The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1908-04-22
WILL SHIPS
BURN OIL 2.
Question Raised by the
Fleets Approach to
Cal. Petroleum Fields.

trip OF the sea ngnterS 10 san FRAN
cisco, in close proximity to the Cali
fornia oil fields, lends interest to the
question whether the American navy
is about to emulate the example of
the British and Japanese in substi-
tuting petroleum as the fuel for coal.
The navy department for some time
past has been considering the advis-
ability of such course, and the peo-
pie of California, with the advent of
the fleet, will renew the agitation.
Already the torpedo boat fiotilla has
been equipped so that these crafts
are able to burn oil. In fact. num-
Der of them used this fuel on the
way around the Horn.
While this country is behind in
the matter of using oil on its war
ships. the various industries that re-
quire great power and generating
force have taken kindly to the prop
osition that the coal question and its
various side issues can be solved
easily by burning the petroleum that
nature furnishes so generously. In
this city many of the leading manu-
featuring plants have substituted oil
wherever this is possible. From the
opinions gathered the fluid lends it.
self excellently to many purposes
within these establishments. Both as
regards furnishing fuel under boil
ers. taking the place of steam or aid
ing in the finishing processes wher
steel is manufactured into various
articles, oil has entered the race with
coal as strong competitor of the
future.
At the Baldwin Locomotive Works
and the plants of this concern at Ed
dystone and Burnham oil Is now used
extensively as a generatiye force. In
fact, members of the Baldwin works
express themselves as highly graft
fed with the results achieved up to
the present. In many Instances the
substitution has resulted in greater
economy, cleaner surroundings and
a facilitating of work not obtainable
when coal was the fuel.
Zone great benefit in using oil in
stead of coal. said S. NJ. Vauclain,
of Baldwin's. lis that 1t permits us to
adhere very closely to the smoke reg
ulations of the city. This should be
considered important in itself But.
besides, oil is much cheaper than
coal. Naturally it Is much cleaner
to use, and then there are number
of other advantages in the line of
economy.
I'VE have always steam up with
oil. so to speak. In our plants we
have our engines built for the pur-
pose of using oil. That is, six of the
engines are fitted up for this pur-
pose. We dispense with boilers, and
what is known as the combustion
process furnishes the generating
power This is somewhat similar to
what takes place in the automobile
using gasoline. The oil and air are
blown into the engine and when the
combined elements strike a surface
the combustion takes place.
LAS for using oil under boilers, it
is probably somewhat expensive.
Only where oil is cheap enough is
this allowable.
I'VE have made many locomotives
for western and southern roads fitted
up for the use of oil. continued Mr..
Vaucluin. and apparently in the dis
tricts where oil is plenty it must he
great advantage to use this liquid
fuel | have noticed that there hes
been some agitation to introduce oil
on the battieships of our navy but
the question seems still unsettled"
Many of the great tool works and
similar manufacturing plants of
Philadelphia are now using oil eX-
tensiyeiy. At the Germantown Tool
Works, one of the leading concerns
i'm this line, J Il. Scissor, the superin-
tendent. expressed himself as highly
in favor of this article. I'VE have
found in our case. he said. that We
can do the work much better as well
as cheaper where we use oil instead
of coal In the forges, besides, il
makes a uniform heat and is always
ready for service. That is a great
advantage You notice how the oil
and the air pass from their respect
i've pipes into the combination pipe
that carries them into the furnace.
/ There the combustion takes place,
and We certainly find IL convenient.
| The same favorable conditions OBJ
tain in the tempering of the articles,
| There Is absolute safety in using
| oil instead of coal. As for the cost
it is probably somewhat less than
coal The oil is stored a distance
away from the building and fed
through a large pipe when il is led
into smaller pipe and then COM
bined with the air before it enters in
to active operation.
To gather from the activities at
the various shipyards relative to the
building of vessels equipped to burn
oil instead of coal the demand must
have Increased considerable of late.
AT the Dialogue Shipyard, Camden,
a number of tugboats have recently
been built and have left for con-
tinuous passage to San Francisco
through the Straits of Magellan.
Each boat has capacity of los, 900
gallons of oil. and II is expected that
there will be no need of replensh-
ing the supply until the Golden Gate
eitv Is reached