GIFT OF 
 
 
PRESS 
 
5-7 
 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 By Albert Spies. 
 
 'AS engines, at the pres- 
 ent day, are common 
 enough, the past ten or 
 twelve years having wit- 
 nessed the production of 
 a host of designs, al- 
 though of these probably 
 by far the larger number 
 have gained little more 
 publicity than that afford- 
 ed by the patent; office 
 records of different coun- 
 tries. But the more for- 
 tunate ones, those that 
 have been put into mar- 
 ketable shape and sold for a variety 
 of motive power purposes, have been 
 sufficient to amply advertise this type 
 of motor and to practically demonstrate 
 its applicability to many, if not all, the 
 uses to which the steam engine has 
 hitherto been put. It would, therefore, 
 seem almost unnecessary to more speci- 
 fically define it as an engine in which 
 the working fluid is an inflammable gas, 
 or, more correctly, a mixture of atmos- 
 pheric air and inflammable gas, intro- 
 duced directly into the engine cylinder 
 and there ignited and burned. All gas 
 engines, while they may differ widely 
 in theory of action and mechanical con- 
 struction, possess in common this one 
 feature of heating the working fluid in 
 their cylinders proper. Compared with 
 the steam engine as a familiar example, 
 and with most hot air engines, 
 we thus find in the gas engine relative 
 simplicity in so far as no separate fur- 
 nace is necessary in which to burn the 
 fuel from which the energy is primarily 
 derived ; furthermore, the energy is 
 available at exactly the moment needed, 
 and there is no storing up of heat in the 
 same sense as in the steam engine and 
 boiler combination. Hence, it will be 
 
 seen that the gas engine also has a 
 special applicability in all cases where 
 continuous work is not required. 
 
 Concerning the origin of the gas 
 engine there is no definite information. 
 By some it has been dated as far back 
 as the latter part of the seventeenth 
 century when gunpowder was proposed 
 and used for obtaining motive power in 
 special apparatus. These early engines, 
 however, can scarcely be properly 
 classed as gas engines. The first gas 
 engine, in the now accepted sense of 
 the term, was probably that patented in 
 the year 1791, in England, by one John 
 Barber. It provided for the use of coal, 
 wood, oil or any combustible in a retort, 
 the generation of vapor or gas from 
 such combustible, and the collection and 
 cooling of the gas in a reservoir. Thence 
 the gas was taken to a compressor 
 which supplied the motor cylinder, and 
 in this latter the gas was mixed with 
 atmospheric air in proper proportion, 
 and exploded by a light. This engine 
 embodied, in the main, the principle of 
 the modern gas engine. Three years 
 later, in 1794, Thomas Mead and 
 Robert Street both obtained patents in 
 England for gas or vapor engines, 
 Mead proposing to raise the piston in 
 his engine cylinder by the ignition of a 
 gaseous, explosive mixture and to 
 utilize for the down-stroke both the 
 weight of the piston and the partial 
 vacuum formed underneath it. This 
 was, in part, the principle of the much 
 later Otto and Langen engine. Street's 
 engine, on the other hand, partly antic- 
 ipated the also much later hydro- 
 carbon engine of George Brayton, pro- 
 viding, as it did, for the production of 
 motive power by introducing a few 
 drops of spirits of turpentine into the 
 heated bottom of a cylinder. The tur- 
 
 34i 
 
 464520 
 
342 
 
 GASSIER 'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 pentine was vaporized by the heat, air 
 was mixed with it in sufficient quantity 
 to produce an explosive compound, and 
 a flame was applied to ignite it. The 
 next patents for gas engines were not 
 issued until nearly thirty years later 
 (1823). From that time on they ap- 
 peared at shorter intervals until more 
 recently, when design crowded design in 
 rapid succession, so that now the gas 
 engine patents are numbered by the 
 hundreds. The essential differences be- 
 tween the inventions, however, are not 
 very great. In many cases, in fact, it 
 seems sadly true that the inventors 
 have been satisfied with producing 
 simply some detail by which the orig- 
 
 chine of simple construction, and very 
 similar in appearance to an ordinary 
 horizontal steam engine. The piston 
 moving, say, from the right to the left 
 drew in a mixture of illuminating gas, or 
 of hydrogen, and air through a slide 
 valve worked by the engine. When a 
 certain quantity of this mixture had en- 
 tered the cylinder, the slide valve shut 
 off the supply and an electric spark from 
 an induction coil kindled the gas and 
 caused an explosion which drove the 
 piston to the other end of its stroke. 
 Arrived there, at the left end, a second 
 slide allowed the products of combus- 
 tion to escape while the fly wheel, by 
 reason of its momentum, went on and 
 
 FIG. I. PLAN VIEW OF THE ORIGINAL OTTO SLIDE-VALVE ENGINE. 
 
 inal patents could be avoided, rather 
 than anything which really marked a 
 step in advance. 
 
