LeTourneau Tech's NOW, Volume 11, Number 4, February 15, 1957 Page: 3
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: LeTourneau University Archives and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the LeTourneau University Margaret Estes Library.
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R. G. TALKS continued
there is considerable loss. Theoreti-
cally, a gallon of fuel oil should make
about 50 horsepower hours, but prac-
tically a modern diesel engine only
gets about 16, the rest is lost by fric-
tion and dissipated heat. The gasoline
engine in your automobile is only
about half as efficient as the diesel,
so you only get about 8 horsepower
hours of a gallon of gasoline, while
the old steam locomotive is only
about as efficient as the diesel
and it only gets about 4 horsepower
hours out of a gallon of fuel. That's
why we are not making steam loco-
motives any more, and as fast as they
wear out they gre being replaced by
diesel electric. Electric locomotives
have been used for towing ships
through the Panama Canal ever since
it was opened about forty-three years
ago. They are specially built because
they have to climb a 50% grade going
up and down about 30 ft. from one
lock to the other. And because the
wheels would slip on such a steep
grade, they have a rail in the middle
with gear teeth sticking up and a
gear on the locomotive axle engages
this rack to take it up the hill and
hold it back coming down.
Sometime back I was asked by the
Management of the Canal to make a
study of their problems and see if I
could come up with some answers.
The result has been that we now have
a contract to design and build and
make actual tests at the Canal of two
prototype locomotives such as we
have suggested. We think we can
save the, government about a million
dollars a year in operation costs to
say nothing of saving them several
million dollars on the first cost of
the equipment.I ~
A typical ship entering a lock at Miraflores. On the left the lock gates can be seen recessed
into the wall. They will close behind the ship to allow it to be raised to the next level. In the
center can be seen the steep incline which the locomotives must travel while moving the ship
into the lock.One of their complications is, run-
ning on the level-they drive the
wheels and then when they come to
the steep incline they have to disen-
gage the power from the wheels and
connect it to the gear drive. We ex-
pect to solve this problem by having
two LeTourneau DC compound elec-
tric motors side by side, one driving
the wheels and the other driving the
gear. This type of motor is very flexi-
ble, so they will both pull together.
The wheels will pull as much as they
can which will be pretty close to half
of the required traction and the mo-
tor driving the gear will take the oth-er half, and if the wheels slip a little,
then they will just pass the rest
of the power that they could have
used back over to the motor driving
the gear and it will take all or as
much more than half of the load as
the total required traction calls for.
And all the operator has to do is to
push the finger tip handle up to the
traction he requires with no stopping
to shift from one to the other, also
eliminating the attendant danger of
getting both clutches out at once on
the steep incline and having the loco-
motive wind up in the Canal.
There are several other problemsAbove: Between Pedro Miguel Locks and Gatun Lake the canal is shown
passing through one of the deepest cuts that had to be made in digging
the canal. Water level here is 84 feet above sea level.
Right: LeTourneau and canal officials discuss operation of locomotive gear
drive. In the foreground is a set of wheels from the current locomotives.
The gear in the center engages the rack between the tracks to pull the loco-
motive up the steep inclines.
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LeTourneau Technical Institute. LeTourneau Tech's NOW, Volume 11, Number 4, February 15, 1957, periodical, February 15, 1957; Longview, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1526855/m1/3/?q=%22~1~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting LeTourneau University Margaret Estes Library.