238 HEAVY-OIL ENGINES FOR MARINE PROPULSION. 
On account of the success obtained with these engines Messrs. Blohm 
& Voss are now building a cargo vessel of 11,000 tons. ‘The engines for this 
ship are of 1,500 horse-power each, and work on them is well under way. 
In England and Holland a number of large vessels propelled by oil 
engines have already been built and others are building, but space will not 
permit of a further discussion of this phase of the subject. Considering 
the short time in which this development has taken place, it appears truly 
remarkable. 
THE ADVANTAGES OF HEAVY-OIL ENGINES. 
In view of the rapid progress, and the world wide interest in this new 
engine, some of its leading advantages are here reviewed, and will fully- 
explain why it is considered such an important matter. 
Economy of Fuel.—Under ordinary conditions a vessel propelled by 
steam will consume about 2 pounds of coal per horse-power-hour. In daily 
practice, due to unfavorable conditions, such as bad firing, inferior qualities 
of coal, leaky valves and pistons, etc., the consumption frequently exceeds 
3 pounds of coal per horse-power-hour. The oil engine consumes about 
one-half pound of fuel per horse-power-hour. The variation from this 
amount is slight. For large engines under certain conditions the consump- 
tion would be slightly less. Generally speaking, as extreme limits, the oil 
consumption may be said to vary from 0.4 to 0.6 pounds per horse-power- 
hour. ‘Therefore, for a given weight of fuel a ship propelled by oil engines 
would have from four to six times the radius of action of a similar ship © 
propelled by steam. From a military point of view this advantage alone 
is so overwhelming as to force all navies to eventually adopt oil fuel for the 
fighting ships of the future. Aside from the military advantage of increased 
cruising radius there is a decided commercial advantage resulting from fuel 
economy. The extent of this advantage is a mere matter of arithmetic, 
depending on the relative cost of oil and coal in the port from which the 
vessel operates. On the Pacific Coast of the United States for example, 
with coal at $8.00 a ton, and fuel oil at two cents a gallon, the cost of coal 
per horse-power-hour would be 0.71 cents, while for oil it would be only 
0.133 cents. That is, for this locality the cost of coal for motive power 
would be five and three-tenths times as much as the cost of oil for the same 
power. In Europe, and on the Atlantic Coast of the United States, the 
difference in the cost of fuel is so much in favor of the oil engine as to cause 
the latter to receive serious consideration at the present time. Generally 
speaking, the cost of fuel on the Atlantic Coast is such as to make the fuel 
bill of the oil engine plant about half that of the steam plant. 