 It would be impracticable to here 
 follow the history of the gas engine in 
 anything like detail from its earliest 
 days to the time when it became justly 
 looked upon as a distinctly practical 
 and useful source of power. A few of 
 the types, however, which, though com- 
 paratively crude and more or less im- 
 perfect, still came into somewhat ex- 
 tended use and practically opened up 
 the era of commercially successful gas 
 engines, deserve mention. The first of 
 these was the Lenoir engine, made even 
 at this date in a modified form,' a ma- 
 
 moved the piston in the opposite direc- 
 tion, from left to right. While it moved 
 in this direction, the explosive mixture 
 again entered and was ignited as before, 
 and the piston completed its travel to 
 the right under the impulse of this 
 second explosion. The action, it will 
 be seen, was thus very similar to that 
 of the ordinary, familiar steam engine. 
 To prevent overheating of the cylinder 
 and piston, the former was surrounded 
 with a jacket filled \vith cold water. 
 
 Following the Lenoir engine came 
 that of Hugon, in which the tendency 
 to become overheated was counteracted 
 by introducing into the cylinder, to- 
 gether with the gas and air mixture, a 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 343 
 
 quantity of water which, in vaporizing, 
 absorbed considerable heat and thus 
 kept the temperature within a reason- 
 able limit. The expansive force of the 
 gases was in this way, it is true, some- 
 what diminished, but the moving parts 
 suffered less, and the engine required 
 less repair and was more durable. Igni- 
 tion of the explosive charge was effected 
 by a gas jet. 
 
 A number of years after the bringing 
 out of both these engines, Otto and 
 Langen together entered the gas engine 
 field with what they termed their atmos- 
 
 motor cylinder took its supply from the 
 receiver, but the mixture was ignited as 
 it entered, a grating arrangement pre- 
 venting the flame from passing back. 
 The mixture proper, in fact, did not 
 enter the motor cylinder at all ; what 
 entered it was a continuous flame and 
 the action, therefore, was not explosive 
 in character. At a certain point the 
 supply was cut off, and the piston 
 moved on to the end of its stroke under 
 the influence of the expansion of the hot 
 gases. The flame grating in this engine, 
 however, was a weak point. If by any 
 
 FIG. 2. THE OTTO GAS ENGINE, BUILT BY SCHLEICHER, SCHUM & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
 pheric or free piston engine for which 
 they were awarded a gold medal at the 
 Paris Exposition in 1867. The main 
 features of this engine are briefly re- 
 ferred to further on. 
 
 The Bray ton engine, an American in- 
 vention, was first brought out in 1873. 
 It had two cylinders, one being a com- 
 pressor and the other a motor cylinder. 
 The charge of gas and air was first 
 drawn into the compressor cylinder on 
 the out-stroke, and on the back-stroke 
 was compressed into a receiver. The 
 
 accident the grating or wire gauze was 
 pierced, in cleaning for example, the 
 flame went back into the receiver and 
 exploded the whole stored-up mixture. 
 Such accidents became so troublesome 
 that Mr. Brayton after a time discon- 
 tinued the use of gas and converted his 
 engine into a petroleum motor. Light 
 petroleum was pumped upon the grat- 
 ing and the compressing cylinder 
 charged the receiver with air alone. 
 The air, in subsequently passing through 
 the grating, carried the petroleum along 
 
344 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 FIG. 3. OTTO GAS ENGINE AND DYNAMO FOR HOUSE LIGHTING. 
 
 with it, partly in vapor, and partly in 
 spray form. This oil vapor and air 
 mixture was then ignited just like the 
 previously used gas mixture. The 
 arrangements, in fact, were precisely 
 similar to those of the gas engine, 
 except in the addition of a small oil 
 pump and a slight alteration in the 
 valve disposition. The engine, as 
 may be understood, was single-acting. 
 
 Right here it should be pointed out 
 that the similarity between the orig- 
 inal Brayton gas engine and the con- 
 verted Brayton engine using petro- 
 leum is typical, also, of all gas and oil 
 engines of the present day. All the oil 
 engines follow the lines of the gas en- 
 gines very closely ; in fact, in some of 
 the gas engines now on the market gas 
 or oil mixtures can be used indiscrimi- 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 345 
 
 nately, the engines working well with 
 either, ^and without modifications of 
 designs to suit the particular kind of 
 fluid used. A distinct classification into 
 oil motors and gas motors cannot, 
 therefore, be well made, and both may 
 be, very appropriately, considered to- 
 gether under practically one head. 
 
