CHAPTER VIPETROLEUM AS FUEL

A PRIMITIVE METHOD OF TRANSPORTING OIL

At the end of 1865, a Henry Harley commenced the laying of a pipe-line to the terminus of the Oil Creek railroad, but teamsters cut the pipes, burned the collecting tanks, and retarded the work in every possibleway. Armed guards eventually came on the scene, the mob was quelled and dispersed, and the line completed. It was of 2-inch diameter, and laid to handle 800 barrels of oil daily: this was the first successful and profitable pipe-line on record for the handling of oil.

From this time, the number of pipe-lines have multiplied, until to-day there are thousands of them scattered throughout every oil-producing field of America. The first long main transportation line for oil was laid in 1880 from Butler County to Cleveland, a distance of over 100 miles, and immediately after its completion, trunk lines were commenced from the Bradford oil region to the Atlantic seaboard. The popularity of this new method of oil transportation may be judged from the fact that within three years from the completion of these first propositions, the National Transit Company possessed over 3,000 miles of oil pipe-lines, and had iron tank storage for 35,000,000 barrels of crude oil.

Then a few master minds came to the front, and loyally supported by Mr. John D. Rockefeller, of Standard Oil fame, they undertook the herculean task of practically girdling the States with a system of oil pipe-lines that has no parallel anywhere. They eliminated the jaded horses, oil-boats, wooden tankage, and slow freights, tedious methods, and questionable practices of handling petroleum, and substituted therefor the stem pump, the iron conduit, the steel tank storage, and systematic and businesslike methods which soon commanded the confidence and respect of all oil-producers. They extended their pipe-lines to practically every producing well and established a transportation system which serves the industry to-day as no other on earth is served. The advantages of the modern pipe-line to the oil-producer are obvious.A pipe-line connection to a producer’s tank ensures prompt service and a cash market for his product at all times. The small line connected with his tank conveys the crude oil therefrom, either by gravity or by means of a pump, into a receiving tank of the gathering or field lines of the pipe-line system, from which it is pumped into the main trunk pipe-lines to the refineries.

OIL PIPE-LINE CONNECTIONS IN THE AMERICAN FIELDS

The system by which the producer can have payment for his oil at any time, for he is credited with its value when it once enters the pipe-line, is the perfection of simplicity, accuracy, and efficiency. The pipe-line of which the gathering or field lines are composed varies in diameter from 2 to 8 inches, the joints of which are screw threaded. The main trunk lines are from 6 to10 inches in diameter, and pumping stations, supplied with powerful plant driven by steam or internal combustion engines of the Diesel type, are located at suitable points of the line. According to the nature of the crude oils to be passed through the pipe-line must the erection of pumping houses be governed: for instance, in handling the heavy Californian or Mexican crudes, the pumping stations have to be much nearer each other than when a lighter crude oil is transported. Some of the heavier oils have, in fact, to be heated before they enter the pipes at all.

As already mentioned, the total oil transported to-day by the American pipe-line system exceeds half a million barrels daily. The lines themselves—all laid, of course, below ground—are so unobtrusive and do their work so quietly and unseen, that they attract no attention, and yet they are vastly important to not only the business of the States, but to those myriads of consumers abroad.

It is, in fact, impossible to over-estimate the importance of this up-to-date system of oil transportation in the United States as it exists to-day. To show the impossibility of conducting the present-day American petroleum industry without the use of pipe-lines, let me give a few facts. The large oil-tank cars, which are not unusual sights on our railways, hold, at the maximum, about 25 tons of oil. Excluding California altogether from these illustrations, the half-a-million barrels of oil which are transported daily in the States by pipe-lines would fill over 2,500 tank cars. Taking 25 cars to make up a freight train, it would require fully 100 trains daily to transport the oil that now goes by pipe-line, and inasmuch as it is estimated that the oil on the average is transported overland (or, rather, under-land) 1,000 miles, it would require, approximately,200,000 railroad tank cars to do the daily work in connection with the transport of oil in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, for the average movement of tank cars is 30 miles daily, and all empty cars must be returned. No less than 8,000 railroad engines would be required to do this work, which, on the face of it, is a railway impossibility.

I am afraid I have devoted more space to the question of pipe-line transport in the States than the confines of this little work warrants, but the subject is one of great interest to all who would know the magnitude of the organization which is comprised in the limits of the petroleum industry.

The United States, however, is but one of the large oil-producing countries where the pipe-line system for the land transport of oil has become the backbone of transport. In Russia, for instance, the fields of production are situated hundreds of miles from the exporting ports, and, following upon the principles which obtain in the United States, the pipe-line system had, perforce, to be adopted. In this respect, however, Russia has still a great deal to learn from our Western friends, and the conservative policy which permeated the Russian Empire as a whole has precluded the making of much headway.

