Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-10-04
VALUE OF OIL FOR SHIPS
Advantages of the Liquid Fuel
Over Coal.
NOT so MANY F1RBMEN NEEDED.
Greater Mileage Per Ton of Fuel and
More Celebrity In Raising Steam.
How the Cargo Space Is Saved.
Successful Tests In the Navy.

How the Cargo Space Is saved.
Successful Tests In the Navy.
The equipment of one of the boilers
of the American liner Kensington,
which arrived at New York a few
days ago, with oil burning apparatus,
opens up new possibilities in ocean
travel, says the New York Commercial
Advertiser The Kensington is the
first transatlantic passenger steamship
on which the experiment with oil as
fuel has been tried,-but the use of oil
as a generating power for steam on sea
vessels dates back to 1868, when the
British steamship Retriever adopted it.
Albert BALM, director general of the
Hamburg-American line and an expert
in steamship matters, is so confident
that oil is the coming fuel for steam
vessels that he has had all the ships in
the eastern service of his company
equipped with oil burners, using Bor-
neo oil instead of Welsh coal
The British, French, German, Rus
sian and Norwegian navies are all con-
Quoting experiments with the new fuel,
and Secretary Moody has ordered that
work on the coaling stations in the
Philippines and Hawaii be discontin-
ued until the tests now being conduct
ed under the supervision of Rear Ad-
miral Melville shall have been con-
Guided.
An appropriation of $4,000 has been
made for the conduct of these tests, and
so far the results attained are very sat
isfactory. The report of Lieutenant w.
p. Wenchell of the United States cruiS-
er Boston, whom the navy department
detailed to accompany the Mariposa on
its trial trip from San Francisco to
Tahiti, showed that with oil as fuel the
Mariposa had been able to gain n whole
day ON the trip and that its compile
ment of men had been reduced from
eighty-one to fifty-five.
The torpedo boat No. of the Maine
during oil trials conducted by Chief
Engineer II. S. Ross of the Massa-
chusetts developed fourteen knots speed
per hour, a gain of over half a knot per
hour over its speed with coal. The
evaporation was found to be from sew
enteen to twenty pounds of water at
various pressures to one pound of oil,
or more than double that of the best
coal with the same boiler.
The trip of the British tramp steam
ship Clam in January of this year af
fords an idea of the economy of oil as
fuel From Philadelphia to Gravesend
only $50 tons of oil were consumed.
The 1000 ton steamship Tanglin, char
tered by the German antarctic expedi-
ton, only consumed $50 tons of oil in
the $500 mile trip from Singapore to
Sydney. 1t took exactly forty-five min
Ill Ill Cow.
the voyage into the ships bunkers.
The oil was paid for at the rate of 30
shillings a ton, and yet the saving per
day as against coal was over 81 per
cent. The differences in freight that
the ship might have earned was rep
resented by the differences between
thirteen tons oil and twenty tons coal,
dead weight, of daily consumption.
The saving in firemen was as one to
five
The advantages derived from the use
of oil as fuel on the fast Atlantic liners
would be many. For instance, the
space used on La Lorraine for coal is
approximately III 900 cubic feet. The
same amount of fuel in oil would only
occupy $780, cubic feet, leaving A.
500 cubic feet to be applied to cargo.
If, instead of carrying the oil in bunk
ers, it were to be carried next the skin
of the ships or in the water ballast
tanks, 100000 cubic feet more of space
would be saved. Nor in the matter of
saving cargo space would this be all,
as with oil there would be needed be-
low decks in the fireroom and with the
machinery only fifteen men instead of
40. The shipping quarters of these
Jos unnecessary men would yield more
cargo space, and the economy of wages
and food would mount well up into the
thousands. The following table will
give an idea of the respective merits
OF coal and OIL The price of oil is
given at So a ton, figure which is not
at all improbable, in view of the re-
cent Texas discoveries and the 1,500,-
600 barrels a day output of the Beau
mont wells. Coal is estimated at "a
ton, although it more frequently sells
for s. or even Sc and is at present even
above this last quoted price.
Speed in knots. 15.15 1850 1910 1000
Oil consumption,
tons .......... 1850 275O $500 800
Cost oil So. $50 1850 1920 81, 400
Cost coal ..,-..-... 9.4OO 1900 1880 10000
Space occupied oil
(cubic feeD ....s24. 900 4, 800 81, 600 129, 200
Space occupied coal
(cubic feet) $1,000 $3.50 los. 900 171.000
For warships there would be the adj
vantage of celebrity in raising steam.
The tests conducted by the crews of
the torpedo boats Rodgers and Swim
show that the time taken to raise
eiohfv-fiva mounds of Steam with oil
was fifty-nine minutes, as against one
hour and seventeen minutes with coal.
Rear Admiral Melville in his prelim-
mary report shows that one-third more
steam can be had with oil than with
coal. Quicl1ness in provisioning with
fuel would also recommend the use of
oil, since 300 tons of it can be pumped
aboard in an hour. Other advantages