 Broadly speaking, however, the va- 
 rious engines, early and modern, and 
 using either gas or oil mixtures, maybe 
 divided into a few, well-defined types : 
 
 i. Engines drawing into the working 
 
 discharging the gas mixture into a re- 
 ceiver or reservoir in a state of compres- 
 sion. From this receiver the mixture 
 enters the motor cylinder, being ignited 
 as it enters. The ignition here does not 
 increase the pressure, but increases the 
 volume. The pump, say, puts one 
 volume or cubic foot into the receiver ; 
 ignition causes it to expand, while enter- 
 ing the cylinder, to two cubic feet. It 
 does the work of two cubic feet in the 
 motor cylinder, so that though there 
 is no increase of pressure, there is never- 
 
 FIG. 4. OTTO GAS ENGINE AND PUMP COMBINED. 
 
 cylinder gas or oil vapor and air at atmos- 
 pheric pressure for a portion of the piston 
 stroke, cutting off communication with 
 the outer air, and igniting the mixture. 
 The pressure of the ignited gases pushes 
 the piston forward during the remainder 
 of the stroke, and the in-stroke of the 
 piston expels the products of combus- 
 tion from the cylinder. 
 
 2. Engines in which a mixture of gas 
 or oil vapor and air is drawn into a pump 
 forming part of the engine proper, and 
 
 theless an excess of power over that 
 spent in compression. The return 
 stroke of the piston again expels the 
 products of combustion. 
 
 3. Engines in which a mixture of gas 
 or oil vapor and air is compressed, or in- 
 troduced under compression, into the 
 cylinder or space at the end of the cylin- 
 der, and is then ignited, the volume re- 
 maining constant and the pressure 
 rising. Under this pressure the piston 
 moves forward, and on its return as in 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 347 
 
 the previous types, discharges the waste 
 gases from the cylinder. 
 
 Types i and 3 are explosive engines, 
 the volume of the gas remaining con- 
 stant while the pressure increases. 
 Type 2, on the other hand, is a grad- 
 ual combustion engine in which the 
 pressure is constant while the volume 
 increases. The third type is generally 
 regarded as the best kind of compres- 
 sion gas engine yet introduced, and by 
 far the largest number of gas engines 
 now in every day use are made in ac- 
 cordance with its requirements. The 
 leading idea, compression and ignition 
 at constant volume, was first proposed 
 by Barnett in 1838, and later by several 
 others, but Otto was the first to success- 
 fully apply it in 1876, in the now well- 
 known engine bearing his name. 
 
 cannon, for example. It is thus shot 
 forward in the cylinder, which is pur- 
 posely made very long. The energy 
 of the explosion gives the piston velo- 
 city, and the piston therefore continues 
 to move considerably after the pressure 
 has fallen by expansion down to atmos- 
 pheric pressure. Owing to this and to 
 the cooling of the gaseous products a 
 partial vacuum is formed behind the 
 piston till its whole energy of motion is 
 absorbed in doing work against the 
 pressure of the outside air. It then 
 stops and the external pressure causes 
 it to perform its return stroke, during 
 which a clutch arrangement connects it 
 with the motor shaft, giving the latter 
 rotary motion. The piston during its 
 return stroke proceeds completely to 
 the bottom of the cylinder, expelling 
 
 FIG. 6. FIELDING'S GAS ENGINE. SIDE ELEVATION. 
 
 There still remains one important 
 type of gas engine not included in 
 this classification. It is the kind of 
 engine known as the free piston or 
 atmospheric gas engine already re- 
 ferred to above, and may be regarded 
 as a modification of the first type. The 
 first part of its action is precisely 
 similar ; the latter part differs consider- 
 ably from it. In this engine the piston 
 on moving forward, takes in its charge 
 of gas and air from without at atmos- 
 pheric pressure and temperature. When 
 cut off it is ignited instantaneously, the 
 volume being constant and the pressure 
 increasing. The piston is not connected 
 directly to the motor shaft, but is per- 
 fectly free to move under the influence 
 of the explosion, like a projectile in a 
 
 the products of combustion. This kind 
 of engine was first proposed in 1854 by 
 Barsanti and Matteucci, but Otto and 
 Langen, as previously mentioned, in 
 1866, were first successful in overcom- 
 ing the practical difficulties in its way, 
 and many engines were built by them 
 for practical uses. The engine though 
 cumbersome and noisy, was a good and 
 economical worker, and many are prob- 
 ably still in operation to-day. 
 
 It is scarcely within the province ot 
 this article to take up the theoretical 
 considerations presented by these repre- 
 sentative types of gas engines. Suffice 
 it to say that the causes of the com- 
 parative efficiency of the modern gas 
 engine over the older forms, such as the 
 Lenoir and the Hugon engines may be 
 
348 
 
 GASSIER >S MAGAZINE. 
 
 summed up in the one word " compres- 
 sion." Without compression before 
 ignition an engine could not be pro- 
 duced which would furnish power 
 economically and with small bulk. 
 
