The record-union., 1896-01-24
SUBSTITUTE FOR COAL.
SoIidifed Petroleum, Which Gives an
immense Heat.
Extraordinary Advantages to ships,
Railroads and Factories-Fuel
For Army Camps.

Science now comes to the front with
a substitute for coal A French engi-
neer, Paul D'Humy, knows how to
solidify petroleum. He reduces it into
small blocks, which, when burned, give
out intense heat. These burn only on
the surface. give out no smoke or
smell. and produce but 2 or per cent.
of ashes. The process is, of course, his
own secret.
The finest grades of anthracite coal
make at least 10 per cent. of ashes.
In this respect solidified petroleum has
an immense advantage as a fuel sutti-
cient to render it far more preferable
to coal. In household use, on steamers,
on railroads and in manufacturing the
removal of ashes is an expensive item.
The new fuel is also cheaper and far
less bulky. A single ton of it, in blocks
of whatever size may be wanted, rep
resents at least thirty tons Of COAL pos
sibly nearer forty, and its cost to the
consumer, as now figured out, will be
only $5 to $40 a ton.
1t has still one other admirable quail
ity; it requires very little draught to
burn it and very little trouble to set it
ablaze A cubic inch of it will produce
a light blue flame many hundred times
larger in volume and a flame which,
with a strong draught, will travel
long distaneel The experiments al
ready made have proved that after
oxygen it supplies the greatest heat OBJ
tainable.
From this it follows that its greatest
value will be where enormous heat is
required, where there must be great
supplies of fuel and wherever every
inch of space has its value. Nowhere
are these conditions more evident than
in the cases of warships, ocean steamers
and the colossal steel factories that dot
England and the United States. Ship
designers are now greatly handicapped
by the provision they are forced to
make for the coal bunkers. Men-of-war
carry from 5000 to 5000 tons of coal.
Then, too, every war vessel must stop
frequently for coaling. This has en-
tailed enormous expense. England has
very nearly the whole surface of the
globe punctus4ted with coaling stations.
The necessity of coal has stared her in
the face at every step of her foreign
policy.
The space saved could be devoted to
extra machinery, guns, ammunition
and men, and it would at once relieve
the present cramped quarters in which
officers and others have to live on board
the ships of to-day. To the transat-
lantic greyhounds sohdifed petroleum
would also be of the greatest import
ance. A big ocean liner now uses ffom
.. 500 to 5000 tons Of coal trip.
Compressed petroleum is especially
adapted for use in the manufacture OF
STEEL for it contains no sulphur. In
England coke is generally used In the
steel furnaces. About two and a half
tons of coke are required to make
ton of steel and the cost OF this is
from So 80 to SIS. To get the same
quantity of unvarying intense heat
necessary to manufacture a ton of steel
about 500 pounds of solidified petroleum
would be necessary. This would cost
about 81 so, equal to 10 per cent. of the
present cost.
D'Humy estimates that the produc-
ton of petroleum is now more than
2. 600 times in excess of the consump-
ton. and that further supplies are
available DHumy has also made a
fuel out of coal tar and pitch. This also
is smokeless and cheap. Another de-
vice of his is disintegrated wood mixed
with SOLID petroleum. AIlOlhSI IL q OAOSA
of common oil for domestic use, fuel
that can be mixed with ashes of earth
and burned III any ordinary kitchen
range or crate. This fuel, it is under
stood, can be put on the market at
dollar a ton, a. ton being equal in burn
ing capacity to three tons of coal, which
would cost in New York $15. This, too.
is smokeless. without smell, and leaves
practically no ashes at all.
Perhaps the most interesting one of
D'I1umy's inventions is his ready ref
erence fire for soldiers on the march"
Troops in bivouac often find it hard to
gather sufficient wood for fires. D'Humy
offers them a kind of solidified petro-
leuf,l, to be cut into small cakes of an
ounce or so each. These, he says, can
be put into each soldiers knapsack.
Each little block will stand being mixed
with 600 times its volume of common
earth. and thus in few minutes inn
mense fires could be made to spring up
all over a camp with practically no
trouble at all-New York World.
rrzt. Of