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156 
A SAFER MOTOR SPIRIT
Page 105
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IN our issue for last week we referred briefly to a motor fuel, safer than ordinary petrol, which has been invented by MM. Ferrier and Bardel, whose address is care of the Air Union Aerial Transport Co., Le Bourget. Aerodrome, Paris. The fuel is a non-volatile spirit obtained from petroleum by the wellknown process of fractional distillation. It has a flash point of 37 degrees and a density of 0.78, at 15 degrees C. In the process of manufacture distillation commences at 145 degrees C. and ends at 200 degrees 0.
The inventors strongly object to their fuel being described as non-inflammable petrol. All that they claim is to have obtained a fuel, mainly, in the first instance, for aviation purposes, which is far less dangerous in use than ordinary petrol", and which should, in the vast majority of cases, avoid the horrible results of explosion and fire after an accident. Obviously, it offers equivalent advantages when employed in the engines of industrial motors.
No important engine alterations are required for use of the fuel, but certain modifications are needed in the carburetter_ These comprise an exhaustheated muff for the main air intake and a small pressure pump connected up to the throttle control for acceleration. All the first experiments were made with Saltuson engines and modified Zenith aviation carburetters ; the Zenith Co. has now produced a special carburetter incorporating the pump and hot-air muff, and it is with this that all the recent service flights have been made.
A strong point in favour of the fuel is the claim that combustion is complete, no residue of unburnt fuel remaining in the exhaust gases or going into the crank chamber. It is important, when employing the fuel, to have the induction manifolds arranged in such a manner that no fuel can be deposited upon the interior walls by centrifugal force at the bends, as the fuel enters the engine in the form of particles and not as a gas. Amongst demonstrations given by M. Bardel during a visit made by our Paris representative to Le Bourget one or two were distinctly impressive. The fuel was splashed in large quantities over the red-hot exhaust pipe of an engine actually running, and other distinctly risky experiments were tried. The only possible way in which we could get the fuel to light was by soaking a rag in it and applying a match, but even crude petroleum will burn under such conditions. The. opinion of pilots interrogated on the new fuel was distinctly favourable, and it will be interesting to learn how the fuel behaves in the-hands of 'commercial-motor engineers.
There are no patents upon the process of manufacture, and there is no special difficulty attaching to its manufacture. It is an industrial spirit, in the production of which special attention has been given to distillation curves and flash point, also to the relative proportions of the natural hydrocarbons constituting the fuel. That is all.