DEVELOPMENTS IN OIL BURNING. 247 



by the late Rear Admiral Melville, the senior member of which was Com- 

 mander, now Rear Admiral, John R. Edwards, devoted achapter to " Mechan- 

 ical Burners" in their justly celebrated report published in 1904 — probably 

 one of the most widely read and frequently quoted treatises on the subject 

 of oil burning in the world. It is clear that the Board appreciated the 

 advantages of the mechanical atomizer, but their actual trial of the device 

 was confined to a few experiments with a design which did not show great 

 promise, and the bulk of their work was carried out with steam and air 

 atomizers. The reason for this is plain. At that time in this country oil 

 had been burned in considerable quantity for limited periods as the various 

 oil-bearing territories had been developed. A great variety of oil-burning 

 "systems" had come into existence, many of them of considerable merit, 

 but depending on compressed air or steam for atomizing the oil. On the 

 discovery of the big Texas "gushers" in 1901, flooding the market with oil 

 available for fuel purposes, these various systems, which heretofore had been 

 used on land only, were at once adapted for marine use, and many new 

 inventions, too, were added to their number. When, soon after, the Navy 

 began to investigate oil fuel all these manufacturers and inventors demanded 

 a hearing, and it was a distinct achievement to have sorted out and tabulated 

 this legion of oil burners. The Board had more than enough to do without 

 going abroad, where necessity had indeed already demanded the mechanical 

 type, but where no such assurance of its success existed as is the case to-day. 



In 1907 the mechanical oil burner had attracted little attention in 

 America. But English experiments were being brought to successful issues, 

 and far-sighted officers of our navy (they are members of this Society) 

 demanded that the improvement be introduced into our service. 



With the continued increase in oil production the use of this ideal fuel 

 is rapidly extending, particularly for marine purposes, and it seems worth 

 while therefore to point out some of the main characteristics of the mechanical 

 atomizer and modern methods of handling it. In attempting this the writer 

 will of necessity have to look at the subject from his own point of view, and 

 in the light of his own experience and the experiments carried out by The 

 Babcock & Wilcox Company. 



ATOMIZATION VS. GASIFICATION. 



To begin with. Commodore Isherwood's conclusions of some forty years 

 ago hold good to-day; namely, that atomization of the oil, as distinguished 

 from vaporization or gasification in the burner, " is the only method that has 

 been attended with success." There are not wanting those who still claim 



