New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-07-09
AMMONIA VERSUS STEAM.
PROPELLrNG VESSELS BY IT'S USE.
TRIAL TRIP OF A TUG FITTED WITH THE CAMP
prrr ENGINE coMpANY,s APPARATUS.

are lots OF new ways OF applying old lorces' A"o
Campbell Engine Company has been struggling Tor
number of years to perfect new and practca method
Of appying ammonia In the production OF power Ihey
think they've done II, and yesterday gave puohc
exhibition of the apparatus applied to tug oval
nv one Of those amusing paradoxes which crop out In
Gilbert's operetas and cooperative nomenclature .0
Campbell Engine Company doesn't make engines Ihe
novelty Of the thing Is outside OF the engine Inc
engines now In use are good enough for IT, "hat te
company proposes to do is TO furnish gas Vnat si"
run the old engine with less consumption OF Iae' ian
the most improved steam boiler requires lHa0 gus
Is ammonia gas ,o ms e
The idea Of running engine by ammonia gus
not new either In fact it's old enough 10 Vope' -
French chemist; Teller, is supposed to nave ocoh ~"
first TO suggest II. Gis0 french GoVerhmcliV SP0.
Good deal of money experimenting Win ~ ~ wv
GERMANY. But II didn't work economically. D. H.
Campbell the inventor Of the apparatus useo S0S'V'
day thinks he has developed method OF hauuli"e +'
Gas bv which former difficulties are overcome, anu
Yesterdays exhibition went far toward sups'ah''Se
his claim mt, ,u no
IT Is all a question OF condensation. Inns WIN W
rnderstood better by brief review OF the ueOrS'
80 - olooo is ueed IN drive an engine, the water
nos 10 no raised to temperature Of over 3oo oesIc
to turn Il into steam under pressure VI NV P Pc.
To the square inch. Ammonia turns iroih n4u "
a gaseous form under the same pressure Nv WV -,
perature Of go degrees. 1t would seem possuio ' 20
fore IN generate given quantity OF Ammonia vac
- an eng,ne Al 100 pounds pressure with much NSs
ovnenditnre Of heat and consequent coneuIhpuo" -
coal than IS required to generate tine ea'ne H"'y
steam. al the same pressure TO 90 the eiie WIN ,4
the trouble has been to get that Ammonia "a" o ~
LIQUID form after 1t has gone thrOug" u'o la.c +o
that Il can be used over again. Ammonia oooUo ~
,cb IN he discharged into the air and lost aer ''
usiur II can't be condensed at ordinary "'iP
t,,res and fed back into the boiler steam can " |
denscd by simply bringing it Into eohtacV WIN -,
- ,n,o a water iacketed receiver. Ammonia must W
1oloXU ler
anso IN ,iouid of its own FREQ VIII. TINS was V"0
difficulty. 49,, s,.r ,rbich
Mr. Campbeu avoids it by using the affinity "ll1 ,'
ammonia has for water. one volume OF ""'oi
absorb 700 volumes OF ammonia. The soiuVlon - |
enc ammonia which is the article known 20 coiiine
"a tbe household After the ammonia gas mas w.
rs work In driving the piston up and down III ~. ot
ipder IL is led through pipe into which o' VI a
a. shot injector fashion. This wafer ePi"s
so coming into intimate ccntact with INC s''' ~ 80
mechanical as we'll chemical soluVol ,nod az
naming portions Of thn condenser arc - r,
.rttor +o insur. complete contact ana union. i"0
eolution thus formed Is pumped back liUo 'I'' 100,
evaporated and the cycle thus coinpe'o o4aD4
.bat the ammonia solution may remain '" -,
4c+b the water for the Jet in the condenser Is "
s'ro"s' ,..n ~ tho solution already in the boiler
=. &, c,ed nv virtue of the fact that its pipe runs
Ings,de the pipe which leads from the cohuenSeI !"
