The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-08-10
WANTED
30 LABORERS TO DIG TRENCHES.
APPLY AT GAS WORKS.
PA EAST FIRST ST.
GASOLINE SUBSTITUTE SOUGHT.
Motor Industry Has Brought About
Increase in Price of That Fuel.

The advance in the price of gasoline,
due to the more general use of motors
for pleasure and commercial purposes
and the certainty of an increasing de-
mand because of the immense develop
ment of the motor industry, has led
to efforts. in England, to find a suit
able substitute for this fuel. Then
there Is apprehension that gasoline
may be raised more in price than is
legitimately justified by it's greater use.
because motorists are so dependent
upon it. As possible alternatives or
substitutes. crude petroleum, paraff1n,
kerosene, shale oil, benzol, alcohol and
acetylene are mentioned Some of
these, though unsuitable for use alone,
are said to give better results when
combined with another hydrocarbon.
Crude petroleum is regarded as I'M
satisfactory because of it's heaviness,
except in specially designed engines,
such as are not now generally in use.
Paraff1n, though efficient and power
full, is held to be Objectionable be-
cause of the difficulty of starting UP an
engine from the cold, and because the
oil has a tendency to creep over the
motor and injure its contents. 1t ap-
pears, however, that the use of a small
amount of petrol makes paraffif1n more
adaptable, but this can be advanced in
price as easily petrol If it should
come into use as a motor fuel Shale
oil is obtainable from a bituminous
Ehale found in the coal of the Midloth-
good results, the supply is compare
lively small Acetylene has been used
successfully when combined with par
ATTN or with alcohol, and when water
is injected into the cylinder of the en-
CINE during the firing stroke. 1t is
feared it Will be found too costly un-
der present conditions of manufacture,
but 1t Is argued that tendency to use
acetylene might easily result in reduc-
ing the cost of manufactured used by
itself 1t is thought to be likely to
strain and damage a motor engine.
through the great force of it's explo-
sion.
Alcohol and acetylene have been
combined experimentally for motor
fuel purposes with some degree of sue
cess, but the difficulty is in ascertain
ing what should be the relative pro-
portions of the two ingredients. This
combination cannot, it is felt, become
commercially useful in the United
Kingdom for motor purposes until al
cohol can be produced much more
cheaply from many substances of little
value. II alcohol alone were used for
internal combustion engines, the de-
sign of such engines, it is said, would
have to be changed to insure complete
combustion. The difficulty in starting
an engine from alcohol because of the
cold can, it is asserted, be overcome
by using either vaporizer or q burner
or a small quantity of petrol in the in
itial stages.
1cCH&OA Is EeBGTQSQ DIS perhaps the
alternative fuel most likely to aid In
the solution of the question 1t Is pro-
duced during the distillation of coal
at gas works. and it is thought that it
can be manufactured in sufficient
quantities and sold at a fair price If
the demand arises for it. 1t is more
powerful than petrol. and experiments
made with IL are said to have been
most encouraging. although the small
percentage of sulphuric acid it con-
tains gives rise to rather an unp1eas-
ant odor in the exhaust-Harper'
Weekly.