The Washington herald., 1917-12-30
ALTERNATES FOR
GASOLINE


We hear a great deal in these days
Of possible shortage Of gasoline and
any student of the situation must ad-
NIT that there is cause for alarm in
the rate at which demand 10 out
stripping production Of the conyen-
tionai motor fuel. The experts seem
to agreed that there Is not likely to
be any great augmentation of the an
nual supply of crude oil, from which
gasoline is derived while the ,con-
creasing by something like 40 or, 50
per cent a year.
However, Tor the comfort Of motor
lists let us say, there are certain
ameliorating conditions which save
the situation as being classed as des-
perate. In the first place the oil re-
flners are every year improving the
methods by which they extract the
they get q much greater percentage
Of the product than they used to do.
Our so-calied gasoline of today con-
tains much Of what formerly went
into kerosene. Undoubtedly further
l1hPloNCtuChl llHO VIII DC
perfected. SO that our annual supply
Of gasoline will be increased, even
though the production Of crude oil
should fall of. In the second place
by employing more extensively de-
vices for heating the motors fuel on
Its way to the comJustion chamber.
we can get more power from the gas;
In other words, make given guam
tity do more work.
But even supposing that in spite Of
all efforts our gasoline supply should
prove inadequate to our needs, there
still remain certain alternative fuels,
which will serve to keep the motors
of America turning. To begin with
we have kerosene and distillate, de-
rivatives Of crude oil, which are In
some use now as motor fuel. From
coal we get benzole and coal gas"
which have the great advantage Of
being derived from a base independent
Of crude oil. This applies also to al
cohol, which we get from q number
Of sources. Finally we may utilize
steam as the direct active power. en-
ploying kerosene or another heavier
fuel to generate it. -.
To utilize kerosene an engine
fuel, no essential change in design OF
our present motors would have to be
made. Certain minor details would
have to be altered. a different car
buretF would have to be installed
and sdme efficient method Of pre-heat-
ing the fuel would have to be uni
versally used. Kerosene carbureters
are already a practical development
and 1t only needs a sufficient demand
to produce scores Of these Instruments
efficient enough to meet an demands.
Distillate is much used on the Pacific
Coast, particularly by motor trucks.
Crude oil is the ordinary fuel Of en-
gines Of the Diesel type and possibly
the future may hold some develop
ment along these lines for the auto
mobile field. -. ~ -.
The great advantage Of the fuel de-
rived from coal. 10 the prodigious
supply of that base, which rs now In
sight. Whereas the present known
supply of crude oil at the present rate
of consumption will be exhausted in
less than % years. the coal supply Is
almost unlimited. ..-
Benzole at the present time in this
country is prohobitively high in cost.
This In a by-product of coal. resulting
in the manufacture Of anaIines, coke,
etc. When we have developed our
dye-making industry to the point that
Germany's was before the war. we
shall ahve behzole in plenty. but to use
.np coal to make .benzole alone. makes
the cost Of the latter prohibitiye.
3 In England. where revery drop OF
gasoline that can be imported In
needed to drive 1.-The machines OF war
and commerce. they are using with
much success coal gas az motor fuel.
This 10 carried in ungainly canvas and
rubber containers, (which are not or
namental. to put Il mildly. Recently
there has Appeared a new type Of
container taking the form OF sausage
shaped cylinders. carried on the rum
ming board. They hold an amount Of
gas equal to about two gallons Of
liquid gasoline. This is totally new
development and there is no question
that with experience the containers
VIII be made more slightly. In fact
methods OF COMPRISING the gas may
be found SO that 1t will make II just
as easy to use as liquid fuels.
No carbureter Ia used in feeding the