RECENT ADVANCE IN OIL BURNING. 165 
Mr. W. W. Situ, Member:—Mr. Peabody has given us a very valuable paper 
on oil burning, especially so as the tests were accurately and thoroughly made. 
Flexibility and high capacity are not so essential in merchant vessels, but they are 
very important in naval service. It is a very great advantage to have flexibility for 
maneuvering, and especially so for certain services. 
The ease of control of this installation is one of its important features, and it may 
be noted that an entire battery of boilers or burners can be regulated by the operation 
of one small valve. I was very much impressed when I saw the test of this apparatus 
and the ease with which the power could be controlled by one man. The flexibility 
and ease of operation of this apparatus I consider truly remarkable. It has a great 
range of power, with practically smokeless combustion, which is, of course, an important 
feature. 
I note that these tests were made on a water-tube boiler. I have seen a great many 
tests on water-tube boilers recently, but practically none on Scotch boilers. It would 
be valuable to have tests on Scotch boilers also, in view of the fact that a large number 
of boilers of this type are in use. 
Mr. Peabody is to be congratulated on the excellent results and high efficiencies 
obtained with the types of oil-burning apparatus which he has developed. He has 
contributed greatly to the science of all oil burning and to the valuable research data 
in connection therewith. Recirculating the oil from the tip of the burner is, as far as I 
know, a novel feature in oil burning, and it appears that it should have important advan- 
tages where flexibility is an important consideration. 
Mr. Joun Martin, Member:—Mr. Peabody seems’ to be a pioneer in the marine 
oil-burning development in this country. His activities seem to have been wholly in 
this investigation in the naval field, in the operation of naval vessels. The American 
Bureau of Shipping, however, for the operation of merchant ships has to act as a safety 
brake, inasmuch as it must prescribe certain regulations for the safe carriage, trans- 
mission and burning of oil under boilers, and it has formulated certain requirements 
for the safe use of oil under boilers. That is a phase of the subject which I do not think 
the author has covered, and one which I think is of vital importance in the operation 
of the merchant marine. 
Mr. Henry C. E. Meyer, Member:—Mr. Peabody is to be congratulated on the 
able paper he has presented to us. As some of the gentlemen have already remarked, 
I think Mr. Peabody is about as well qualified to speak about oil-fuel burning as any 
man I know. I have personally had the pleasure of seeing some of the League Island 
tests he referred to and was certainly astonished at the remarkable flexibility of the burner 
he demonstrated there. 
While the advantages of great flexibility are of primary importance in naval vessels, 
I believe they are of sufficient importance to receive consideration in the merchant 
service. 
Many vessels are not operating all the time under full power, and this has partic- 
ular reference to the case of maneuvering conditions, such as where a ship comes into 
port or is working in a fog and is slowed down to a considerable extent. In such cases, 
where you have a large number of burners and have to cut out several of these burners 
to reduce your power, I think the liability of setting up serious strains in your boilers 
