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Coke Fuel Motors.

24th May 1917, Page 16
24th May 1917
Page 16
Page 16, 24th May 1917 — Coke Fuel Motors.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

By E. W. L. Nicol.

" The fuel problem is one Of ever-increasing difficulty. Petrol at its present price contributes appreciably to make motoring of less commercial value than it would otherwise be. ,Petrol will not be procurable indefinitely, and the end of each year witnesses more anxiety as to the'Supply. obtainable in the future." —E.A.C. Journal. May, 1914.

The influence of fuel costs upon the development of the mechanical transport industry becomes more apparent with the increasing extent to which petrol motors are being abandoned in favour of steam-driven vehicles. With a view to securing lower fuel costs many commercial motor users are adopting steam wagons of the ordinary locomotive type only to find themselves involved in difficulties in the matter of fuel supplies, owing to the wagons purchased being fitted to use relatively expensive Welsh coal, now practically unobtainable. Other kinds of coal are used only at the risk of prosecution for smoke emission, with consequent delays and annoyance Will America Shortly Consume Its Whole Petrol Output ?

The present conditions of scarcity and high cost of the staple motor fuels, namely, petrol, paraffin and Welsh coal, May be expected to continue far into the future. For reasons which should be obvious, normal supplies of imported spirit at reasonable prices are unlikely to be available immediately after the cessation of hostilities, and, to help pay for the war, smokeless Welsh, which is the most concentrated coal available and therefore the most • economical in tonnage, will probably be exported to a much greater extent, thus stiffening the price to the home user. Nor will the trend -of events in America tend to improve the immediate prospect of abundant supplies of petrol andfuel oils. The surplus available for export, after the rapidly increasing home demand in America has been satisfied, must be rapidly diminishing, and it is, moreover, largely in the hands of the big "combines " who will, no doubt, seek to take full advantage of the situation. The rate of increase in the American home demand. and consequent diminution in surplus available for export to this and other countries may_be gauged by the output of one large firm of petrol motor builders, which is said to be 1300 motors per day, or, say, 375,000 per annum. Taking the average yearly pe.tigol consumption of each at 500 gallons, the rate of diminution of surplus due to the output of this firm alone is, therefore, about 187 million gallons per annum. Petrol substitutes,. so far as they are available, will naturally follow petrol very closely in the matter of price, as recent experience has shown.

Benzole Will Be Needed Tor Dyes.

The extent to which the recovery of benzole in this country may be expected to relieve the situation can be estimated with some degree of accuracy. Benzoic is recoverable in the process of coke and coal-gas manufacture to the extent of about one and a half • gallon per ton of Coal carbonized but is necessarily limited in quantity by the amount of coal so treated, viz., some 36 million tons per annum.The total quantity which could possibly be made available from ' this source would therefore not exceed 70,000,000 gallons, a relatively small amourit compared with the total quantity of petrol normally imported, and sufficient only to supply the. needs of 20 weeks' output of Ford cars. All available benzoic, however, may be more usefully employed in developing the 'aniline dye industry. In view of the vital importance of benzole to the dye industry and, therefore, indirectly to the staple industries of the Midlands, no effort should be spared by those interested to support the gas industry by making use Of coke as fuel.

Striking Economy Figures ; Results of Tests of a National Coke-.fired Chassis.

To those unacquainted With the details of its production the inter-relation of benzole recovery and • coke production should be made quite clear. . Mainly with a view to absorbing surplus coke as well as preventing undue production, coke has, in the past, been used extensively at gas works in the process of making carkiretted water gas, which contains little or no benzole, and, moreover, is dependent upon imported mineral oil. It will be seen, therefore, that while it is to the national advantage and also to the

ate interests of both the gas and the motor transport industries to minimize so far as Possible the use of imported fuels and fuel material, it is incumbent upon those who wish to see abundant supplies of benzole to assist by making use of the , residual fuel, gas coke, which is the necessary concomitant 'of the production of benzole. One important direction in which the use of coke might with advantage be developed is in Steam-rnising generally and, in particular, for steam-driven vehicles. There is nothing new in using coke as fuel for this purpose, as the earliest-types of steam wagons were designed for use with this fuel exclusively. Restriction in tare weights has tended • to limit the size of steam-wagon fire-hoxes Ed) that the use of the best quality Welsh coal has therefore become desirable' and is often encouraged by the makers. Experience has shown, however, that existing types of steam wagons can be satisfactorily adapted to the use of suitably graded coke, while a comparatively new tyPe, the National, has, as a special feature, facilities for automatic coke firing, so that coke may, be used more conveniently. It is now proposed to adapt this type of chassis to public omnibus service and this tendency might be en.couraged with advantage to the national economic interests. Tests extending over twelve months in actual service have proved this type of omnibus and wagon to be quite practicable and, moreover, de • cidedly economical. Based upon the report of the R.A,C. Technical Committee the average coke' consumption on a run of 219 miles with a load of 2 tons 15 cwt. was about 4 lb. per mile. At 25s. per ton, over 7 lb. of coke is obtainable for one penny. It will be seen, therefore, that very considerable economy in fuel cost may be realized by adapting existing omnibuses to the use of coke as fuel in lieu of the relatively more expensive imported oil or petrol. The daily coke consumption of a; bus operating in the London area is about 4 cwt. and the estimated daily consumption of a full normal service of 4000 omnibuses would be about equal to the coke production of one of the largest London gas works.

Tags

Organisations: C. Technical Committee
People: Tor Dyes
Locations: London

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