40 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
Adaptability of Various Types of 
Engines 
The foregoing table shows very clearly 
that the cost for fuel to maintain a brake 
horsepower for one hour varies widely. 
and at the prices given the dearest costs 
nearly 48 times as much as the cheapest. 
The fact that not everybody uses the fuel 
giving the cheapest power in point of fuel 
cost, but that even the most expensive 
finds a ready market, makes it clear that 
there must be good reasons. These rea- 
sons may be found in local variations in 
price of fuel, in differences in adaptabil- 
ity of the engines to the work required, 
and in the fact that the above figures 
show fuel cost only, whereas there are 
great differences in the cost of attend- 
ance. An elaborate steam plant, to be even 
fairly efficient, must be continuously op- 
erated at fairly heavy load; intermittent 
working or working at a decreased out- 
put makes them wasteful of fuel. More- 
over, the apparatus is so complicated, 
slow to start up, and dangerous to life 
and property in careless or inexperienced 
hands that persons must become skilled 
by years of study and practice before 
they may be allowed the handling. 
The gas engine with its producer can 
handle today the same kind of coal that 
is used in steam plants, and yet the 
weight of this apparatus and its lack of 
flexibility compared with steam engines, 
make it unavailable for steamships and 
locomotives; so it is clear again that 
adaptability to service is even more im- 
portant than the cost of fuel. Similarly, 
Zas-producer plants have not yet been 
successful for sizes smaller than 25 
horsepower, and especially unsuccessful 
have they been so far for intermittent 
work. For the small sizes the steam 
plant is also very wasteful of fuel, re- 
quires a skilled operator, and is slow in 
starting; so it is clear why engines burn- 
ing crude oil, gasoline, kerosene, and 
other liquid fuels explosively should be 
used for light work in isolated situations 
where the work is intermittent and where 
quick starting and small care in attend- 
ance are essential. In this connection it 
must not be forgotten that a kerosene, 
gasoline, or crude-oil engine can be start- 
ed in a few minutes and can even be left 
running for practically a whole day with 
only an occasional examination to see 
that the oil cups are fowing properly and 
the bearings are not getting hot through 
being dirty. Steam engines with their 
boilers, on the contrary, can not be 
started inside of one or two hours, and 
all the fuel necessary to raise steam is 
wasted so far as the work to be done is 
concerned. Moreover, a steam engine re 
quires continuous feeding of coal and 
close attention, so that a man must be 
always near it having no other duties 
but its care. 
In the natural-gas regions a large num- 
ber of gas engines are working and in 
the oil regions a similar number of oil 
engines and gasoline engines, because the 
nearness to the supply makes the fuel 
cheaper than transported fuel, and the 
exploding engine is more efficient than 
the steam engine. 
It thus appears that in spite of the 
fact that the fuel element in the cost of 
power is high for engines burning crude 
oil, kerosene, and gasoline in comparison 
with those using coal, at the same time 
they possess advantages that do not exist 
in steam plants and gas-producer plants, 
which give them a very distinct field, as 
indicated by the following uses to which 
these engines are being put today: Driv- 
ing boats, automobiles, and railroad mo- 
tor cars; pumping water for private 
houses, for farms, for irrigation, and in 
some cases for municipal service in small 
towns; compressing air for drilling, hoist- 
ing, riveting, etc.; operating small car- 
penter shops, machine shops, forge shops, 
and, in fact, any kind of small shop; 
operating ventilating fans in buildings 
and in mines; running small factories, 
such as creameries and butter factories: 
operating feed-cutting and grinding ma- 
chinery, corn shredders, and thrashing 
machines; operating other special ma- 
chines, such as ice-cream freezers, print- 
ing presses, mostly small in size, and 
making electric light in isolated local- 
ities. Not only is this field a real one, 
but it is a large one, as is shown by the 
number of these small engines being sold 
today. The exact figures on the sales are 
