NA TURK 



385 



THURSDAY, MAY 26, 1921. 



Editorial and Publishing Offices: 



MACMILLAN &• CO., LTD., 



ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON. W.C.2. 



Advertisements and business letters should be 

 addressed to the Publishers. 



Editorial communications to the Editor. 



Telegraphic Address: PHUSIS, LONDON. 

 Telephone Number: GERRARD 8830. 



The Use of Oil Fuel. 



THE prolonged coal stoppage has given an 

 impetus to the use of oil fuel for industrial 

 purposes. Conditions were favourable to such a 

 •development, and circumstances have helped to 

 expedite it. One may reasonably assume that the 

 coal industry will suffer some permanent loss as 

 a consequence of this step, since fuel consumers, 

 "having gone to the expense of adapting their plants 

 for oil burning, are not likely to revert wholly to 

 •coal again, especially as by doing so they would 

 be surrendering the advantage of possessing an 

 alternative which business counsels them to retain 

 in view of the unhappy frequency of labour 

 troubles in our coal-fields. 



Another aspect of the matter which will influence 

 ■commercial men is the economies which accrue 

 from replacing coal with liquid fuel. In compar- 

 ing the two, availability of supplies and prime cost 

 are, obviously, the first factors to be taken into 

 account. As market quotations now stand they do 

 not tell against oil as they used to do. Fuel oil 

 •seems to be in good supply, and at the current 

 price of about 6L to 6L \os. per ton is practically 

 as cheap as coal when everything is considered. 

 As two tons of oil have approximately as high a 

 calorific value as three tons of coal, the greater 

 heating power of the former goes far towards 

 equalising the difference in cost. Nor is this com- 

 parison in heating properties merely an estimated 

 figure ; it has been established by actual test. Oil 

 fuel is, likewise, much cleaner to handle than coal, 

 and the labour costs of operating it are far lower- 

 roughly, about five times less. With It steam can 

 NO. 2691, VOL. 107] 



be raised more quickly, and the temperature of 

 furnaces regulated with greater ease. By simply 

 turning the tap of the atomising spray one man 

 controls the fire in an oil-burning furnace, whereas 

 the coal-fed furnace keeps several men employed 

 in shovelling in fuel, levelling fires, and breaking 

 up clinker. Oil does not require any ash-ejecting 

 equipment, which means a saving in plant, nor is 

 the inside of the furnace damaged by " slicers " 

 and "prickers" — and that also effects a saving 

 in working costs. 



Oil had been growing in favour before the exist- 

 ing industrial crisis came along to give impetus 

 to its adoption. The British Admiralty was 

 amongst the earliest to investigate its possibilities 

 and to employ it on a large scale. After a lengthy 

 period of experimenting, a flotilla of oil-fired 

 destroyers was added to our Navy in 1909. Since 

 that date oil has been steadily replacing coal as 

 the staple fuel of H.M. ships, until at the present 

 time all our effective warships are oil burners. 

 Most of those retained on the active list also use 

 oil for such auxiliary purposes as cooking the food 

 of the crew. 



Prior to the introduction of liquid fuel into the 

 service the Navy was an exceedingly good cus- 

 tomer to South Wales. But it now makes only a 

 negligible demand upon the product of the pits 

 there, as will be seen from the fact that during the 

 current financial year the Navy is spending about 

 three times as much upon oil fuel as it is upon 

 coal. For the Navy an oil-fuel flash-point of 

 175° F. has been adopted. In the mercantile 

 marine the flash-point is 150° F. ; and in the latter 

 service there has been a considerable " turn over " 

 from coal to oil fuel during the past couple of 

 years. How serious a matter this may prove for 

 the coal producer is shown by the fact that whereas 

 a ship like the Aquitania used to take in 660 

 ten-ton truck-loads of coal each time she crossed 

 the Atlantic, she now has accommodation for 

 7000 tons of oil instead. Upon the salt- 

 water highways the future lies largely with 

 the motor ship, which is making its appear- 

 ance there in ever-growing numbers. Being 

 Diesel-engined, craft of this type have no 

 direct use for coal as a fuel, and every 

 such vessel put into service means a lessening of 

 the demand for the output of the collieries. Look- 

 ing at the subject comprehensively, one can only 

 arrive at the conclusion that the extending use of 

 oil for fuel purposes constitutes an economic factor 

 that is bound to have a considerable effect upon 

 our coal-mining industry in the future. 



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