CONVERSION TO COAL-GAS.
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Hints and Wrinkles to Garage Proprietors on Fitting-out.
The traffic department of the Leeds Industrial Do-operative Society, Ltd., now has six vehicles nulling on gas, and these, with its steam and electric vehicles, help it to carry on despite petrol difficulties. Che gas-equipped fleet includes two three-ton Austins, ach fitted with a l0 ft. by 7 ft. holder, which, as will 1e seen from the illustration on the next page, is :aaried on a, canopy which extends to a level with he front of the dumb-irons, but does not greatly :xtend over the loading platform ; hence, loading ,nd unloading are not interfered with to any degree. !lac]] of these vehicles has a radius of from', 8 to 0 miles. There is a 16 h.p. Thornycroft with a capacity if one ton fitted with a, two-cylinder engine ; this As a holder 12 ft. long br 6 ft. in diameter, this giving he vehicle a much longer_ radius of action, viz., 16 ailes. There are also three 10,-12 h.p. Belsize deivory vans, each having a holder 12 ft. long by 5 ft. liameter, and a radius of action of 18 miles.
Some doubts were felt with regard to the twoyliuder Thornycroft, as it was not thought that this ,ype of engine would run well on gas. It is highly irobable, however, that the large bore and slow speed d the engine are ideal for converting to gas, for the • ehicle, as converted, is in every way a success.
With regard to the fitting to the carburetter, -arious experiments were made, and in the end the :ngineers came to the conclusion that to get a good ttixture at all speeds it was best to copy the lines of he petrol carburetter;. in fact, to combine in one arburetter the use of the two 'fuels. The jets were lade from. in. brass rod. Each was drilled to about two-thirds of its length with a in. hole (Fig. 1). The front end was, screwed on the outside to in. gas thread for the 10-12 h.p. Belsize engines, and to -a in. gas thread for the Austins and Thorny crofts.
T h e internal bore tapering towards the nozzle end of the fitting W a s purposely left rather small. !he nozzle was then fitted to the carburetter in the allowing way :—The centre of the hole to be drilled a the carburetter was taken from the top end of the hoke tube (this is easily found by measuring down the inside); the hole was then drilled and tapped, and the jet fitted as shown in Fig_ 2. When everything wa-s fitted, the engine was startediup, and, as the nozzle had been left small, the engine power was usually found to be on the weak -side. The hole was then gradually enlarged with a taper reamer until the correct mixture was obtained. It was generally Thund that for the Austins a ala in. jet was necessary ; for the Thornycroft a in., and for the Belsize This method of fitting the jet to the engine entailed a little extra trouble, but the result proved that the trouble was well worth undertaking, as the loss was very little above 15 per cent. .
The quality of the gas has been found to vary eonsiderably in different 'districts. Leeds gas, for instance, requires about 280 cubic ft. to equal a gallon of petrol, the charge being 2s. d. per 1000 cubic ft. On these figures we are effecting a saving of' about two-thirds of the cost of consumption of petrol.
The Leeds corporation officials have helped considerably. The corporation officials are also equipping one of their own vehicles with a gas-holder.
Other vehidles belonging to the Leeds Industrial Co-operative Society will be equipped for using gas as quickly as possible.
Leeds Arranges Filling Stations.
The Leeds Corporation Gas Committee is displaying noteworthy enterprise in connection with the coal gas movement. At the works and gasometer stations in Meadow Lane, Dewsbury Road, New Wortley, Kirkstall.Road, Sheepsca:. and Lower Wortley facilities for charging the flexible containers have been installed. The requisite plant is simple and inexpensive in character. comprising for the most. part a new meter and short length of main. At the same time the committee have fixed the price of gas for this purpose at 4d. per 100 cubic ft., so that to fill a gas bag suck as is carried on a van with a 16-20 n.p. engine will cast about Is.