan.
9. "The Experimental Kitson-Still Steam/Diesel Hybrid Locomotive".