Evening star., 1927-05-22
BY WILLIAM ULLMAN.

Gasolines are so much better than
even they need be that motorists of
the United States waste $63s,000, 900
worth of motor fuels annually. This
conclusion is inescapable If the find
ings of Federal Government scientists
that the average car owner wastes
from 80 to so per cent of his gasoline
are correct. The United States Bu.
reau of Mines and the Bureau of
Standards do not translate the losses
into actual monetary waste, but that
figure is easily arrived at from COM
pilation of data available in Federal
Government reports.
The fuel waste is attributed by the
scientists Of the Government bureaus
to two important factors, the primary
one being, of course, that the average
motor fuel today is superior in vola-
tility even to the high standard set
by the Federal Government for such
gasolines.
Secondly, in spite of the fact that
the motorist has read and heard much
to this effect, he still does not realize
that the modern fuel is so much better
that he can use a greatly leaner car
buretor mixture with satisfactory per.
formances and infinitely greater econ
omy.
Figuring Fuel Losses.
Lean out the carburetor" is a
phrase that is almost as old as motor.
dom itself. That probably explains In
large part the lack of response to
such advice in this period. But ac'
cording to Government experts who
have gone exhaustively into the sub
ject, the last few years have seen
such a change in the quality of gaso-
line that the old phrase has come back
into being with virility and vitality
that sooner or later must have it's ef'
feet in the form of enormously re-
duced car operation costs.
In connection with the figure $685.
600 900, it is arrived at in this fashion:
The average motor car consumes
asa gallons of gasoline yearly. If from
80 to so per cent of this Is wasted, it
means that, taking the lower figure,
the average carburetor sees 126 gal
Ions of gasoline pour through it's jets
for no useful purpose. Assuming ar
bitrarily that this gasoline cost %
cents a gallon on the average, the
monetary loss to the individual was
in round numbers $29. Multiplied by
the 22,O0O,000 motor vehicles in the
country, the aggregate loss is approx
mately s63s, ,OO0,o 900.
The figure is even more imposing
when considered in it's relation to the
1850 000, 900 that motorists of the
United States spend yearly for fuels
and lubricants.
Accuracy UnquestiOned.
Startling figures, these, and coming
from any other source than the scien.
tific laboratories of the United States
Government, the motorist might be ex-
cused for placing little credence in
them. The accuracy of the figures,
however. seems scarcely to be ques-
toned. for these exceptionally quail
fed men have devoted their unques-
toned talents and many years time
to many facts that may prove star
Ting to the average man in connec-
tion with the gasoline he uses in his
motor car.
With dozens of gasolines being mar
keted in every city and with motor
fuels comprising one of the mysteri-
Gus subjects upon which the physicist
and chemist are working, it scarcely
is to be expected that the average lay.
man would have anything approximat'
ing an all-embracing idea of the sub
ject But, according to the Govern
ment experts. he can, with consider
able saving, know that in the main
the gasolines of today are of higher