VEGETABLE OILS AS MOTOR FUEL

Northern Advocate, 4 October 1937, Page 8

VEGETABLE OILS AS MOTOR FUEL

Running on vegetable oil as fuel, a China-made 2£-ton bus has successfully completed a trial run from Shanghai, travelling more than 2000 miles and arriving together with a special official caravan from Nanking. Special interest is attached to this trial as China if striving to develop substitutes for imported gasoline which is costly and might be unavailable for ordinary purposes in time of war. It is estimated that the vegetable oil cuts fuel costs 86 per cent. Excellent Climbing Ability.

In travelling 4109 kilometres a total of 410 gallons of vegetable oil were consumed, average results working cut at 12.5 to 13 kilometres to the gallon. The bus has a speed of 40 miles an hour “top” and it showed excellent mountain-climbing ability.

With technical assistants from a German company which has Contract-

ed to give aid for the manufacture of vehicles for a period of five years, the bus was manufactured by a Chinese company of which Tseng Yang-fu, Mayor of Canton, is general manager. It is of streamlined construction and is equipped with 12 spacious sofa seats.

Various Oils Tried.

Along the way it gave demonstrations at various cities and towns. Various kinds of vegetable oils were tried out, including oils extracted from peanuts, tea, tung, poppy, cotton seeds and cabbage seeds. Tung oil, one of China’s most notable exports, was found to generate the most power, but it also showed a considerable tendency to foul the engine.

A charcoal-operated bus sought to make the trip along with the official Nanking caravan, >ut it failed to finish due to bearing trouble which was blamed on carelessness of the operator. The vegetable-oil bus used only two gallons of lubricating oil for the whole trip.

Engines fer both types of vehicle are more costly than the ordinary gasoline type.