 To the prospective user of a gas 
 engine, the question of cost of opera- 
 tion, or more specifically the cost of 
 fuel used for a given amount of power 
 is, as might naturally be expected, one 
 of the first to present itself. That the 
 fuel or gas cost is unduly great has been, 
 and is still, a more or less prevalent 
 impression and the fact seems to have 
 been largely lost sight of by many 
 power users that the development of the 
 gas engine from what was at first per- 
 haps little more than an interesting 
 
 driving electric light dynamos, esti- 
 mated that the steam engines in ques- 
 tion would, in a competition, consume 
 about four pounds of coal per indicated 
 horse-power per hour, but that in 
 ordinary work their consumption would 
 run up to six and seven pounds. As- 
 suming a four-pound basis, however, 
 which seems pretty fair, and taking, for 
 the sake of illustration, the price of coal 
 as $5 per ton, we get for the cost of a 
 horse-power for fuel in these engines 
 one cent per hour. At the rate for gas, 
 paid in London at the time, three 
 shillings, or about seventy-five cents 
 per thousand cubic feet, the cost of 
 one horse-power in the gas engine 
 would amount to one and one-half cents 
 
 FIG. 7 FIELDING'S GAS ENGINE. PLAN VIEW. 
 
 novelty to a source of even large powers 
 at the present day has naturally brought 
 with it much increased efficiency and 
 correspondingly reduced running ex- 
 penses. Just what these expenses are, 
 so far as they are affected by the items of 
 gas quality and cost, of course depends 
 much upon special circumstances. The 
 price of gas as well as its quality varies 
 with locality and time, and definite state- 
 ments of cost can therefore not easily 
 be given. 
 
 Professor Ayrton, in England, sev- 
 eral years ago, in comparing the fuel 
 costs of gas engines and of portable 
 and semi-portable steam engines to 
 determine the relative expenses in 
 
 per hour. Taking the highest prices 
 paid in London for gas, four shillings, 
 or about one dollar per thousand, the 
 gas would cost two cents per horse-power 
 per hour. This makes a very favorable 
 showing for the gas engine, which has so 
 many advantages and economies, as 
 compared with the steam engine, as to 
 easily overbalance its slightly higher 
 fuel cost. In the United States, where 
 the prices for gas are considerably 
 higher, the comparison of the fuel costs 
 would, of course, be somewhat less 
 favorable to the gas engine. Much, 
 however, is to be expected both here 
 and abroad, in the direction of cheaper 
 heating gas, and there seems little 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES, 
 
 349 
 
 FIG. 8 THE DAY GAS ENGINE. MESSRS. LLEWELLIN & JAMES, BRISTOL, ENG. 
 
 reasonable doubt that such a gas can be 
 made and will probably be made in the 
 near future, and will render the ordinary 
 gas engine up to a certain size, much 
 more economical in running expenses 
 than an equal sized steam engine. Even 
 as it is, however, with gas at the cur- 
 rent rates, the gas engine in a great 
 many cases foots up a smaller expendi- 
 ture for a given horse-power than the 
 steam engine. There is always a very 
 considerable saving when standing still, 
 and this, when the stoppages are 
 frequent, may amount to a most appre- 
 ciable total. 
 
 As a sample of what may be accom- 
 plished with a cheap heating gas we call 
 to mind a low cost gas enterprise, 
 
 started a number of years ago in the 
 vicinity of New York City, by which 
 heating gas was made on a large scale 
 under the Strong patents. From figures 
 that were received at the time it ap- 
 peared that this gas had been used in an 
 Otto engine at the rate of thirty-five 
 cubic feet per hour for each horse-power. 
 As the gas was produced at the rate of 
 about twenty-seven cubic feet per pound 
 of coal, it is easily seen that the engine 
 was running on an equivalent of a little 
 less that one and one-third pounds 01 
 coal per horse-power per hour. At the 
 common retail price, the gas was worth 
 fifty cents per 1000 cubic feet and there 
 was every reason to suppose that the 
 price could be reduced by a large per- 
 
350 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 centage in the case of a larger plant. 
 Ample evidence was given, however, to 
 show that with the plant in question a 
 great saving over coal was effected, even 
 
 FIG. 9 THE DAY GAS ENGINE. FRONT 
 SECTIONAL ELEVATION. 
 
 though it did not produce the gas at 
 the lowest possible rate. 
 
 In several other cases in England 
 where Otto gas engines were supplied 
 with cheap Dowson gas from Dowson 
 producers specially erected for the pur- 
 pose, it was found on test that the 
 engines consumed on an average the 
 equivalent of 1.2 pounds of coal per 
 indicated horse-power per hour. These 
 results at the time had not a little to do 
 with the subsequent building in England 
 of gas engines of comparatively high 
 powers, double-cylinder engines indi- 
 cating in the neighborhood of seventy 
 horse-power. 
 
