The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1931-03-27
Benefit Without Understanding

1t is fortunate for all of lis, in this fast-moving age,
that we do not have to understand a thing to take ad-
vantage of its benefits.
The automobile is an outstanding example. Men and
women now drive machines of which they know little
more than to push a gadget, twist a knob here, pull a
lever there and drive in comfort.
The comparison is extreme, of course, for most Of us
know far more than that about the machines we drive
If we had to make our own repairs, however, with our
generally small array of skill and equipment, the useful
ness of the motor car to many persons would be greatly
diminished. That the modern automobile can be sue
cessfully operated by one knowing practically nothing
about its mechanical details or principles, however, is
a tribute to the industry.
However, the automobile industry has placed a strain
upon other and allied industries in the way OF physical
and mechanical invention to an extent which is surpris-
ing. We, who know little or nothing about it, get the
benefit.
The fact that automotive engineers want to increase
the compression of internal combustion engines serves as
all example. We have heard of high compression" for
several years, but high compression" as we know it will
be low compression in the immediate future If the en-
gineers have their way.
| To most of us high compression" is just a trade term
but we become more interested when we know that it
means greater efficiency, lower fuel consumption and re-
duced operating costs in the machines we drive. We ap-
prove, even though we don't fully understand.
One of the principal bars to higher compression is the
problem of fuel. Not all gasolines are capable of per-
forming well at the compression ratios which the engi-
neers contemplate. And here the petroleum chemists
enter the field. These men have developed a process called
refrigeration which, it is claimed, will enable motors
to operate at higher compressions without having the
fuel break down or cause motors to knock.
The knock rating" of any gasoline is now generally
measured on a scale of numbers. About g. per cent Of
gasoline sold in the United States at present have a
knock rating on this scale of between 81 and &c. Hydro
genated gasolines have been produced with a rating as
high as 95.
In aviation, hydrogenated gas will be especially valu-
able. In order to get high a%nti-knock values in fuels now
used, it is necessary to employ a product that is highly
volatile and hence most readily inflammable. In hydro
genated gas, the heavier fractions of the fuel have the
best anti-knock qualities. This will appreciably lessen
the danger of fire in planes. r.
It is believed that hydrogenated gasoline will soon be
generally available to the public.
Providing the cost is reasonable and the benefits as
great as the experts predict, we shall be glad to use the
new product when it becomes available, if and to the
extent that it is to our advantage to do so. We will use
and care nothing about how it is made or why it became
possible.
All we will need to understand, if it develops in accord
ance with the prospectus, is that we are benefited by it.