SOLIDIFIED PETROL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26541, 16 August 1947, Page 7

SOLIDIFIED PETROL

NON-INFLAMMABLE PRODUCT FRENCHMAN’S INVENTION N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent Rec. 8 p.m. LONDON. Aug. 15. A French inventor, M. Jean PathusLabour. who recently returned to Paris after working for the American War Department in the United States, claims to have invented a process for solidifying petrol and rendering it noninflammable. M. Pathus-Labour said he submitted his idea to the French Government in 1938, but it was rejected. . 1 During the war the Germans tried to obtain details of the process, and actually set up a factory to carry out experiments, but it was demolished by Allied bombing. The Americans later invited him to continue his work in the United States, and the Senate Finance Committee voted 4.500,000 dollars to finance further research work. The process transforms liquid petrol into either porous rubberlike blocks or small translucent beads. In this form it is noninflammable and can be handled without danger either in bulk or small retail packages. It could be sold over the counter like a bag of potatoes or stored for long periods without evaporation, which is at present responsible for the loss of approximately 15 per cent, in bulk liquid gasolene supplies. The process is now so simplified that one ton of solid petrol can be produced from the liquid at a cost of about half a crown. • ... The inventor said that certain modifi-i cations would be required in petrol engines using the polid fuel, but they were simple and consisted chiefly in discarding the carburettor and fitting another attachment. M. PathusLabour’s agreement with the American Government entitled the United States to free use of the patent, but does not preclude other nations or individuals from buying rights to use and exploit the invention in their own territories. The inventor demonstrated the noninflammable nature of his product, which he calls “ Carburolith, byapplying lighted matches to blocks of the solidified fuel without any noticeable result.