Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company was a British engineering company based in Wallsend, North East England, on the River Tyne. The company was founded by Charles Algernon Parsons in 1897 with £500,000 of capital, and specialised in building the steam turbine engines that he had invented for naval use. The first ship to use a Parsons propulsion system was "Turbinia", launched in 1894; the successful demonstration of this vessel led to the creation of the company and the subsequent construction of the engines for the first two turbine-powered destroyers for the Navy, and , launched
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