| Show charcoal gas Is fair gasoline substitute tests show could be used on farms advantages defects revealed by mile milc trial journey in car ah the present scarcity of gasoline has s turned attention to pos possible sible substitutes one of the most practical is t the he gas gen generated er abed from charcoal or I 1 wa wood 0 d by a high temperature burner these devices which eire are common in europe are aarein the united states and if the wa wartime artime stringency in motor fuel had bad not developed they would probably have remained curiosities if gasoline bee becomes omes expense expensive V e and scarce in the postwar years however the gas generators will probably come into use at least for some purposes such as stationary engines and farm machinery the charcoal burned in the generator can be made from rom any kind ot of wood or dried plant fiber such as pressed out sugar cane here to Is possible future market for or farm products that pre are now wastes all this however depends on the adequacy of our petroleum reserves it if gasoline Is once again plentiful and cheap there Is little likelihood that the gas generator will be widely employed for at its present stage it does not give as satisfactory service as gasoline does to investigate the possibilities of using gas generators on their delivery cars as well as to obtain material for an informative article newsweek magazine had bad one of its small station wagons fitted with a generator and driven on an mile test trip the journey began in kalamazoo mich where the charcoal burning gas producer known commercially as the gaso gas ogene was attached at the manufacturers plant and ended in N new ew york city the route travers edthe allegheny mountains where steep grades forced the car to give its best possible performance milton van associate editor supervised the experiment on the june morning when the trip was to start mr van poured pounds of charcoal into the hopper of the gas ogene he then started the motor of the car with gasoline next he stepped around to the rear opened the small fire door and ut the burner with a twist of paper the suction of the motor drew the flame right in and in a few seconds the fire was nearly chite hot in one minute fifteen second onda after he poured the charcoal they rolled out of the shop down the highway within a couple of minutes they turned off the gasoline completely in about eight minutes all told the gas ogene was delivering its full power which is about 65 per cent of that obtained from gasoline this did not mean that the station wagon could go only 65 per cent of Z 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 i sell I 1 this is the ibe small station wagon equipped with a gas ogene that made the mile experimental run from kalamazoo Kalam aioo mich to new york city the trip was a rigorous test for the efficiency of gas tuel fuel for the route led over the steep grades of the allegheny mountains the speed it would be capable ot of with gasoline in speed tests given time to work up momentum about three times that ordinarily needed tor for gasoline it reached 70 miles an hour tor for a brief run there was no zip in pickup on the hills the lack of horsepower showed up more moie although they encountered none that could not be made in low As a rule of thumb a hill on which a gasoline engine would balk a little in high required second speed with the gas ogene one that made a gasoline car use second required low shaking down the ashes the cross country run was made without mishap one night a ciuck driver air braked his big van to td a stop and tore over with a ore fire extinguisher when they paused at the roadside to shake down the ashes this was done twice in the r L V T I 1 1 1 4 11 1 W i V I 1 amp the gat iogene generates gas principally carbon monoxide by burning charcoal at high temperatures the hopper holds pounds lt Is beito refuel it every 50 to 75 miles miles curiosity appeal was high motorists seeing the device as they approached from the rear would pull up and sometimes tall tail them for or miles in towns small crowds gathered to look and ask though the tuel fuel hopper holds pounds it was found best to refuel every 50 to 75 miles fresh fuel is put in through the hatch on top of the generator a dusty dirty two to three minute job usually at the same time mr van took a couple more minutes out to look at the security filter a small screen which is the last cleaning stage twenty cents for 15 miles they averaged close to 30 miles an hour for the miles and burned pounds of charcoal put into its gaso gasoline line equivalent 15 miles to the gallon this stacked up to about 2134 11 POU pounds n ds which at the rate of 35 a ton tor for charcoal meant nearly 20 cents for 15 miles or within a penny or two of gasoline cost the whole system Is entirely rational there is nothing mysterious about it the regular carburetor is used when the motor operates on gasoline A carbo charger feeds gas into the cylinders in the gas ogene operation the main difference is that the he gas ogene gas principally car carbon bon monoxide must be manufactured in the generator