ANNUAL ADDJtESS. XLVII. 



machine, their use has rapidly extended, and the sizes of units 

 have gone up and up, until now the Westinghouse Electric Works 

 at Pittsburg, Pa., are run by a gas engine of 650 H.P., with a 

 25 in. cylinder and 3 ft. 6 in. stroke. Gas engines of as much as 

 1,500 H.P. are said to be contemplated. Many tests have been 

 made with recent gas engines shewing a consumption as low as 

 from 12 to 15 ft. of gas per horse power per hour, and it is claimed 

 to have been reduced to 10 cubic feet. 



Finally, the Destruction of City Refuse. — Mr. Westinghouse, 

 the American engineer, has recently forwarded a contribution to 

 a New York newspaper, in which he foreshadows an entirely new 

 industrial situation in connection with producer gas. Most 

 engineers know that continual efforts are being made where 

 destructors are employed to get rid of town refuse, to utilise the 

 waste heat for generating steam ; fanciful pictures have been drawn 

 of cities that not only incinerate their garbage, but illuminate 

 themselves brilliantly through the utilization of the generated 

 heat. No doubt in a few towns, and under favourable conditions, 

 a certain amount of success has been obtained, but in most cases 

 the proportion of heat generated which is necessary to evaporate 

 the water from the refuse, leaves very little to spare for the 

 steam boiler. 



Under the proposals of Mr. Westinghouse, which are on entirely 

 different lines, it is suggested that even with refuse carrying as 

 much as eighty per cent, of water, it will be possible by mixing it 

 with a due proportion of cheap carbon, to convert it economically 

 into fuel gas of great value. This conversion is to be carried out 

 without any offensive odour, and the gas to be produced is to be 

 utilised to drive gas engines, which in turn may drive electric 

 generators or any other machinery. From the daily press it is 

 gathered that the Municipal Council of Sydney contemplates the 

 erection of destructors for incinerating the city refuse, but no 

 description.of the apparatus for which tenders have been invited 

 has so far been made public, nor has any statement been made 

 about an intention to utilise the heat. 



