ANOTHER GAS PRODUCER.
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A Resum.. of Recently Published Patents.
IT would, be folly to neglect to provide alternative fuels just because petrol is, for the time being, cheap. The price of motor spirit may go high just as suddenly as it reached'a low figure. .There should be plenty of room for the employment of such fuels as producer gaseven to-day in various sPheres; and it is significant that J. A. Ritte, in specificatiOn No. 205,595, describes his patent producer gas plant' ai being applied-to a tractor.
An important feature of this plant iS that it needs no . .
water either to use as steam in the furneee or as direct cleaning. agent fo•r the gas. The prodchier is of the cinwndraught type, the engine drawing its supply of the gas from belon. the fire. _A range oI cooling pipesrtraverses the length. and breadth of the chassis, the gas passing through these pipes from the front (where the producer is located) to the rear, then across the back, and forward again to the engine 'along the other side of the machine. The first length of pipes, from the producer to the rear of the chassis, may be cooled by being disposed inside a tank of water : the rest of the, piping is air-cooled. Whatever water is used in this way to cool the gas also serves to cool the engine, being circulated through the radiator and jackets in the usual manner. If found necessary, s-upplerrientary means of cooling this water so as to fit. it for its dual service is employed.
The inventor, in the course of this specification, reminds
as that, in the case where a petrel engine uses producer gas, there is a drop in power, so that, size for size, the producer gas engine is less powerful than the petrol-consuming unit. He also points out that the full power of an automobile engine is seldom continuously required, being needed, as a rule, only when hill-climbing, or when negotiating an unusually had piece of road. He provides for such a contingency by fitting a carburetter and carrying a supply of petrol. Between the carburetter and suction gas plant on the one hand, and the induction manifold of the engine on the other, is fitted a three-way valve which, in one extreme position, allows suction gas only to pass to the engine, and in the other petrol-air mixture: In any intermediate position it affords passage to both types of combustible gas in proportions which are controllable, and which depend upon the position of the three-way valve. Any power requirements, up to the maximum available in petrol fuel, can, therefore, be met by manipulation of this valve.
Other Patents of Interest.
A rather ingenious three-way hydraulic tipping gear is described in specification No. 192,389, the patenthe being J. E. F. Cainhessed&s. The body is hinged to the chassis in the manner customary with three-way tippers, being released for tipping purposes by the withdrawal of all the hinge pins but those about which tipping is to take place. There are two hydraulic rams in cylinders which are carried in spherical bearings on the chassis. The top ends of the rams are' also spherical and engage spherical bearings on the unclerside.of a bracket which, on its upper surface, is curved convexly in a direction transverse to the-longitudinal axis of the chassis, and which engages, through roller bearings, with a similarly curved bracket bolted to the underside of
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Specification No. 205,568, by 5.. H. Attwood and Ruston and Hornsiby, Ltd., describes a piston of the composite type, made of aluminium, but with cast-iron guides or slippers fitted. The head of the piston and the bosses for the reception of the gudgeon pin are of the lighter metal : the skirt is of cast-iron, and the two are cast together in such a manner that the two metals are free to expand and contract independently, both radially arid axially. The cast-iron skirt prevents piston slap and the aluminium head transfers-heat. • The Societe .A.n.onyine des Aeroplanes O. Voisin take advantage of the pumping action which occurs at the lop of the sleeve valves of an engine to provide means of lubrication for those sleeve valves, and for the packing .ring in the cylinder cover. A pipe Containing a non-return valve couples the space at the top of the...valves—a space hounded by the valves, the cylinder wall, and the cylinder covet—to ' the crankcase. When the movement of the valves creates a vacuum in that space, oil is drawn from the crankcase past the non-return valve.
A wipe contact breaker described in specification No. 205,562, by M. M. Ward, has the advantage tUt all rollers, Movable arms, pivots; pins and coil springs are eliminated from its construction. The brush is of laminated copper, sliding in a vertical 'slot, and operated: by .a -flat spring, which is attached to the briish 'holder. by a screw: The spring is carried right round the central boss of the brush holder, entering a slot in the' bottoni of the' vertiCialguide for the bush, and being 'so folcruiried on 'that slot "' that' it maintains a constant pressure upon • the 'underside. of the brush throughout the life of the latter, i-Cot diminish lug with the wear of the brush, and needing no adjcistinent.
The change-speed gear whiA is described in 'specification No. 205,671, by A. R. Bannister and another, is a combined friction and epicyclic gear inWhich the latter embodies.
worms and wheels as its principal components. There,. are t three discs, of which two are driven ' always at engine speed. The speed of the third is :variable, 'and it
drivesthrough the differential gearing to the finaldrive haft. An infinitely variable gear, embodying direct drive on top and a reverse, results., An ingenious two-stroke engine is described in Specifica'tion No. 187,967 by II. Billard. The 'distribution of the
gases is _ effected .by a trans;
versely . reciprocating v alv e located in the base of the cylin-. der,' between it and the Crank ..case, and operated by the.'con: necting rod, • which passes through a bole in it. . Upward movement of the piston creates • a partial Vacuum below it, into, . which the mixture rushes past one end of this valve. ,,On the . piston beginning todescend, the 1 gas thus induced is forded Out through a port, which is duly • •uncovered by the other end of the valve into 4 receiver, -whence it passes into the cylin
.. . der throng the usual opening in the cylinder wall