The Russian oil-fields—those of Baku and Grosny—are situated at great distance from the coast, and the necessity of connecting both fields with the export port of Batoum, on the Black Sea, has frequently been put forward as a project offering the one solution of the difficulties attending the retention of a large export oil trade. The Grosny pipe-line is still a scheme for future solution, but that affecting Baku has been solved by the laying of a pipe-line from Baku to Batoum. This line, which is approximately 650 miles long, runsdirect between the two oil centres and, assuming it operates 24 hours in the day, has a capacity of transporting over 3,000 tons of oil daily. Inasmuch as the Russian oil refineries are at Baku, the line is used solely for the transportation of the refined products. The line itself is laid alongside the railway line of the Transcaucasian Railway, at a depth of 4 feet, but many strange stories are related as to the tapping of it at various points, and a lucrative trade being done in the oil so caught.

When normal conditions return to Russia and the petroleum industry rights itself, Russian petroleum products will again come on the international markets, and in this respect the Grozny oil will be able to secure an outlet via Novorossisk.

Roumania can also boast of a main trunk pipe-line for refined products from the inland refineries direct to the port of Constantza. This important project, which has been carried out practically by the Government itself, was just about ready for service when the European War broke out: it has, therefore, had little time in which to display its practical use to the petroleum industry at large. When one recollects that Roumania’s future, so far as the petroleum industry is concerned, lies in the direction of the building up of its already established export trade in petroleum products, the necessity for such a trunk pipe-line to the seaboard has been obvious for many years. Unlike the case of the United States, there are no interesting events to recall which delayed the advent of this new form of land oil transportation. There is only one oil pipe-line of any considerable length in the United Kingdom and this runs across Scotland from Old Kilpatrick (on the west) to Grangemouth (on the east coast), its terminal being in close proximity to the naval base atRosyth. The line, which is 36 miles long, was laid to circumvent the activity of enemy submarines, but was only completed in November, 1918, after the conclusion of the European hostilities.

The one other important oil-pipe-line which calls for mention is that connecting the oil-fields of Persia with the coast. In this scheme, the British Government is heavily interested, and, though there has been much criticism of its action, there is no doubt that, in due time, the Persian fields will play an important part in the supply of petroleum products to England, and, in that connection, the Persian pipe-line must naturally prominently figure, since, without it, there would be numerous difficulties to be contended with in getting the oil to the coast.

The carrying of large quantities of petroleum products over the seas of the world is a subject which has taxed the minds of experts quite as much as that of land transport. For many years it was the rule to ship petroleum products overseas in the ordinary barrels (approximately, 42 gallons each) to the consuming countries. It was a costly business, for, apart from the initial cost of the barrels themselves, they took up a very considerable space on the vessels, which was not proportionate with the quantity of oils carried. Leakage also played a very important rôle in this ocean transport, and, generally, the principle left much to be desired. TheAtlanticwas doubtless the first vessel designed to carry petroleum in bulk from America, but records show that some years previously—in 1863—a Mr. Henry Duncan, of Kent, sent the first oil-carrying vessel to Europe. The vessel, however, never completed her voyage, for she was lost in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, just as she was starting on her trip across the Atlantic. TheCharles—quite a small vessel—alsoplayed a part in the early days of bulk oil transport across the Atlantic, for this steamer was, I believe, the first to employ iron tanks for the bulk transport of petroleum. After these first few attempts to convey petroleum in bulk from continent to continent, tank vessels steadily wiped the barrel-carrying boats off the seas. It was found that not only did oils carried in bulk take up but one-half the space of those in barrels, but the cost of the oak-staved barrels themselves (usually 5s. each) was obviated. At first, sailing ships were adopted to meet the newer requirements, but later, vessels propelled by steam were introduced.

At first the shipbuilders had nothing to guide them in the shape of practical experience of bulk oil carriers, but, from small things, a great ocean trade in bulk petroleum products soon grew. It is interesting to note the enterprise which English shipbuilders displayed in this new method of handling petroleum for ocean transport, for during at least two decades the vast bulk of construction of oil carriers took place in English shipbuilding yards. The opening of the Far Eastern fields of production led to the construction of a large number of oil tankers—each of increasing size—for Messrs. M. Samuel and Company, and these were named after various shells. The fleet of “Shell” tankers to-day ranks as one of the finest in the world, and forms the connecting link between the prolific oil-producing properties of the “Shell” Transport and Trading Company, Ltd., in the Far East, and the demand for petroleum products in this and other countries, the vessels themselves being owned by the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company, Ltd., one of the influential owning interests in the wide ramifications of the “Shell” Company.

For several years the oil tankerNarragansett, ownedby the Anglo-American Oil Company, Ltd. (London), held claim to being the largest bulk oil carrier in the world, for the good ship had a capacity of nearly 11,000 tons of products. The size of this vessel may be judged from the fact that she had a length between perpendiculars of over 510 feet, with a 63 feet beam, while her moulded depth was 42 feet. This vessel, which marked a distinct step forward in oil tanker construction, belonged to Lloyd’s A1 three-deck class. The Anglo-American Oil Company has shown its belief in oil fuel for ocean power purposes by contracting for internal combustion-engined tankers, and the first of this class was launched in November, 1919.

