The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-09-25
TIE WORK OF THE
 ALClHOL MOTOR Will It Displace Gasoline and Steam in the
 Future? MERITS OF ALCOHOL What We Have Learned to Do With It So Far and
 May Learn. '

is troubled by scares on 6 question of vital importance to future generations the possibility of the ultimate ex- haustion of the worlds fuel supplies. Hitherto coal has been the only fuel to receive attention in this direction, and careful investigation into the ex- haust of workable seams, even by such a powerful body as a royal commis sion, was certainly necessitated by the enormous output required to satisfy the domestic and industrial demands. A new question has now arisen with comparative suddenness. Owing prin
 cipally to the great adaptability of the petrol engine to the driving of road vehicles, the number of motors in use has grown at very rapid rate in re- crease in the demand for petrol has 1 followed. The price of this convent ent liquid fuel has steadily risen, and i Is likely to continue on the upward grade, for the output from the earli- est fields is decreasing, while very few new sources of supply are in sight
 The fact that the supply is completely under the control of two great com- panies, who could, if they wished, ex- act monopoly charges, is also causing much uneasiness. It is unfortunate that the residual products obtained in the extraction of petrol are compar- atlvely worthless.
 The whole subject has been investi- gated by the fuels committee of the Motor Union, and in their report the committee discuss the properties of 1 possible substitutes for petrol A heavier petroleum spirit they are of l opinion, might be tried and motors using paraff1n, some of which are all ready on the market are worthy of attention. Coal dust might be burnt explosively in a suitably designed en- zine, but unfortunately ash and tar are deposited on combustion. and cause much trouble In the cylinder and at the vavles. Another possible l fuel is gas from a producer fitted to I the car. From many points of view, but particularly as regards flexibiiity, such an equipment would be undesira~ ble Benzol, by-product obtained during the distillation of coal in the manufacture of coal gas, has also been put forward. It is richer in car l bon than Is petrol, and would there- fore need to be diluted with some sub stance or spirit such as alcohol, more | deficient in carbon, if it were used in an engine designed to take petrol. All these proposed substitutes for petrol l being, like coal of mineral origin, are limited in quantity, and sooner or later the supply will be exhausted. 1 The Ideal fuel would be one of veg etable origin, the production of which would require no great interval of time, so that the supply could be reg ulated to the immediate demand In this connection 1t Is of interest to mote that the extraction by man of fuel from vegetable products corresponds, l in a way, to the process of nature, by which the vegetable products of re- mote ages are converted into the min eral fuels of the present day.
 Tn our present state of knowledge, alcohol though not an ideal fuel, in relation to existing conditions, Is the most promising fuel of vegetable orig in. For industrial purposes 1t can be prepared from beet potatoes peat or grain, and, if its use became general, the country would be rendered inde- pendent of foreign supplies. This consideration is probably responsible in great measure for the far-sighted policy of encouragement adopted by the French and German governments, and particularly by the latter toward the use of alcohol industrially In Germany the alcohol motor has been a commercial success for many years, especially in Agricultural and mining work, and the number of engines is rapidly increasing. In Britain de- ve1opment has been retarded by the Ihigh cost of excise supervision which the industrial alcohol has to bear, From beet and potatoes it can be pro- duced for less than a shilling a gallon but the excise duties bring 1t up to two shilIings When peat is used the cost is as low as threepence per gall Ion, In view of the value of the spirit as a fuel, and of the possibil- Iity of the price of petrol becoming exorbitant in the not very distant fu- ture, Legislation on the subject has become an urgent necessity in this country. The artificial charges borne by the industrial alcohol should be the lowest possible,
 l 70 Qn alcohol is only about 55 per cent. of that of petrol, hence greater volume is consumed for the same power. and also the initial pressure is less The fuel has, however, many compensating advantages, In the first place 1t is lmuch safer to handle; its flash-point is over 60 degrees Centigrade, where as that of petrol is 10 degrees Centi- grade. Moreover, it Is extinguishable by water in case of fire, while petrol floats on water and spreads the flame. Lower transport and insurance rates nave therefore be expected. In the engine itself more uniform pressure on the piston, higher compression and greater fexibility are obtained. Com
 bustion is more perfect and the flame is propagated, comparatively speaking at a slow rate. The resulting pres- sure being more uniform than in the petrol engine, lighter flyWheel may
 be used, and a car fitted with an all cohol motor will experience less vi-
 bration. In internal combustion en- zines the efficiency depends-other
 things being equal--on the degree of compression of the explosive mixture attained just before firing, and the
 compression Is limited by the ignition temperature of the working substance,