New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-12-06
A New Motor.

The interesting announcement of sub
stitute fer steam as motive power has
been recently made IN Germany from a
source entitled to hearing. The rapid
consumption of the earth's fue! supply and
the drain on its forests, attended by SO many
disastrous consequences, have stimulated
scientific inventors to tind successor for
steam. and it IS to be hoped the present dis
covery will prove success. The new mo-
tor is carboleum. and its application %
machinery is claimed for DR.. Beins, OF Gro
ningen, who has devoted many years 20 its
study and utilization. Experiment first
taught him that when the bicarbOnate
of sodium is heated in a closed space.
at temperature Of 800. Fahrenheit.
liquid carbonic acid Is distilled out o,
it, having the expansive force Of fifty
or sixty atmospheres. Carboleum is not
dangerous as an explosive. and the fact that,
thus employed as the German inventor pur-
poses, it is possessed Of enormous motive
power, was attested by scientific men to
whom the experiments were shown. The
heat required to bring out this motive
power OF the carbonic acid in the new car
boleum engine is apparently very small
when compared with tina. requisite tor pro.
ducing high pressure OF steam in the
ordinary engine. In the former i. is only
three pounds of coal per hour for each horse
amount SO small! that it would be unneces.
sary IN ships driven by the new process to
devote much space to fuel. The chief
value of the invention. however, is claimed
to be its prac:icability in large factories.
The author thinks that for the great indus.
tries, the carbOleum engine can, in nearly
every instance, take the place OF steam.
The scientific value OF this discovery is
immense, if mechanical ingenuity can sue.
,f,p1 = 4: =
by DIR. Beins. 1t it is said that the supply
of carboleum is not as plentiful as that
element from which steam is made it may
be answered. it is almost az large as that OF
coal in some parts of the world. Carboleum
is found inexhaustibly in the beds of com.
mon chalk in all parts of the earth. As
common chalk contains carbonic acid to
the amount of half its weight, it will yield
double its volume of carbOleum. And the
chalk resources of the earth are vast beyond
computation. The cretaceous rocks cover
large extent of subterranean Europe
and eastern Asia. and abound in North and
South America. The chalk beds which cross
under the English channel at Dover have
been gagged at 500 feet thickness. and
similar beds have been found in France.
Germany and Denmark. while the sound.
ings of the ocean bottom show that thew
probably exist in a growing state in many
geological districts. in the United States
few formations are more widely distributed
than the chalk. varying in thickness. &C.
cOrding to some authorities, from 400 feet
along the Atlantic seaboard to 300 feet in
the upper Missouri valley.
1t is evident, therefore. that the proposed
successor Of steam, if mechanically applied.
would be used over the larger part Of the
world as an invaluable auxiliary Of steam,
with an enormous economy of coal and
wood. The successful introduction of such
a motive power, minimizing the fuel con.
sumption, would be boon Of incalculable
Importance in the manufactures and arts.
That the principle upon which its introduce
ton is claimed to be feasible is scientifically
correct seems hardly to be doubted. l.. the
chalk beds are stored with
mechanical energy. as we know the coal
beds are. the anxiety Of physicists and
lest the world fuel supply may
fall short III the lapse of few centuries, Is
dissipated. The utilization OF the new fuel
would give an impetus to all industries. and
might revolutionize the commerce OF manu-.
featuring nations whose wealth and politica!
power are mainly due to their coal cup.
Dlies.-New York Herald.