 As to the possibilities of the uses of 
 gas and its future as a source of power, 
 it may not be amiss here to refer finally 
 to one of C. William Siemens' addresses 
 to the British Association for the Ad- 
 vancement of Science in which he ex- 
 pressed the conclusion that if a tem- 
 perature of about 2732 degrees Fahren- 
 heit and a pressure of four atmospheres 
 
 could be obtained in an explosive gas 
 engine, a theoretical efficiency of about 
 one-half could be obtained, while with a 
 good expansive steam engine the theo- 
 retical efficiency would be about two- 
 sevenths. Deducting the losses by 
 friction and by radiation in both kinds 
 of engine, he held that the best steam 
 engine would yield in mechanical effect 
 about one-seventh of the heat energy, 
 while with the gas engine one-fourth 
 could be easily obtained. As a predic- 
 tion he finally remarked that ' ' before 
 many years we shall find, both in 
 factories and on board ships, engines 
 with a fuel consumption not to exceed 
 one pound of coal per effective horse- 
 power per hour, and with these engines 
 the gas producer will take the place of 
 the steam boiler." This prediction, 
 made a little more than ten years ago, 
 has, as we all know, scarcely yet been 
 fully realized though much progress has 
 been made in the direction outlined, 
 how much, it is, in a measure, our 
 
 FIG. 10. THE DAY GAS ENGINE. 
 SIDE SECTIONAL ELEVATION. 
 
 object to show here by an exposition of 
 the various gas and oil engines now in 
 current use, doing a large variety ol 
 work. 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 THE OTTO GAS ENGINE. 
 
 It seems but rational and proper that 
 we should begin our series of descrip- 
 tions with an account of the Otto engine, 
 or Otto "Silent" engine as it was 
 called in its earlier days, since Mr. Otto, 
 the first to succeed with the free-piston 
 engine, was also the first to succeed in 
 adapting compression in a reliable form, 
 and since, further, it is to the utilization 
 of this compression principle that the 
 gas engine owes its present advanced 
 state of development. The Otto engine 
 belongs to the third type previously 
 referred to, using a gaseous explosive 
 mixture, compressed before ignition, 
 and ignited in a body, so that the press- 
 ure increases while the volume remains 
 constant. The power is obtained by 
 expansion after the increase of pressure. 
 It is interesting to note that the Lenoir 
 and the Hugon engines were practically 
 double-acting, there being two explo- 
 sions for every revolution ; the Bray- 
 ton engine is single-acting, there being 
 one ignition of a charge for every revo- 
 lution ; the Otto engine, however, is 
 what may be termed only half single- 
 acting, there being one explosion for 
 every two revolutions of the engine. 
 
 The first of several designs of the 
 engine, and one which is still looked 
 upon as the standard form, has a single 
 horizontal, open-ended cylinder. In 
 this works a long trunk piston the 
 front end of which serves as a guide. 
 The cylinder is appreciably longer than 
 the piston stroke, so that the piston, 
 when full in, leaves a considerable space 
 at the end of the cylinder into which it 
 does not enter and which forms a com- 
 pression chamber. Across the back end 
 of the cylinder works a slide valve, con- 
 troll,ing the admission and explosion of 
 the charge, and held in place by a cover 
 plate and strong, spiral springs. The 
 valve is worked back and forth by a 
 small crank on the end of a shaft parallel 
 to the cylinder axis, and rotating at half 
 the speed of the main crank shaft from 
 which it receives its motion by bevel 
 gearing. An exhaust valve and govern- 
 ing gear are also worked from this sec- 
 ondary shaft. 
 
 The engine cylinder serves alternately 
 
 the purposes of motor and pump. Dur- 
 ing the first forward stroke of the piston, 
 the admission valve is in such position 
 that the gas and air mixture streams 
 into the cylinder from the beginning to 
 the end of the stroke ; the return stroke 
 then compresses the mixture into the 
 space at the back end of the cylinder. 
 Meantime the slide valve has moved to 
 another position, first closing the admis- 
 sion port to permit the compression 
 of the charge, and then exposing a 
 cavity in the valve in which there is a 
 gas flame when the compression stroke 
 is completed. The compressed charge 
 is then ignited and under the influence 
 of the resulting explosion the piston 
 again moves forward. This constitutes 
 the motive stroke. At the end of it the 
 exhaust valve opens, and the return 
 stroke drives out the burnt gases. The 
 piston is then again in the position to 
 take in a new charge for the next ex- 
 plosion. The cylinder is water jack- 
 eted. 
 
 A sectional plan of the original Otto 
 engine is given in Fig. i. In this A is 
 the cylinder ; B, the piston ; C, the 
 compression chamber ; the admission 
 port shown extending through the cyl- 
 inder head communicates alternately 
 with the gas and air admission port E, 
 and the flame port F, both of which are 
 in the slide valve G. The latter, as 
 already explained, is held in place by 
 the cover) in which is carried the ignit- 
 ing jet R. The exhaust valve, which is 
 a lift valve with a conical seat, is at K 
 and is driven by the geared shaft M 
 through a cam and lever, N and P. 
 The main slide valve is also driven from 
 this shaft in the manner clearly shown 
 in the illustration. The governor with 
 which the engine is provided is so 
 arranged that when the speed goes 
 above the normal rate it acts on a cam 
 controlling the main gas supply valve 
 and prevents its opening when the 
 piston is drawing in air. To start the 
 engine the igniting jet at R should be 
 lighted, the gas supply turned on, and 
 a few turns be given to the fly-wheel by 
 hand. In some of the later types ol 
 Otto engine the admission slide valve G 
 is replaced by a poppet valve design, 
 
