The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-08-29
ALCOHOL As FUEL.
Will 1t Replace Gasoline rs Soon rs
Tax Comes ON

Will 1t Replace Gasoline as Soon rs
Tax Comes Ont
With the beginning of the new year
the way will be paved for the use of
alcohol as fuel for small engines,
and. while experts do not predict
starting revolution which will sweep
the gasoline and kerosene engines in
to mechanical, limbo. they do assert
that the alcohol engine will find a
large field all its own for usefulness.
The only IF" lurking in the proposition
is what restriction the internal reven-
lie officials will place on its manu-
facture. Congress has removed the
tax on the manufacture of denatured
alcohol. which is grain alcohol. such
as is used for whiskey. but poisoned
chemically to destroy the possibilities
for use in beverages or incidentally
The restrictions as to its manufacture
have been left to the discretion of the
revenue officials and they have men
abroad now investigating its manu.
facture there. AS both France and
Germany have fostered the use of al
cohol engines and the United States
government is inclined to do the same,
1t is not thought likely that oppressive
restrictions will be made here. II
they are. would-be users of the fuel
will be as badly OF as they are now,
while there is tax on it. which is to
be removed on January 1.
alcohol engines will not displace
gasoline engines" said DR.. Charles E.
Lucke. of Columbia University. who is
experimenting with the fuel on be-
half of the United States government.
They will occupy field of their own,
and their chief value will be in isolat-
ed localities, where the high price of
gasoline, due to the expense of trans
portation. has made its 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.
1T would also have value in isolated
regions as a motive power for auto
mobiles, power boats and similar uses.
We are experimenting, first. to find the
amount of alcohol required for a given
engine. compared with the amount of
gasoline. This comparison of con-
sumption and the comparison of price
will give the man interested a basis for
determining 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
determine 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 gasoline.
but with much larger consumption.
In engines built properly for the al
cohol, the consumption should be the
same, but in gasoline engines | have
had to use three times as much al
cohol as 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
engines were held. The making of
engines designed especially for alco-
hol as fuel will probably go slowly,
only the more enthusiastic manufac-
turers building them at first.
In addition to grain, alcohol can
be made cheaply from other substan-
ces, such as corn cobs and sugar cane.
In Cuba they make large amount of
alcohol from sugar cane and molasses
and use 1t for engines. Sugar beets
obtain such 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 pur-
poses"
The Denatured alcohol act will re.
move an internal revenue tax of S2.O5
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 deter
mine the best for the process of pois-
dining. The Investigations being car
ried on regarding its manufacture as
well as its use for engines, will be
compiled late in the fall for free dis
tribution. and by the time the law goes
into effect it is expected that this
treatise on the subject will be in the
hands OF the public.