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May, 1909 TAE MarRINE REVIEW 113 Marine Producer Gas Power.' cA Comparison of Producer Gas and Steam Equipments. O MUCH... interest .is; exhibited both by the engineering profes- sion and the general public in the application. of producer gas power to marine, commercial and na- val service, that a brief summary of recent progress in this field appears timely. Any innovation which makes for im- provement in present practices, sure- ly, though sometimes slowly, achieves its end. Producer gas power, on im- partial analysis, offers so many bene- fits to marine service that it appears strange indeed that more rapid prog- ress has not been made in its adoption. The delay appears to 'be due to sey- eral causes: The marine public, who. since the days of the Clermont have exclusively . associated the term "motive power" with "steam," have every reason for demanding exact and conclusive evi- dence of the superiority of gas power or any other power, (before adopting it in lieu of their present methods. _ This evidence is only now slowly com- ing forth, Many who have been cred- ited with authority by the engineer- ing profession and others, either through ignorance or through being - misinformed, thave beset the way of marine gas power with numberless imaginary obstacles, ridiculous in pro- portion to the real difficulties, but suf- ficient nevertheless to instill. some doubt of the possibilities of the sys- tem, into the minds of the waiting public. Only recently has been made in the development of gas power for marine work, as to warrant its early adoption in commercial ser-. vice. Two years ago, less than 300-H. P. in the aggregate was being devel- oped by marine producer gas power installations; these were experimental in nature and were of the German Capitaine type. There are now in- stalled and accepted 23 Capitaine ma- rine plants, aggregating 2,035 H. P.,.a partial list of which follows: Emil Capitaine: Launch, 60 B. Hy Poy cylinder single-acting, 4-cycle engine; boat 60 ft. long, 10 ft. beam, 4 ft. deep; ran an average speed of 10 miles for 10 hrs. on 412 lbs. of anthracite coal. Rex: Sea-going Swedish boat; 102 ft. long; 22 ft. beam, carries 350 tons on 9-ft. draught; fitted with a 3-cylinder single-acting, 45-H.: P Gngime' at 300"R. P: " Capitaine: Tow boat at Genoa; length 47 ft. beam 12 ft., draught 7 ft.; fitted with a 3- cylinder, single-acting, 4-cycle engine, 105 B. HP. at. 240. Rk. P.M. Duchess: Canal barge; length 71 ft., beam such progress By C. L. Straub,* New York, Non-Member, 7 ft. 1 in.; carries 20 tons cargo on 42-in. draught; fitted with double-cylinder, single-act- ing, 4-cycle engine of 25 B. H. P. : ee ee Lae at Hamburg; fitted with a 4-cylinder, single-acting 4-cycle engi J BH Pat 0 Re Me Isee: Tug, fitted with a 3-cylinder, single- nae 4-cyclé sengine,' 45..B.> H.; Pis300 oR, 'Wilhelm: Combination freight and passenger Rhine boat, fitted with a 5-cylinder, single- acting. engine, 175 --B, HH. RP. at..2407 RB Badenia: Rhine freight boat, fitted with a 2-cylinder, 'single-acting, 4-cycle engine of 504 Be A. Pe. Katrina: Canal freight boat, fitted with a ee single-acting, 4-cycle engine, 45 B. Marie: Canal freight boat; fitted with a 3-cylinder, single-acting, 4-cycle engine, 45 B. Hees Hoffnung: Combination freight and passenger Rhine boat, fitted with a 5-cylinder, single- acting, 4-cycle engine of 210 Be Hee Amersie: Volga freight boat, fitted with a 4-cylinder, single-acting, 4-cycle engine of 60°. By Hie Pe No. 58: Canal freight boat, fitted with a 4-cylinder, single-acting, 4-cycle engine of 60 Bee HesPt In addition to the above there were a number of freight 'boats, the dimen- sions and names of which we were unable to obtain, but whose power plants varied in capacity from 30 to 175 H. P. each. HH. M. S. Rattler: An old gun boat, 165 ft. long, 29 ft. beam, originally fitted with a triple expansion engine. The gas engine is 5-cylinder, single-acting, 4-cycle. Cylinders 20 in. diameter by 24 in. stroke, developing 500 B. H. P. at 120 R. P: M.. This'engine is started by means of a mixture of gas and air which is pumped into the cylinders at a pressure of about 95 Ibs. per. sq. in, This complete plant was designed entirely in the Capitaine Works at Dusseldorf. The total weight of the entire plant, including the donkey boiler' for working the pumps and auxiliaries, is 94 tons, as compared with 150 tons in the case of the displaced steam en- gine. A consumption of 1,525 lbs. of coal was made for a measured distance of 45 knots on an average speed of 10% knots per hr. The cost per mile for fuel with coal at 15s. 6d. per ton is $0.064 U.S. currency. This boat made a maximum speed of 11.3 knots per hr. against a 1% knot current at 110 R. P. M. of the' engine shaft. All of the above plants by thei: de- sign and construction are restricted to - operation on anthracite coal, coke or hard-burned charcoal and any plant so restricted by its design to one class of fuel is seriously limited in its scope of application. The development of a simple marine gas-producer for use with any class of solid fuel is a necessity, if the system is to 'be con- sidered seriously by the marine pro- fession. : The writer is fortunate in having been associated with some _ recent American developments both in sta- tionary and marine gas power plants, a brief survey of a portion of which 1Paper read_before the American Society of Mechanical . Engineers, Washington, H....C., May, 1909. ; : *With the Loomis-Pettibone Co., New York. will enable us to draw more clearly the comparison between . a_ typical steam and a possible gas installation. Two Types of Stationary Gas Pro- ducer. There are in commercial operation in this country today two distinct types of stationary power gas produc- ers which are suited by their design for operation on almost any class of solid fuel. They may, iby 'their sys- tems of operation, be qualified as up- draft and down-draft producers. In the up-draft producer, the fuel is charged into the generator through an air-tight mechanism at the top, while' -air: and. 'steaim,..on. ai. and products of combustion are admit- ted..,.at. the. bottom) 'of. the ~: fuel bed, and passing upward, leave the generator at the top in contact with the fresh fuel. Almost all of the hydro-carbons leave the generator unfixed with the hot gas, only to be condensed later in 'the gas coolers or scrubbers and' gas mains, forming large amounts of 'tar, which, if not re- moved to a minute degree, will posi- | tively prevent the operation: of the engine. The removal of this tat is troublesome: iand is accomplished at a loss of power and efficiency. The fuel in the upper zone of the bed in the -up-draft producers cokes and cakes so seriously as to require continuous pok- ing of the fuel bed, either mechani- cally or by hand. These features and others in this type of .apparatus con- tribute to limit the rates of combus- tion per sq. ft. of grate to a relatively low quantity. All things considered, therefore, this type of apparatus 'has not lent itself agreeably to modifica- _ tion for marine service. In the down-draft type of apparatus, the fuel is charged 'by hand through - a large door at the 'top of the pro- ducer, which is normally in an open position, allowing the operator unre- stricted inspection of the whole upper zone of the fuel bed. The hydro-car- bons contained in the fuel are driven off in the upper zone, mixed with air and almost completely burned, and the burnt products, passing downward through the relatively deep bed of fuel, are decomposed and regenerated into carbon-monoxid and thydrogen gases. All of the tar and the lighter hydro- carbons are completely fixed in this