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APRIL, 13, 1899. THE MARINE RECORD. 13 Sr LIQUID FUEL.* (CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK. ) An enormous future lies before this fuel, even if it only depended on its relative cost compared with coal; but when we come to the collateral advantages it enjoys, the benefit of using it, as compared with coal, are simply overwhelm- ‘ing. It is unfortunate that it should be so, but one cannot fail to recognize the fact that the calls for purposes of war must take priority to those of peace, and the first great ad- vantage to vessels of war, especially to torpedo boats, in using liquid fuel, as compared with even the best coal, is the entire absence of smoke arising from its employment. When combustion is complete—and this is very important, engineers having not yet found out how to handle fuel, and complete combustion does not take place and smoke is caused—not a trace of smoke issues from the funnel of a vessel using it. How important this is to torpedo boats, the least initiated can understand, but itis not less so to cruisers, or even to battle-ships, which, when using liquid fuel, could shadow an enemy’s fleet without being detected. Under the system adopted in the Haliotis, steam is used to spray the oil, but this is certainly not the most economical method, and already a system has been found, invented by a Dutchman, called the Kloos system, which entirely dis- penses with the use of steam. One main point of difference between the burning of coal and liquid fuel is that, while coal remains quietly in its place until it is burnt, liquid fuel would offer too small a surface to the air when lying in a tank to burn with so much heat as is required. It has, therefore, to be sprayed out in small particles, to augment its surface. If, however, the oil is sprayed mechanically, the rush of cold air chills the spray, and many of the small drops reach the funnel before combustion has taken place, thus producing smoke and soot. By heating the air well above the burning temperature of the oil, before it reaches the spray, this is remedied, and combustion takes place freely. In the heated air system, the oil is forced at about 50 lbs. pressure through a Korting’s Sprayer into the fur- nace. In this sprayer the current of oil has to pass through a screw thread, which gives a rapid turning motion toit, so that the centrifugal force causes the liquid to fly out in dust. The air is brought by a guiding plate at the back of the fur- nace, returns along cast-iron ribbed plates which are heated by the flames above it, and meets rectangularly the current of fine sprayed-out oil, the air being heated to about 500 degrees Fahr. As the hole in the sprayer through. which the oil is injected is under 1-16th of an inch in diameter, the liquid must be well filtered, and to assist the centrifugal force in spraying it out in fine particles, the oil is heated to about 200 degrees Fahr. “*Paper read by Sir Marcus Samuel, Society of Arts, London. TOBIN BRONZE (Trade-Mark Registered.) Chas. E. & W. F. 58 William Street, New York City. 5 and 6 Billiter Avenue, E. C., - a) BROWN &CO., - - - Lakes, both CARGOES AND HULLS. Tensile strength of plates one-quarter inch thick, upward of 78,000 Ibs, per square inch. Torsional strength equal to the best machinery steel. Non-corrosive in sea water. Can be forged at cherry red heat. Round, Square and Hexagon Bars for Bolt Forgings, Pump Piston Rods, Yacht Shaftings, etc. Rolled Sheets and Plates for Pump Linings and Condenser Tube Sheets, Centerboards, Fin Keels and Rudders. Royal Insurance Building, Chicago, Ill. C. T. BOWRING & CO. London, England. 202 Main Street, Buffalo, N. Y. PARKER & MILLEN, 15 Atwater Street, W., Detroit, Mich. J.G KEITH & CO., - (38 Rialto Building, Chicago, III. LA SALLE & CO., Board of Trade Building, Duluth, Minn. Are prepared to make rates on all classes of Marine Insurance on the Great None but those concerned in the actual management of steamers know what trouble and anxiety arises from the employment of what is known as the ‘“‘black element,” namely, the stokers. By the use of liquid fuel the services of these men are almost entirely dispensed with, because oil flows by gravitation from service tanks placed well above the boilers, direct to the furnaces. The expansion and con- traction caused by the frequent opening of the furnace doors is entirely avoided, and the life of a boiler, consequently, greatly prolonged. No ashes are made, and the strain and distress to firemen of heaving these overboard before com- mencing their watch is entirely saved. To anyone who has seen the manner in which the large crew needed on a torpedo-boat or destroyer are berthed, in consequence of having to stoke the enormous boilers used upon these craft, the fact that under the use of liquid fuel the crews of these vessels can be reduced to less than half of those now nec- essary is, in itself, an argument so overwhelming that, were this its only advantage, it would suffice to compel its intro- duction into this class of vessel by those in power; but when it is borne in mind that men in torpedo