The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-05
ALCOHOL VS.. GASOLINE.
Discussion of Their Merits for Use as
Automobile Fuel.

Alcohol is reproduced in the cycle of
the seasons; it is absolutely inexhaus-
| tible; it is made out of sunshine and
air, and its composition does not lessen
the value of the soil or the energy of
the earth. Gasoline, on the contrary,
represents a part of the stored energy
of the earth; it exists only to the eX-
tent of about 2 per cent in petroleum,
and its supply will in the future inev-
itably fail, writes Professor Duncan in
Harper's Weekly. Today, the supply of
gasoline is so much less than the de-
mand that it practically cannot be OBJ
tanned by many who would use it. If
all the gasoline engines in America
worked continuously for a day of ten
hours they would consume some 4,000,-
900 gallons of gasoline! Then, indus
trial alcohol is practically constant in
composition; gasoline, on the contra
~, is mixture, and is generally bad
iy adulterated. Again, alcohol is be
yond all question safer and more clean
ly to use. Its safety lies in the fact
that it is not so readily infammable,
and that it dissoIves in water; in the
event of fire, its dilutiOn with water,
even to its per cent in whisky, will at
once extinguish it. Gasoline, on the
other hand, is extraordinarily inflam-
mable, and, what is much worse, it
more the water is used the more the
fire spreads. This fact for alcohol is
Of extreme Importance in the question
of insurance and in its use for motor
boats. Still again. with alcohol, the
smell of the exhaust is almost imper-
ceptible; at any rate, gasoline, in this
respect, could not endure comparison.
Another advantage for alcohol lies in
the fact that cylinders and valves do
ucts, as with gasoline, and that it's
combustion is cleaner and its ignition
more perfect. Perhaps the greatest
advantage possessed by alcohol in a
struggle with gasoline rests in the
higher cOmpressbility of it's vapOr;
the compression of alcohol vapor may
safely be carried to 200 pounds per
square inch, while that of gasoline
cannot endure more than eighty
pounds without the danger of prema-
ture explosion. Next, it requires no
more skill to operate an alcohol en-
CINE than a gasoline engine. Finally,
it may be expected that alcohol can al
ways be made i'm the locality of the
demand; it will not require, like gaso-
line, transportation through extensive
distances.
With proper manipulation, any en-
CINE working with gasoline or kerosene
can operate, unaltered, with alcohol
1t can be operated with alcohol only
at about twice the cost of gasoline.
This is shown in a recent test of fuel
economy, in which three automobiles,
running on alcohol, a mixture of kero-
sene and gasoline and gasoline. re-
spectively, Travelled from Trenton, n.
j., to Atlantic City, 1868 miles, While
the alcohol engine ran perfectly at a
rate of thirty-ffve miles an hour. it
consumed fourteen and a half gallons
of alcohol, at 81 cents a gallon, consti-
tuting total cost of 1881, as against
the performance of its rival, which
consumed seven and One-haIf gallons
OF gasoline, at % cents, with a total
cost of $1.65. The relation of the two
is best shown as the cost per ton mile.
which for alcohol works out to SO. O3g2.
and for gasoline sO.01354, about half as
much.