The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1920-06-06
Cheap Substitute FOR Coal
Has Been Discovered

nicists express ii, than correspond
ing volume Of plain oil fuel. This
added weight is such that the colo
dial composite will sink when poured
into water, and, if burning at the
time, the water will Immediately
drown it and extnguish the flames.
Further, for this very reason, the new
fuel can be stored in tanks and thor
oughly protected from fire by Gaping
it or covering it with an inch or two
of water. Therefore, where water is
ordinarily of little or no avail in deal
ing with blazing oil, water will pre-
vent the ignition Of collodial fuel, or
extinguish it if set on fire.
in testing oils to establish their
relative margin of safety in the pres
ence of heat, it is customary to ex-
pertinent for the purpose of finding
out the lowest temperature at which
the combustible will ignite. This is
called the flash-point. Logically, the
greater the heat necessary to induce
this flaming, the safer the fuel. In
the face of colodial fuel the flash
point is far above that of the fuel oils
produced from petroleum. This is a
feature of the utmost Importance in
considering the domestic and general
use of a liquid fuel within the
crowded areas of large city. Colo
dial fuel does not give off gaseous
vapors, like many fuel oils, and
therefore there are no exhalations to
combine with the air and thus form
explosive mixtures that require only
spark or barred flame to provoke
possibly a disaster. Finally, COLO
dial fuel is immune to the perils Of
spontaneous combustion. In short,
the fire risks are as low as those CON
nected with the use of anthracite, and
colodial fuels are authoritatively said
to be far safer than bituminous coal.
They burn without producing objec-
tionable odors.
ITO bring home to us the potential
gains in adopting this fuel achieve
ment of science, Mr.. Bates points
out: In the buildings of New York
collodial fuel would occupy only two
thirds the space for equal heat units
represented in coal, or, to put it
another way, in the same space one
may store fifty per cent more heat
units. Furthermore, the heat. units
in collodial fuel are more efficient
than in anthracite, and there is no
loss of coal in the ash, so that one
cubic foot of collodial fuel actually
equals nearly two cubic feet of an
thracite Hence coal street traffic
will be reduced over sixty per cent,
including that for the disposition Of
ashes
"Until now the oil man and the coal
man have been trade enemies they
have had nothing in common, save a
kindred purpose to reach the public's
purse. They have fought each others
interests bitterly. Collodial fuel is
the peace-maker, born of the labora-
tory. 1t makes it possible for the
promoters of liquid and solid fuels to
get together, to combine their COM
modities, to utilize industrial wastes,
and to furnish the consumer with a
unique combustible, capable of rem
dering the highest grade of service at
extremely moderate prices. 1t is en-
tirely practicable to manufacture col
lodial fuels that are liquid, which are
composed of forty per cent by weight
Of coal and fifty-nine per cent Of oil
the remaining one per cent being the
modest measure of the chemical med
ium, fixateur, which effects the union
while preventing the heavier particles
of carbon from settling out from the
+ oil. 1t seems that the coal or solid
carbon content can be increased to
more than sixty-five per cent, the fuel
then having the density and consist
ency of paste BY the application of
sufficient pressure, these so-called
gels can be pumped through any ex-
listing liquid-fuel equipment and can
be perfectly atomized at the tips of
flthe furnace burners.
"lnstead of serving to outwit the
. u-boat, collodial fuel has come to us
now as a possible and practical med
ium for lowering in part the high cost
of living. And in the years ahead,
this sort of combustible is going to
enable us to save billions of dollars
by conserving two of our essential
Az. ! IL,