The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-10-20

equally efficient at all times. whereas
wood, il it is green or wet. viii not kindle
readily. Wood is more liable to be stolen,
there is more risk Of fire when il is stored,
and as a larger number of cars are re-
quired TO transport ii, the danger of
wreCkage is greater. In the matter of
kindlng fires oil is therefore cheaper, the
appliances are simpler, more convenient.
cleaner; much time is saved in getting up
steam; wood sparks, which are very liable
to start fires, as the record in the south
ern states will verify, are not thrown
from the chimney, and the annoyance and
delay connected with the supply of wood
are avoided.
In the matter of coal, after the fire has
once been kindled. the record is also
greatly in favor Of oil. When il is taken
into consideration the many thousands of
cars of coal that are used annually by the
railroads and the transportation of the
same to different parts of the road, an
easy calculation can be made of the i'm
l mense saving that must result To make
a run of a hundred miles the large loco
motives now being used on passenger
trains viii eat up about eight tons of coal
at a rough calculation, which is about half
a car load. The immense Hog" engines
| that haul freight trains will consume
/ fully three times this much, and even af-
/ ter swallowing so much coal sometimes
/ refuse to steam up to the requirements.
/ For the same distance. in the case of a
| I passenger engine, one reservoir filled
| with oil would suffice. but one renewal of
| the reservoir would be ample. Therefore,
| in the matter of transportation we have
one car load of oil against eight car loads
| of coal and seventy-one car loads of wood.
| The oil flame is much fiercer, and in con-
! sequence, steam comes quicker.
The chief objection against using oil for
locomotive purposes is the supply. While
the supply of oil at present seems adequate
for all possible wants. still this proposed
use would consume a vast quantity. While
| it is cheap now, such a great demand
would surely increase its price and proba-
/ bly, to such an extent as to make it pro-
| hibitive. Then, again, all patents are per-
feet in the eyes of the patentee and the
general public until they are proven de-
fective and one defect, in some cases, is
enough to squelch an idea forever.
During the great coal strike last summer
the Burlington and Quincy road expert
mented with oil as a locomotive fuel in
! stead of bituminous coal, which the strike
| had made scarce and high, so scarce in
fact, that the road had to resort to the ex-
| pedient of sending the coal to different
! parts of the road under seal in express
cars, for fear a rival road would contis-
cate it on account of being in the same
| straits. The experiment proved a great
| success, both as to the efficiency and econ
omy of oil as fuel but at the very zenith
of success an explosion of the oil on a
| rapidly moving locomotive covered the
cab engineer and fireman with burning
liquid and demonstrated that new ele-
ment of peril was added to the life of an
| engineer, and, in a slightly less degree, to
the whole train.
The Pennsylvania and New York Cen
trail roads have been experimenting with
oil fuel for some time past and have
| found everything satisfactory but the
supply. 1t is estimated that the use of oil
| in all the Pennsylvania locomotives would
absorb so much of the oil produced as to
raise the price very greatly and make II
/ economically Improbable to use it, If this
is an established fact that the general use
of oil as a locomotive fuel is, of course, out
of the question.
With the rush of train robberies i'm the
west came great supply of ideas to the
patent office, all of which guaranteed "a
protect the engineers life, and, in sC.le
eXtraVagant cases, also claimed to be
able to capture the robbers. One of tn,
best OF these devices is put forward by G
railroad mechanic with an inventive turr
OF mind who has been giving his atten
ton to the safety of the men on the en-
CINE and in the mail and express car.
That form the forward part of every first
class train. This idea, which is covered by
q patent issued last spring. is from tn,
car9shops of a. great western CORPORATION
and is in the form of a tender provide
with vestibule. One of the principa
claims of the device to general acceptanc,
Is It's efficiency in keeping off train rob
bers.
The efficiency of the vestibule in pre-
venting telescoping is an idea which ha,
grown concurrently with the develop
ment of the vestibule itself. and the in
stances of accidents in which its use ha,
prevented injury, or even shock. to tn,
occupants OF the cars so protected hay,
been many. But the necessity of providin,
similar protection between the foremos
car and the locomotive tender, the mos
dangerous point in all colIisfoIM and tn,
most dangerous in the proportion of thre
TO one In collisions between passenge
rams mas up to the present time neve
received sufficient consideration IA nro
duce any practical result.
SOUTHERN MInHrcl AM I, a NM M.