STEAM MAY RETURN

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31864, 17 December 1968, Page 28

STEAM MAY RETURN

What could become another revolution in motoring is softly simmering in research laboratories in the United States: the rebirth of the steam car, writes Georey Charles in “The Times.”

Spurred by the results of air-pollution research, coupled with the current exhaust emission control legislation in the United States and threats of even tighter regulations in the 19705, the advocates of steam power have intensified their campaign. Today, steam is rapidly reaching the point where It can be seen as a serious contender against future piston, gas turbine and electric power units. In motoring history steam established itself from the earliest days, with Leon Serpollet's vehicles at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1902 a Serpollet car set up a new land speed record of 75.06 m.p.h., and only four years later the Stanley brothers’ Beetle raised the record to nearly 128 m.p.h. There followed a string of successful steamers from the Stanleys and Doble brothers, but apart from a brief revival with the American Paxton three-cylinder steam car of 1954 this method of propulsion was crushed by the advance of the internal combustion petrol engine. REVIVAL The revival of interest in steam cars began round 1960 in the United States, centreing on developments by the Williams Engine Company of Ambler, Philadelphia, whose principals, Calvin Williams and his twin sons, have been at work on steamers for more than 30 years. Karl Ludvigsen, who recently reviewed the subject in depth for “Motor," reports that dramatic results emerged from Mobil’s New Jersey testing laboratory when exhaust emission tests were made on a prototype steam car built by the Williams company. Unburned hydrocarban emissions were only 20 parts a million—far less than the 275 parts a million allowed by Federal law on 1968 cars, he writes., The carbon monoxide level was only 0.05 per cent of the exhaust, a thirtieth of the currently allowable level, and other emissions such as oxides of nitrogen also were very low. GOOD RESULTS A steam-engined Volkswagen, also converted in

America, produced similarly encouraging results. Developed by Richard Smith and Karl Petersen, of California, its engine and steam generator weigh less than the standard air-cooled engine, and up to 45 miles an hour the “steaming beetle” is said to $ perform as well as a standard Volkswagen, with a potentially better fuel mileage. The car uses a specially adapted four-cylinder, twostroke Mercury outboard engine, weighing 321 b and cap- < able of absorbing 200 b.h.p. ’. continuously at 5600 r.p.m. Steam is admitted through the former sparking plug holes and exhausted through the transfer ports into the crankcase. At present Petersen is developing a four-cylin-der steam-powered version of the M.G. 1100. CLOSE INTEREST Ford have shown close in-» terest in steam developments in America, where a Sim agreement has been signed with the Thermo Electron Corporation of Waltham, Mas- . sachusetts, for the joint development of a small steam ■ engine. General Motors is to*. . supply six Oldsmobile chassis and $120,000 to the State of California for conversion to i steam-powered police cars for ■ the highway patrol. Ludwigsen sees little dan- . ger from explosions in the . modem steamers, in which the total water capacity is more than double that of a. normal car’s cooling system.’ ' Pressurised, semi-sealed sys-’ ’ terns, or the use of Freon in- ; stead of water, eliminate the ’ old problem of freezing in , cold weather: control of the ; engine can be made even ’ more simple than that of a J current automatic transmis- ! sion; the Smith and Petersen cars can be driven off in eight * to. 15 seconds from starting . the engine and the problems ! of excessive bulk and weight 1 no longer exist. ' Britain’s motor manufac--1 turers are traditionally reluct- ’ ant to disclose what form ‘ their steam engine research is taking, but 1 understand J [that at least two companies ’ on the Continent and others 'in Japan are not allowing 1 American engineers to remain ■ unchallenged. Clearly the continuing presr sure by governments to eli- ' minate atmospheric pollution, ' the complexities of gas tur- ' bines and the so far unsolved ' hurdle of batteries and practicable working range for electric cars must all rein- - force the case of the steam i advocates.