352 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 Fig. 2 showing one of the modern 
 styles of larger size, indicating about 
 sixty-five horse-power. In this later 
 design, the igniting jet used in the 
 earlier form of engine for exploding the 
 gas charge has also given way to what 
 is known as a tube igniter, or hot tube. 
 This, as its name implies, is simply a 
 wrought iron tube of small diameter, 
 closed at one end. The open end is 
 made to communicate with the engine 
 cylinder by the valve arrangement. 
 The tube is heated by a Bunsen gas 
 flame within a non-conducting casing to 
 prevent loss of heat, and the explosive 
 gas mixture from the cylinder, entering 
 the heated tube under pressure, be- 
 comes ignited. This method of ignition 
 is at once simple and effective. The 
 tube, moreover, is inexpensive and can 
 be easily renewed when necessary. 
 
 The almost infinite variety of uses to 
 which the engine may be put, and for 
 some of which special designs are turned 
 out, will not admit detailing here and 
 we must content ourselves with the few 
 examples shown. Thus, Fig. 3 shows 
 a modern Otto engine applied to elec- 
 tric lighting, the sizes for this work 
 ranging from fifty to 100 horse-power. 
 Fig. 4 shows an engine and pump com- 
 bination of the latest design in which 
 gear wheels for driving the pump, as 
 first used, have been entirely displaced 
 by belting and correspondingly quiet 
 running has been secured. Double- 
 cylinder and vertical Otto engines are 
 also on the market, all having their 
 legitimate field of use. 
 
 THE OTTO GASOLINE ENGINE. 
 
 The poppet valve design has been 
 adopted also in the Otto gasoline engine 
 which has been on the market only a 
 few years. This engine, like all oil 
 engines, can be used where gas is not 
 available, an advantage which has much 
 to commend it and which in a measure 
 explains the impulse which has been 
 given to the oil engine industry during 
 the past few years. In appearance and 
 action the Otto gasoline engine is prac- 
 tically similar to the Otto gas engine, 
 embodying as it does, only some minor 
 valve modifications, and Fig. 2 may, 
 
 therefore, be taken to represent it as 
 well as its gas ally. 
 
 In this engine the gasoline is supplied 
 from a tank which may be located out- 
 side the building, through a galvanized 
 iron pipe with soldered joints, and 
 provisions are made against any possible 
 leak of the oil between engine and tank, 
 or after it has reached the engine. The 
 gasoline flows to the admission valve 
 on the engine cylinder by gravity, 
 and on being atomized or sprayed with- 
 in the cylinder by a current of air, is 
 at once fired either by an electric spark 
 or by a tube igniter. Safety con- 
 siderations may make the electric igni- 
 tion method the preferable one, and this 
 is therefore generally used. 
 
 While the gasoline engine can be 
 used everywhere, and is not limited to 
 exclusive use outside of cities because of 
 possible gasoline vapor dangers, still the 
 largest number of these engines have 
 been placed in manufacturing suburbs 
 not reached by city gas, and in the 
 country. Like the gas engines, they 
 are turned out in various designs for 
 various kinds of work, and gasoline 
 mining engines, electric light engines, 
 portable engines mounted on trucks, 
 etc., are now not uncommon. 
 
 Messrs. Schleicher, Schumm & Co., 
 of Philadelphia, Pa., are the builders of 
 both the Otto gas and the gasoline 
 engines in the United States, the sizes 
 of both types ranging from one-third 
 horse-power upward. In England the 
 Otto engine is made by Messrs. Cross- 
 ley Bros., of Manchester, to whose de- 
 sign reference will be made in a future 
 
 issue. 
 
 THE FIELDING GAS ENGINE. 
 
 The Fielding engine is made by an 
 English firm, Messrs. Fielding & Platt, 
 of Gloucester, the accompanying illus- 
 trations, Figs. 5, 6 and 7, showing one 
 recently built and capable of indicating 
 100 horse-power at a speed of 160 revo- 
 lutions per minute. The engine works 
 upon what has become generally known 
 as the Otto cycle referred to in the just- 
 given description of the Otto engine as 
 well as somewhat earlier in this article ; 
 but the arrangement of the valve gear 
 embodies some new features. Fig. 5 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 353 
 
 gives a general view of the engine, while 
 Figs. 6 and 7 show an elevation and a 
 plan respectively. 
 
