A NEW SOURCE OF POWER 



937 



A 9-FOOT UGNITK SEAM, NKAR WII.IJSTON, NORTH DAKOTA 



at the Saint Louis Fair as the very acme 

 of steam-eng^ine construction have since 

 then been thrown onto the junk-heap 

 and gas-producer plants substituted. 



PRODUCER-GAS VS. STEAM PI.ANTS 



In one of Professor Fernald's reports* 

 a large number of most interesting com- 

 parisons are given, showing the relative 

 efficiency of steam and gas plants in 

 converting various grades of coal into 

 electrical energy. Thus, of an Illinois 

 coal from Springfield, it required 5.27 

 pounds to develop i horse-power in the 

 steam plant as against only 1.79 pounds 

 in the gas plant. Of an Indiana (Terre 

 Haute) coal, it required 4.52 pounds in 

 the steam plant against 1.61 pounds in 

 the gas plant to develop i horse-power. 



Most notable, however, were the re- 

 sults in the low-grade coals and lignites. 

 Of a North Dakota lignite from Lehigh, 



* Bulletin 416, United States Geological Sur- 

 vey, can be had upon application. 



10 pounds were required in the steam 

 plant to develop i horse-power, and only 

 2.82 pounds in the gas plant. With 

 other lignites from Williston, North Da- 

 kota, Red Lodge, Montana, as well as 

 several Texas lignites which proved 

 absolutely worthless under the steam 

 boiler, from 2^ to 3^ pounds devel- 

 oped I horse-power in the gas producer. 

 Of 75 comparative tests made by the 

 Geological Survey, the coals, when used 

 in the gas plant, had from 2^^ to 3^/^ 

 times the driving power that they had in 

 the steam plant. 



In these tests the North Dakota and 

 Texas lignites, and even Florida peat, 

 yielded more power than did the very 

 best Pennsylvania and West Virginia 

 coals under the steam boiler. 



HIGH VALUE OE THE EIGNITES 



Commenting on the value of these 

 tests, with special reference to the Da- 

 kota and Texas lignites, Professor Fer- 

 nald remarks : 



