Five Months' Good Running with Sawdustas Fuel A LEEDS operator is
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successfully using sawdust as 'fuel for a producer-gas unit, by which he is running a Fordson 30-cwt. lorry. 'Formerly operating on anthracite, the plant has .been converted to consume this fuel. Now only sawdust is used except the small amount of petrol for starting.
The operator, who is also a motor engineer, is Mr. J. L. Brown, 10, Dragon Crescent, Whitehall Road, Leeds, 12. He built the plant himself and later adapted it for running on sawdust. He _explained to our Yorkshire correspondent, last week, that the principal modification for this purpose was the installation of apparatus for condensing and disposing of the tar which is contained in gas generated from wood.
His apparatus incorporates a car radiator, through which he passes the gai-and.in winch the tar is condensed. From this component, the gas and liquid compounds enter a separator and the drops of tar are collected.
Rated at 24 h.p., the engine of the lorry is a four-cylindered unit, having a bore and stroke of 9S.4 mm. and 107.95 mm. respectively. Running on gas made from sawdust, according to Mr. Brown, there is only A 10 per cent. pbwer drop from petrol performance. Our correspondent had no opportunity of checking this figure, and we feel fairly sure it is an underestimate.
After starting from cold on petrol, the engine will run on was in about half a minute. When stopped during the time the lorry is making 'a delivery call, we understand, it will restart on gas up to a waiting period of about 20 minutes.
As to range, with one filling of the hopper—about 56 lb. of sawdust—the vehicle, carrying a load of 2,f tons and towing a trailer with 1 ton on hard, Will run from Leeds to York, a distance of about 25 miles, and have a balance of fuel sufficient for making some calls in York. On flat roads, experience has shown that it is pos-L sible to attain a speed of 45 m.p.h.4 slight gradients reduce speed to just below, 30 m.p.h., and steeper hills bring it down considerably.
A disadvantage of the fuel Is that the sawdust displays a tendency to cake in the hopper, but it is thought that this can be overcome by shaping the container so that it is of smaller diameter at the top than at the bottom.
Mr. Brow,' stated that since the lorry began running on sawdust, in February last, it had averaged 200 miles per week on this fuel exclusively, except for
two gallons of petrol. During that period be had dismantled the engine and had found little or no cylinder wear.