I A PRODUCER-GAS RAIL MOTOR COACH. A Type of Vehicle with
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which Experiments are Being Conducted I on a French Railway System. --— — Il A N accompanying illustration depicts an interesting rail motor coach with which experiments are at present being made by the Societe des Tramways de la Vendee on its local railway system in the French Department of Vendee. The chief feature Of the vehicle, win& was built in the company's own workshops, is that the power for the Renault fourcylitolered engine of 18 h.p. (French rating), the bore and stroke of which are 05 mm. and 160 num respectively, is supplied by a producer-gas plant of the type manufactured by the Societe des Amiens Fltablissements Gepea, of 44, Rue Blanche, Paris..
The generatbr, which is mounted at the side of the driver, is cylindrical in form and is adapted to use charcoal.
fuel. A feature of the plant is the provision of a recuperator and small boiler adjacent to the generator, their purpose being (1) to cool the gas as it comes from the producer, (2) to heat the. air serving to gasify the charcoal, and (3) to provide steam which, as it is automatically fed to the generator, enriches the gas with hydrogen to an appreciable extent. For cooling purposes the charcoal gas is conducted from the boiler along piping, arranged along and under the chassis, to a couple of purifiers mounted on the front off-side of the coach. Thence before reaching the engine the gas passes through an additional filter in order that it shall be entirely free of dust or other impurities. The mixer, or carburetter, is so arranged that the engine can be started on petrol and afterwards run on charcoal gas, or on a mixture of the two fuels. It is claimed that only a few minutes' running on petrol is necessary to bring tho gas-producer into full operation, and
that by fully charging the generator the night before and leaving a small light below it the plant can be made ready very quickly for operation the net morning and without using petrol.
The generator is provided with a hopper of sufficient capacity for a run of about 25 miles, without requiring any attention. The makers of the Gepea plant, which for engines of from 15 h.p. to 25 h.p. weighs about 4 cwt., claim that, although as compared with petrol the power development is about 10 per . cent. less, this is more than counterbalanced by the economy of from GO per cent. to 75 per cent, which is effected in fuel costs by using charcoal: Se far as other details of the rail coach are concerned these, generally speaking, follow the arrangement usually adopted in road vehicles, the
transmission to the rear axleby propeller shaft and bevel gearng. The coach has seating accommodation for 25 passengers and standing room for seven others on the rear platform.