The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-07-22

| are constantly making study of power-plant economies are all answer ing in the affirmative.
 The gas-engine. the toy of yesterday. has come into the industrial horizon as the giant of today. and already it Is rapidly crowding the steam engine back to the junk pile.
 So marvellous has been the develop ment of this power producer that the old title, "gas-engine." has become ut terly inadequate and has almost dis appeared. Now the United States, and In fact the whole world. is confronted with the internal al-combustion motor"
 In hundreds of big manufacturing establishments the steam boiler and the steam engine are being oslerized and replaced by producer gas plants with their accompanying internal cont bustion engines.
 And there is a reason for it. in fact. several.
 The internal combustion engine has demonstrated It's ability to produce from two to nearly three times as much power with a given amount of coal as the steam engine. Not only this, but 1t has proved that the very poorest coais In the gas producer generate twice the power that the same coal does in the steam plant Still further, 1t has gen erated power from lfgnite (the lowest LOTHl Ol CodlJ WHCtc tHc IT iShitV AieSS fused to do any work under the steam boiler.
 This will eventually mean saving of millions of dollars year to me manufacturers of this country. Vari- ous estimates place the saving in the country's coal bill at from $l00.OOO,0O0 to $200.000,000
 The peoples coal bill in 1905 was e1 800, ,0O0, 900. One-third of this, or Nh00 000 OO0 if is estimated went Tor coal to produce power. Thus 1t will be seen how important this newest fac tor will become to those who buy coal for the purpose of making steam In these days of gigantic industrial endeavor. with the great nations or the earth struggling for supremacy in the wold's marts, the prizes will go 10 those countries that can manufacture | the most economically. Realizing this, | the manufacturers of the United States l are taking an intense interest In the | work now being done by Government | experts in solving the problem or the | best utilization of the fuel resources o! | the country A better utilization or I fuel means more economy in the pro- | duction of goods and more economy 1 means larger opportunity Tor the | Yankee manufacturer in the trade or l the world.
 The technological branch of :he United States Geological Survey has | been engaged for several years testing | coals for the use of the Government | and in these tests the possibilities or | the gas-engine or internal-combustlon | engine have been developed to sucn marked degree that the entire coh- | mercial world Is taking notice. For three years the Government fx- merits labored at the fuel-testing plant | at St Louis, Mo- with wonderful re- | suits. The plant so far as fuel-test- | Ing Is concerned has been moved to Norfolk, Va. where the tests are beins continued.
 The experts at the beginning founo 1 they had most difficult problem on l their hands. They found that the l losses in the utilization of fuel for the | development of power, heat and nght were SO great that in a ton Of coal con- sumed in an ordinary manufacturing
 plant, less than per cent of the total
 energy was available for the actual
 work of manufacturing. They also | found that in ordinary locomotives
 only 3 to 6 per cent of the fuel energy is obtained for pulling the train. This | Is about the same as if house wiIe | took a barrel of flour and succeeded
 in getting but one small biscuit as
 the entire result.
 In the hope of stopping this tremen-
 dous waste which is going on. the 'iov- ernment experts have been experiment.
 ing for some time. A method of com
 bustion which, 1t is believed. will elim- | mate this waste, has been found in
 the gas producer and the internal
 combustion engine
 Gas engines and gas producers have ! been in operation in the United states
 for many years. but the development
 was slow and unfmportant until the | government experts proved by tests | that soft coal and even hgn1te ana
 peat coud be utilized in the producer | Prior to the year 1904. no one in this
 country had succeeded in using soft
 coal and Ignite in this way. and with
 the big prices for anthracite there was
 but little economy in the gas engine
 For many years the natural fuel ol
 these internal combustion engines was
 city gas, but even this was too expen'
 sive except for engines of small capac
 ity. It was seldom found feasible tf
 operate engines of more than seventy
 five horse power on this fuel.
 The theoretical possibilities of tn
 Internal combustion engine operated
 upon cheap fuel promised so much Una
 the practical difficulties were sooi
 overcome, with the result that the in
 ternal combustion engine at once be
 came serious rival Of the steam en
 zine. The development of the gas en
 zine in point of size has been exceed
 ingly rapid. It was only few year
 ago that a 500 horse power engine eX
 hibited at the Paris Exposition was re
 earded as wonder, but today four cycle twin tandem, double acting ga
 engines run as high as 5000 hors f power.
 Robert Heywood Fernald. Professo { of Mechanical Engineering. washing Q ton University, St. Louis Mo-, ana en d giueer in charge of producer gas test q of the United States Geological Surve z Fuel-Testing Plant. sees immense pos n sibilities in this new mode or powe Q production. In speaking of the result e of the investigations he paints ros y nicture for the future. not only in tn e cheapening of production put aiso
 the abatement of the smoke nulsanc . throughout the United States, Tor tn Q Iroducer makes no smoke in its gen , eration of power
 d "rhe value of the results of thes l investigations is of course not nmte to the coal producing section ot th f country" says Professor Fernald. pu a 4x+ends through every state and Ter |? ritorv where coal or other mineral fu' { is used as a source of power. mus l 0 the New England States no coal
 mined but in the year l9o2, the steal
 mower produced through the consumT
 tIon of coal and used for manufactui
 ing nurposes in these States cost ar n nroximatelv s5O,OOO.000, The develop 2 rncnt of this power through the mor h eaicient method suggested by these ir 2 &stipations would mean saving | tba manufacturers in these states
 sI3 100 GOO 10 s2O.OO0 900 per annum. 4 Again, the total consumption of coz