Excerpt from Modern Engines and Power Generators, Vol. 4: A Practical Work on Prime Movers and the Transmission of Power, Steam, Electric, Water, and Hot Air<br><br>This Volume deals principally with the Reciprocating Steam Engine and its many accessories. This prime mover is by far the most important engine at present, but there are unmistakable signs that it has reached apoint in its progress beyond which im provement is impossible. The adoption of superheating in order to increase the economy of fuel is the last step, beyond which it is difficult to see in what other direction further improvements may come from. The steam turbine has already proved a superior prime mover in marine propulsion for the higher classes of high-speed vessels. The gas blowing engines have displaced the reciprocating steam engine at the great iron works here and abroad, and the gas engine with the gas producer is more and more taking the place of steam engines.<br><br>The small factory with its tall chimney and boiler and engine is already out of date such factories being established now would be driven by oil or gas engines, or by an electric motor on the street electricity supply. Nevertheless there is, and will be for long, a considerable demand for reciprocating steam engines. It will take many years to bring turbines and gas engines into universal application, so that the study of reciprocating steam engines and their modern development is still of great interest and value. Thanks are due to the many engineers who have supplied information and drawings; to Mr. Morison, of Messrs. Westgarth Co., and to Professor Watkinson, for details of their inventions.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>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.