Popular Science Monthly 



865 



costing fifteen cents per gallon, which is 

 said to start easily and to develop even 

 more power than the straight gas. Distil- 

 late works fairly well in pure form in the 

 ordinary gas engine equipment, and very 

 well in the higher grade, which costs twelve 

 cents per gallon. 



Distillate vapor will not ignite from the 

 electric spark in a cold engine, unless it is of 

 a high grade, approaching gasoline, like the 

 twelve-cent grade. The mixture is too 

 heavy and oily, and will not take fire from 

 the tiny spark, but if you draw it into a hot 

 cylinder it breaks down into an explosive 

 mixture the instant it strikes the hot walls. 

 Then the spark starts something. 



So, roughly speaking, the patented dis- 

 tillate burning devices for the gas engine — 

 chiefly for Fords — consist first of some form 

 of stove or coil heated by the exhaust mani- 

 fold, and so heating either the vapor taken 

 into the carbureter or else the vapor after it 

 comes out; and second of an auxiliary 

 gasoline tank over the engine or on 

 the dash to hold a little gasoline by 

 which to start the engine in the chill 

 of the morning. A valve is turned, admit- 

 ting gasoline to the intake manifold or to 

 the carbureter; the engine is started; then 

 the valve is closed again, letting the distil- 

 late take up its labors for the day. 



One weak point 

 of this device is 

 that the carbureter 

 is full of distillate, 

 and, if the gas is 

 taken into the car- 

 bureter, it must first 

 be rid of its distillate. 

 A large Los Angeles 

 marketcompanyuses 

 straight distillate 

 with an auxiliary 

 tank for gas. When 

 the cars are sent 

 from the store to the 

 garage at night, they 

 are run the last mile 

 or so on gasoline 

 from the auxiliary 

 tank. This leaves 

 gasoline in the car- 

 bureter and gas va- 

 por in the cylinders 

 so that the car starts 

 on gas and runs on it 

 long enough to warm 

 up the engine for the 

 distillate vapor. 



A new experimental device for burning 

 either distillate or kerosene consists of a 

 double-compartment steel tank of small 

 size located about the place usually occu- 

 pied by the old carbureter, one compart- 

 ment containing gasoline, the other distil- 

 late or kerosene. One is piped to the 

 main tank holding distillate or kerosene, 

 the other to a smaller tank under the seat 

 for, the gas. Two rods lead to the dash, 

 and control the outlet valves of the two 

 compartments. A coil of copper pipe runs 

 from the main outlet pipe going to both 

 valves into the exhaust manifold and then 

 up into the main carbureter. 



The fuel, whether gas, kerosene or dis- 

 tillate, stands up in this coil, which becomes 

 very hot from the exhaust gases. The 

 driver turns one lever on the dash, admit- 

 ting fuel from the gas side of the two- 

 compartment tank into the coil, and start- 

 ing the engine on the gas. Then he closes 

 that lever and opens the other, allowing the 

 distillate or kerosene to rise into the heating 

 coil. The practically vaporized fuel is then 

 sucked into the carbureter and sent very 

 hot, to the engine. 



The bomb-loaded German piano taken as booty. 

 Fortunately the bomb was discovered in time 



"To the Victors Belong the Spoils"— 

 If They Dare Take Them 



MR. A. K. YAPP, 

 secretary in 

 charge of the Y. M. 

 C. A. work on the 

 Western front, 

 in a recent interview 

 said: "The spirit of 

 the men is marvel- 

 ous. We feel we are 

 able to do a great 

 deal to help them 

 during their leisure 

 by providing little 

 luxuries that mean 

 much to the men." 

 One of these luxuries 

 in one of the camps 

 was a piano taken 

 from the Germans. 

 Concealed in the 

 piano was a bomb 

 with the fuse at- 

 tached to one of the 

 piano strings so 

 that when a certain 

 note was struck, 

 explosion of the 

 bomb would follow. 