ONE OF THE MAMMOTH TANKERS OF THE EAGLE OIL COMPANY’S FLEET

It was left to the enterprise of the Eagle Oil Transport Company—that important concern associated with LordCowdray’s immense oil organization for handling Mexican petroleum products—to make what will ever go down as the most bold policy of increasing the size of oil tankers by 50 per cent. upon all predecessors. Some six years ago, just when the Mexican fields were commencing to pour forth their flood of oil for the world’s requirements, the Eagle Oil Transport Company included in its programme of activities the building of an immense fleet of oil tankers, and it was decided that a number of these should each have a capacity of 15,000 tons of petroleum products. There were many who asserted that the limit to the size of oil tankers had been reached, but, undaunted, the Company went forth with their policy. It was a bold stroke, yet a successful one, for not only have the vessels proved to be very practical, but they have taught a lesson in economy of ocean transport which has been seriously taken to heart by practically all engaged in ocean oil transport.

I had the honour of being one of the invited guests at the launch of the first of these gigantic oil carriers, and of subsequently experiencing a trip in the mammoth floating “tank.” The vessel behaved admirably at sea, and in a chat with the designer, I recollect asking if there were any reason to believe that the limit in size had been reached. The reply was pointed: “So long as we can have loading and discharging berths large enough to enable such large vessels to be manipulated, we can easily go beyond the present size.” Events have proved that the policy adopted by the Eagle Oil Transport Company was justifiable, for already a new oil tanker, theSan Florentino, has been built, having a capacity of over 18,000 tons.

Before leaving this interesting subject of ocean oil transportation, I should like to emphasize the distinctstep forward which is marked by these latest oil tankers. To-day, we have entered the era when oil fuel has passed its experimental stages and become one of the greatest boons to those associated with the navigation of the seas. The ease with which oil fuel is handled is remarkable, for vessels of the largest size—that is, those using oil instead of coal for power purposes—could replenish their stores within a few hours at any oil port. In the transport of petroleum by the modern tankers, the taking on board of a full cargo is accomplished in about a single day, thanks to the most improved means of pumping oil from the shore tanks through flexible pipes. The great oil tankers trading between this and other countries and Mexico, load up off the Mexican coast by means of a submarine pipe-line, and, reckoning but fourteen return trips per annum, it will easily be apparent what immense stores of petroleum can with ease be brought to the centres of consumption. Compare this with the primitive methods of transport in barrels, and it will be readily seen with what rapidity the hands of progress have moved during comparatively recent years.

The vast majority of oil tankers to-day, true to their calling, derive their power from oil, for they burn it under their furnaces, and, therefore, are not liable to those tedious delays so inseparable from the use of coal, and should severe storms beset their passage in Mid-Atlantic, then a little oil pumped overboard will quell the most turbulent sea and permit a safe passage onward.

It is evident, however, that the motor-engined oil tanker will be the order of the future, for already vessels are being built which utilize oil fuel internally—a much more economical process than burning it under boilers.

So much has been written of late as to the use of petroleum as fuel for the purposes of steam-raising, that the reader is bound to be more or lessau faitwith the subject. It is, of course, one of vast importance, and during the next decade is certain to receive far more consideration than it has hitherto done, owing to the general desire that our coal wealth shall be conserved as much as possible. Given the one allowance that oil fuel can be procured at anything approaching a reasonable figure—and there is no reason why, in normal times, this reasonable price should not be prevalent all over the world—then petroleum offers many advantages over its older competitor, coal. The ease with which large quantities can be handled, the simple method of operating anything which is fired by petroleum as fuel, and the fact that its heat-giving units are far higher than those of coal, will ever be the chief factors governing its popularity.

Many years ago, fuel oil made its serious début, but at that time the supply of the product was very uncertain, and, consequently, progress in passing from the old to the new form of power-raising was slow. To-day, however, matters have materially changed. The crude oil output has been immeasurably increased, and many fields whose production of crude oil is essentially suited for fuel purposes have been opened up. In this respect, the oil-fields of Mexico have no parallel, and it is recorded that, once these fields are provided with adequate storage and transport facilities,they can easily supply the whole of the fuel oil necessary for the world, and at the same time have immense quantities to spare.

But, though the subject of petroleum as fuel has aroused much attention for some years, there is still an erroneous idea prevailing as to what really is fuel oil. A word or two on this question will, therefore, not be without interest. Fuel oil is that portion of crude oil which is incapable of giving off by the process of ordinary distillation those lighter products of petroleum known as motor spirit, illuminating oils, or lubricants. It is, in a word, the residue of distillation which is unsuitable for refining purposes. It represents a black, tarry liquid, and is, of course, minus those fractions that go to produce the refined products. Many there are who refer to crude oil as fuel oil, but this is a misnomer, though crude oil, in many instances, is utilized for the purposes of fuel. In this chapter, however, when I speak of fuel oil, I am referring not to the crude oil as it comes from the ground (and which has a comparatively low flash) but to the article of commerce, the residue of distillation, which is the real article—fuel oil.

