COMPARATIVE VALUES OF ALCOHOL AND GASO- 

 LINE FOR LIGHT AND POWER. 



J. B. DAVIDSON M. L. KING 



In the spring of 1906 the National Congress passed an act 

 which became a law January i, 1907, permitting the withdrawal 

 from bond, tax free, of domestic alcohol, when denatured or ren- 

 dered unfit for a beverage by the addition of certain materials 

 repugnant to the taste and smell. A portion of this act reads as 

 follows : 



"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 

 United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after 

 January first, nineteen hundred and seven, domestic alcohol of such 

 degree of proof as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal 

 Revenue and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, may be with- 

 drawn from bond without the payment of internal revenue tax, for 

 use in the arts and industries, and for fuel, light and power provided 

 said alcohol shall have been mixed in the presence and under the 

 direction of an authorized Government officer, after withdrawal from 

 the distillery warehouse, with methyl alcohol or other denaturing ma- 

 terial or materials, or admixture of the same, suitable to the use for 

 which the alcohol is withdrawn, but which destroys its character as 

 a beverage and renders it unfit for liquid medicinal purposes; such 

 denaturing to be done upon the application of any registered distillery 

 in denaturing bonded warehouses specially designated or set apart for 

 denaturating purposes only, and under conditions prescribed by the 

 Commissioner of Internal Revenue with the approval of the Secretary 

 of the Treasury." 



The new law has aroused no little interest concerning the use 

 of alcohol for fuel and light and not only has the Experiment 

 Station been called upon to answer many inquiries, but also the 

 subject has received much attention in the current literature of the 

 day. The opinions advanced in these articles differ very much, 

 and the fact has been made plain that very little reliable data con- 

 cerning the subject is available. The Agricultural Engineering 

 Section has for some time been conducting experiments to learn 

 something of the value of this fuel for lamps and internal com- 

 bustion engines, and this bulletin contains the results of the ex- 

 perimental work completed to date. 



The alcohol used in these, tests was grain or ethyl alcohol of 

 approximately 188 proof or 94% purity by volume and was not 



381856 



