New-York tribune., 1902-06-15
OIL FUEL FOR THE NAVY
continued from first page.


only was taken into consideration. the advant-
! age has always been with oil. In most manu-
/ featuring esta blishments. we'll on board
the warships. il is necessary TO limit the boiler
installation. and thus there are times when it is
necessary TO force the furnaces to their utmost.
/ Herein has been the difficulty heretofore Of
burning oil. Either by reason Of the construc-
+ ton and design of the steam generator.
account Of the design of the oil burner it has
+ not been possible to burn large amount of oil
! in 4 boiler which has small furnace and a
/ small combustion chamber.
" The engineer in chief of the navy has never
. desuaired Of satisfactorily solving the oil fuel
; problem for naval puG poses before he retires
! from office It has been his desire have a n
/ American battIeship cross the Atlantic Ocean
/ burning only liquid fuel in her furnaces He
has always realized that by reason of the
/ United States possessing an almost inexhausti-
! BILE supply Of crude petroleum, the navy ought
! to possess a great military and strategic ad-
/ vantage if oil fuel could be adapted for naval
/ purposes. 1t is an advantage of considerable
importance TO have the oil fuel used under
natural drausht. AS the warship. however, is
/ primarily built for few hours Of battle. it is
/ under forced draught conditions that the Of
/ oil would be most advantageous. In fact, it may
be said that oil fuel is valueIess for naval pur-
/ poses unless it can be used under heavy forced
/ draught conditions
/ EXPERIMENTS OF THE NAVAL BOARD.
About year ago, through the enterprise of
| the Oil City Boiler Works Company, water
tube boiler Of the Hohenstein design turned
over. complete in all respects. to the Bureau of
Steam Engineering for experimental purposes.
The limitations of this boiler to weight, floor
! space and height were identical with the
quirements of the Denver class of cruisers-re-
quirements that are probably more severe in
t heir limit 9th 6af in
any warship of the navy. For one year a board
Of naval officers consisting of Lieutenant Com
manders John R, Edwards. W. NJ. Parks and
F. H Bailey. has been experimenting with this
boiler. Draughtsnen of the Bureau of Steam
Engineering were employed to collect data in
the various tests These tests have been under
all sorts Of practical conditions-natural
draught and forced draught of inch, two
inches and three inches Of air pressure The
best, we'll the average. quality Of coal has
been used
The coal consumption has varied from elsh- !
teen TO seventy pounds a square foot Of crate |
The detailed results Of these will eventually
be published by the Bureau Of Steam Engl- |
neerng. The experimental boiler furnished by |
the Oil City Boiler Works has been of such de- |
sign that it has been possible to make the fur |
mace volume as large as possible and this gave |
the opportunity for Admiral Melville deter !
mine whether the character OF the steam gen |
orator had anything to do with the burning Of
liquid fuel In order TO settle this question |
every test that has been made under the ex-
perimentaI boiler with coal will be duplicated |
with oil fuel
There is widespread interest in Admiral Mel |
viIles purpose TO conduct extended series |
of tests in burning liquid fuel Not only from |
Texas, but from California, offers have been !
received TO furnish the oil free Of cost Manu- |
featuring firms have offered to send their own |
experts to attach their patented oil burning ap-
pliances to the experimental boiler The Naval
Appropriation bill contains item OF $4,000 |
for this special purpose. There is also small |
unexpended balance OF a previous appropria- |
tion for liquid fuel purposes which is available.
Preparations for the oil fuel tests have been
under way for several months Two official |
trials have been conducted this week under the |
supervision Of the same board Of naval officers
who carried the coal tests. The first
under forced Graught conditions. where az air
pressure OF one inch used. All the data col
Iected in this test were checked and counter
checked. so that indsputable results We're Sc
cured. The second test also under forced |
draught conditions with an air pressure OF two |
inches, and the same care taken in the col !
lection Of the data
MORE STEAM GENERATED BY OH.
In both cases it was found that the volume of
steam generated by the oil was greater than /
that secured by the coal test Of like character |
It will be understood that in these tests no at
tempt made 10 determine the efficiency of /
the combustbe. The primary purpose TO /
evaporate large quantity Of water, or. in other
words, to secure a large volume of steam in !
dependent of the cost Under forced draught /
conditions, whether coal oil is used, ecOnomi- |
cal results cannot be expected The two Off /
cial tests that have already taken place show |
that the board of naval officers has secured a !
grea ter OUTPUT of steam with oil than was OBJ |
tained with one of the best qualities Of Poca- |
hontas coal Compared with like conditions |
when coal was used. the efficiency Of oil is 40 |
per cent greater than that of coal The expert |
nlents. however, will be conducted for a con- |
siderable period. for not only will various quail
ties of oil be used, but many forms of burners |
will be tried.
In view of the fact that there are hundreds |
of forms of burners, IL will only be possible for
the experimental board to try representative |
types Individual inventors Will be expected to |
attach their burners at their expense and |
according TO their designs to the test boiler
The manner and character of the data to be |
collected will be solely determined by the ex-
perimental board Comparative and valuable
results can only be obtained by the board hav-
ing exclusive control Of the collection Of all data
and temperatures When sufficient number OF
representative types of burners have been tested I
account In the extended series of trials ii is
proba bic that Information will be secured which !
will show that a combination of features pre-
sented by individual inventors may give the
ideal design Of a burner and furnace adequate
for naval needs. Should such substantial
suits be secured already indicated, 1t is |
the desire of Admiral Melville to have large
cruiser battleship equipped at an early day |
with liquid fuel appliances 1t is not improba-
BILE that in the manRuvres which have been |
planned to take place off Culebra Island next
December one of the warshfps or auxiliaries may
burn liquid fuel in her steam generators. It is
also the wish of the engineer in chief that the |
fuel oil experiments carried under the X
perimental boiler at Washington may be sup
plemented by liquid fuel tests under the boilers
at the Naval Academy. At the Annapolis in
stftution there is available in the first class of
cadets a body of intelligent and enthusiastic
young men, who would make excellent observers
the collection of data, and the officers on in
struction daily at that institution would be
dered to cooperate with the main experimental
board in Washington.