If Steam Does a "Come Back" with Methane to Fire
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the Boiler, Petrol May Become a "Back Number" L'EW people know that, in 1906, 1 the Stanley steam car held the world's speed record at 127.65 m.p.h., which remained an unbeaten performance for many years after: wards. Even a smaller number of the engineering community ever realized until a few months ago that a god natural gas fuel is available to be brought into use to conserve our supplies of petrol.
Here, then, are two avenues of war-time research, each fraught with untold possibilities for road transport and, in the case of the latter, the commercial development of a home-produced motor fuel would have a not inconsiderable effect on the Nation's trade balance.
Steam Engine the Best Prime-mover
Let us first review the possibilities of steam-driven motor traffic, bearing in mind that the claims of the reciprocating steam engine to be the best all-round prime-mover, can hardly be questioned, even including the steam turbine and the electric motor in the claimants, Steam turbines are designed to run at one certain speed and their motive power and efficiency decrease as the speed rises or falls from the design speed, whereas the reciprocating steam engine can run at any speed from rest to a maximum, depending on the mechanical limits of the engine.
, In support of this statement, it is a notable fact that large numbers of ocean-going vessels are equipped with reciprocating engines, because they must manceuvre in and out of small ports where tugs are often not available, whilst liners with set routes use turbines, because these machines give a decreased fuel consumption and smoother running.
The motor vehicle must be manceuvrable, wherefore a reciprocating engine is the only consideration. It is envisaged that it would be a quite practicable proposition to convert to steam existing engines already in vehicles. Moreover, if the existing gearbox were left in place the design of the steam conversion would be somewhat simplified.
There are, however, many ways and means to achieve the desired end not in the scope of this article, but in the province of the engineers. These, it is hoped, will give the problem their earnest consideration, if only for the reason that here is offered an immediately better method A30