Connecticut western news., 1907-03-21
ALCOHOL GOOD FUEL
Government Expert. Says Gaso-
 lines Days Are Numbered.
LARGE INCREASE OF POWER,

Tests Seem to Show That the Use of
 the Untaxed Denatured Product Un-
 der the New Law Will Revolutionize
 the Running of Engines.
 The day of the smell in automobil- ing Is past. According to the report of Dr. Charles E. Lucke, assistant pro lessor of mechanical engineering at Columbia university, who has been conducting for the United States gov ernment series of tests On alcohol as Il fuel for gas engines, 20 per cent increase of power may be attain ed by the use of alcohol, says the New York Tribune. pr. Lucke believes that alcohol, on account of ;ts greater safe ty and its adaptability to the work, is likely to surplant gasoline as fuel for boats immediately, while in the case of automobiles those who are willing to pay a little more may rid themselves forever of the offensive odor of gaso- line, at the same time having a fuel that Is much easier to handle, safer to store and which will give an equal speed.
 Dr. Lucke predicts that in time, as kerosene and its distillates become scarcer and dearer by reason of the exhaustion of natural deposits, alcohol may entirely supplant the kerosene and gasoline engines
 The results of Dr. Lucke's expert ments are made public in bulletin No. PIT. just issued by the department of agriculture. which gives also the re- suits of experiments conducted by s. NJ. Woodward. United States irrigation engineer, whose results coincide with those reached by the Columbia pro lessor. The report first takes up the comparative cost of energy In different fuels. It is found that gasoline selling for a minimum price of 10 cents gal lon will give l, 200 ,000 British thermal units a dollar expended. while, esti- mating the cost of alcohol at 30 cents a gallon, 1t will give 270.00O heat units dollar. pr. Lucke has made known his results on the assumption that al- cohol fuel has the same thermal eff ciency as gasoline-that is. 19 per cent for fair working conditions. Dr. Lucke then finds that for each horsepower developed the cost of alcohol at 30 cents gallon will be $5, while the cost of gasoline for each horsepower ranges from S1.7O to s3.40. according as the price of the fuel varies from 15 cents to 30 cents gallon.
 The report goes on to show that the degree to which alcohol will be used depends not so much on its cost as its efficiency. One difficulty that has been met with in making the investigations Is in determining just what the actual constitution of the denatured alcohol that 1t Is proposed to use will be, as in order to be tax free 1t must contain at least 10 per cent of methyl alcohol and may contain more. When 1t comes to a consideration of the amount of heat that will be liberated a pound, 1t Is found that alcohol would liberate IT, line lfberates 10000 units pound of oil. pr. Lucke finds that by slightly changing the character of the engine now In use a higher degree of eff. ciency may be attained. The report says:
 Any engine on the market today op- erating with gasoline or kerosene can operate with alcohol fuel without any structural change whatever with prop CT manipulation.
 Alcohol contains approximately O.e of the heating value of gasoline by weight and in the departments expert ments IS times as much alcohol as gasoline a horsepower hour. This cor. responds very closely with the relative heating value of the fuels, indicating practically the same thermal efficiency with the two when vaporization Is complete
 In some cases carburetors designed for gasoline do not vaporize all the excess of alcohol consumed is greater than indicated above.
 The absolute excess of alcohol con- sumed over gasoline or kerosene will be reduced by such changes as will in- crease the thermal efficiency of the engine
 The thermal efficiency of these en- zines can be improved when they are to be operated by alcohol just by alter ing the construction of the carburetor to accomplish complete vaporization and, second, by increasing the com pression very materially.
 An engine designed for gasoline or kerosene can without any material al terations to adapt it to alcohol give slightly more power, about 10 per cent, than when operated with gasoline or kerosene, but this increase is at the expense of 0 greater consumption of fuel. By alterations designed to adapt the engine to new fuel this excess of power may be increased to about % per cent.
 Because of the increased output with out corresponding increase In size all cohol engines should sell for less horsepower than gasoline of&erosene engines of the same class.
 The different designs of gasoline or kerosene engines arc not equally well adapted to the burning of alcohol though all may burn 1t fairly we'll.
 Storage of alcohol and its use in en- zines are much less dangerous than the