Charles Gordon CurtisBorn 20 Apr 1860; died 10 Mar 1953 at age 92.U.S. inventor who devised a steam turbine widely used in electric power plants and in marine propulsion. He was a patent lawyer for eight years. He patented the first U.S. gas turbine (1899). Among his other achievements, the Curtis multiple-stage steam turbine (patented 1896, sold rights to GE in 1901) required one tenth the space and weighed one eighth as much as machines it replaced. The Curtis generator was the most powerful steam turbine in the world and represented a significant advance in the capacity of steam turbines. In spite of its high-power output, this machine cost much less than contemporary reciprocating steam engine-driven generators of the same output.Image: One of Curtis's first steam turbines - 50kw. |
