es the pressure. It seems a brutal way of
getting a scientific result, if the result desired can be called
scientific. The grooving and cutting of the step-blocks will not do any
harm, and in fact they will aid in keeping the revolving parts of the
machine turning about its mechanical center.

The operating engineer will be very slow to see the utility of the
baffler, and when he learns, as he will sometime, that the turbine will
operate equally well with a plug out as with it in the baffler, he will
be inclined to remove the baffler. It is true that with one machine
operating on its own pump it is possible to run without the baffler,
and it is also possible that in some particular case two machines having
identical step-bearing pressures might be so operated. The baffler,
however, serves a very important function, as described more fully as
follows: It tends to steady the flow from the pump, to maintain a
constant oil film as the pressure varies with the load, and when several
machines are operating on the same step-bearing system it is the only
means which fixes the flow to the different machines and prevents one
machine from robbing the others. Therefore, even if an engineer felt
inclined to remove the baffler he would be most liable to regret taking
such a step.

If the water supply should fail from any cause and the step-bearing
blocks rub together, no great amount of damage will result. The machine
will stop if operated long under these conditions, for if steam pressure
is maintained the machine will continue in operation until the buckets
come into contact, and if the step-blocks are not welded together the
machine may be started as soon as the water is obtained. If vibration
occurs it will probably be due to the rough treatment of the
step-blocks, and may be cured by homeopathic repeat-doses of grinding,
say about 15 seconds each. If the step-blocks are welded a new pair
should be substituted and the damaged ones refaced.

Some few experimental steps of spherical form, called "saucer" steps,
have been installed with success (see Fig. 24). They seem to aid the
lower guide-bearing in keeping the machine rotating about the mechanical
center and reduce the wear on the guide-bearing. In some instances,
too, cast-iron bushings have been substituted for bronze, with marked
success. There seems to be much less wear between cast-iron and babbitt
metal than between bronze and babbitt metal. The matter is really worth
a