The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1908-10-24
GAS FUTURE.
POWER
RESULTS OF INTERESTING
EXPERIMENTS BY GEO.
LOGICAL SURVEY.
Explosion Engine Declared to Be
Type Which Gives Most Eco
nOmical POwer-AlcOhOl Cen
crates Vapor as Satisfactorily
as Gasoline.

Seattle, Oct. 1.-THE Washington
correspondent of the Daily Times sends
his paper the following:
The day of the steam engine is about
over. That this is true becomes daily
more and more clear as the exhaustive
researches and experiments of the Uni
ted States geological survey progress,
and within the next six months the ex-
perts who are conducting the work ex-
pect to give the country formal re-
port in which the knell Of steam power
will be officially tolled. Already in
every portion Of the country the vast
saving over steam to be found in the
use of the explosion engine is appeal
ing to the big users Of power.
But while the geological survey has
demonstrated that the explosion en-
CINE, fed with gas made direct from
coal by machine devised for that pur-
pose, is certain to furnish the station
airy power of the country for the next
industrial epoch, it does not rest at this
point. The survey considers its work
done, so far as the gas engine is con-
cerned. 1t has set at rest all doubt
about that type of power production.
The experiments now are in the direc
ton OF CONF arative test Of fuels, and
it is particularly directing it's attention
to gasoline and alcohol The coal gas
engine will do the business all right,
by means Of electric power transmits
sion, wherever there is coal, and the
survey says so officially and positively.
This, therefore, turns the investiga-
tors to those portions Of the earth
where coal is not to be had without
expensive freight bills. The expert
ments, which are being conducted i'll
an extensive plant at Norfolk, Va,
have gone frward far enough to show
that an alcohol engine can be built
which will deliver an equal amount
of power from the same bulk Of fuel
as can be produced by a gasoline en-
CINE, and this is regarded as highly
gratifying because it is anticipated
that alcohol must ultimately be the
fuel upon which the world will rely
in those portions of the world where
coal and oil are not found. The ex-
perts are much struck by the harmony
they are gradually evolving as they
dig deeper into the subject. Thus,
coal and oil are generally plentiful in
the zones where the weather is cold
for a portion of the year, while the
material from which to distil alcohol
is most abundant in the tropics, where
coal and Oil are generally absent. AL
cohol gives out only about half the
heat of ether coal gas or gasoline in
producing the same horse power.
Gas Will Supersede Steam
While the experts of the geological
survey are not ready to make formal
declaration of results they are predict
ing that few years will see a great
change in the navies of the world.
They say the explosion engine, which
gives out no smoke, which takes up
less room than the steam engine, and
which will give a vessel vastly
greater area of activity, is bound to
supersede all other motive power.
Following this theory they add that
it is to be demonstrated that it will
be much cheaper and more effective
for country like the United States to
maintain plants for the distillation of
alcohol in the tropics than to establish
and protect coaling stations there. 1t
is fact that Cuba can make alcohol
for ten cents gallon, and if this can
be done there now it is certain that
this price can be cheapened throughout
the tropics.
The navy department does not COM
NIT itself on the question. It is from
Missouri and has to be shown. But
this does not bother the geological
survey. It realizes that the navy must
be sure of it's ground before it adopts
any revolutionary policy, and it is
willing to permit the navy to await the
full proof, secure in the belief that
the first war will force it's discoveries
upon not only the American navy, but
upon those of all other countries.
Change7Win.Be Rapid
In the meantime it is predicted that
the change from steam to explosion
engines will be rapid when it once gets
fairly under way. The economy of
the new type is so great, as compared
with steam, that no industrial estab-
lishment can afford to neglect the saw
ing to be made, and competition is
bound to force the innovation upon
even the most unwilling. The expert
ments have shown that complete IA
miliarity with the principles of the
explosion engine will make it fully as
reliable as the steam engine, and a
great deal safer, while so far not a
single reason has been offered to prove
that there is necessarily any more
limit to the horsepower to be develop
ed nv one type than by the other.