The headway which fuel oil has made during the past few years has been remarkable, though it is safe to say that its general use is still in its infancy. In no matter what capacity it has been tried as a heating or steam-raising agent, it has proved itself capable of withstanding most successfully the most stringent tests, and has convinced all who have given the question serious consideration that it holds numerous advantages over coal, yet has no drawbacks. Perhaps the most recent impetus which has been given to the use of fuel oil is that following the introduction of it, and now its general adoption, throughout the units composing the British Navy. On land, however, it has for someyears achieved marked distinction. Especially is this the case in regard to its use on locomotives, the United States railways alone consuming last year over 6,000,000 tons of fuel oil. In the realms of industry, fuel oil, too, is claiming the attention of those large industrial establishments, and to-day is largely used for creating intense heats, such as are necessary in hardening, annealing, melting and smelting, rivet heating, glass-melting, etc.

Let me first of all refer to the use of oil fuel for marine purposes. Fifteen years ago, its use was very strongly advocated by Sir Marcus Samuel, Bart., for marine purposes, and he approached the British Government in an endeavour to get it taken up. Matters moved very slowly, but eventually oil fuel was adopted, and Admiral Sir William Pakenham asserts that it was due to the unceasing efforts of Sir Marcus Samuel that the Admiralty vessels constructed during the war were oil burners. The largest of this new class of vessels is theQueen Elizabeth. Oil fuel is now largely used in place of coal on our great liners, vessels like theAquataniaandOlympichaving gone over to its general use.

There are, of course, many reasons which have commended fuel oil to the experts as a substitute for coal. In the first place, inasmuch as one ton of fuel oil is equal to more than one-and-a-half tons of coal, the radius of action of units fitted for utilizing fuel oil is increased over 50 per cent.—I speak from the point of view of bunker weight. Again, one ton of oil occupies considerably less space than an equivalent weight of coal, while this advantage can be materially increased—as is now the usual practice—by carrying the fuel oil in double-bottom tanks. Then the bunkering question is one of vital moment. Fuel oil can be taken on boardunder far cleaner conditions, and at a greatly accelerated rate, than would be possible with coal. There is no arduous manual labour required. Once the hose connections have been made, the fuel oil is pumped on board at the rate of hundreds of tons an hour, and a few hours suffice to re-fuel our largest battleship. But it is when bunkering at sea is required that fuel oil further emphasizes its immense advantages. This question was some years ago one of the problems of naval strategy: to-day it is regularly carried out in the simplest possible fashion, hose connections to a standing-by oil tanker being all that is required.

Another advantage of fuel oil is that materially increased speed can rapidly be attained, for, with fuel oil fired furnaces, the ship’s boilers can be forced to nearly 50 per cent. above normal rating without that great strain on the personnel which would be essential in burning coal under forced draught. Then there is the great saving of labour effected when burning fuel oil, the stokehold staffs being reduced by quite 90 per cent. The fuel oil is automatically fed to the furnaces and mechanically fired, the maximum heat of the oil burners being attained within a few minutes of starting. But the absence of smoke when the battleship is proceeding at full speed is, perhaps, one of the most important advantages which the use of fuel oil gives to the units of the fleets employing it. The emission of dense volumes of smoke, which are ever present on a coal-fired vessel, is quite absent when fuel oil is used, and this advantage is twofold, for not only does it prevent the giving away of the location of the battleship, but it also renders its own gun-fire more efficient.

The advantages attendant upon the use of fuel oil for naval vessels are, in the main, also strikingly apparent when oil is adopted for the mercantile marine.It is many years ago since the oil tankers of the “Shell” Transport and Trading Company, Ltd., commenced to do the voyage regularly from the Far East to this country and back without an intermediate port of call. To-day, practically every oil tanker afloat burns fuel oil. But, of recent date, fuel oil has reached wider application by reason of its being adopted on many cargo and passenger vessels, and, had the European War not considerably hampered ordinary shipbuilding construction, we should have seen ere this a number of the largest vessels crossing the Atlantic exclusively running on oil. In fact, arrangements have been made whereby many of our Transatlantic lines will operate exclusively on fuel oil, which will be taken on board in the United States.