 The working charge is admitted and 
 the waste products exhausted by means 
 of a simple mitre-seated valve, through 
 inlet and outlet ports controlled by the 
 movements of a piston valve which re- 
 ceives independent motion from an 
 eccentric, which also operates the timed 
 ignition valve. The valves are placed 
 
 The importance of a starting gear for 
 engines of such large size which cannot 
 easily be turned over by hand is at once 
 apparent, and due account has been 
 taken of it in this engine by the pro- 
 vision of a new form of such gear 
 patented by Mr. Fielding. This gear 
 comprises a small reservoir of about the 
 size of the cylinder jacket, which, after 
 the engine has once been started, is 
 charged with compressed air at a press- 
 
 FIG. II. THE GRIFFIN OIL ENGINE, CONSTRUCTED BY MESSRS. GRIFFIN & CO., BATH, ENGLAND. 
 
 horizontally by the side of the cylinder, 
 an arrangement which permits of very 
 straight and direct pipe connections for 
 gas and exhaust, the air being drawn 
 through the cylinder base, which acts 
 as a muffle. The main mitre- valve is 
 worked from a cam by a rod leading 
 direct to the valve. The governor is of 
 the high-speed, ball type acting upon a 
 hit-and-miss gear interposed between 
 the gas valve and its cam. 
 
 ure of about fifty pounds per square inch 
 by the engine itself when being stopped, 
 thus utilizing the power stored up in the 
 fly-wheels for use when re-starting the 
 engine. The action of starting is as 
 follows : The engine crank being placed 
 slightly in advance of the dead centre 
 nearest to the cylinder, gas is admitted 
 by a small cock to the combustion 
 chamber, from which the air is allowed 
 to escape at a small pipe provided with 
 
354 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 a stop-cock and terminating in a jet near 
 the top of the tube igniter. 
 
 When the air has been driven out 
 and the gas begins to escape at the jet, 
 it becomes ignited, and as soon as it 
 burns with a steady flame, showing that 
 an ample supply of gas is present in the 
 cylinder, the outlet and inlet cocks are 
 closed. Compressed air is then turned 
 into the cylinder, and the igniting valve 
 being open, as soon as an explosive 
 mixture is formed and sufficient pressure 
 attained, the charge is ignited by the 
 igniting tube, and the piston is driven 
 forward with a powerful impulse, the 
 ordinary cycle at once coming into 
 operation. This method of starting is 
 claimed by the builders to be so power- 
 ful that an engine can be started with 
 partial load on, and any arrangement of 
 fast and loose pulleys or friction clutch 
 is thus entirely dispensed with. 
 
 THE DAY ENGINE. 
 
 The Day engine, shown in perspec- 
 tive and sectional elevations in Figs. 8, 
 9 and 10, is built by Messrs. Llewellin 
 & James, of Bristol, England, and 
 appears to have been designed \vith 
 special reference to adaptability to 
 domestic or other uses where the ut- 
 most simplicity and consequent ease of 
 management by unskilled attendants 
 are primary considerations. Few mov- 
 ing parts and an entire absence of what 
 may properly be considered valve 
 gearing are therefore the leading- 
 features of this engine. What moving 
 parts there are besides the piston and 
 fly-wheel are, moreover, completely 
 hidden by a casing, so that the engine 
 is simple in appearance as well as in 
 fact. The crank chamber, as shown, 
 is closed in and as the piston A rises a 
 partial vacuum is formed underneath, 
 and gas and air in proper proportion 
 are drawn in through the passages D. 
 These are controlled by a flap valve on 
 the inside of the crank casing, and when 
 the piston, after having reached the 
 upper end of its stroke, begins to de- 
 scend, this flap valve closes the gas and 
 air inlets, and the completion of the 
 down-stroke causes a slight compres- 
 sion of the explosive mixture in the 
 
 crank chamber. At the end of the down- 
 stroke a port opening at the side of the 
 cylinder is uncovered by the upper end 
 of the piston and through this the explo- 
 sive mixture rushes into the cylinder 
 proper above. In passing into the 
 cylinder the gases impinge on the fin 
 B on top of the piston and are thus 
 deflected upward, displacing the prod- 
 ucts of combustion of the previously 
 exploded charge, which pass out 
 through the exhaust opening K (Fig. 
 10). The cylinder now is practically 
 filled with an explosive mixture at at- 
 mospheric pressure. The piston, now 
 again rising, cuts off both the supply 
 and exhaust openings, and the mixture 
 in the cylinder is compressed. When 
 the piston reaches the upper end of its 
 stroke, it drives the gas mixture into 
 an ignition tube, F, and an explosion 
 results. 
 
 It will be understood from this that 
 there is one explosion for every double 
 stroke or every revolution. A water- 
 jacket keeps the cylinder cool. To 
 start the engine, which obviously is 
 made only in small sizes, it is simply 
 necessary to give a few turns to the fly- 
 wheel by hand. 
 
 THE GRIFFIN OIL ENGINE. 
 
