The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-26
GAS DRIVING OUT STEAM.
A CHANGE THAI ~INOREAsEs THD
OIL OPERATORS PROFITS.

Oil OGEhA IOh'S
the DecreasinE Pressure or Natural aas--
Economy OF the Ges neutrality-suspicious.
ut tho Standards Pump misunderstanding
or tho steam Engine In the OIL RcEions.
BOLIVAR, N. Y, Dec. 25.-Tho steam engine
Is being replaced by the gas engine in pumping
oil wells. and the change will mean q saving Of
thousands of dollars every month to oil OPP
orators. In oil the old oil fields that embrace
the 4oo.milo stretch from Nile, N. Y. to West
Union, w. Va, the gas pressure has been
decreasing steadily, and on hundreds OF
leases it has been necessary either to burn
crude oil or to buy coal and wood, all three en-
pensive and requiring more labor than when
natural gas Is the fuel that generates tho steam
For instance, ho!e in Allegany county there
are 1000 oil wells producing on an average ono
half barrel each a day. II 10 safe to say that
moro thnn t~o-thirds OF tho leases do not pro-
duce gas enough to supply the steam boilers
with fuel. The yield Of tho wells IL 30 small
that the question OF fuel is an important one.
And the same condition prevails all over the
old fields Of Pennsylvania. Then tho question
of water for tho boilers is an important one
as a supply is often difficult to obtain.
In these respects tho gas engine has adj
vantages over the steam engine. Tho amount
of gas consumed by u gas engine varies from
eleven to fifteen feet an hour per horse
power. making the cost for a ten hours run
of a tcn-horse power engine from IL to 10
cents at 10 cents per thousand feet, or from
% to so cents at 20 cents per thousand feet,
the price varying between the figures named
in different localities. AS it usually requires
only from one to three hours to pump on .
string Of old wells. the expense for fuel Is re-
duced to almost nothing compared to the
cost Of crude oil, coal, or wood. On one lease
near Bolivar consisting of eleven old wells
there was not gas enough produced by all the
wells to fire a boiler. After a gas engine had
been set up ii, was found that tho gas from only
one of the wells was required TO run the engine
that pumps off the eleven.
During the past year moro than 800 gas en-
gines have been placed on oil leases and are do
fifteen to fifty horse power. and cost about the
same as a boiler and engine Of equal power.
EVERY big gut machine 1sa cDg shop in nh the m oil regions .Son y
themselves are also using the gas engine TO
drive their own machinery. A machine shop
cents u day by using u gas engine In place OK
steam. After a six months actual test By
metre 1t has been demonstrated at Bradford
that a twenty.horse power engine con DO run ten
hours, doing actual twenty.horsc power work, at
| costs 10 cents per thousand feet in that city. The
presses in nearly oil the oil region newspaper
a Cylinder press and two Job presses are run 81
a gas engine at an expense or 90 cents 9
IN ri c tqy Is iishted if By i a dSsan Snl ran PSS BY S gag
engine. fhe sam engine also runs the ele-
yator in the building, and the total expense Tor
gas is less than So a month.
During the past year twenty Of the Standard
OIL Companv,,s pipe line pump stations have
new stations and In the old ones where new
machinery is to replace the old, tho gas engine
superintendent, after careful figuring, informed
the writer that oil can be forced through the
p tseeet hh the W EXPENSE sms OF Of the Insi steam IN ' essine' With
either coal or gas for ish fIel. U less machinery nsanI.S 10
rnnnnt ha Ind ma ia tho case with soma Of the
pumping stations. and whore coal was formerly
used, the gas enRines are supplied with gaso-
slight increase in cost over natural gas;
or course the oil operator. who has plenty OF
aside his steam plant for a gas engine, for gas
Engines are expensive. but the man who has gas
tion spare e IS w sfssG ot Ras sf IN al The n o. oil ' field ssi hss
been sinful and gradually the pressure has do
the gas has gone for good; 1t j. h IKE the e, pine M
Few OIL men believe that the gas engine win
ever take the place of tho steam engine foe
ments have been made. Mexican county
machinist is now at work on a gas engine that
AND viii shP' Be Pes saa s. O0f This sn IS the 1l enc ons insp eSss
the oil region contractor is waiting for, and II
the engine business: In the deep.well territory
where the oil man was sure that the gas engine
pectations Of its friends. In one instance. in
The lower oil country a man with a lease of Eve
wells was using three cords Of wood a day for
fuel and employed two men on his lease. When
he planted q gas engine on the lease he dis
charged both men. Now he sets the engine
going. comes around to SEQ it occasionally un.
I'll tho wells arc pumped off and then shuts ~
down until the next morning, There is no wood
to handle, no steam gauge to watch or injector
to look after and he needs no helpers.
at one OF tho pumps stations near Bolivar the
Standard Oil Company is experimenting. with
one OF the oldest engines ye, seen in the oil
country. 1t is a gas engine that uses gasoline
instead of gas. and generates its own gasoline.
Crude oil Is run into the water jacket to cool
the cylinder instead Of water. The oil 10
heated by the hot cylinder and runs off into a
retort,, where the gasoline. vapor aeparates fro..
the other elements of the crude oil, condolences
and Is returned to be exploded IN the cylinder
of the engine. The expense OF running this en-:
ginc averages IA cents "a day. Tho Standard
officials are so well pleased with it that they
are having more engines built like 1t.
Gas engines require little attention. In tho
face of a steadily decreasing gus pressure from
the wells the gas engine is proving n blessing
to the oil man. for It keeps down the expense ao-
count and swells the profits. 1t marks the boz
ginning Of the end OF the steam engine in the
oil country, as the first trolley cars marked the
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