triple-expansion

American  

[trip-uhl-ik-span-shuhn] / ˌtrɪp əl ɪkˈspæn ʃən /

adjective

1. noting a power source, especially a steam engine, using the same fluid at three successive stages of expansion to do work in three or more cylinders.

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Example Sentences

Life’s sister magazine, Time, was no less susceptible to his rough-diamond charm, calling him a “hard-headed, steel-willed” corporate chieftain with “horse sense, a command of men, and the driving force of a triple-expansion engine.”

From Salon • Mar. 22, 2016

At that time it was given to Captain Rieber because he had horse sense, a command of men and the driving force of a triple-expansion engine.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the case of compound engines, a ratio of from 8 to 10 is commonly employed to advantage, while with triple-expansion engines, ratios of 12 to 15 are found to give good results.

From Steam Engines Machinery's Reference Series, Number 70 by Anonymous

Old Kep had just put new triple-expansion engines into her before she changed hands.

From Golden Stories A Selection of the Best Fiction by the Foremost Writers by Various

They had stung us before, but this was a triple-expansion, double-back-action, high-explosive sting, with a dum dum point.

From At Good Old Siwash by Fitch, George