The Washington times., 1913-02-23
GASOLINE PRICES
EXPECTED TO SOAR
Motorcar Industry Expects to
See Forty Cents Per Gallon
During the Coming Year.

IN spite OF pldHs anO unuouDte0 n
tentions to build more automobiles in
the present year than ever before. it
is not denied that the automobile in
dustry, as well as the motor car own
er, faces a most serious problem and
possible setback in the soaring price of
gssolcne.
1t is predicted that gas" will reach
" cents or more a gallon in the coming
summer. What this means to the pleas
ure car maker and owner. as well as to
those interested from any viewpoint in
motor trucks, may readily be appreci-
sted.
What is not so generally understood,
however. is the enormous waste OF nat
Gral resources which the country suf-
fers In the failure TO use wider range
OF the petroleum products as fuel for
internal combustion engines. The fig
ures are startling, to say the least.
Output For Last Year.
Last year 10000. 900 barrels of crude
oil were produced in this country. From
it was produced roughly 10. 600 900 barrels
Of motor gasolene. Less than per cent
Of the total crude oil was, therefore,
available for motor purposes. After de-
ducting one-half of the total supply of
crude oil for all other purposes, includ-
ius fuel oils, lubricating oils. and resi-
dunn, about ten and one-half times the
present amount. or 1l0,090, 600 barrels,
would remain. which could be used in
internal combustion engines, provided
the proper carburetor, or instrument for
feeding IL. were devised.
This would mean an addition to the
motor fuel supply Of 4,00o.0 100000 gallons,
or an addition to the power supply Of
the country of some fS.000. .0o0. .0O-horse-
power hours annually The automobile
industry, now SO seriously jeopardized
by the question of fuel shortage and
price, could be carried to nearly eleven
times its present extent. In terms of
money, the failure to utilize as motor
fuel the 0,000 coo barrels of crude oil,
much of which is now sold at cents a
gallon, and less, means an annual loss
10 the oil producers, at the present price
OF gasolene. is cents a gallon wholesale,
of $500. 900, 600.
Means Many Millions.
Even II the throwing on the market
Of this huge supply of fuel brought
down the price per gallon to, say, .
cents. which was the gasolene price a
year ago. the difference between this 8
oonts and the cents now obtained for
the material not utilized as fuel would
be about 100000 annually.
The enormous quantities of fuel
which would be furnished by the pc
roleum bases, IL those oils up 10. cay,
COO degrees Fahrenheit, boiling point.
could be utilized. are thus apparent.
Experts are not wanting, who asert,
conversely, that the petroleum bases are
At present the cheapest source of motor
fuel Their argument runs somewhat
as follows: The earth is now practic-
ally an ash pile in the sense that little
remains uncombined which is of a heat
or power giving nature
The products or compounds available
for use In an internal. combustion en-
gine must be those which will produce
high temperatures when combined with
the oxygen of the atmosphere. Little
remains of the earth's total bulk which
10 not already combined and burned up.
Thus the free hydrogen is combined
with sea water, forming the oceans.
The few metals. such as gold, copper.
silver and iron. not already in combina-
ton with oxygen are not available for
use in an engine, since for this use one
must have a material whose product Of
combustion is also gaseous.
Limits the Sources.
This practically limits the available
sources Of motor fuel to carbon, or coal.
hydrocarbon. the oil supply, and carbo-
hydrates, such as cellulose, woody fiber
and starch, from which alcohoIs can be
derived. The chemists have no other
choice; in order TO pro1uce really new
fuel they must make Nse Of some un-
known thing.
According to Henry NJ. Reichenbach, q
chemist and engineer of Rochester. y.
Y, who has had long experience in
invention. including come of the basic
work on the Photographic film the car
bohydrates are practically eliminated
from the fuel field by reason of the ex-
pense attendant upon their production.
The practical test, he believes is one
in which separation only, and not COM
bination and then subsequent separa-
ton, is required to make Ii available for
the internal combustion engine.