El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-12-22
w s5 5 5:1 :

w days Of possible shortage Of
gasoline, and any student of
the situation must admit that there
I is cause for alarm in the rate at
which demand is outstripping produc-
ton Of the conventional motor fuel
The experts seem 70 agree that there
Is not likely to be any great augmen-
tation OF the annual supply o. crude
oil. from which gasoline is derived.
while the consumption Of the latter
product is increasing by something
like 80 or 30 per cent a year.
However, for the comfort OF motor
lists let Us say, there are certain amel-
iOrating conditions which save the
situation from being cllssed as des-
perate. IN the first place the oil re-
liners are every year improving the
methods by which they extract the
gasoline from the crude, whereby
they get q much greater percentage
Of the product than they used TO GO.
our sOcalled gasoline OF today con-
tains much OF what formerly went
into kerosene. Undoubtedly further
Improvement along this line will be
perfected. so that our annual supply
OF gasoline will be increase-t even
though the production OF crude oil
should fall Off In the second place,
d
vices for heating the motors fuel on
its way TO the combustion chamber,
We can set more power from tile gas,
IN other words. make a given guam
tity do more work.
But even suppOsing that in spite Of
all efforts oEr 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 distllllte, de-
rivatives OF crude oil, which are I'm
some use now as motor fuel From
coal We get beuZOle and coal gas"
which have the great advantage Of
being derived from a base independ-
ent Of crude oil This spples also
TO alcohol which we get from a num-
Der OF sources. Finally we may Util-
lie steam as the direct active power,
employing kerosene or another heav-
Ter fuel 10 generate it,
To utilize kerosene as 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
bureter would have to be installed
and some efficient method OF pre-
heating the fuel would have to he
universally used. kerosene carbure-
tiers are already a practical develop
meat and it only needs q sufficient
demand 10 produce scores OF these
Instruments efficient enough 10 meet
all demands. Distillate is much used
on the Pacific coast, particularly by
motor trucks. Crude oil IS the ordi-
nary fuel Of engines OF the Diesel
type, and possibly the future may
holI some development along these
lines for the automobile field.
The great advantage Of the fuels
derived from coal is the prodigious
ETr~frN.r NJ that He 10
sight. Whereas the present known
supply Of crude oil SIT the present
rate of consumption will be exhausted
in less than 20 years. the coal supply
is almost unlimited.
Benzole at the present time IN this
country is prohibItively high in cost.
This is a byproduCt OF coal result
ing in the manufacture Of anaiines,
coke. etc. When We have developed
our dyemakiuc industry 10 the point
that Germany was before tho war,
we shall have beuZOle I'm plenty, but
to use up coal 10 make beuzole alone
makes the cost Of the latter prohibit
i've.
In England. where every drop OF
gasoline that can be imported is
needed TO drive the machines OF war
and commerce. they are using with
much success coal gas as motor fuel.
This is carried in ungainly canvas
ornamental, to put 10 mildly. Re
Gently there has appeared a new type
OF container, taking the form Of sau-
SaSeshaped cylinders, carried on the
running board" They hold an amount
Of gas equal TO about two gallons OF
liquid gasoline. This is a 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 it will make IL just
as easy to use as liquid fuels.
No carbureter is used in feeding
the coal gas to the engine. The inlet
manifold is generally tapped for the
gas supply and the air is taken in
through the regular passages. y con-
troll is provided that must be manipu-
lated according to the nee IS OF the
engine and when the latter Is stopped
the gas must be shut off. Pro-
vision IS made TO prevent backfiring
and Ignition OF the gas in the con-
tainer. Among the advantages &C
cruing from the use Of coal gas is
the fact that there Is no danger Of
this fuel mixing with the lubricating
oil, as sometimes happens with gaso-
line. Also the coal gas leaves no
watery deposit and carbon deposits
are much less: I'm fact, this trouble is
practically eliminated.
The ordinary engine OF today viii
nuTn coal gas without Wnlmper and
it only remains to develop satisfac-
tory means OF carrying It 70 have
an alternate fuel beyond reach Of
fluctuations OF the crude oil supply.
And there still remains alcohol.
which can be produced in almost lin
itless quantity from variety Of
sources, wood, grain and vegetables.
This fuel has certain decided disad-
vantages. among which is the rapid
ltE with which IL eVanorafng To Use
-. ~h7D~n- w0rrlF N~-0 70 ~ r~-So