The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-09-29
ALCOHOL FOR MOTOR CARS.
The Vegetable Fluid Is Safer, Cleaner And More Available Than
 Gasoline.

Harper's Magazine.
 Alcohol is reproduced in the cycle of the seasons; 1t is absolutely mex haustible; it Is made out of sunshine and air, and its composition does not lessen the value of the soil or the en- ergy of the earth. Gasoline, on the contrary, represents a part of the stored energy of the earth; 1t exists only to the extent of about two per cent in petroleum, and its supply will in the future inevitably fail. Today the supply of gasoline is so much less than the damand that 1t cannot be obtained by many who would use It.. If all the gasoline engines in America worked continuously, for a degree of ten hours they would consume some A. 900. 900 gallons of gasoline. Then, in- dustrial alcohol Is practically constant in compositions; gasoline. on the con- trary, is a mixture, and Is generally badly adulterated. Again, alcohol is cleanly to use. Its safety lies in the fact that 1t is not so readily inflam- mabIe, and that it dissolves in water; In the event of fire its dilution with water even to its per cent in whiskey, will at once extinguish it. Gasoline, on the other hand, is extraordinarily inflammable, and what is much worse, 1t floats on water: in gasoline fire the more the water is used the more the fire spreads. This fact for alcohol Is of extreme importance in the .ques- tion of insurance and in its use for motor boats. Still. again, with alcohol the smell of the exhaust Is almost im- perceptible; at any rate. gasoline in this respect could not endure compart- son.
 Another advantage for alcohol lies in the fact that cylinders and valves do not become plugged with residual pro- ducts, as with gasoline, and that It's combustion is cleaner and its Ignition more perfect. Perhaps the greatest ad- vantage possessed by alcohol in a struggle with gasoline rests in the higher compressibility of it's vapor; the compression of alcohol vapor may safe- ly be carried to 200 pounds a square inch, while that of gasoline cannot endure more than eighty pounds with out the danger of premature explosion Next, it requires no more skill to op- crate an alcohol engine than gaso- line engine. Finally, 1t may be ex- pected that alcohol can always be made in the locality of the demand; it will not require, like gasolien, trans- portation through extensive distance.
 With proper manipulation any engine working with gasoline or kerosene can operate, unaltered. with alcohol
 It can be operated with alcohol only at about twice the cost of gasoline. This is shown in. recent stest of fuel economy in which three automobiles running on alcohol. mixture of kero- sene and gasoline and gasoline, res spectively, travelled from Trenton, N J., to Atlantic City, 1o6.s miles. While the alcohol engine ran perfectly at q rate of thirty-five miles an hour, Il consumed fourteen and one-haIf gal Ions of alcohol at thirty-seven cents a gallon. constituting total cost oi S5.36 1-2. as against the performance of it's rival. which consumed seven and one-half gallons of gasoline. at twen- two cents, with a total cost of S1.65. The relation of the two is best shown at tho cost a ton mile, which for all cohol works out to $0.0392, and for gasoline $O07354. about half as much