The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-02 00:00:00

THE FUEL PROBLEM.

The great, important, and constantly increasing
part which steam power is taking in the world's
progress has awakened the attention of thoughtful
political economists to the fact that the material
necessary to evolve the vapoury but untiring giant
from the simple elevation of water is constantly de-
creasing in quantity and increasing in value. Coal
is now so universally employed as domestic fuel that
the immense supply needed for the generation of
steam in the various industrial pursuits, and the
steam marine of the world's commerce, and the
navies of the nations, is taxing the means of almost
every individad in the community. The present
rapid consumption of coal is therefore a subject of
deep and profound interest, and much care and atten-
tion have been given to maturing plans for a less rapid
and more economical consumption of the valuable
fuel. The latest discovery in this direction promises
to be of the utmost importance, and its ultimate
and complete success seems certain. The new
method proposes to abolish coal altogether from
beneath steam boilers, and put in its place petro-
leum. The mode of effecting this desirable change
was originated by Colonel Henry R. Foote, of Ten-
nessee, and his process has been patented. The
attention of the United States Navy Department
has been already called to this new steam generator,
and a Board of three chief engineers have examined
it, and rendered a favourable report. Chief Engi-
neer Isherwood ordered the fourth-class United
States steamship Palos to be fitted up for a full and
compHe trial of the new invention ; and on board
of this vessel the experiment is now in progress in
Boston harbour. The new apparatus is simple and
inexpensive, consisting of a small iron box or retort
located in the grate bars, and having burners all
around it. Its bottom is kept hot by burners beneath.
The oil is carried into it by a small iron pipe and
vaporises as soon as it enters. Steam is then intro-
duced through a coil of iron pipe filled with filings
and located over the burners, where it is intensely
heated and decomposed, and its gases enter the
retort, into which air is at the same time forced, and
the whole forms a gas which escapes from some
; nine hundred burners, where it burns with a clear,
intense blue flame, completely filling the furnace
and extending into or through the flues. The heat
is very great. It emits no smoke, can be increased
or diminished in a moment, or be entirely extin-
guished by turning a stopcock. The apparatus is
very simple, and any part of it, if broken, can be
repaired or made new by any mechanic: No alte-
ration of boilers is required. It will burn whatever
coal will, and the fire can be run by any man of
ordinary intelligence after an hour's instruction.
It dispenses with all coal heavers, and requires one
man to every two or three fires, to keep them in

perfect order. It is clean and convenient, and
saves the time and trouble of taking in coal and
disposing of ashes, and, there being no sulphur
in the oil, as there always is in coal, the boilers
and flue will be more durable, notwithstanding the
greater intensity of the fire. But the great value of this
invention in steamers is the gain in space and ton-
nage. The amount of fuel required is only about
one-seventh of the weight and bulk required of
anthracite coal, and the inventor is sltisfied that
after perfecting his apparatus it will take less than
one-tenth, leaving all the remainder for freight or
passage room. If this fire succeeds, it will enable
ships to steam from sixty to one hundred days, and
to visit ports of the world from which they are now
excluded, while the direct gain in the saving of the
fuel of the civilised world will be almost beyond

computation. The best petroleum for the purpose
of fuel for steam boilers is that which is obtained
from wells in West Virginia, on account of its
gravity, which renders it non-explosive, and can be
handled and stored with the same safety as lard oil
or coal, thus avoiding all the objections to the light
oils of Pennsylvania. The quality of the oil used
in the experimental test should receive particular
attention, in order to make the success complete,
which it is sure to be in the hands of practical men.
—Philadelphia Inquirer.