Bridgeton pioneer., 1906-09-27
ALC0H0L'S new FIELD
Its Use as a Fuel When Tax
Is Removed.
EXPERIMENTS BY GOVERNMENT

Engines Using 1t VIII Not DispIace
Gasoline Engines, Says Professor
Lucke of Columbia University-Their cir
Chief Value wi1i BE In Isolated Re-
giOns-Mnnufacture of AIcohoI.
With the beginning of the new wear
the way will be paved for the use OF
alcohol as fuel for small engines. and
while experts do not predict a startling
revolution which will sweep the gaso-
line and kerosene engines into mechan-
ical limbo, they do assert that the al.
cohol engine will find a large field all
its own for usefulness. The only eff
lurking in the proposition is what re-
striction the internal revenue officials
will place on its manufacture, saws the
New York Tribune. Congress has re-
moved the tax on the manufacture of
denatured alcohol, which is grain al
cohol, such as is used for whisky, but
poisoned chemically to destroy the pos.
sibilities for use in beverages or medi.
cinally. The restrictions as to its man
ufacture have been left to the discre.
ton of the revenue officials, and they
have men abroad now investigating its
manufacture there. AS both France
and Germany have fostered the use of
alcohol engines and the United States
government Is inclined to do the same,
1t Is not thought likely that oppressive
restrictions will be made here. If they
are, would be users Of the fuel will be
as badly off as they are now, while
there Is tax on It, which Is to be re-
moved on Jan. l.
alcohol engines will not displace
gasoline engines" said DR.. Charles E.
Lucke of Columbia university, who is
experimenting with the fuel on behalf
of the United States government
''They will occupy field of their own,
and their chief value will be III isolat-
ed localities, where the high price of
gasoline, due to the expense of trans.
portation, has made it's cost prohibi-
tive.
''In the irrigated districts, for in
stance, the rancher can pump his wa
ter by an alcohol engine, making the
fuel from grain on his own place, thus
making corn grow more corn.
at would also have value in isolated
regions as motive power for auto
mobiles, power boats and similar uses.
We are experimenting, first, to find the
amount of alcohol required for given
engine compared with the amount Of
gasoline. This comparison of consump-
tho ri, of will
give the man interested basis for de-
termining whether or not he should
buy an alcohol engine. The price Of
gasoline is different in different parts
Of the country owing to the cost of
transportation. Secondly, we are to de-
termine whether there is any more
trouble in handling alcohol as a fuel
than in handling gasoline. l have OBJ
tanned as high as 10 per cent more
power with alcohol than with gaso-
line, but with much larger consump-
ton. In engines built properly for
the alcohol the consumption should be
the same, but in gasoline engines
have had to use three times as much
alcohol as l would gasoline. We are
also making abstracts of work already
done in regard to alcohol engines At
the Paris exposition of 1900, for in
stance, prize competitions for these en-
gines were held. The making of en-
gines designed especially for alcohol
as fuel will probably go slowly, only
the more enthusiastic manufacturers
building them at first.
.'In addition to grain, alcohol can be
made cheaply from other substances,
such as corncobs and sugar cane. In
Cuba they make a large amount of al
cohol from sugar cane and molasses
and use it for engines. Sugar beets
obtain such a good price on the market
for sugar purposes that hardly think
they will be used. while potatoes con-
tain such high percentage of water
that they do not commend themselves
for the purpose Officials of the bureau
of forestry are Investigating the value
of wood alcohol for fuel purposes"
The denature1 alcohol act will re-
move an internal revenue tax of S2.O5
a gallon on alcohol of this nature, which
will bring it in price within range of
competition with gasoline. Just what
it will cost to make it has not been
determined. Some eleven chemicals
are being tested to determine the best
for the process of poisoning The in.
vestigations being carried on regarding
its manufacture as well as its use fol
engines will be compiled late In tb>
fall for free distribution, and by the
time the law goes into effect it Is ex
pected that this treatise on the subjec,
Will be in the hands of the public.
A Toothpiclx Town.
Only one characteristic distinguishes
the little village of Strong, Me-, from
the thousands of others that are scat
tered all over New England. That il
the peculiar industry which serves tt