DEVELOPMENTS IN OIL BURNING. 

 By E. H. Pbabody, Esq., Mbmbbr. 



[Read at the twentieth general meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, held in 



New York, November 21 and 22, 191 2.] 



The advocates of peace who urge the disarmament of nations overlook 

 one great service which the navy renders, besides giving us the security of 

 potential power of defence, namely, the incentive to national progress brought 

 about by the necessity for continuous advance in engineering development 

 forced upon the government in competition with other powers. 



The introduction of high steam pressures, superheat, water-tube boilers, 

 turbines and the reduction gear are examples in point, and, perhaps as con- 

 spicuous as any, the development of the art of burning fuel oil to meet new 

 requirements. 



It may be urged that the money spent for the building and maintenance 

 of the Navy, if devoted to commercial pursuits, might result in greater 

 progress, but there would be lacking almost wholly that powerful prime 

 mover — necessity, and necessity does continue to give birth to invention, 

 notwithstanding the claim of inventors who find the relationship the other 

 way round. 



The "mechanical atomizer," so-called, is understood to mean a device 

 which sprays or atomizes oil or other liquids by means imparted to it by 

 pressure alone, without the use of compressed air or steam or other exterior 

 atomizing agent. Owing to its simplicity and to the fact that no fresh water 

 is wasted, it is being extensively used in the merchant marine, and it has 

 possibilities which, I believe, will ultimately bring about its adoption on 

 shore. 



But in the adoption of the mechanical atomizer, we are merely following 

 the lead of the Navy, for it may be safely said that, without the stimulus 

 given to the device, and the new interest aroused in it by the activities of 

 the navies of England and the United States, there is little doubt that older 

 methods would still be almost exclusively in vogue. 



That this change has been and will be slow is not to be wondered at, 

 awaiting as it must, perforce, the growth of the oil-producing industry, but 

 with the increased supply of oil its use as a fuel has spread, and with the 

 increased use of oil has arisen the need of better methods of handUng; 



