The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-07-05
Liquid Fuel.

naval vessels is to be tested on the
torpedo boat Talbot, which will come
from Norfolk to New York, where
year will be spent in conducting prac-
tical trials with different inventions
for using petroleum as fuel. 1t is
easy to see that if petroleum may be
satisfactorily employed as fuel its use
on torpedo boats will be especially ad-
vantageous. It is particularly desira-
bic on torpedo boats that their prox
{ unity should not be revealed by the
sight or the smell of smoke When
combustion is perfect on vessels or
locomotive engines using petroleum
fuel there is not trace Of smoke. 1t
would also be great advantage to
cruisers or other war vessels that are
shadowing hostile feet to employ
fuel that would not betray their pres
ence, for smoke gives ample warning
before the vessels from which it issues
come into view. The great advanta-
ges asserted for liquid fuel are the
absence Of smoke and the large econo-
my effected in the storage of oil as
compared with coal, and these adsan-
tages are most desirable on warships.
1t has been found that much longer
duration Of supply may be obtained
from given space slowed with petro-
leum than from the same space slowed
with coal, and also that ton of oil
will. do as much work as two and a
half tons of coal. There seems to be
no doubt Of the superiority Of petro-
leum over coal as motive power for
engines, provided that it may be ap-
piled adequately and without waste Of
its utility.
There is nothing new about the use
Of liquid fuel on locomotives. This
fuel has long driven the trains on the
Trans-Caspian Railroad, and it is also
in use on the Trans-Siberian. Oil
burning locomotives are in common
use in southern California, and they
are fed from the petroleum deposits
that are worked at Los Angeles.
Some of the locomotives on the rail
road from Bcira, east Africa, to Sails
bury, Mashonaland, which was COM
pleted only few weeks ago, use oil
fuel. All trains passing through the
Arlbueg tunnel in the Alps, six miles
long and connecting the Swiss and
| Austrian Railroad systems, now avoid
smoke by using petroleum. 1t is also
used to some extent on the under
ground service in London, on the
Paris suburban trains and most Of the
express trains of the Great Eastern
Railroad Of England, in spite Of the
fact that it is more expensive than
coal. 1t has been introduced also
with success in some Lancashire mills.
Sir Marcus Samuel, who is said to
be still the only exporter of oilin bulk
through the Suez canal, has the great
est confidence in the future of liuuid
fuel, and believes that it will not only
come into common use on locomotives
and steamers, but also that it will be
employed for fuel in smelters, as the
intense heat that it is capable Of gen
Grating reduces the most stubborn
ores. In paper which he read re-
Gently before the society of arts. he
said that locomotive burning oil will
maintain the same head of steam up
the Steepest gradients, but the same
feat cannot be accomplished with coal,
where the mere firing Of che boiler
with fuel serves to damp the furnace.
The Investigations to be carried out
here and those that are in progress
abroad are not for the purpose of as
certainiug the value Of liquid fuel, for
that has been demonstrated, but to
test the utility of the various inven
tions for applying it. There are a
number of these inventions and
methods. Sir Marcus said in his
paper: "a vast field is open for the
ingenuity Of engineers in devising
other methods for the utilization Of
oil. In fact, almost daily discoveries
arc being made Of means by which
liquid fuel may be utilized to greater
advantage than any yet discovered,
and it would surprise me very much
if, with practice, the methods en-
ployed do not continually improve. y
Turning from the subject Of liquid
fuel, it is interesting to refer to the
facts mentioned by Sir Marcus, show
ing the prejudice that formerly exist
ed against the transportation of oil in
bulk. due largely to the common belief
that it was very dangerous business.
A part of the opposition, however was