the boiler. 49,, a.h .,o camnbel
The tug E. D. Hartley, fitted with tne Oa . Dt
"ppa."",' ~ ,nsroct,on party The only evidences
- ,ovo,tv IN tbe engine room were an extra s"lso
,DA q slight smell of ammonia Beio" uner0 "0'0
few feet of extra pipes and nan u'Neil -.in .hn
tho heller room was an extra boiler TOT eVapor'Ve ~
ormop,a q cylinder about eight feet long anu louI
foot in diameter There was also the usuai So.
sn tor the boat is rugged to run with either eoeah
DR. ammonia. ,. ~ .1,o thing
al don't believe there's any ammonia IN tIle l',,7,
rnuttered a sceptical visitor as he crept uo"n -
clSof
lhe stokehOe. But his behei was Ill oI
The insultod apparatus promptly blew out small ID,
,olve spured forth thin stream OF puneeht gas anu
che unbeliever climbed up on deck IN hurry "'ep
SnU tears Of repentance and coughing out vigorous
secantation of his doubts - -,
rrhe inc called along easily under nnety-fve pounds
,,-oss,re with only one furnace going, making llho
- ION knots m hour. of South Beach she pun
about and returned to the city. While the elehie
was making easy work Of IT below, Mr. 'anpDe w
r,e son were having much harder tine OF 1t ON DECK
trying to make clear the mysteries OF pnysi'S "''O
.hermodvnamics TO the unprofeSsional Visl1oIs'
awe have here an ordinary steam boiler" eau Ihe
inventor "a and We use the steam from that 10 heaV
the ammonia boiler. steam coll runs tnrousn , olo
ammonia boiler. This is more cumbersome anu ~
economical than to heat the ammonia boiler rom the
furnace direct but do it for safety IL the Iurud.
tree nlaved directly upon the ammonia boiler 1t Wouu
renuire the most careful watching TO prevent u0
ureS,urc from tho highly expansblc ammonia gas eN
1lodnc things or continually blowing of through Vho
no Ammonia
bloy around the harbOr through a safety valve bS
sro n steam heater and that's what this amounts
IN we have an equablc, cOntrOllable heat ana no
safety valve is needed the ammonia boiler inc
circuit is therefore closed from boiler to engine anu
back to the boiler and the ammonia can Oe usou o'0i
and over with little or no loss
we claim for this system, first economy OF COAL
becanse We can generate a larger volume OF ammonia
gas at given temperature and pressure than the same
snount Of coal would generate Of steam. We claim
a saving Of so per cent. An experiment with TINS
anparaus made by W. b. Reaney gave this result:
Ammonia, average horse power, S5S4 Total consump
,sor NJ coal 7Oi pounds Steam, average horse power
s136 TOTAL consumption OF COAL o5G pounds making 200
mounds coal per horse power per hour for ammonia making
34 pounds coal per power hour for steam SHOW"
ing a saving Of 81 per cent in favor OF ammonia
We can do better than that, however.
sour second claim is based on the fact that we
avoid ali deposition of sediment IN the Doilers ny
which the heating effect Of the furnaces is greatly
reduced and the boilers burned out. The steam goes
direct the boiler 70 the ammonia heaer anu tCnI
hack 10 the boiler a few tons OF distilled wafer WOuu
carry steamer across the ocean Delig us5u Ecu. CnTt
and over Then, too we nave ulscONcreu tnat an,
monia is natural lubricant steam engines require d
quantity Of oil to be injected into te cAIhuer az 1'e
XII 10 pieces This of goes through the condenser:
into the boiler and makes dt the 99 he cd da watF Is
thus kept away from the crown sheet Inc dne herce
Re crown sheet and up goes me boiler; d ' nf
course Of our experiments we once I'LL Uu o,, %
cylinder oil and discovered that the ammonia "ofH"l
Jus. Among no tlose on board were ". b., Reaney, a
na nno e Mc(iovern Of the Edison Photograph
S 81 ". Welsh. Of Philadelphia James MclAn
WTesyer "' Of "The bethlehem Times Of MSthehem
penn. ana F. Cooper Clarke: James Wmitt99n'
s 1fiIwerd as the Hartley seamhg down The
bav. He had been down TO pay professional WISH
10 the steamer Chester, which saved uhe SerVIa'