54 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



all those which have been tried in this country and in England, 

 consists in his forcing the air, necessary for the combustion of the 

 oil, directly into the retort where the latter is vaporized, and as 

 superheated steam is introduced simultaneously, the air becomes 

 thoroughly mixed with the vapors before they issue from the burners, 

 and the combustion is consequently perfect when the proper pro- 

 portions of air and oil are maintained. This desideratum is never 

 attained in any other process yet brought to my attention." 



The Titusville (Pa.) " Morning Herald " describes the fourth of a 

 series of experiments if) determine the value of petroleum as fuel 

 for locomotives. It took place at the shops of the Warren and 

 Franklin Railroad at Irvineton. 



The apparatus used was Spence's burner. It is described as 

 consisting of a pan covering the bottom of the fire-box in the 

 locomotive, and taking the place of grates. On the pan are 

 placed heaters or gas-generators, 6 in number, consisting: of in- 

 clined plates of cast iron, supported at an angle of 45 ; op- 

 posite to each heater is an injector conveying the oil to the 

 heater, ^vhere it is instantly converted into gases, oxygen being 

 also furnished to the gases in their nascent state for combustion. 

 The oil is contained in a tank on the tender, from which it is con- 

 veyed by feed-pipes to the injectors, each pair of injectors being 

 controlled by a throttle by means of which the fire is regulated 

 as readily as the light of a lamp. 



The locomotive used weighed 31 tons, and was of 150 horse- 

 power. No cars were attached. Under 85 pounds of steam the 

 locomotive passed over 4 miles of track in less than 11 minutes. 



At a late fire in Boston one of the steamers was run by petro- 

 leum oil instead of coal. The " Traveller" says : "When the 

 alarm was given the steamer started in the direction of the fire, 

 and, arriving at the scene of conflagration, her steam gauge indi- 

 cated 100 pounds of steam. Only 3 minutes were consumed 

 in raising this amount of steam. She remained on the ground 

 6 hours, and during that time the steamer averaged 80 pounds of 

 steam and 120 pounds of water-pressure, and 100 pounds of water- 

 pressure with 2 streams. Another remarkable and important fact 

 demonstrated was, that the steamer using oil gained 30 per cent, of 

 water-pressure over any other engine at the fire, by reason of not 

 choking the exhaust. This is regarded as a great desideratum 

 gained. Another great point shown was, while the streets leading 

 to the fire were choked up with smoke thrown oft* by the other steam- 

 ers, scarcely any smoke came from No. 3, using the new fuel." 



An interesting experiment was made at the Brooklyn Navy 

 Yard, on August 8th, involving the feasibility of substituting pe- 

 troleum for coal for steam boilers. The apparatus used to test 

 the experiment has been for some time preparing, and is the de- 

 sign of Lieutenant Clark Fisher, First Assistant Engineer in the 

 Navy. 



The apparatus as used consisted of a pipe half an inch in 

 diameter, rising from the floor, and bent towards the mouth 

 of the furnace, somewhat like an elbow, and projecting 2 

 inches beyond the grate. The opening in the end of the tube to 



