The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-09-11
BY N. SPARKS.

signs up around the Standard Oil fill
ing stations telling us SO. 1t looked
pretty bad at one time with the news
papers kicking up all that fuss and
calling it "looney gas" But now,
thank goodness, the troubles all over!
They had an investigation and now
everything is sitting pretty. Ethyl is
back.
"Of course, if you're a garage
worker, maybe it isn't so good. And
if you work in one of the stations
X where they mix that stuff into the
gasoline you may have to be pretty
careful. And if you work in one of
the plants where they actually make
the tetraethyl lead-but there's only
a bunch of bohunks work there, and
they don't matter. What does matter
is the great notwithstanding public
that you get the profits out of. Ethyl
gasoline gives them more miles for
their dollar, and that's what counts"
Being rather scantily represented
in the great utomobile-owning public
Ito the tune of few secondhand
into cheers at this information. In
fact we are still inclined to ask:
What is the necessity for inflicting a
new and deadly poison upon society
a poison to which thousands of work
ers will be particularly exposed?
Why can't people go on using ordi-
nary gasoline to drive their cars?
Well, the answer is: TetraethyI lead
(which is the substance that is mixed
into ordinary gasoline to make ethyl
gasoline) is an anti-knock. Unfor-
tunately most of us don't even know
what a knock is-let alone an anti
knock. So let us go back to the be-
ginning and find out just to what ex-
tent tetraethyl lead is indispensable
to the advance of industry and civil
cation.
Let us assume that you know some
member of the great automobile-oWn-
ing public-know him well enough to
get him to take you for a ride. No
tice the sound of his engine as you
travel at medium speed. And now no
tice it as you travel fast, especially
when climbing a hill. Besides the or
binary sound of the engine you will
hear a distinct "Pingl" in every cyl
inder. Now we have 1t! That is the
knock That "Ping!" sounds just as
tho something we're knocking inside
the cylinders, and if your friend cares
much for his car he will slow down
and maybe shift gears.
Now, of course, the next thing we
want to know is: What causes the
knock and what harm does it do?
An automobile is driven by the COM
bustion of mixture of gasoline vapor
and air in each of the cylinders. This
combustion is very rapid, so that it is
often called an explosion. But this is
not really correct. The fame takes a
small but distinctly appreciable
amount Of time to travel the length
Of the cylinder. An explosion, how
ever, is practically instantaneous.
And right here Is where the knock
comes in. When the machine is going
at high speed, the mixture no longer
burns quietly, the flame no longer
travels uniformly thru the length of
the cylinder Instead, the mixture
starts to burn, but then the rest of it
explodes, making that "Pingl" or
knock that we heard. So we see that
the knock is caused by the fact that
part of the fuel explodes instead Of
burning. And an anti-knock is some
thing we can add to The fuel which
will have the property of preventing
that explosion, slowing it down into a
uniform combustion.
Now what harm does the knock do?
First, 1t causes excessive wear on the
engine. Second, it reduces the eff
ficiency Il. e., makes necessary more
fuel for a given distance), for the sud
den impact of the explosion on the
piston and cylinder walls is not nearly
as effective as the steady push on the
piston caused by proper combustion.
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