NEW ROAD FUEL

Matamata Record, Volume XIX, Issue 1789, 7 December 1936, Page 6

NEW ROAD FUEL

KNOWN AS “PRODUCER GAS” A new British road fuel, recently subjected to a 1,000 miles road test, is claimed to reduce fuel cost to on*half that of Diesel oil and one-sixth the cost of petrol. It is known as “producer gas,” and is generated from solid anthracite, coke, charcoal or even peat. A successful road test of 1,000 miles has just been completed with a four-ton lorry. Experimental vehicles have bMB under test for some years, but the system is now so far advanced that the lorry is shortly t > be put into regular production. The new system is very simple and very good. A bucketful of the beat “kitchen nuts” is tipped into the ga3 generator, and within two to five minutes there is enough gas to start. Outwardly, the vehicle has little to distinguish it. The gas-producing plant is hidden beneath a normallooking bonnet, and does not take up any load-space. . The generator takes the place of the petrol tank and supplies gas instead of petrol to the engine. This gas is produced as fast as it is needed. The coke, charcoal or anthracite is heated in .a simple retort. To start up the lorry, a paraffin Wick is lit and inserted at the bottoitti of the generator. The solid fuel Starts at once to “cook” and produce gas, and within a few minutes the lorry is ready for the road. One load of fuel will last 200 miles. The engine, it is claimed, runs more quietly on gas than on petrol, and will take heavier loads in top gear.