TAKING OIL FUEL SUPPLIES ON BOARD

My friend, Mr. J. J. Kermode, of Liverpool—the well-known fuel oil expert—has taken the most prominent part in calling general attention to the immense superiority of fuel oil over coal, and it is due to this gentleman’s untiring energies that not only does our Navy to-day use fuel oil to such an extent, but that those responsible for ocean passenger transport have taken the matter up so seriously. There are three general headings under which fuel oil use will affect transport costs. They are as follow: (a) by increased passenger or cargo capacity, (b) by increased speed, and (c) by a great reduction in running costs. As to the increased capacity, I have already shown that fuel oil can be stored in considerably less space than coal, and the simplicity of both bunkering fuel oil, and using it on vessels, has also been touched upon. With reference to the increased speed which vessels utilizing fuel oil can attain over those running on coal, I have a concrete example in front of me. Two sister ships of the Eagle Oil Transport Company—theSan Dunstanoand theSan Eduardo—each of 9,000 tons deadweight capacity, are fitted to burn coal and fuel oil respectively. Upon a trip carried out under careful observation, the weight of fuel consumed worked out as two to three in favour of fuel oil, while the indicated horse-power developed showed an 18 per cent. improvement in the case of the oil-fired vessel. But the striking fact of the comparison is that theSan Eduardomade the round voyage to Mexico—out and home—eight days quicker than the other, this additional speed being solely due to the fact that with fuel oil it was possible to maintain consistent speed throughout the voyage—an impossible matter when coal is consumed. If space permitted, I could enumerate many cases where the results in favour of fuel oil are even more strikingly apparent, butI will content myself by briefly referring to calculations made by Mr. Kermode, based upon voyages of our largest liners: they are sufficiently interesting and suggestive to record here. On an average, says Mr. Kermode, to maintain a speed of 25 knots, 5,500 tons of coal are consumed upon the voyage between Liverpool and New York by one of the mammoth liners; or 11,000 tons for the round trip. Some 3,300 tons of fuel oil—which could be stored if necessary (and as will frequently be done in the future) in the double bottom of the vessel—would, by automatic stoking, do even more work than 5,500 tons of coal. Calculating the daily consumption of 600 tons of coal now used for 24 hours, this represents about 2,000 tons less fuel on a five days’ trip, land to land run, or 4,000 tons less, out and home. The utilizing of the vacant space thus saved for merchandise would bring in a very handsome income. Of the 312 firemen and trimmers now employed for a coal-fired liner, 285 might be dispensed with, and occupation found for them under healthier conditions ashore, say in handling the additional cargo which would be carried. The saved accommodation in this respect could be allotted to third-class passengers, of whom at least another 250 could be carried. Our mammoth liners are fitted with 192 furnaces in order to produce 68,000 horse-power (as was the case of theMauretaniaand theLusitania), and, on the assumption that thirty-two fires are cleaned every watch, 10,000 indicated horse-power is lost every four hours through burning down and cleaning, a quite unnecessary operation with fuel oil. Figures such as these show the startling possibilities of fuel oil for marine purposes.

TYPICAL LIQUID FUEL BURNERSTHE KERMODE STEAM BURNERKERMODE’S AIR JET BURNERIn the steam burner, the oil enters through B, the valve G giving it a whirling motion. The steam goes round the cone A.Fis the air cone, the amount of air being adjusted by the openings D by means of a perforated strap E. In the air jet burner the oil enters at A. The previously heated air enters at the branches B and C, and as the air passes C it meets the oil as it passes the control valve operated by E.

THE KERMODE STEAM BURNER

KERMODE’S AIR JET BURNER

In the steam burner, the oil enters through B, the valve G giving it a whirling motion. The steam goes round the cone A.Fis the air cone, the amount of air being adjusted by the openings D by means of a perforated strap E. In the air jet burner the oil enters at A. The previously heated air enters at the branches B and C, and as the air passes C it meets the oil as it passes the control valve operated by E.

But it is on land, as well as on sea, that we find fuel oil rapidly making headway, for, as far back as 1889, hundreds of the Russian locomotives went over to theburning of a petroleum residue. This was the first practical application of fuel oil for railway haulage. To-day, nearly 50,000,000 barrels of fuel oil are consumed annually by the various railroads in the United States, and, according to the official figures I have of the total mileage of fuel oil for the past twelve months, the United States oil-burning locomotives did journeys aggregating over 145,000,000 miles. Mr. Hall, of the American International Railway Fuel Association, is responsible for the statement that, owing to the fact that the steaming capacity of the engines is materially increased, a locomotive running on fuel oil can haul a load of considerably greater tonnage and at a much increased speed than would be possible with a coal-fired engine. Many Continental railways use fuel oil rather than coal; the Roumanian and Austrian State Railways, the Western Railway of France, the Paris and Orleans Railway, being a few of the principal.

So far as England is concerned, the use of fuel oil has not made great headway, for the reason that, while on the one hand, the majority of our great railway systems pass through the coal-producing fields, there has, on the other hand, until recently been an absence of organization for the supply of fuel oil. The Great Eastern Railway many years ago successfully ran oil-fired locomotives.

It is evident that oil fuel will be increasingly used in the future for locomotive purposes, and at the time of writing—December, 1919—the L. and N.W. Railway are carrying out experiments on express engines, with a view to being able to some extent to discard coal.

In our industrial life of to-day there are a vast number of instances where fuel oil is rapidly displacing coal: the oil-fired furnace has been brought to a stage ofperfection, and is being extensively and increasingly employed both in this country and abroad in regard to metallurgical and industrial processes. Without going into detail respecting the numerous spheres in which the new fuel finds profitable employment it is safe to say that these are being extended every year.

OIL FUEL FOR MARINE PURPOSESArrangement of heaters, filters and pumps for burning oil fuel for marine purposes. The installation is that of the Wallsend-Howden pressure system.

OIL FUEL FOR MARINE PURPOSES

Arrangement of heaters, filters and pumps for burning oil fuel for marine purposes. The installation is that of the Wallsend-Howden pressure system.

