CONSERVATION THROUGH ENGINEERING. 17 



such regulation as would require that all petroleum must be refined. 

 That this is done generally is not denied. It should be universal. 

 And all the skill and study and knowledge of the ablest of chemists 

 and mechanicians should find themselves challenged by the problem 

 of petroleum. 



(Coming to the use of petroleum in its various forms we find a 

 field of promise. The engine that doubles the number of miles that 

 can be made on a gallon of gasoline doubles our supply. There is 

 where we can apply the principle of true conservation find how 

 little you need; use what you must, but treat your resource with re- 

 spect. Has the last word been said as to the carburetor? Mechani- 

 cal engineers do not think so. Have all possible mixtures which will 

 save oil and substitute cheaper and less rare combustibles therefor 

 been tried ? Men by the hundred are making these experiments, and 

 almost daily the quack or the stock promoter comes forward with the 

 announcement of a discovery which proves to be a revelation a 

 revelation of human stupidity or criminal cupidity. On this line 

 the men of science do not sing a song of the richest hope ; they shrug 

 their shoulders, exclaiming with uplifted hands: "Well, may be, 

 may be." 



There are possible substitutes for some petroleum products, but 

 not for the whole barrel of oil ; furthermore, petroleum is the cheap- 

 est material, speaking quantitatively, from which liquid fuels and 

 lubricants can be made ; therefore, any substitutes obtained in quan- 

 tity must cost more. Alcohol can be substituted for gasoline, but 

 only in- limited quantity and at increased cost. Benzol from by- 

 product coking ovens also can be used, but quantitatively is totally 

 inadequate. For kerosene no quantitative substitute is known. Lu- 

 bricants can be obtained from animal and vegetable fats, but mostly 

 are inferior in quality, and there seems no hope of obtaining them in 

 quantity. Fuel oil can be largely supplanted by coal, but for the 

 internal-combustion engine there is no quantitative substitute. 



USE THE DIESEL ENGINE. 



We have ventured on a great shipbuilding program. Our people 

 are to once again respond to the call of the sea. On private ways and 

 on Government ways ships are being built to go round the world 

 ships that are to burn oil under boilers and produce steam. I presume 

 that there is a justification for this policy, perhaps one that is as good, 

 if not better, than can be made for the railroads of the West pursuing 

 the same policy. I submit, however, that there should be justification 

 shown for the construction of any oil-burning ship which does not 

 use an engine of the Diesel type. To burn oil under a boiler and con- 

 vert it into steam releases but 10 per cent of the thermal units in 

 the oil, whereas if this same fuel oil were used directly in a Diesel 

 engine, 30 to 35 per cent of the power in the oil would be secured. 



