Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-10-13

| the innovation sarcastic praise. They have
| become so familiar with the old appliances,
which required skill and nerve to master,
that they dislike to see this experience go
| for naught.
| Yet Developments in the past year or so
/ have almost compelled the adoption of two
new ideas Ly the railroads of the country.
| These are the substitution Of cheap fuel
for coal and wood for the locomotives and
the protection of the employees and cars
| from train robbers. Wood is becoming
| scarcer every year and the forest fires in the
| west this summer are fastening the end.
| Coal has always been expensive. The month
| of October has already furnished the de-
| tails of a successful "hold-up'' down in
| Arizona, the blind baggage car, or, more
| properly speaking, the car platform next
| to the locomotive tender, again being the
vantage spot for the robbers. The locomo-
| tive engineer must always be controlled
before train robbery can be successfully
| attempted, and this cannot be done from
| the ground or any other place so well as
! from the front of blind baggage car
1t is now proposed to use oil in locomo-
| tiyes and to protect the engineer and fire
man from robbers by doing away with the
blind baggage platform and substituting
sort of combination tender and baggage
car.
The mode of making steam for railroad
| locomotives through an oil instead of coal
fire is accomplished by placing a steam
radiator, the coils of which should be per-
forated, at the base of the fire box and the
feeding of the same with oil. This descrp-
ton, although crude really covers the
ground minus technical terms.
How Oil Is Utilized.
or course there are a hundred and one
patents involving the idea of running a
locomotive with steam made from an oil
Gra hut
on the plan of utilizing the present fire
box for the flames and the locomotive ten
der as the reservoir.
One of these oil burners that seems to
be very practicable and simple was pat
ented In 1886 by Washington boy and
has been experimental with by many of
the western railroads with considerable
success. A coll of pipes resting on the
crate at the base of the fire box Is per-
forated on the order of a gasoline burner
FROM this coil there runs a pipe back to
the tank, the space formerly used for car
rying coal being utilized an Oil reservoir.
Another pipe runs up to the top of the
boiler to the steam chest and there catches
the combustion by being mixed with the
original flame through a fine spray and
also to produce forced draught.
Leading from the pipes are three reds
are within easy reaching distance Of the
engineer One of these rods controls the
now or Oil from the reservoir to the burner.
Another regulates the flame and the third
rod the draught on the same The heat Is
so intense at times that the pipes that
supply the oil would be melted inside an
hours time, but to guard against this thew
are packed in asbestos, leaving only the
top surface exposed, which is also in turn
protected by the first flame, which is many
degrees less intense than the flame result
Ing from the spray of steam and waste Oil
In the side of the fire box a peep-hcIe or
tube Is provided which enables the engineer
TO see the exact status of bis fire and to
increase or modify the same as the ne
cessity arises.
AS to the advantages of oil-burning To-
comotives on our railroads, IL is stated that
they are many. Contemplate, for Instance,
a hundred-mile ride free from the pesky
cinder. That would be the CHEF comfort
| derived by the travelling public.
Cheaper Than Coal or Wood
For the railroad corporations, it is claim
ed. there Is a great saving as between the
oil and coal and wood. 1t has been shown
that to kindle fire only one and one-half
gallons of oil is required to do what takes
one-eighth of cord of wood. One car load of
oil, equaling 5000 gallons. will kindle as
many fires as seventy-one car loads of
wood. equaling 800 cords. The difference in
| the cost of transporting handling, saving
and storing the wood and Oil is saved by
the use of the latter. Less space is occu-
pied by the appliances and the material for
4
wood. Oil Is always equally efficient at
| all times, whereas wood, II II Is green or
wet. will not kindle readily. Wood is more
| liable to be stolen. there is more risk of
| fire when 1t is stored. and as a larger number
| of cars are required to transport 1t, the
danger of wreckage is greater. In the
| matter of kndling 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 southern states will verify, are not
thrown from the chimney. and the annoy
| ance 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 great
| ly in favor of oil When II is taken into
| consideration the many thousands of cars
| OF coal that are used annually by the rail-
| road and the transportation of the same to
| different parts Of the road, an easy cal
| culation can be made Of the immense saw
| ing that must result. To make a run of a
| hundred miles the large locomotives now
being used on passenger trains will eat up
| about eight tons of coal, at a rough calcu-
| latlon which is about half a car load The
| immense Hog" engines that haul freight
| trains Will consume fully three times this
| much and even after Swallowing SO much
| coal sometimes refuse to steam up to the
| requirements. For the same distance in
| the case of a passenger engine one reser-
! voir filled with oil would suffice and in the
| freight-haulng service 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 conse-
Quence steam comes quicker
Some Practical Objections.
The chief obj .ction 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 n vast quantity. While
| 1t is cheap now, such a great demand
| would surely increase Its price and prob
| ably 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 experiment.
| ed with oil locomotive fuel instead of
| bituminous coal, which the strike had made
| scarce and high, so scarce. I'm fact that
| the road had to resort to the expedient of
| sending the coal to different parts of the
| road under seal in express cars, for fear a
rival road would confiscate 1t on account of
being in the same straits. The experiment
| proved a great success, both as to the ef-
| hciency and economy Of oil as fuel but at
| the zenith of SUCCESS an exnlosia,, ~