Plowing with Coal-Gas 

 English Farms 



on 



Soldiers operating a coal-gas-driven 

 tractor and plow on an English farm 



THE war is compelling the substitu- 

 tion of coal-gas for gasoline as a 

 means of motive power for auto- 

 mobiles in England. Tractors carrying 

 balloon-like containers in which to store 

 the gas are not uncommon sights in 

 the fields, 

 soldiers being 

 brought from 

 the front to 

 operate the 

 machines. 



But the 

 employment 

 of coal-gas is 

 only a war- 

 time expedi- 

 ent brought 

 about by the 

 scarcity of 

 gasoline and 

 its high cost. 

 With the re- 

 sumption of 

 normal con- 

 ditions after 

 the war it is 

 expected that 

 gasoline will 

 again come 

 into general 

 use in Great 

 Britain. 



The Brit- 

 ish Govern- 

 ment decided 

 in mif) to re- 

 strict the use 

 of gasoline, 

 following the 



s 



•^J 



■J 



S!i'... Ill- Uic tractor plow, with powci 

 coal-gas, plowing furrows in the soil ot 



A fresh supply of coal-gas being brought into the 

 field on an English estate to operate a tractor plow 



The scarcity of gasoline combined 

 with its high cost compels this 

 wartime measure in Great Britain 



great demands made on the petrol 

 supply of the country for war pur- 

 poses. Then the question of ob- 

 taining an efficient substitute for 

 gasoline came up. When coal-gas 

 was being considered the difficulty 

 of storing it had to be overcome. 

 In early experiments gas com- 

 pressed in steel cylinders was employed, 

 but there was trouble in reducing the 

 pressure; hence the idea of a flexible bag 

 to be carried on top of the vehicle was 

 evolved. This bag was globular in shape 

 and roped down. It was supplied with 



gas through 

 a flexible 

 sleeve, the 

 connection to 

 the engine 

 being made 

 by a tube 

 with a con- 

 t r o 1 -f 1 a p 

 within reach 

 of the driver. 

 This method 

 of storage has 

 had consider- 

 able popu- 

 larity. 



However, 

 the bag, like 

 the gas it 

 contains, 

 can be ac- 

 cepted only 

 as a measure 

 necessitated 

 by the war, 

 since it does 

 away with 

 metal cylin- 

 ders. These 

 are not prac- 

 ticable be- 

 cause of the 

 great demand 

 for metal. 



d by 

 h-ngland 



802 