before it can be burned gasoline in the tank is ready for use with a gas ogene it is necessary to keep die engine turning over a little faster than usual in order to manufacture gas it if the engine is run too slowly on a hill where power is needed the fire may die down reducing speed the fire requires re lighting only after long intervals of parking after only two or three hours of disuse the motor will start on gaso gene direct after three or tour four hours it is necessary to use a little gasoline in the motor to get the draft going through the firebox and build up a good fire the gas ogene used less than 2 quarts of gasoline tor for miles mile s better than 1600 miles to the gallon what it costa thit cost of the at ta cAment varies for this experimental unit was about on trucks with a simpler installation job the cost would be perhaps lower in south america they are somewhat less mass production naturally would bring economies at present gaso genes are not made in this country for unrestricted civilian use though no priorities for the purchaser would be required it if a manufacturer fac were able to get clearance on materials from the war production board and on manpower from the war manpower commission the e gasn gas gene ogene outfit requires some attention that hat machines operating on gasoline do not since the gaso gene burns charcoal or other solid fuel it Is necessary to shake out the ashes perhaps once a week then there are two filters that must be taken out and cleaned periodically one Is the radical finned niter filter right this was serviced once on the trip the other Is the security filter left it was thought best to look at this every time they filled the charcoal li hopper opper more than passenger cars and trucks throughout the world use various forms ot of gas generators recently reports have come that the oll oil famished nazis are operating war machines including training tanks on gaso genes in this country the army and other government branches bureau ol of standards forest service of the department of agriculture tennessee valley authority have made or still are conducting exhaustive tests when the german submarine campaign threatened to cut the sea lanes to our fronts the army stepped up the gas ogene experiments it had started three years ago seeking a satisfactory gasoline substitute sti tute nearly every conce conceivable iva ble fuel was subjected to tests even dried camel dung which wr worked ked OK now with shipping lanes opened the army is not so interested but it did find that the gas ogene gas was a satisfactory substitute for gasoline under certain conditions although it gave less power and the mechanism was harder to maintain the possibility of using the gas ogene when the burma road is reopened is not yet definitely ruled out army and other experiments plus some canadian research produced reports leports of varying degrees of approval and disapproval some held the horsepower loss was too great gaso genes were too dirty and so on numerous in sweden under the wartime gas shortage there are several thousand gaso genes now operating on wood especially in countries such as sweden where lumber Is plentiful undoubtedly most will go back to gasoline 1111 e after the war wood does not noi give as good a performance as charcoal it is dirtier in its gas content and therefore more apt an engine since coke or hard bard coal operate satisfactorily in hard coal regions where fuel is cheap coal burning gas ogene trucks might be feasible A group of farmers too might band together to make charcoal for use on their machinery and trucks all in all any widespread postwar use in the united states is unlikely and what there is probably will be local and mainly in agriculture industry and business not private driving Gaso genes proponents point out that the history of the use of substitutes tit utes is replete with stories of improvements prove ments and lower costs such as in synthetic nitrates rubber and fibers for this reason they anticipate further improvements but because of the gaso genes limitations the oil companies though highly interested in watching experiments do not expect any serious competition the res results alts thus tar far in these tests c confirm that the gas ogene Is a s satisfactory atis factory substitute tor for gasoline where the standard fuel is unavailable or where transportation or other factors make its price prohibitive hibi tive the relationship between the cost of gasoline and the cost of the substitute fuel Is the main factor which will control the gaso genes future for instance gasoline at 25 to 50 cents a gallon in remote sections ot of south america could coul d make it feasible to use charcoal which is plentiful and cheap as it Is a home product sold everywhere tor for cooking in the united states gaso genes may be used in the lumber industry with plenty of waste lumber especially in the far north where transportation makes gasoline costs high it might be fea feasible s ible to turn waste into charcoal a sl simple mple process requiring two or three days or r even burn the wood as it is g va ax |
