The morning call., 1892-01-01
TO SUPERSEDE STEAM
The New Motive Power Disc0y.
cred by an Eastern Engineer
Ely It's Use the Atlantic Voyage May Be Made
in Four Days Ammonia Gas SUGGEST
fully Applied to Steam Engines.

The engines on the iugboat Edwin Hart
ley of New York are Of type calculated to
Interest engineers greatly, and, in fact, to
arouse the curiosity of all people interested
in the development of new ideas.
They are much like the ordinary engines
In tusboatS and are adapted from the
original compound engines used in the tug
boat. But they give the same sreed to the
boat that they used to give when steam
was used, and are run with exactly one
half the amount of coal oil the old system re-
quired. The saving comes from the use OF
ammonia gas, in the place of steam, as the
source ofthe power The gas passes through
the same cylinders that the steam was
used IN. 1t is known that the steam
engine is very uneconomical, but compare
lively few people know that the amount of
work used Is hardly more than one-tenth
the total energy in the coal. BY far the
greatest part of this great waste occurs in
what Is known as the condenser. where the
steam that has been used is converted into
water. This loss is only increased when
the steam blows off into the air, for then the
whole of the heat is lost; that Is TO say, all
the heat in the steam being of a certain
value, say 1850 units, only about 125 are
uled in the best modern Steam-engineS The
loss in the condenser is caused by the abS0-
lutte loss of the heat required to turn water
heated to the boiling point to steam, or
about 1000 units.
Inventor Campbell has found that am
monia requires much less heat to vapOriZe
1t than water does. and has conceived the
idea OF using that gas In the place OF steam.
As might be expected. he encountered many
difficulties in the way of putting his idea
into practice. In the first place, ammonia
gas Itself cannot be made liquid, necessary
operation, above temperature Of 1872. TbiS
great difficulty he has avoided by using
aqua ammonia. The water easily absorbs
the ammonia gas and thus can be used.
Then ammonia water cannot be used in
boilers on account of the great corrosive
power OF the liquid. So he attaches an
eyap0rat0r TO the regular boiler and eyapor-
ateS tile ammonia by using steam from the
old boiler. All the heat OF the steam is
thus used and we have no waste there. The
ammonia gas found In this evapOrator,
which is practically the only addition made
to the machinery of a ug-b0at, goes to the
engines and does the work Instead Of the
steam. Then ii comes to some cold ammonia
water and is absorbed and passes back to
the evaporation.
AS in the use of ammonia it takes less
than 400 units to evapOrate the liquid intO
gas, waste Is shown TO be d ecreased in the
ratio Of ten to four; the ten representing
the 1000 units lost with steam and the four
the 400 units lost with ammonia. Thus the
eLClohSJ VI tAo ou6lnO 10 ihoAO 0"oh uOu-
bled.
The advantages claimed for this system
are:
/. The economy; but Gne-half the coal is
needed 10 run this type of engine that was
required TO run the steam engine. This
claim has proved TO be a good one from
actual practice on the Hartley, where only
one furnace is now III use In the old double
furnace boiler
2. The system Is easily attached TO the
present engines and requires very little ex-
pense TO fit in place.
3. The boilers last longer, as the water in
them is always pure, while the ammonia
gas, being in itself good lubricant. the
use Of oil in the cylinders is dispensed with.
This advantage would about double the life
OF the machinery.
The system is as easily cared for as the
old one and the gas does not leak out. the
ordinary glands and packing being suffi-
cient to keep it confined
II on further trial this system should
prove the great success 1t now promises to
be the new Atlantic lines will be cut of date
in two years, and a four days trip from
New York to Queenstown will soon be not
at all uncommon.
The amount of coal required to be car
ried and burned is divided by two. This
great economical advantage is enough TO
commend it to every user of an engine, and
especially to marine engineers, where each
pound Of coal carried means one pound less
of cargo to be carried.
After all this and in view of the fact that
there are no disadvantages worth mention
iuG, it seems probable that the steam engine,
pure and simple, Will soon be out of date,
and this new and great Improvement in the
line of the heat engines will be uSed.-J. h.
Robinson in Detroit Press.