Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-18

SUCH as fans, compressors, feed and Oil
pumps, and auxiliary boilers.
All connected with the work are exceed
ingly interested in the tests, since 1t is not
only instructive duty but brings consid-
cradle amusement to the members Of the
board. Quite recently one inventor main
tained that he had a burner which would
develop anything from one horsepower to
Tor spraying purposes would be exhaust
steam from few pumps. When his burner
was subjected to an official test 1t was
found that he could not develop even 600
horse power, with half dozen burners, and
That he required steam at light pressure
for atomizing the oil. Other inventors ap-
peared before the board who believed that
the calorifc value Of a pound of oil Is sew
eral times that of pound Of coal Some
of these people have no idea that there is a
chemistry of combustion, and that its laws
are as immutable as those of mathema tics
Commander Edwards Talks.
Commander Edwards of the navy, senior
member Of the liquid fuel board, Is very
much encouraged over the results of the
tests.
1T will not be the navy he said, but it
VIII ae the country at large which will be
the great beneficiary Of these experiments
1t almost seems providential that the de-
partment should have inaugurated this ex-
TENDED series of tests months ago, and even
before there was even hint that there
might be a probability of a coal famine
When the results of the liuuid fueI boa nd
are made public 1t will cause thousands of
inventors to work along proper lines, and
there Will be an impetus to the use of oil
Iuei that VIII be very surprising. 1t is more
than likely that the tests will be continued
Tor the next six months. The board is re-
celVlng valuable suggestions from outside
parties, and the leading experts throughout
the country are watching the eXperim ents
with great interest.
1T is earnestly to be hoped that ar The
next session of Congress another ST cific
appropriation for testing liquid fuel will bs
made under the auspices of the same board
That appropriation, however, should in
clude the burning of oil in small volumes
SO that its advantages and disadvantages
Tor even domestic purposes could be ascer-
tanned. The work now being done by the
board includes the manufacturing and mar
thine problem of burning liquid fuel but
the national peril that overhangs the coun-
try In the scarcity of coal makes it abso-
lutely essential that the question Of oil for
domestic uses should also be investigated
by government board of experts
While the naval board appointed to in
Vestigate the liquid fuel problem has been
cheering or mechanical features Of the
question, the Individual members have per-
sonally interested themselves in other fea-
lures Of the question.
The Financial Feature
while the question of cost may be Of
minor Importance for naval purposes since
the warship must have the best Of every
thing, irrespective of expense, the financial
feature will be of great consequence in de-
termining the development Of liquid fuel
for industrial and domestic uses. There
are several formulate by which the relative
commercial value Of oil and coal can be
determined at any point Probably the
simplest formula is the following:
2240 multiplied by price of Oil per gallon.
7.6 multiplied by LIZ
In the above formula 7.6 represents the
average weight of one pound Of crude pc
troleum, and LIZ represents the relative
heat-producing power Of oil and coal The
theoretical heat-producing power Of oil
compared with anthracite coal Is 161 to 1.
With bituminous coal 1t Is 1.37 to 1, the
mean of the two being approximately 15.
THE above formula, therefore, is found
ed upon fixed principles. and will hold at
all times and in all places. With oil at
cents gallon--and 1t cannot be delivered
in this city by the carload at that price
the equivalent of ton of coal. when oil Is
used as a fuel, will be about S. 1t may be
stated as fact that in small quantities the
cost of OIL in this city is more likely to be
double the above price. Then, again. there
are municipal regulations in regard to the
storage of Oil which will add somewhat to
the gross cost of this combustible If it is
used as a fuel.