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2 Gas Turbine Handbook: Principles and Practices
However, even in this period of unsuccessful attempts at producing a
working prototype, progress was still being made.
• In 1808 John Dumball envisioned a multi-stage turbine. Unfortunately
his idea consisted only of moving blades without stationary
airfoils to turn the flow into each succeeding stage. 1,3,4
Had he realized the need for a stationary stage between each
rotating stage he would have originated the concept of an axial
flow turbine.
• In Paris in 1837, Bresson’s idea was to use a fan to drive pressurized
air into a combustion chamber. Here, the air was mixed
with fuel gas and burnt. These combustion products were cooled
by the addition of more air, and this final product was used to
drive turbine blades. 1,2
• In 1850, in England, Fernimough suggested a mixed steam and
gas turbine, in which air was blown through a coal grate while
water was sprayed into the hot gases. The gas and steam mixture
then acted to drive a two-bladed rotor. 1
• Not until 1872 did Dr. Franz Stolze combine the ideas of Barber
and Dumball to develop the first axial compressor driven by an
axial turbine. 1 Due to a lack of funds, he did not build his machine
until 1900. Dr. Stolze’s design consisted of a multi-stage
axial flow compressor, a single combustion chamber, a multistage
axial turbine, and a regenerator utilizing exhaust gases to
heat the compressor discharge air. This unit was tested between
1900 and 1904, but never ran successfully.
As will be discussed in Chapter IX, Bresson’s ideas are the basis
of air cooling (to extend hot gas path part life), Fernimough’s ideas
are the basis for water injection (for power augmentation and later
NO x
control), and Stolze’s ideas led the way for application of both
the present day trends in gas turbine design and the regenerator for
improved efficiency.
It was not until 1884 with Sir Charles Parsons’ patent for a reaction
steam turbine and gas turbine, and 1888, with Charles de Laval’s
application of Giovanni Branca’s idea for an impulse steam turbine