Gas turbine locomotive turbine locomotive to be used on British Railways. The locomotive was to be built by the North British Locomotive Company and the turbine would be supplied by C. A. Parsons and Company. According to Sampson, the plan was to use indirect heating. The pulverized coal would be burned in a combustion chamber and the hot gases passed to a heat exchanger. Here, the heat would be transferred to a separate body of compressed air which would power the turbine. Essentially, it would have been a hot air engine using a turbine instead of a piston. Robertson shows a diagram which
John Barber (engineer) based on Barber's specification has been built. In 1791 Barber took out a patent (UK patent no. 1833 – "Obtaining and Applying Motive Power, & c. A Method of Rising Inflammable Air for the Purposes of Procuring Motion, and Facilitating Metallurgical Operations") which contained all of the important features of a successful gas turbine. Planned as a method of propelling a "horseless carriage", Barber's design included a chain-driven, reciprocating gas compressor, a combustion chamber, and a turbine. Barber's turbine was used to burn gas obtained from wood, coal, oil, or other substances, heated in a retort or producer, from where