Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-08-20

MIR. EDITOR Soon after reaching your
city to-day ! was asked to give some
further information about DIR. Hollands
hydrogen fuel. 1t will interest your read
ers, no doubt to read the following account
of the trial trip of Dr. Hollands engine,
| taken from the Religious Herald, published
IN Hartford, Conn. 1t was written by one
who was au eye witness of the wonderful
/ fuel was not present on that excursion
train. At another time | will say some
thing more about the marvellous invention.
p. Nj. BARTLETT.
New YORK, July Is, 1882
The long deferred public justification of
my assurances to your readers regarding
the New Fuel, is now patent as well as
complete. On Tuesday of this week, the
new water-gas locomotive, sc. Holland"
brought in one of the regular trains of the
Erie Railroad In style new to all railroad
men, producing a spontaneous ovation all
along the line. The cause of excitement
was not so much her extreme splendor of
finish, but the enormous exhibit of surplus
steam from the novel fuel that people
mostly apprehended would break down I'M
der the exactions of rapid and heavy rail
road traffic.
IL Wdo d DidN6 Sight, db lie ". E1OllanQ
stood at the head of her train in the Pater-
son depot, blating with FURNISHED steel and
brass IN the July sunshine, and pouring out
three inch column of steam with a pres
sure of 40 pounds to the square inch and
roar like many waters. 1t required no fancy
to think that the beautiful and mighty ma
chine looked proudly conscious of her COM
ing triumph. The train from New York
rolled IN at p. H., and dlsembarked dep
u-atlon of railroad, financial and newspaper
men, who joined the admiring crowd
around the engine, silent perforce in the
presence of her too eloquent, in
Tact deafenlng speech. At 1;25 p. IN.
the word was passed, ''All aboard y. the
extra cars were quickly occupied, and
| the tender covered with privileged
! guests-whose clothes would have been
| burned off their backs III that position, if
1t had been any other locomotive, but only
! got pure spray of the condensed product
of combustion aqueous vapor) that
poured from the funnel no longer named
! smoke.
AT 1870 the roaring steam was turned
whispering INTO the cylinders, and gushed
silently from the free exhaust through the
| funnel, rs the engine moved out, no snort
! ing, black-belchIug monster, but wholly
| beautiful, refulgent, wreathed with pure,
! white clouds, and doing her strong task
| with expressive silence, ease and grace.
! Soon the motion grew Swifter and swifter,
the pIstons playing back and forth like
/ silent and incessant hghtnings, answered
/ only by the thunder OF the wheels. But
at one point above, the safety valve kept on
d rushing noise; and when the throttle shut
off the steam from the cylinders, at the APP
| proach to a station, everybody was notified;
| for the curbed giant burst open the pop"
| valve with that same deafening roar that
astOnished the grizzied old railroad men,
and brought the people all to doors and
windows, wherever the train paused for a
moment There was trouble with the too
fresh" air brakes, which would not let 90,
there was dragging of fast-locked wheels
and stopping to loose them by hand, there
was one third extra load, and on the whole
the actual running had to be at least fifteen
per cent. faster than schedule times but
| still the fire water" genie went on ahead of
! time and shouting the triumph OF her ex-
/ uberant and redundant heat with voice
| that might have been heard almost from
station TO station as she passed.
! L MS side of Newark and the Passaic, we
flew over the meadows four miles i'll four
minutes, AID dashed into the tunnel, where
| one of the most singular, yet natural, of the
| novel incidents of water gas locomotion was
| experienced. The doors and windows were
| thoughtfuliy set open by some one, and the
passengers were jocosely hidden prepare to
cough and to claw the cinders out of their
eyes. The Clouds from the ''smoke stack"
rushed through the cars like q tornado, for
a mule OF pent pitch darkness; but there
was no smell of smoke or pungent sensa-
ton, nothing but cool, sweet, moistured
| NE +l,a Il
| product of combustion. pure water, which
lie: no speck on the whitest linen.
1t was the novel privilege of the pure
water engine to draw her train behind her
into the depot to the very gates of the ferry.
AS she came In ahead of time, with her
monstrous roar of 140-lb. steam blending
| with her triumph mt bells, the whole float
| ing population of the railroad yards and
| offices crowded III, and the scene of con-
gratulatlons and excitement partook of the
widest Such run, confessedly, had
never been seen by the Oldest railroad man
present.
1t had been announced that as usual on
the trial of a locomotive, no consideration
would be given to fuel, the only object be-
ing the extreme development of pc yer.
THIS had surpassed both expectation ard
precedent And yet the oil measure proved
the greatest wonder of all-63 gallons in 95
minutes, or less than 40 gallons for the "a
minutes and 20 miles running. This is six
cents mile, the average of coal cost being
about 16 cents and the minimum 10 cents.
With this result, on lavish expenditure, it
would seem that proper economy must re
duce it by half, but | will not venture to
prophecy. An accident, easy but unneces-
say to explain, doubled the time figure in
/ the hayU York huf fha
have given is incontestably proved, both by
witnesses and collateral evidence.
VmI.