A REVOLUTION IN FUEL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2493, 25 December 1901, Page 48

A REVOLUTION IN FUEL.

OIL REPLACING COAL. It would appear that a change of veryconsiderable importance is coming in connection with the character of the feul used for producing steam. In the past coal has been regarded as most reliable, but of late attention has been directed to crude petroleum as a substitute. Very recently in Australian waters an illustration of this was given on the steamer Tanglin, from Singapore. This vessel belongs to the North German Lloyd's, a company hardly likely to take up a new system unless its engineers felt certain of success. How far this has been ensured may be gathered from the fact that the voyage from Singapore to Sydney, a distance of 5500 miles, was made at an average speed of 11£ knots per hour on a consumption of 13 tuns of oil per diem. The maximum speed, it seems, obtained under favourable conditions was 13 knots, but for various reasons no pressure was placed on the generator which supplied the steam to the engines. The _ trial proved the feasibility of the use of oil fuel beyond doubt, and hence the question of cost becomes the most important issue. Under the old system the Tanglin used 22 tons of coal per day. at an average cost of 2*s per ton. whilst only 13 tuns of oil were consumed during the same period, at a cost of £1 10s per tun, with the result of an increase in .speed of a knot an hour. Of course, there is still considerable room for improvement in the construction of the steam generators ; but this is certain to follow a general recognition of the advantages of oil ever coal for fuel purposes. Indeed, marine engineers already assert that the day is not far distant when, to the great relief and comfort of ike traveller, all the great steam liners will use oil in place of coal on account of its cheapness, large saving in labour, cleanli-n-ess, and lower temperature in the stoke hold. These are advantages which cannot be lightly overlooked, with the result that they should soon be utilised to their" fulleafc extent. In the meantime Professor T. Price, a distinguished American authority, has published the result of a seietific inquiry into the x'eiative values of oil and coal a3 fuel. The professor finds that on actual test 3j? tuna of oil is equal for steaming purposes to 9 tons of coal. Further, it was found, after a lengthened perioJ of experiments, that lib of oil would evaporate 201b of water whilst lib .of bituminous coal would only evaporate 651b of water. As regards weight, it appears that the advantage is largely in favour of oil. For instance, ,a 42-gallon barrel of oil weighs 3251b. Three barrels of oil will produce as much steam as one ton. of anthracite coal, so that in weight and bulk) the advantage for the former, it will be seen, is very considerable. Professor Price winds up his report by stating that, apart from the question of evaporative power and cost, oil, when used on a large scale, calls for but onethird of the labour required with coal ; the oil, when once properly regulated, flows automatically into the burner, and there are no clinkers to be removed or ashes to bo wheeled away. The use of oil fuel, however, is not to be confined to marine engines. Already its extensive adoption in the the Pacific States has materially reduced the imports of Australian coal into San Francisco. Accord* ing to the latest mail advices, the Californian railways are about to adopt oil as fuel for locomotives. The Southern Pacific Railway Company has 130 engines run* ning with oil, and is converting 660 more, representing the balance of its hauling stock, into oil burners. All this points to a revojutiofl. ig fuel coiid^itiou^