Coal-gas Fuel for Motor Vehicles.
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It was our pleasure, more than seven years ago (issue of the 29th April, 1909), to examine at considerable length the possibilities of use on the road of, compressed coal-gas as a fuel for motor vehicles. We then recorded particulars of some interesting•experiments with a four-cylinder 24-30 h.p. Duerkopp engine, together with illustrations. The issue, of course, is out 'of print: but we have no doubt that technical readers who are directly interested will have access to bound volumes or files. We were able to examine, in the course of our article, the essential factors which governed the use of compressed coalgas, which gas is allowed to issue from the containing cylinders through a suitable reducing valve, in ordinary petrol engines. One of the immediate consequences of our article. was the adoption by not a few important motor factories in the country of ordinary coal-gas, in place of petrol, for the shop-testing of engines. The economies which have thus been effected are very considerable.
It may interest many owners of commercial vehicles to know that gas at the ordinary range of prices per 1000 cubic ft. is equivalent to petrol at prices between, say, Bd. and 1s. per gallon. We have allowed for certain depot charges to cover compression, delivery into cylinders, etc., and the foregoing rates represent a range in the price of gas of from 2s. to 3s. per 1000 cubic ft. (after compression). One must admit that there are certain known difficulties which stand in the way of the general adoption of compressed coal-gas as a portable fuel for use in motor vehicles. The weights of the cylinders, and the spaces which they occupy, are the most obvious. Infrequent opportunity for access to compression stations, so that the cylinders in the vehicle may b3 refilled, is another, for it is only the owners of large fleets, and of them those, perhaps, who have their fleets concentrated on particular depots, who will usually be prepared to lay down their own com pression. plants. We understand that the capital expense on such a compression plant is well below £300; we shall have more facts available before long, A , knowledge of, current practice, in industries which have to employ gases under high compressions, and to move those gases about in steel bottles, enables us to inform our readers that one gallon of petrol can be replaced by three steel bottles, each measuring 4 ft. 6 ins, in length by 7 ins. in diameter (external dimensions)., with a gross weight, inclusive of the necessary couplings and valves, of not more than 6 cwt. The weight is, therefore, the most serious factor in the case, but it reed not in every instance be regarded as an insuperable one. We can conceive many examples of use in which it will pay handsomely to add to -a three-ton 'vehicle en extra ton of dead weight, representing a little more than three gallons of petrol, by reason of the fact that the economy which can be effected is materially greater than the involved cost per mile.
Let . us as.surae that a particular. owner .usually loads a_ four-ton vehicle with a 'maximum initial load, of three tons. :11 he were to equip .that chassis with the necessary ten gas-bottles of the above-mentioned size and capacity, and were able to keep in touch once in 18 or 20 miles with a compression station, either of his own laying-down or at the premises of a gas company, let us examine how his customary experience on petrol would in practice be affected ? The cylinders, in the first place, might very well be located on the existing floor of the wagon, and a false bottom placed over them. This would raise the height of the platform-level by not more than 9 ins., and the cylinders, once in position and secured, would remain there for all time, or until petrol fell to, let us say, 9d. a gallon—which comes to very much the same thing. In other cases, of course, other methods of disposing the cylinders might be superior, but the double bottom to the floor of the vehicle appears to offer the best place.
Objection No. 1 will be taken, on account of the increased unladen weight, that running costs will go up. We quite agree. They will go up by the standard difference between the inclusive running costs for three-ton and four-ton vehicles, say, by anything between 11d. and 1id. per mile run. Against this, what are the savings, or what may they be in the future ? We can proceed to ascertain. The maximum equivalent cost of the coal-gas, compressed and ready in the cylinders for delivery to the engine, should never exceed 3s. per 1000 cubic ft., and where the installation and organization are good, and the supply a cheap one—as at Widnes and other coal-area towns, might very well fall to half that cost. We are willing to take it, none the less, at 3s. per 1000 cubic ft. in the cylinders. About 330 cubic ft. of ordinary coal-gas is of the same thermal value as one gallon of petrol, but, qua works cost it must be remembered that gas which is compressed at any gas works is not liable to leakage in the mains, and can therefdre be supplied at a profit by the gas companies at a much lower figure than the normal commercial .rate. It is customary to reckon, throughout the gas industry, that the cost of gas in the large containers at the works is approxi mately is. per 1000 cubic ft. At 3s. per 1000 cubic ft., compressed coal-gas.is equal to petrol at is. per gallon; for the case of an owner who is working a vehicle of which the performance is only six miles to the gallon of petrol, on changing to compressed coal-gas the saving on the fuel will be at least 2d. per mile run. A safe margin, to offset the coat of carrying about a certain amount of dead weight, is thus assured.
