PETKOLEITM, 
47 
The Diesel type of engine, therefore, offers the means for greatly 
increasing the power-generating capacity of the petroleum yet to 
be produced in the United States, in itself alone having the ability to 
double the energy extraction from the 7,000,000,000 barrels of petro- 
leum still under ground. But the true significance of the prospect 
does not appear from the general consideration. In connection with 
marine service has this principle its richest promise; the advantages 
of oil over coal for ocean shipping are well known and obvious. If 
America plans, as she must, on a great expansion in foreign trade and 
the building up of a substantial merchant marine, she would ignore 
her most potent point of superiority if she neglected the bearing of 
the Diesel engine on this matter. 
It may be a source of surprise to some that the Diesel engine has 
been so largely neglected in this country. In this respect, a quota- 
tion from a report of the United States Bureau of Mines may be of 
interest. 
Diesel developed his engine in the early nineties, and has since then greatly 
improved it and has made of it a most succesful and efficient power producer. 
At present it is thoroughly dependable and will burn a great variety of 
oils * * *. Although the prime requisite in Europe seems to be economy 
in operation, low first cost seems to be a more important requirement in this 
country, and at first comparison with the steam engine the Diesel seems to be 
exceedingly costly. Small imperfections in mechanical construction, up to 
within a very recent date, seem also to have had their influence upon the non- 
construction of the engine in the United States. Also, although the general 
industrial profits within the United States are large, the very abundance of 
raw materials and the general extravagance in their use seem to have combined 
against the wide adoption of this engine, in spite of its being so highly efficient, 
and in spite of the fact that it has met with such Success abroad. * * * The 
generally wasteful methods of steam raising in this country must give way 
to the more efficient methods of fuel utilization that now prevail in Europe, if 
the United States is to maintain its present position or compete with other 
countries in the manufacturing industries. With a more conservative use of 
the Nation’s abundant fuel supplies and a better development of the by-product 
industries, there is no reason why the heavy-oil engine should not materially aid 
in the more efficient utilization of the fuel resources of the United States . 1 
The use of gas oil, a high-grade fuel oil, in the manufacture of city 
gas represents a practice largely unjustifiable on the basis of resource 
economy. In 1915, the amount used for this purpose was about 16,- 
000,000 barrels, 2 or roughly 6 per cent of the domestic petroleum pro- 
duction. With the exception of about one-fifth of the amount, which 
was employed for making oil gas in the Southwest, where coal is 
lacking, the bulk of the gas oil was used for carbureting or enriching 
the luminosity and calorific power of the various types of city gas 
1 1. C. Allen, Heavy oil as fuel for internal-combustion engines : Technical Taper 37, 
Bureau of Mines, 1913, pp. 9-10. 
2 See C. E. Lesber, Artificial gas and by-products : Mineral Resources of the United 
States for 1915, United States Geological Survey, p. 1051. 
