What Fuel Is Most Economical? 



By MYRON T. SCUDDER, New Jersey 



IF I could have my way about house- 

 -*- work, I would have everything done 

 by electricity — the cooking, washing and 

 ironing, as well as the heating and lighting, 

 and the running of sewing-machines, dish 

 washers and vacuum cleaners. But at 

 present only the rich can afford this ideal 

 fuel. Cheap electricity will come, though, 

 so abundantly and so cheap that departed 

 spirits will gasp with surprise when they 

 compare its cost and convenience with 

 the gas they used at eighty cents or one 

 dollar per thousand, or coal at six dollars 

 and upward per ton. 



If one cannot have electricity what is 

 next best? In some parts of the country 

 it would be natural gas. In others wood 

 is the staple, for in many places this is 

 still the cheapest and most important 

 fuel. 



But I think we shall have to admit 

 that among all the fuels coal is "King." 

 He may not be holding us down to "coal- 

 hod slavery ;" we may succeed even in 

 banishing his black majesty from our homes 

 in the shape of actual lumps of pea, chest- 

 nut or stove coal; but he comes back in 

 the form of gas or of electricity and domin- 



You can bake fish and cake at the same time in 

 this gas-range oven 



ates the situation as of old. Yet in recent 

 years a formidable rival has appeared on 

 the scene and King Coal's title is vigorously 

 disputed. This rival is petroleum, and 

 the contest is between coal on one side 

 and oil on the other. Oil, like coal, yields 

 valuable fuel-gas, kerosene giving blue 

 flame while gasolene gives carburetted 

 air gas. 



We are told in producing steam in a 

 steam boiler 1,000 pounds of coal will 

 accomplish approximately as much as 

 will one cord of wood, or 84 gallons of oil 

 or gasolene, or 20,000 cubic feet of coal 

 gas. That is, estimating coal at $6 per 

 ton, its power to produce steam is as great 

 as is $9 worth of wood at $4.50 per cord, or 

 $20 worth of oil at 12 cents per gallon, 

 or $40 worth of coal gas at one dollar per 

 thousand cubic feet. This would seem 

 to show that coal is the cheapest fuel. 



Perhaps this is so in some cases. For 

 instance, with steam engines or with heat- 

 ing systems for houses — for we may as 

 well concede at once that coal is the most 

 practical fuel for the heater in the cellar. 

 Yet even in these cases petroleum is mak- 

 ing some gains. But it must be remem- 

 bered that in fuels like wood and coal 

 a large proportion of the heat, some say 

 90 per cent., goes up the chimney or is 

 radiated into the room. A ton of coal 

 may be able to do as much as $20 worth 

 of oil will if we can really capture all the 

 heat there is in it and place it where we 

 want it. But this is just what we haven't 

 learned how to do. And if we lose 90 

 per cent, of the heat, then we are paying 

 our $6 for the 10 per cent, remnant, and 

 it really requires $60 worth of coal to do 

 what $20 worth of oil or $40 worth of coal 

 gas can accomplish. 



We can see now why gas and oil may 

 be far more economical as fuel than coal. 

 In cooking, for instance, see how time, 

 patience and money can be saved. In 

 gas and oil stoves the flame can be instantly 

 produced and as quickly put out, no 

 kindlings, no coal to carry, no ashes or 

 dirt or soot or dust, no waiting for the 

 fire to come up, no faulty drafts, always 

 ready at a moment's notice, and no banking 

 the fire at night. 



And there is saving again because your 

 fire is burning only when you actually need 

 it. Three or four hours a day of heat is 

 enough for cooking, isn't it? Even half 



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of that will do if you use a tireless cooker. 

 Think how many hours a day a coal stove 

 blazes away doing nothing but burn up 

 good money! Then the further saving 

 is effected because the heat is concen- 

 trated just where you most need it, on 

 the article to be cooked. Then see how 

 easily gas and oil are adjustable from slight 

 warmth to intense heat. Another great 

 saving, for, having brought the water to 

 a boil or the oven to the required tempera- 

 ture with the full flame you may turn the 



A steel oven for oil stoves, which will bake and! 

 roast meat to perfection 



flame well down, for a comparatively small 

 amount of heat will now keep the pot 

 a-boiling and the oven a-baking. 



In warm weather, too, instead of the 

 superheated kitchen there is a refreshing 

 freedom from the excessive heat of the 

 coal stove. They tell us, too, that there 

 is less loss in weight in meat when it is 

 cooked over oil or gas, tests showing that 

 a 10-pound roast loses two pounds in a 

 coal range but only two or three ounces 

 when cooked by gas. With a few more 

 improvements in adapting gas to house- 

 warming systems, coal may be banished 

 from our homes even before electricity 

 comes. 



In this matter of house warming, of 

 course there are gas furnaces in natural 

 gas regions, but with artificial gas the 

 cost at present is greater than with coal. 

 As for the little portable heaters for 

 warming rooms, they should be used 

 sparingly and for as brief a time as possible, 

 for they burn the oxygen in the air which 

 you yourself need. Of course a coal stove 



