Los Angeles daily herald., 1884-10-24

III hknuhB up pcerthln precise rules nave
Z, be followed, in order toprevent explosion
OF any gas that may have accumulated II
the fire box. Such explosions do often taks
place through negligence: but they amoun
simply to puff of gas, driving smoke ou
the aa asnpeTTsS without 4 %
vented BY adhering to the following simple
rules: First clear the spray nozzle OF watel
BY letting small quantity Of steam blow
through, with the ash pan doors open; a
the same time start the blower In the chin
ney for few seconds, and the. gas, II any
will be Immediately drawn up the chimney
Next place on the bottom OF the combustion
chamber piece of cotton waste, or hand
ful OF shayings saturated with petroleum
and burning with fame Then by open
Ing first the steam valve OF the spray In
jector, and next the petroleum valve gently,
the very first spray Of oil coming on the
flaming waste Immediately ignites without
any explosion whatever; after which the
quantity Of fuel can be increased at pleas
the supply of petroleum can be regulated BY
observing the smoke. The general rule is to
allow transparent light smoke to escape,
thus showing that neither too much air Is
being admitted nor too little. The combus-
tion is quite under the control Of the driver,
and the regulation can be so effected as to
prevent smoke altogether. While running,
II Is indispensable that the fireman and dri-
yer should act together. the latter having at
MS sue Ol tne engine the iOur ndnQles LOT
regulating the fire, namely the steam wheel
and the petroleum wheel for the spray in
jector, and the two ash-pan door handles In
which there are notches for regulating the
air admission. Each alteration in the posi-
tion Of the reversing lever or screw, as well
as In the degree of opening OF the steam reg
ulator or the blast pipe requires cores
ponding alteration OF the fire. Generally
the driver passes the word when he intends
shutting of steam, so that the alteration in
the firing can be effected before the steam is
actually shut off; and in this way the regn-
lation OF the fire and that of the steam are
virtually done together. All this care is
necessary to prevent smoke, which Is moth
ing less than waste OF fuel. When, for in
stance, the train arrives at the top of bank,
which 1t has to go down with the brakes on,
exactly at the moment OF the driver shut
ting off the steam and shifting
the reversing lever into full forward
gear, the petroleum and steam are shut of
from the spray injector; the ash pan doors
are closed. and If the incline be long one,
the revolving iron damper over the chimney
top is moved into position, closing the chin
ney, though not Theoretically. The accumu-
lated heat S thereby retained In the fire bex
and the steam even rises in pressure from
the action Of the accumulated heat alone.
As soon as the train reaches the bottom OF
the incline and steam Is again required, the
first thing done is TO uncover the chimney
top then the steam is turned on to the spray
injector, and next small quantity Of petro-
leum is admitted, but. without. opening the
ash pan DOORS small fire being rendered
possible by the entrance OF air around the
spray injector. swell as By possible leakage
past the ash pan doors. The sray immedi-
ately coming In contact with the hot cham
Der ignites without any audible explosion
and the ash pan doors are finally opened.
when considerable power is required, OF
when the air otherwise admitted Is not suf-
fcient to support. complete combustion.
By looking at the fire through the
night whether the fire is white or
dusky; in fact, with altogether inexperi-
enced men II was found that after a few
trips they could become quite expert in fir
ing with petroleum. The better men con.
trive to burn less fuel than others, simply by
greater care in attending to all the points es-
sential to success. At present seventy-two
locomotives are running with petroleum
firing: ten of them are passenger engines,
seventeen are eight-wheel coupled wood
engines. and forty,hve are six-wheel
coupled. As might be expected, several
points have arisen which must be dealt with
In order to insure success. For instance, the
distance ring between the plates around the
firing door is apt to leak, in consequence Of
the intense heat driving against 1t, and the
absence OF water circulation; II is therefore
either protected by having the brick arch
built up against 1t, or better still, II is taken
out altogether when the engines are in for
repairs, and fiange joint is substituted,
similar 10 what is now used in the engines
Of the London and Northwestern Railway.
This arrangement gives better results, and
occasions no trouble whatever.
Storage OF Petroleum-The length Of line
now worked with petroleum is from Tsarit.
sin TO Burnack, 291 miles. There is main
iron reservoir for petroleum at each Of the
four engine sheds, namely at Tsaritsin
Archeda, Filonoff and Borisoglebsk. Each
reservoir is &c feet internal diameter and Z!
feet high. and when full holds about 2o5d
tons. the method Of charging the reservoir,
which stands good way from the line, and
Is situated at a convenient distance from all
dwelling houses and buildings, is as follows
On siding specially prepared for the pur
pose are placed ten cistern cars full OF oil
the capacity Of each being about ten tons
From each of these cars connection Ii
made by flexible India rubber pipe to one
OF ten stand pipes which project loot above
the gound line. Parallel with the rails Is
laid a main pipe, with which the ten stand
pipes are all connected, thus forming one
general suction main. About the middle Of
Of the main, which is laid underground
and covered with sawdust or other non-con
Quoting material. is hxed a Blake steam
pump. As soon as all the ten connections
are made with the cistern cars, the pump 1,
set to work, and in about one hour the
whole Of the cars are discharged into the
main reservoir, the time depending Of
course upon the capacity Of the pump. All
the pl pee useQ are OF mdllehDie iron, lap
welded, and OF in. internal diameter, hav
| ing screwed coupling muffs for making the
connections, Al each engine shed, In addi
| ton to the main storage reservoir, there Is .
smaller distributing tank, which is erected
at a sufficient height to supply the tenders
and very much resembling the ordinary
water tanks. These distributing tanks are
circular, about 81 feet diameter and 6 fee
high, and OF u inch plates; their inside
mean area Is calculated exactly, and scale
graduated in inches stands In the mid
die OF the tank; glass with scals
Is used outside in summer time. Each
Inch in height on the scale II
converted into cubic feet, and then by mean
OF table is converted into Russian poods
according to the specific gravity at variou
temperatures. As II would be superfuou
to graduate the table for each separate de
gree Of temperature, the columns In thu
table show the weight for every eight de
grees Reaumur, which is quite sufficient
namely: From "a deg. to IL deg, from II
Deg. TO deg, and so on, down to-24 deg.
the equivalent Fahrenheit range being from
81 degrees down top deg. Suppose th,
Milling OF a tender tank draws off a height o
"a inches from the distributing tank, at
temperature OF say 20 deg. r., these figure
are shown by the table to correspond witt
2Oc-jl pools--7245 h., or 3.23 tons. OF petrole
um. This arrangement does very well Il
practice; both the quantity and the tempera
ture are entered on the drivar,a q, Al ktfi !,