THE CONQUEST OF TIME AND SPACE 



Some tests were made by the Navy Department of 

 the United States in 1 909-1 910 using a vessel which 

 was formerly a coal-burning boat. In these tests it was 

 found that the steaming radius was greatly increased, 

 the firing force reduced, and fuel taken into the ship 

 in about one-fourth the time it takes to coal. It was 

 possible to get up steam in any boiler, or set of boilers, 

 much more quickly than with coal. 



Of course where oil is used for fuel some special 

 form of burner is necessary. Many types have been 

 tried, but in the most effective the oil is atomized by 

 the use of steam spray, or air blast, it being impossible 

 to get proper combustion of the oil except when used 

 in minutely divided particles. Used in this manner a 

 uniform temperature can be maintained easily, or may 

 be increased or decreased very quickly. 



As used at present liquid fuel simply substitutes coal 

 for heating the ordinary type of boiler. But there 

 seems every reason to believe that in the near future 

 some type of internal combustion engine will be per- 

 fected that will use the crude, cheap oil, as the finer 

 and lighter oils are used in motors to-day. When this 

 occurs the space-consuming boilers and furnaces used 

 in ships at present will be replaced by compact machin- 

 ery, quite as efficient, but occupying only a fraction of 

 the space. Nor need we expect that the invention of 

 some such type of engine will be long delayed, if we 

 may judge by the rapid strides made in perfecting other 

 internal combustion engines during the past few years. 



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