craft literally carry their lives in their hands, depending solely on the speed of the vessel, and not upon her armament, it is clear that a great step is attained when the crew carried upon these vessels is reduced. Oil can be carried in spaces which it is impossible to utilize in any other way, and especially in such craft as torpedo-boats, where the form of the vessel under water renders the attaining of stability a difficult problem. Oil carried in the bottom of the steamer, below the water-line, would be impervious to shot, and, by the syste n of service tanks, as oil is pumped out of the ballast- tanks of a steamer, water can readily be taken in to replace it, because if the mixture is put into a seryice tank, and allowed to settle, water is quickly precipitated to the bottom, and can be drawn off, the oil remaining being pumped pure into the second service tank, whence it flows to the bunkers, and it can readily be conceived how many spaces now lost in vessels can be utilized for the storage of oil, allowing a much greater weight for armament or quan- tity of cargo to be carried in space now used for bunker ‘purposes only, or lost entirely through being too small or inaccessible for the storage of coal. The importance of the new departure has been. promptly recognized by Lloyd’s, which, I am glad to say, has issued regulations allowing liquid fuel, having a flash point of over 200° Fahr. to be carried in steamers’ ballast tanks, and this will greatly facilitate its general use. The much longer time a vessel can be kept at sea is also a factor which must not be overlooked, and, provided relays of supplies are furnished at ports not too far apart, the carrying capacity of an ordinary merchantman is increased by some hundreds of The Send for Pamphlet. Peck, ASSETS, CHARLES PLATT, President. CAPITAL, Paid up in Cash, “ - 2 s GREVILLE EB. FRYER, Sec’y and Treas. T. HOUARD WRIGHT, Marine Secretary. tons, dependent necessarily on the size of the vessel, whilst the saving in time in taking in oil instead of coal as bunkers can be best estimated when I state that oil can be easily put on board at the rate of 300 tons per hour, and this without the slightest dirt—a great characteristic of the Borneo oil being, too, that it is almost odorless. The experimental stage in the burning of liquid fuel, as stated at the commencement of this paper, has long since been passed. . The uses for it in Russia itself are innumer- able, and the latest statistics show that no less than 7,000,000 tons per annum are consumed in Russia for liquid fuel alone. Lately it has been largely adopted for naval purposes as well, while for many years the steamers navigating the Caspian Sea have used it exclusively. There are no less than eight steamers at present engaged in the eastern trade which are fitted for it, and where the results attained have answered the expectations of their owners beyond their most sanguine anticipations, whilst large numbers of vessels are under construction expressly for the use of liquid fuel, and a great number of steamers hitherto burning coal are also being altered. In the Far East tanks have been erected at ports ranging from Yokohama to Suez, including all the Indian ports, while cargoes of the Borneo oil have also been landed at the principal ports. Under the advantages which I have enum: erated it will be understood that it is rapidly going into general consumption. In Europe the Russian, the Italian, and the German navies have partially adopted it, and it will be a curious circumstance, if, with the great engineering skill available in the British Navy, they should not also see- their way to use it to advantage in the immediate future. 2 Sa OA ESSELS CLASSED. Vessels classed and rated by the American Bureau of Shipping in the ‘‘Record of American and Foreign Ship- ping,’ this week, are as follows: American tern, Geo. V. Jordan; bark, Grace Deering; . bark, Nellie Brett; bark, Penobscot. British barkentine Alberta, owned by Messrs. Reynard & McBride, and British schooner Priscilla. Amer?- can barkentine, Nellie M. Slade; ships, Paul Revere and — Gov. Robie. a yt ee THE British government draws its naval reserves from the fishermen and seamen of the coast towns. At the beginning of the war with Spain Englishmen could not believe that the American naval reserves from Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and other interior states could do efficient service on a war vessel. It so happened that the naval reserves and recruits from the interior states saw more active service than the re- serves from the coast states. On the Oregon, Iowa and other vessels they did their duty ‘‘as men among men,”’ receiving the praise of officers and veteran gunners and seamen. Ansonia Brass & Copper Co. SOLE MANUFACTURERS, 19=21 Cliff St., NEW YORK. 5 MARINE ENGINES, PROPELLER WHEELS, ‘DECK HOISTERS, o @ 312 ATWATER STREET, DETROIT, MICH. ° INCORPORATED 1794. Insurance Company of North America $3,000,000.00 10,173,488.90 EUGENE L. ELLISON, Vice President. BENJAIIIN RUSH, Second Vice President. JOHN H. ATWOOD, Assistant Secretary. Lake Marine Department, GEORGE L. McCURDY. Manacrn.