Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

, occurs in underground running
| streams, and hence they give owner
ship of oil to the one who captures 1t.
| We now know. as we did not at the
| time the original statutes and de
cisions were drawn. that oil occurs
! in pockets or pools beneath the ground
| and that it is perfectly possible for
one man to pump oil from under his
| neighbor's property.
This idea of pools of oil which may
/ he tapped by any or all of the owners
| of the property under which they lie
| has led to race on the part of prop
| erty owners every time a new pool is
| discovered to get as much as possible
before the other fellow has succeeded
| in pumping the pool dry. In such
race oil is produced at as fast rate
as possible without the slightest regard
for the eXigencies of demand. and it IS
far too expensive under ordinary con-
ditionS TO store oil above ground. On
such grounds Mr.. Doherty pleads for
an amendment to the law which would
permit each pool to be operated as
unit. a condition which he believes
would lead to a more intelligent pro
duction of oil and to a reduction of
waste.
Forced Production Foolish.
"Such an end is much to be desired,
FOR nothing could be more foolish than
the forced production of oil for fear
some one else might get it first. The
control of oil production impossible
now under the antitrust laws. would
not only save oil, but by controlling
the price of oil might very we'll limit
its waste by consumers. The Varl-
GUS possible substitutes for petroleum
as a fuel have already reached point
WI no ni1Pp6
upon them to prevent illeGitimate
profits to the. oil producers.
The gist of opinion on the oil re-
serve is that present supplies to be
produced by present methods VIII
carry the load of demand for approx
mately eight more years at the very
least, and that after that time there
will be left in the ground an indie
terminate further quantity of oil.
which probably is much greater than
the amount that will have been taken
out by pumping. One cannot doubt
that methods will be found for recov
ering this oil, but neither can one
overlook the fact that any added com
plications in the method of recovery
will add to the cost.
1T is quite impossible to say when
it will become profitable to adopt
methods of oil recovery which will
bring this remaining oil to the sur
face, and it is equally impossible to
foresee how much of an increase in
price will have to be made to meet
the changed situation. The estimates
of future oil possibilities, as yet I'M
touched. are altogether too vague to
allow one to draw significant conclu-
Sions from them.
I'm the meantime the effect OF any
possible price increases will probably
be largely offset by more efficient
methods of use. 1t must be remem-
bered that the price of fuel means
nothing to the motorist except it be
expressed in terms of fuel cost per
mile of travel. 1t would not be I'M
economical for the driver of car to
pay, say, SO cents gallon for fuel
a gallon of which would carry him so
miles. If gasoline costing 20 cents a
gallon would carry him only Is miles.
THE possibilities of greater fuel
efficiency are bound up primarily in
the design of the engine and car in
which they are to be used and in the
adaptation of the car to take full adj
vantage of its fuel A number of
fuels are now widely distributed which
have "anti-knock" properties, and
these already are having a consider
able effect in increasing the efficiency
of automobile engines. Several types
of such fuels are to be had, each pos
sessing the quality of preventing
knock to a certain extent Some of
them are based upon the nature of
the fuel itself and others owe their
anti-knock value to materials added
to ordinary gasoline. Anything that
will reduce knock in a motor will in
crease its efficiency, and hence 1t may
be worth while to consider what 1t is
that the knock does to reduce the
power output of the engine.
THE second is the cause of the
knock SO often observed on hills
and when the cylinders of an engine
become coated with carbon. This
part of the explosion is virtually
wasted, as energy is released by it
too fast to be applied to useful work.
Variety of Opinion.
con this much experts agree, but
as to the reason why an engine
knocks at one time and not at an
other there are many opinions. It
would be impossible TO go into all of
these theories and it must suffice to
give q brief outline of one. The
spark set off in the compressed ex-
plosive mixture i'll the cylinder in
itiates a flame travelling at a very
rapid rate 10 all parts of the cylin-
der AS this flame progresses, the
gases ahead of 1t are compressed and
heated, finally reaching tempera-