Morning journal and courier., 1882-07-14
Friday Morning, July 14, 1882.
A NEW LOCOMOTIVE.

NE" LOCOMOVltH.
 If the new hydrogen gas engine invented
 by Dr. Charles Holland fulflls it's promise the world will have very important addi- ton to present ways of utilizing power. The
 experiment made with Dr. Hollands 1ocomo-
 tive day or two ago on the Erie railroad
 was very interesting and satisfactory. The | locomotive drew train from Paterson to ! Jersey City in one minute and ten seconds | less than the schedule time, and when it ended It's journey it showed pressure of 14O pounds of steam more than twice as much
 as the ordinary locomotive shows at the end
 of such trip. The cost of fuel was $2 Os,
 which is about one third the cost of the coal
 used in steaming the same distance.
 The new engine is fueled with hydrogen
 gas, which is constantly reproduced by it's
 own heat from water through the mediation
 of small proportion of crude naphtha No
 oil is burned in this process in the ordinary
 or popular sense of combustion. It Is used | exclusively within retorts without air as de-
 composing agent for steam. The high tenn
 perature of the fire chamber in which the re-
 torts are set keeps them sufficiently hot
 to dlsengage the oxygen of steam in the
 presence of the carbon of the oil in
 their interiors, the chemical attraction
 of these two clements causing them to
 unite in the proportions of perfect combus- | ton, and to become entirely converted into ! carbonlc acid within the retorts. The re- \ leased hydrogen is therefore the only com bust1bie ingredient left to issue at the burn CTS at the height of the process. At the ! same time the heat of both processes-the decomposition within the retorts and the combustion outside of them-is confined and utilized within the boiler for the making of steam So great is this heat that if the de- composing agent (oil) be shut off it has been found that the steam continues to dscompose
 by heat alone and to issue with intensified combustion at the burners for considerable time.
 The process of firing up" this new loso- motive is thus described: A small priming oil pipe runs under the four retorts, touching each of them with six jets which are turned \ on and lighted temporarily until the retorts \ are hot. enough to vaporize oil in their inter { lors. Oil is then let into the retorts under ! pressure In fine, thread-like stream, which | IS not increased, but, if anything, diminished, 1 as the process goes on to perfection and max
 imum heat, and immediately begins to burn 1 in vapor at the burner orifces, some 50 of l which are directly under the retorts, and
 now rapidly heats them up. Water is | soon let into the retorts and the | heat increases still faster. Steam
 pressure begins to accumulate
 in the boiler, and within perhaps 30 minutes | 30 or 40 pounds are indicated. At this point ! steam is let into the retorts instead of water, | and the steam oil-pump is set in motion ! keeping the oil at the steady, moderate pres | sure required for entering the retorts against
 the pressure of steam and other gases within
 them. This is the usual starting point in l actual service, when steam is to be got up
 for the days work, and the progress of the
 fire IS so rapid that not more than 15 or 20
 minutes are required for firing up in readi-
 nesr to run with 100 to 13O pounds oe steam. ! One great advantage claimed for the Hol-
 land hydrogen, burning locomotive is that
 with 1t there is absolute safety from fire in
 case of accident. The entire fire is extin, ! gulshed as instantaneously as a common | gas jet and in the same manner, by simply | shutting off both oil and steam at once The first shock of an accident will trip closing
 lever, and thus automatically put out the fire
 before the wreck is begun. AS to the oil, il
 Is confined in tank as tight and strong as
 the boiler itself, inclosed within the wate,
 tank on the tender, and is communicated tt the retorts in streams of the size of sewing \ cotton