The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1880-09-16
The Fuel of the Future.

DIR. Charles Holland. a chemist and In
yentor conceived in 1856 the idea of using
the constituent gases of naphtha and water
as fuel Dr.. Holland Is not "a man of much
education outside OF his special knowledge
as a chemist he made some money on pa
tents for smelling furnaces, aud turned his
attention to what he calls the great work of
his liie-inveGting perfect and inexpen-
sive fuel. OF late years numberless ma
chimes have been devised to burn the carbon
OF oils scientists often say that liquid fuel
is the fuel OF the future. The infinite
amount of water at our disposal there Is
ten times as much liquid fuel IN the world
as solid) suggests at once the economy which
would be effected by the use of these mate
rials in place of coal. Water, as every one
knows, is composed of two parts OF hydrogen
and one part of oxygen. Hydrogen is high
ly inhammable and gives IN burning Of
the hottest flames known. Ii there was
some easy means of separating the hydrogen
of water from the oxygen the problem of
cheap fuel would be solved. This IS what
\ DIR. Holland claims to have done. The ma
chine which he has invented to burn the
gases of naptha and water, Is a two cham
bered cast iron retort, shaped like prism
and varying in size according to the work to
be done. For retort large enough to give
heat for an ordinary cooking stove the prism
is about eight inches long and five wide
I Between the two chambers OF the retort
there is no connection whatever. Naphtha
is carried into the chamber by pipe the
size of lead pencil and water into the other
by similar pipe But before lit 'oducing
the oil and gas into the retort the retOrt it
self is heated by means of little naphtha
spoonful of which is burned in a saucer or
other holder beneath the retort When the
retort is heated the oil and water are intro
duced drop by drop into their respective
chambers The naphtha is Immediately
volatilized by the heat and becomes naphtha
gas, gas which burns brilliantly but gives
but little heat. This gas escapes from its
chamber in a long thin fame. The water
In the other chamber becomes in the mean
time superheated steam and issues from
nipple so arranged as to throw spray of
steam into the naphtha flame issuing from
t'e other nipple Therefore not only does
/ III. Holland get the entire combustion OF the
carbon, but he gets from his water four
times as much heat as from the perfect com
bustion of his carbon The correctness of
this calculation has been verified repeatedly
by the following experiment A gallon of
cold water in a kettle was placed over one of
Hollands small retorts and brought to
boiling heat In four aud half minutes ; the
same amount of cod water was place Ell over
as hot fire as could be made with clean
nut coal in small stove and brought to a
boil in twenty-one minutes, or about five
times as long as was necessary with the new
apparatus. In the experiment made last
month at College Point, DR.. Holland was
only allowed to use one of the oldest engines
on the Long Island railroad it was out Of
order and was very hard engine to fire up.
The fireman who usually ran with it never
al owed less than two hours to get up steam.
Dr. Holland put two OF his little retorts into
the fire box and connected them with his
tanks of naphtha and cold water In forty
minutes after lighting up the steam gauge
marked sixty pounds pressure. The
gine pulled passenger car, in which were
fifty persons, distance of six miles and
back at an average rate of from thirty to
thirty-fve miles an hour. There was
chorus of admiration from the scientific men
present, who asserted that they did not be-
lieye wood or coal could be made to FIRE up
the engine so that it would run at ALL the
hues being rusty and clogged, and every
thing about the machine being out of order.
What the ret accomplished In such dis
advantageous circumstances proved to them
its merits. When the engine was running
there were no sparks, no clnderS, no smoke
no sulphurous gases. The average expense
Of running an engine with coal is from seven
fident that the same work can be done In
better manner with his retorts at an expense
Of from three to four cents a mile. TN
down grades, when no power is wanted, the
fire can be completely shut off by turning
the valves controlling the oil ard water
pipes or it can be reduced or increased.
Other advantages will suggest them
selves to any one familiar with rail
roads. The abs ence of sparks alone
would be worth about S2,O0O,0GO to this
country. that value Of timber aud other
property being annually destroyed by
fire from engine sparks. To passengers
the absence of gas and cinders will be great
boon, especially on the elevated road of New
York City where the annoyances from these
causes are into cradle, DIR. Hollands OBJ
iect in coming to New York was to induce
railroads to use his retorts. His succe has
been so complete that within two weeks
five roads are to give them trial, cOnse-
quently we shall soon hear from them.
The use Of the retort Tor stoves and
rangers in private houses has received but
little attention and is only now brought for
ward when the application of the invention
TO locomotive seems to be assured. | went
Yesterday 10 see its application to stoves and
ranges in a building back Of the AstOr
House. An ordinary kitchen stoves OF me-
dunn size was put in the centre of the room,
and in the fire pot was placed small re-
tort which was connected with the tanks of
naphtha and water The pipe conveying
the oil is filled with many layers of fine wire
cause, which prevents too large flow of oil,
allowing it to trickle into the retort only
drop by drop A little oil was placed in a
tin saucer beneath the retort, and match
applied In minute the retort was hot
enough to admit the oil and water. Nc
sooner was this done than the inside of the
fire pot filled with hot fame of peculiar
! ly clear character, there was absolutely nc