BY P. L. WESTON, B.SC, B.E. XVII. 



owing to the abolition of the stoker, and the engine is 

 always ready for starting without the necessity for in- 

 curring stand-by losses as with a steam locomotive. There 

 is also the absence of grit or sparks, and the problem of 

 taking in fuel and water is much simplified. 1 under- 

 stand the use of internal combustion engines is sug- 

 gested on the transcontinental railway, owing to the 

 scarcity of water along certain sections of the route. 

 Though I understand the autocars now being procured 

 by the Railway Department were intended for trial in 

 country districts where traffic is infrequent, this system 

 seems to me to be very promising for suburban traffic in 

 order that a quick service could be maintained. The 

 Enoggera line, for instance, would benefit greatly by a 

 more frequent service than is warranted at present with 

 the ordinary steam train. The high cost of oil fuel in 

 Australia is, however, a serious drawback. One respect 

 in which the internal combustion engine is inferior to 

 the steam engine is in the ease with which the latter can 

 be started and stopped. This necessitates the use of 

 special means of transmitting the power from the engine 

 to the wheels, a frequent method being to do this elec- 

 trically, an arrangement which gives great flexibility of 

 control, which is of special value for high speed work 

 with frequent stops. For work of all kinds where small 

 power is required, engines using petrol and paraffin prac- 

 tically hold the field except, of course, where electric 

 supply is available. 



In these days of high wages every effort should be 

 made to supplant manual labour by power as far as 

 practicable, and new uses for the internal combustion 

 engine are being found every day. In building opera- 

 tions, for instance, hoisting of materials, mixing up of 

 concrete, sawing and dressing of timber, and stone dress- 

 ing tools should be power driven whenever there is any 

 quantity of such work to be done. 



One future sphere of usefulness for small engines is 

 for producing electric light in small isolated installa- 

 tions such as a country hotel or station homestead. The 



remarkably high efficiency of the modern metal filament 

 B 



