The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-07-12
GASOLINE AND SOME
 OF ITS PECULIAR
 RUZZLING ASPECTS
Experts Say That Boiling Point Is
 More Important Than Gravity.

It is difficult to approach the sub with gravity. The first question a motorist asks after he has his tank filled is What gravity?''/,
 | Car owners have, time without end, asked for TO or 76 gasoline and yet did not know what they were asking about. Ignorance in this matter has been exhibited time and time again in track and road races. One concern would not use anything but 85 grav- fty gasoline because they claimed it was quicker and more powerful hence the car would make better speed. In the same meet, another concern would not use anything but 56 gravity on the ground that it gave more power and was faster. Here are the two Aopposites. In the race, it happened that the car with the 56 beat the car with the 85. The race proved one thing-that the 56 had more power in it, gallon for gallon, than the s5. Gravity simply means weight. There are two scales in common use: specific and Beaume. These scales simply tell the rela- tive weight of a liquid compared with water. In the Beaume scale, water is taken at an arbitrary point, being 1o A liquid weighing less than wa ] ter is expressed by figures higher than 10. It will. be seen that H- quid than is 50 degrees Reaume is lighter than water, but heavier than a liquid that is TO degrees Beaume. In other. words, the higher the inumer- aIs, the lighter the liquid. The lower the numerals the heavier the liquid. When we buy gallon of 70 gravity gasoline, we know we get fewer pounds than when we buy so gravity. The more pounds we get, the more heat units we obtain, and heat units | coal or gasoline we purchase.
 The following Is by gasoline ez perts.
 ."The thing that puzzled us most about gravity was the fact that it seemed not to stay tsput.'' When we we obtained different result from that in another section. For in stance with gasoline in the Atlantic Coast States we reached the conclusion that we must have asgas- o1ine of about 66 gravity, but to our experime mented with gasoline made from Kansas and Oklahoma crude, another surprise met us. 58 to 60 gravity gas- oline showed up best in every test. Texas and California crude proved most satisfactory at about 56 gravity. What did this all mean? It seemed to tell plainly and unmistakabIy that gravity was not a true standard. It established the fact that the gravity of gasoline, was always heavier or lighted, corresponding to the$ crude from which it is produced. Each section produces gasoline of a different gravity. You can't expect a man from Florida to boost California grapefruit
 If gravity is not a true test, what is? There must be some reason why 58 gravity Kansas Gasoline performs l the aa a 1Ixyo- nia- Gasoline is known to the refner simply as member of the naptha family The refiner knows and distin- guishes each member of this family, not by gravity but by boiling points. He knows it would be impossible to make his goods uniform by using the 1 1eeting standard of gravity, but know ing the boiling points, he can depend upon the quality of the goods. It is not difficult to understand what boil ing point means. It is the point on g Fahrenheit thermometer at which a liquid will begin to boil"
 1 The renner dfstills a given quanti- ty of gasoline and while it Is in the
 process of distillation, ascertains at what point each 10 per cent. wiN boil
 until the entire quantity is evaporated
 or distilled. In this manner, he de- termines what is known as the initial
 boiling point, as well as the medium
 boiling points and all intervening boil
 ing points,
 Our interest centres more partic- 1 ularly in gasoline adapted to motor
 use. What have boiling points to do with this? Everything. We want an
 engine to start quickly. Low initial boiling points tell the story It evap-
 crates or volatilizes quickly in cold
 weather and starts quickly It is possible to produce from some crude
 oil gasoline having as low a boiling
 point and much lower gravity than is
 produced from other crudes High gravity does not necessarily mean low initial boiling points, and unless we have low boiling points, there will be trouble in starting a car no matter how hgh the gravity is. So that for easy starting, a certain percentage of low boiling points is absolutely essen tiaI Given this percentage, it is just as essential that the other fractions shows gradually rising and higher