Evening star., 1941-09-04
Waste Crankcase Oil
And Rock Wool Ball
Suggested for Heat
Defense Authorities
Study Plan Submitted
By st. Louis Man
rhs stars special News Service.

The Stars Special News Service.
ST. LOUIS, Sept. $50 you'd
like to save on fuel to heat your
house and do the cooking?
All you need is pair of pliers, a
small roll of stovepipe wire, a ball
of ordinary twine, a handful of rock
wool and pan of automobile crank
case DRAWINGS.
Those are the directions outlined
by c. H. Lowell, St. Louis advertising
man, who has developed and sub
mitted to the Government novel
fuel-burning device which, he claims,
would conserve millions of gallons
of waste oil products and save users
S5000,000 year in fuel costs.
Uses Ordinary Stove.
Roll the wool into a wad the size
of a croquet ball, tie it first with
string. then wire tightly and soak
in pint or so of used oil from the
family automobile. That's all there
Is to it. The ball is ready to burn
in any type coal or wood stove, fire.
place or furnace.
ollC bdAl-SOotlllS y OSIlIS VI ltSS
to make-can be burned over and
over again. The wire protects its
shape through numerous refueling
operations.
Mr.. Lowell asserted that on the
basis of actual tests, three units in
a medium-SiZe stove proved suf-
f1cient to cook the average family
r11nn1 ubi1a tu-o m, +nroa unite va
placed hourly would keep an average
living room at a comfortable tenn
perature when it is freezing outside.
The average burning life of
single unit is one hour. and S to 10
units are enough to provide proper
rotation for continuous burning, he
explained.
Suggests L. s. Distribution.
One woman. conducting kitchen
experiment, reported three units
cooked her meal. including oven
baked bread and pie.
Fuel consumption is approxi-
n1ately l pint per hour" Mr.. Lowell
stated, adding that it should be
Just the trick for campers.
In passing the idea along to
Washington, Inventor Lowell sug-
eested the Government start saw
ing used oil drained from automo-
hileS, trucks and tractors and make
1t available to small fuel users,
especially the poorer classes, on a
cost basis.
Both o. P M. and the Office of
Price Administration expressed in
tereSt and the latter informed Mr..
Lowell staff of experts was study
ing its possibilities.
According to the United States
statistical abstract. more than
l250,0OOO00 gallons of motor lubri-
cants are produced annually in the
refneries of the United States
Mr.. Lowell declared.
Assuming that one-half of this
amount could be recovered and used
for fuel purposes, it would supply
the normal fuel needs for upward
of a half million small homes"
Mr.. Lowell described a test he
said was made in a medium sized
open fireplace.
"a normal fire constantly main
tained for four hours required only
3 pints Of oil waste" he asserted.
"a coal fire was then started in
the same fireplace, using a medium
grade Of soft coal, and to maintain
a fire generating approximately the
same heat for the same length of
time, required 81 pounds of coal"
Mr.. Lowell originally planned to
market the paper-wad burners in
dime stores throughout the coun-
try. deriving his profit from the
sale of handy metal containers
which the customer could Use for
refueling purposes.
But he was put out of business
before I got started" Under the
pinch Of defense prioritieS, he was
unable to obtain aluminium or steel
to manufacture the containers.