A wealth of inventive effort has been bestowed in the perfection of the burners employed to consume fuel oil. Leaving aside for the moment the principles governing the use of oil in the internal combustion engines of the Diesel or semi-Diesel type, fuel oil used for the production of power is introduced into the furnace in the form of a spray, this being accomplished by atomizing the oil in its passage through a specially designed burner. Of these burners, there are numerous makes upon the market, each of which possesses its own characteristics and advantages. The one feature common to all fuel oil burners is the arrangement for atomizing the oil fuel into a fine spray, so that each particle of fuel shall receive sufficient oxygen to ensure its complete combustion. Theoretically, it requires about 14 lb. of air to effect the combustion of 1 lb. of oil, and on the thorough combustion of the fuel oil depends the efficiency of the furnace. There are three distinct methods by which the atomization is brought about, and each of these means possesses its advantages and limitations. By one method, the fuel oil is atomized by the use of steam; by the second method, compressed air is used; while a third system—that of applying pressure to the oil supply itself—is sometimes adopted. Steam is the method usually employed for stationary boilers and locomotives, for it is the simplest to manipulate, and does not call for the employment of auxiliary apparatus in the shape of air compressors or oil pumps, but most industrial oil furnaces work on compressedair, which gives exceptionally good results. There is no doubt that, with the use of compressed air, say admitted at a pressure of 80 lb., a saving in fuel oil is shown over using steam at similar pressure, but the cost of the compressing plant, which must be taken into consideration, is sufficient to wipe out the greater part of this advantage.

THE “SCARAB” OIL BURNER

With respect to the use of the fuel oil direct under pressure, this system generally involves the heating of the fuel oil, as well as its filtration, the fuel being supplied under pressure by means of pumps. The system is extensively employed at the present time on marine boilers operating with forced or induced draught, and, in this connection, the Wallsend system stands pre-eminent.

Since writing the first edition of this little volume considerable advance has been made in connection with the use of oil fuel for general power-raising purposes,and much of this expansion has been consequent upon the introduction of a new burner—the “Scarab”—which is here illustrated. It is the invention of Lieut.-Col. Macdonald, and is the outcome of the war. When the Lieut.-Colonel was on service in Mesopotamia, he recognized the possibilities of oil fuel, for while wood and coal were being transported from India at great cost, oil was running to waste on the neighbouring fields of the Anglo Persian Oil Company. The Lieut.-Colonel therefore introduced a method of cooking by oil fuel, and immediately on his return to England he carried out experiments which led to the introduction of the “Scarab” burner. It is a simple contrivance, and is practically fool-proof, since there are really no parts to get out of order. The oil fuel flows through a tube by gravity, while another tube carries air compressed to about 10 lbs. pressure. The oil and air meet some inches distant from the mouth of the burner, and the combustion of the fuel, which is turned into a finely atomised spray, is complete. Experiments have been made with the burner for domestic purposes, and it has been adopted already in several London hotels for cooking purposes, though its general application is practically unlimited.

From times immemorial, petroleum has been utilized as a lighting agent. Fifteen hundred years ago we have records of its use in the Far Eastern countries, and in the seventh century one of the Emperors of Japan ordered that his temples should be illuminated by the sacred oil light. And from that long distant date to the present times, petroleum has played a not insignificant part in the provision of artificial light throughout the world. For centuries, petroleum, as a means of artificial light, had the field to itself, and, though the Ancients consumed large quantities for lighting purposes, the apparatus used for burning the oil were of a most primitive type, giving results which to-day would be considered far from satisfactory.

About the middle of the last century, when the petroleum industry was making steady advance in several European countries, and a little later, when the United States entered upon its era of oil progress, there was marked development in the use of oil for lighting purposes. The more modern oil lamp was introduced, and it is worthy of record that in one year alone over fifty patents were taken out in the United States for oil lamp improvements. The Germans, too, were not behind in this respect; in fact, it is very largely due to the numerous German improvements that the general governing principles of present-day oil lamps became so popular.

There is no doubt that the ordinary oil lamp has often been, and still is, unjustifiably condemned forcertain defects which are not inherent in it. It necessarily demands attention if it is to give a satisfactory light, but, unfortunately, this attention is not adequately bestowed upon it, and complaints are the result. I have frequently argued that, just as it is possible with inattention to make the most improved pattern of oil lamp operate unsatisfactorily, so is it possible, with a little care and common sense, to get a really good and satisfactory light from the cheapest oil lamp obtainable.

In days gone by, the quality of the oil was, in many cases, unsuitable for burning in the ordinary lamps; its lighting power was very inferior, and it gave off a distinctly unpleasant smell. To-day, however, the illuminating oil sold throughout the world is a first-class article, and its flash-point has been so raised that it can be used freely without there being any suggestion of its lack of safety. One still hears of the “dangerous” paraffin lamp, but, to all intents and purposes, whatever danger was attendant upon the use of oil lamps has long ago departed, though, of course, care must always be exercised, a remark which naturally applies to every illuminant. It is not within my province to give a series of hints to the ordinary user of illuminating oil, but it is well to draw attention to a point which is frequently overlooked: that is, to see that lamps should be kept well filled. It has been established that the light from an oil lamp is greatly affected by the quantity of oil in the reservoir. An increase of 20 per cent. can be secured in the illuminating power of the lamp if only the oil is kept to a good level in the container. This is due to the assistance given to the capillary action of the wick by the higher level.

