110 BULLETIN 711, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUKE. 



at tlie present time, 35 large operators are using oil in their logging 

 engines — the total number of installations amounting to about 140. 

 Oil has not met with much favor as a fuel for logging engines work- 

 ing at points other than along railroads, particularly in the winter- 

 time, since the oil has to be pumped out to these engines. Then,, 

 there are camps located away from the railroads and away from 

 deep water that can not use it for the simple reason that they can 

 not secure it. The delivery cost in other cases no doubt precludes its 

 economic use. In August, 1916, the price of oil in bulk at Tacoma, 

 Seattle, and Portland, was $1.20 per barrel; in the winter of 1914, 

 $0.80. per barrel — a barrel of oil contains 42 gallons and weighs 325 

 pounds. 



The amount of oil burned in a logging engine varies with the 

 amount of work done and the care exercised in firing. It varies from 

 6 to 8 barrels per day with yarding engines, and is a little less in 

 engines engaged in reading or swinging where the haul is relatively 

 short and in overhead yarding. Probably not more than half this 

 amount is consumed in loading engines. 



An operator using three yarding engines — ^two 10^ by 10^ inch and 

 a 12 by 12 inch — stated that each engine consumed about 8 barrels 

 of oil per yarding day. The average output of each engine per yard- 

 ing day was about 80,000 feet, the maximum yarding distance 

 amounting to 900 feet. Another operator working in rough country 

 and using five 12 by 12 inch yarding engines stated that the fuel oil 

 consumed averaged about 6 barrels per engine per yarding day. In 

 another case four yarding engines, working a total of 533 machine 

 days, consumed fuel oil at the rate of 7.8 barrels per engine per yard- 

 ing day the first year oil was used as fuel. The next year with ex- 

 perience and after various changes had been made in the engines — 

 such as doing away with the blowers and increasing the height of 

 the stacks — ^the oil consumed averaged 6.1 barrels per engine per 

 yarding day. 



The following is a more or less detailed record of the oil consumed 

 in three yarding engines : 



(a) Logging engines, 11 by 13 inch; boiler, 66 by 120 inch, 200- 

 pound working pressure, safety valve set at 185 pounds; time, 5 

 months; average daily consumption, 9.6 barrels; chance, rough 

 ground; average log, 1,975 feet; maximum yarding distance, 1,300 

 feet; average yarding distance, 650 feet; average output per engine 

 per yarding day, 80,500 feet. Cost of fuel oil per barrel delivered 

 in tank on rear end of sled, $1.05, or $0,137 per thousand feet. It is 

 estimated that had wood been used the fuel cost would have amounted 

 to $0,225 per thousand feet, so that the burning of oil resulted in a 

 saving of $0,088 per thousand feet. 



