New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-07-28
CRUDE OIL AS A FUEL.
EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED IN A PENNSYL-
vANIA IRON MILL


LESS TINE THAN WITH NATURAL GAS
Pttsburg July 81 Special. simultaneously win
Governor beavers recent visit to New-York CITY, to
ass,st On tho orranIzation OF the National Heat and
pouer Com,anv there was completed In this city a
s,ccess f,l experiment with crude petroleum as fuel
Governor Reayer's company, which Is to have capi-
tal of s 600 600 and which includes the Philahepha
and Reading Railroad Company's coal mining system
Robert H. Coleman the millionaire mine owner OF Leo
anon PENN and other capitalists, proposes 10 manu-
facture fuel gas from anthracite coal The idea was
suggested by the manner In which the standard VII
Company recently used a lot of unrehnable Lima
Ohio. oil II was sold Columbus and Chicago men.
WIN successfully used It fuel A lot Of the oil was
also sbipped to New-England, selling at so cents
barrel and competing with coal at 81 80 ton. 1t
was with the same oil that the Piusburg experiment
was conducted II utilized in the transformation
Of MIG into wrought IRON and the puddlers the oil
gave better results than natural gas. The export
mcnt was conducted at the Allegheny City mill Of
Lindsay & McCutche0n. new systom OF applying
draft added materially to the success of the expert
ment 1t Is called the down draft" In Western
cities mixture OF steam supplies oxygen and makes a
draft BY this new system the ordinary draft Is uti
lied without change but the furnace IS constructed DIFF
fcrently at the mouth and perfect combustion Of oil
is obtained every heatunit being utiliZei For two
weeks a careful comparison made between two
by flaming oil Different puddlors were assigned TO
the latter furnace they do not differ particle
in their reports. Two heats were made on the first
day. and the puddler in charge said
As between natural gas ard petroleum as fuel,
prefer the latter / turn out more iron This Is
because the natural gas enters the furnace with such
great force as to create draft Of cold air. and that
chlls the FROM The iron rolci beautifully and when
afterward tested showed degree Of toughness and
from a
by the of natural gas
On the second day puddler took charge and
he said:
with natural gas 1 averaged from one and half
to two hours to heat With oil. my slowest time was
an hour aud half. The iron made with oil fuel was
of a superior quality"
Four other puddlers were each given day at the
furnace, and they made the same reports.
The mill manager, Mr. Hamilton, said The eX-
periments were conducted the coolest furnace IN the
MILL think that crude petroleum has great future
as a fuel, where there is natural gas, or wherever
natural gas IS more costly than coal. The iron made
with on fuel stood the highest tests as to ducty and
the quantity five per cent above the amount OBJ
tained from the same charge by natural gas
fire. With some slight changes In the expert
mental furnace, 1 feel satisfied that the capacity
of mill could be increased fully one-thlrd,
that IS by the saving in time instead of two turns
Of twelve hours EACH three shifts Of men, each work
ing eight hours, could be utilized. The intense heat
OF the natural gas eliminates nearly all the cinder from
the iron It becomes brittle and is easily broken.
When molten and exposed TO the air 1t oAydizes and
suffers deterioration. The petroleum produces a soft
and moist fame which, by means of the down draft,
is concentrated on the bottom instead of on the top
of the furnace as 1t does with natural gas, burning
I'D the bricks and escaping 10 the chimney without
having been utilized for the purpose for which 1t was
Intended"
George Westinghouse, jr, has for two or three
years been experimenting with fuel gss "h'ch Is
destined 10 take the place OF natural gas should the
supply of the latter ever fail But the supply is on
the Increase and Dir. Westinghouse must for tho
present utilize his apparatus In other and less favored
portions Of America. The Philadelphia company, inc
biggest natura-ga, company in the world, ana OF
which Mr. Westinghouse IS president, has leased large
tracts OF land In the Bcevcrnon Fayette County,
recently found in abundance at every boring point
Even "phenomenalss brought In AZ The drlllers
call IT, two wells ejectng the gas with pressure OF
100 pounds to the square inch N0twthst andlng
the experiment at Lindsay d McCutrhecns nhu, ue
great majority Of the iron and steel manuiac tufcs
of Pittsburg will continue TO use natural gas as q
fuel They have made extensive arrangements 1or
| pping the new fuel, some of them, notably Jones "
taughlins OF which the Hon. b. F. o. Jones Is the
senior partner having their own pipe line 10 con-
duct the gas from their own wells in Washington
! County Natural gas is far superior TO coal. NO.
| body disputes that and the black diamond was
| retired within comparatively recent period, any
| other innovation must be adopted slowly.