The advent of gas, and, at a later period, electric current, for illuminating purposes has, to an extent, restricted the use of oil as an illuminant, yet the readerwill be surprised to learn that at least 2,000,000 oil lamps are nightly lighted throughout Great Britain. The inhabitants of the majority of our villages have to fall back upon oil lamps after nightfall, and even in remote spots where enterprising gas companies have laid gas mains large numbers still keep faith with oil, no doubt by reason of its cheapness in normal times.

The greatest improvement made in regard to oil lighting has been in connection with the introduction of the incandescent mantle. As a result of this innovation, several elaborate designs of lamps have been placed on the market, and to-day oil is frequently used in large residences in preference to the more modern illuminants. This is due, without doubt, to the fact that oil light is particularly soft, and, while giving a great illuminating power when consumed under the best conditions, lacks that dazzling brilliancy which causes injury to the eyes.

One of the earliest methods of utilizing petroleum under an incandescent mantle was the Kitson system, according to which illuminating oil is compressed to about 50 lb. per square inch in a suitable vessel, forced through a soft brass tube of very small bore into a heating chamber, and, subsequently, through a needle orifice to a Bunsen burner. The Kitson system, which has found many adherents in the United Kingdom and abroad, is particularly adapted for lighthouse illumination, and in such cases where large units are essential. It is interesting to record the fact that for some time one of London’s main West-end thoroughfares was illuminated by incandescent oil lamps, and, though they are now superseded, no tangible reason was given as to why these highly economical means of illumination were ever removed.

Space forbids my referring to the various designs of oil lamps on the English market to-day: they may becounted by their hundreds, while still a larger number of those which have either been unsuccessful or have found no sale may be found in the records of the Patent Office.

During comparatively recent times, devices have been brought forward whereby remarkably good results have been achieved by the use of gaseous vapour for portable lamps. In these cases, motor spirit is vapourized and used under an incandescent mantle. The best known of these lamps is the “Petrolite.” In this lamp, a porous stone is impregnated with suitable hydrocarbons—motor spirit—and a current of air is introduced, the necessary draught being provided by the use of a fairly long chimney. The great advantage of the “Petrolite” lamp is that of its perfect safety, for if by any chance the lamp becomes overturned and the chimney displaced or broken, the draught ceases, and with it, the generation of the inflammable vapour; the lamp, therefore, immediately going out.

But while this method of utilizing motor spirit for illuminating purposes has been adopted to a very large extent by means of portable lamps, a greater field has been developed both in this and other countries in connection with the domestic and industrial use of petrol air-gas for lighting purposes. These apparatus in the main possess but slight differences. The essential principle of each is that motor spirit is carburetted and then, in the form of an oil gas, conducted through pipes in the same manner as coal gas is burned, to the rooms in which it is required. The carburetted air-gas is automatically produced, and the small cost at which these automatic plants can be supplied has rendered this system of lighting deservedly popular. Its great economy also is an important point, for 1 gallon of motor spirit will yield almost 30 cubic feet of vapour.This vapour, in order to form a lighting agent, is mixed to the extent of over 98 per cent. air and less than 2 per cent. petrol vapour, so that 1 gallon of motor spirit will produce, approximately, 1,500 cubic feet of air-gas. The plants, which are usually worked by a small hot-air engine (or, alternately, by the use of weights), supply only the demand created, and their control is automatic perfection.

THE ANGLO-AMERICAN OIL COMPANY’S OIL COOKER

To-day, petroleum plays quite an important part in heating arrangements, and several stoves are upon the market which burn the ordinary illuminating oil. The prettily designed heating stoves of the “Perfection”or “Reform” make are largely in use, the efficacy and economy of these being responsible for their popularity. Various makes of oil cookers are also in large demand. These range from the small variety like the “Primus” stove, which burns illuminating oil under pressure, to the oil cooking stoves of the Anglo-American Oil Company, Ltd., which are quite competent to meet the requirements of practically any household. These latter stoves consume illuminating oil by means of the circular wick arrangement, and are in several sizes, one of the best being that containing three lighters. Two of these are under the oven, and one at the end can be used for boiling purposes. Speaking from several years’ experience of these stoves, I can say that they are truly perfection. They are very economical, are easily cleaned, and when in full operation give off not the slightest odour. The oven is more readily heated than with the coal gas apparatus, and the properly diffused heat cooks all kinds of food most readily and perfectly. The illustration of the stove given on the preceding page will afford the reader a good idea of the apparatus, which deserves to be even more popular than it is at present.