Schemes for the use of coal-gas are by no means chimerical, but the subject requires to be tackled. on modern lines in relation to contemporary fuel prices. It is one to which we shall give more and early attention.
Export Trade: An Idle Rumour.
A rumour was being assiduously circulated, through at least sections of the motor industry, a little more than a fortnight ago, to the effect that a general relaxation was to be accorded to the motor industry in respect of export restrictions. The, parties who were telling this tale, and who appeared to believe it to be true, now state that 'the scheme has been shelved." If any such scheme ever started on its foredoomed way, it is only accurate to say that such a fate has overtakena, but anybody who is cognizant of the present state of supply and demand in the industry could not have given credence to the rumours. We are glad to know that they are finally laid to rest.
A more-liberal attitude in respect of " releases " is not Outside the bounds of possibility, although any such assistance to the industry will not be forthcoming without sustained efforts to prove its necessity. The export trade of the United Kingdom, so far as motors are concerned, is at present—and is likely to be for an indefinite time to come—in the nature of business with the Government. That classification, although nominally indicating but one customer, more particularly includes the Russian Commission, acting through British officials.
Petrol Has Failed.
it is six weeks ago since we published our warning article entitled " When Petrol Fails." We attributed the imminent failure to (1) diversion to other uses, such as the manufacture of high explosives, and (2) a statutory and preferential distribution. That particular effort of a number, to impress upon the minds of user's the conditions which were about to overtake them, coincided with the publication of the fourth article of our series dealing with "Two-fuel Carburetters and Fittings." We te-day publish No. 10. We hope to be able to include in this issue a specimen of the new rationing forms which are about to become operative, on the instructions of the Petrol .Control Committee, in respect of current supplies. These new petrol licences, on which, although concerned with rationing, the commercial-motor user will not be called upon to pay any extra tax, are to come into force on the 1st prox. It was originally intended that the operation of the new scheme should take effect to-day, but a deferment for another 11 days was in the end found to be expedient.
ci8 The commercial user who has a contract for supplies will not be able to enforce that contract, unless he is so classed. aa to be entitled to do so, or alternatively to the extent to which he is so entitled in the view of the Petrol Control Committee. The transference of a certain number of tank steamers, from the Eastern trade routes to the Atlantic route, has eased. the situation for commercial purposes appreciably. But for this departure, which increases the voyages per ship several times over annually, the extra supplies would not have been forthcoming. It would. not, we understand, have paid. the Shell group to buy spirit at ruling American prices, instead of from their own properties in the East, and to have kept down to the lower levels of prices which they for so many weeks exclusively observed. In so far as this change of policy is of benefit to the petrolvehicle user, whether private or commercial, it must be noted as of contemporary effect.
Sheffield's Motorbus Undertaking.
The motorbus branch of the Sheffield Corporation's Tramways Department is Ma outstanding success, and as 8uch has to be added to the growing list of motorbus undertakings in the country which have made good. We have observed the growth of the Sheffield Corporation's motorbus section with great interest, in part because we were ourselves keen advocates of its establishment, both in our own pages and in those of the two important. dailynewspapers which are published in the cutlery city, and in part because of the'stout fight which the Tramways Committee and its officials put up in Parliament in order to secure running powers outside the boundaries of the city itself.
The results at Sheffield form an object lesson, not only for other tramway-owning authorities, but for all social reformers who desire to see the working populations of the country allowed access to the country roads, instead of their being hemmed in within the bounds of the boroughs, as it is the apparent wish of the County Councils Association to hem them in. The great coming cause of " The roads for the people" will have a healthy backing from the experiences of Sheffield. It is not only the financial success there which counts, but the definite achievement. of a development which could not have taken place by any other means.
We make certain extracts from the accounts for the past financial year on page 425 of this issue. It will be noticed that, against .a traffic revenue of 12.07d. per motorbus mile,, the total working, expenses, inclusive of a charge for road-maintenance account tnd of war allowances to dependents, reach only 8.66d, per motorbus mile. The surplus of 3..41d. is reduced to a net surplus of 1.6d., after meeting all interest, sinking-fund, depreciation, and specialreserve charges. This net margin represents a realized profit of £3573, derived from a total routelength of 30 miles. The total mileage was 540,628 miles, and the total number of passengers carried by motorbuses 4,283,423. The floating capital, at the 31st March last, in respect of 18 motorbuses in service, was only P9973. Tramway men, above all, will know what these figures signify. We observe, with interest, that all the motorbuses but one are Daimlers from Coventry.