In no other sphere of employment has petroleum made such rapid strides during the past two or three decades as those recorded in connection with its use in internal combustion engines, and one of the most interesting features of modern mechanical engineering is their development. The advent and immediate popularity of this kind of engine has been responsible for some of the most remarkable conquests of mankind over the forces of Nature, for it has brought into being the automobile, the aeroplane, the dirigible airship, and a host of other inventions. It has also been responsible for quite a new departure in ocean transport, for experiments have proved that the largest vessels can be very economically operated by means of the internal combustion engine.

It might, by way of introduction, be well to explain for the benefit of the uninitiated, the meaning of the term “Internal combustion engine.” As most of my readers are well aware, the steam, or, rather, to be exact, the highly heated water vapour which drives the steam engine, is supplied from boilers which are heated by the burning of coal, oil fuel, or, sometimes, gas, and such engines might, therefore, be called “external combustion engines,” since the fuel is consumed in apparatus external to the engine proper. Such a term, however, is not in use amongst engineers, and might raise a superior sort of smile if used in their presence. It will be readily seen from theforegoing that a great deal of weight and apparatus of some complication is required before the water vapour which drives the steam engine can even be provided.

In the case of the internal combustion engine, the fuel (motor spirit or the heavier oils) is introduced directly into the engine and there vapourized and mixed with air so as to form an explosive mixture, so that all boilers, with the necessarily complicated systems of piping, etc., are done away with. It needs no imagination to understand the enormous saving of weight and space resulting from this elimination of the boiler, and of the room which it would occupy.

The latter-day demands for the provision of lighter and yet lighter, as well as space-saving propelling machinery for submarines, airships, aeroplanes, motor-cars, etc., especially during the war, have enormously stimulated the development of the engine which consumes its own fuel, and which is known as the internal combustion engine. A very wide field has thus been opened out for the exercise of the engineer’s ingenuity, and he has availed himself to the full of the opportunities thus created, never failing to rise to the occasion when fresh demands have been made upon him.

In these circumstances, it is not at all surprising to find that numerous firms have given considerable attention to the manufacture of the internal combustion class of engine, and many varieties, for a multiplicity of purposes, are upon the market. The limits of space effectively prevent my detailing the list of even the largest manufacturers; I will therefore content myself by referring to but one firm—Messrs. Vickers, Ltd.—who are now the largest manufacturers in the Kingdom. This progressive firm has grappled with the internal combustion engine problem from the earliest stages of the petrol engine to the latest forms of the heavyoil engine and its remarkable developments, and a large section of their establishment at Barrow-in-Furness is, and has long been, set aside exclusively for the design and manufacture of the heavy oil internal combustion engine. A very large staff of expert engineers has been selected for the work, while experiments with a view to improvements being effected in details are continually being conducted in the establishment. The result is that the development of this engine at the Barrow works has been attended with the highest success, a fact which is not widely known to the general public.

I take it as a great compliment that permission has been given me in this book to refer somewhat in detail to the achievements of Messrs. Vickers, Ltd., in this respect, for, hitherto, publicity in connection with this section of the firm’s operations has been strictly withheld. One of the latest and, it might well be said, the most important developments in connection with Messrs. Vickers’ activities, is the Vickers patent system of fuel injection, which enables an engine of the Diesel type (that is, using heavy oil) to be successfully run without the use of an air compressor for injecting the fuel into the engine. Before the introduction of this system, an air compressor, with its attendant complication and weight, had to be used for the introduction of the fuel into the engine. The elimination of this compressor has resulted in considerable economy in weight, space, and attendance, which, it will readily be seen, is a step in the right direction, whilst the efficiency of the engine has also been improved. The disadvantages attendant upon the use of the air compressor were early comprehended by Messrs. Vickers, and they have spared no efforts (nor expense) in developing the system which has led to its elimination.

The reader will require no knowledge of the subject to understand that the question of fuel consumption is one of the highest importance in any engine system, and, in regard to this point, Messrs. Vickers have made a special study, with the result that whilst the ordinary consumption in a Diesel engine with air compressor is ·41 lb. brake horse-power an hour (or 184 grammespar force de cheval), that firm have been able to reach the low figure of ·376 lbs. B.H.P. an hour (or ·170 grammespar force de cheval).

As one might expect, Messrs. Vickers, in bringing their engine to its present state of perfection, have, perforce, had a varied experience with fuel oils—and a considerable one, too,—for they have experimented with oils from all the well-known producing fields, and find that, under their system, practically any fuel oil which can be made to flow may be utilized in their engines—a fact which, in its importance, speaks for itself. The physical properties of the oils used by them have, naturally, differed very considerably. For instance, specific gravities have varied from ·810 to ·950 flash points from 100° Fahr., to upwards of 250° Fahr., whilst the viscosities, which the lay mind might well be excused for thinking of as “degrees of stickiness,” have varied from that of the ordinary kerosene (illuminating oil) to the thick asphaltic fuel oil which comes from Mexico. Readers may judge from this of the painstaking and difficult experiments that have been carried out in the Barrow works.

The advantages derivable from the use of the Vickers system could not, obviously, be withheld from general use, and the firm have upwards of twenty licensees now manufacturing internal combustion engines under their designs. This fact, though not familiar to “the man in the street,” is known in the manufacturing world.

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