 The Griffin oil engine, made by 
 Messrs. Griffin Co., of Bath, Eng- 
 land, works with ordinary petroleum, 
 either such as is used in domestic 
 lamps, or with the cheaper and heavier 
 varieties. This engine, too, w r orks on 
 the four-stroke or Otto cycle. 
 
 The points of novelty lie principally 
 in the vaporizer, and in the burner for 
 keeping the incandescent firing tube 
 red hot. The vaporizer lies athwart 
 the bed under the cylinder. It is a 
 cast-iron vessel, surrounded with a 
 passage for the emission of hot exhaust 
 products from the cylinder, and pro- 
 vided internally with ribs to increase 
 the heating surface. The oil enters it 
 at one end, that shown in Fig. n, in 
 the form of fine spray, and is drawn 
 out through the curved neck at the 
 opposite end, Fig. 12, into the cylin- 
 der. In their passage the vesicles of 
 oil become converted into vapor by the 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 355 
 
 FIG. 12. THE GRIFFIN OIL ENGINE. 
 
 heat of the walls, and shortly before the 
 cylinder is reached they are mixed with 
 additional air entering through the 
 box to be seen below the bed. This 
 air also has its temperature somewhat 
 raised, as the inlet and exhaust pas- 
 sages run side by side in the curved 
 end of the vaporizer leading to the cy- 
 linder. The spraying of the oil is 
 effected by air compressed to twelve 
 pounds on the square inch by a pump 
 worked off the side shaft. The oil 
 runs by gravity out of a reservoir in 
 the bed, and is emitted through a fine 
 tube into the air delivery nozzle. The 
 blast picks it up, and, driving it for- 
 ward, atomizes it at once. The flow of 
 oil is regulated by the air jet itself; 
 when the jet is cut off by the governor, 
 the oil ceases to flow. This result is 
 attained by means of a valve on the oil 
 pipe. This valve closes naturally and 
 is only opened by the air pressure ; 
 immediately this is admitted to the 
 pipe the valve lifts and the air flows. 
 The heating of the incandescent tube 
 
 317 
 
 is accomplished simply and ingeniously. 
 The oil trickles into a tiny box and 
 flows over a weir, which keeps it at a 
 constant height. Two little wire pins 
 stand in the oil at such a distance apart 
 that the liquid creeps up between 
 them by capillary attraction. On to 
 the head of the column so raised, there 
 impinges a fine air blast, which sprays 
 the oil and carries it forward through a 
 pipe to a Bunsen burner playing on 
 the ignition tube. The pipe rapidly 
 becomes heated by conduction from 
 the burner and effects the vaporization 
 of the oil, which burns like a gas jet, 
 without odor. 
 
 The governor is of the centrifugal 
 type and controls a hit-and-miss device. 
 From this there is worked the admis- 
 sion valve, the exhaust valve, and the 
 air inlet to the vaporizer, all being 
 thrown in and out of action simulta- 
 neously. It is claimed as a feature of 
 importance in the engine that all the 
 valves are at rest when running light 
 and operate only in direct proportion 
 
356 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 to the work being done, thus saving 
 wear and tear. 
 
 The vaporizer needs to be heated 
 before the engine is started. A hand 
 lever is supplied by which the air- 
 pump is worked for ten minutes. The 
 air is used to spray the oil, as if the 
 engine were at work, but the jet is 
 ignited as it enters the vaporizer 
 and fills the latter with a powerful 
 
 flame. A door is opened at the 
 further end of the vaporizer and a 
 temporary deflector fixed on to di- 
 rect the flame under the passage lead- 
 ing to the cylinder. Ten minutes 
 suffice to raise the temperature to the 
 required extent. Up to the present 
 time only small sizes of the engine 
 have been built, but larger designs are 
 under way. 
 
 ( To be continued. ) 
 
 THE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. 
 
 By R. D. O. Smith. 
 
 1HAVE just read with interest Mr. 
 Leon Mead's "Influence of Pat- 
 ents on American Industries," and 
 regret that his examination should have 
 been so brief. The cornerstone of our 
 national prosperity is worthy of more 
 exhaustive treatment. 
 
 In his first paper there are one or 
 two errors which, while not momentous, 
 still ought to be corrected. On page 
 117 he says: In the year 1812 the 
 Patent Office was removed to a build- 
 ing purchased and repaired for the ac- 
 commodation of the general post- 
 office, and that said building stood on 
 the site of the present post-office de- 
 partment building. Washington was 
 captured by the British in 1814, con- 
 sequently the episode and removal 
 mentioned are placed at a date too 
 early. 
 
 The building to which the Patent 
 Office was removed was located where 
 the so-called city hall now stands in 
 Judiciary Square and not on the site 
 of the present general post-office. 
 When I went first to Washington in 
 1857 the city post-office w r as in a 
 rickety old building on Seventh street, 
 on ground now occupied by the general 
 post-office. It had been standing there 
 many more than twenty years. 
 
 There was saved from the fire of 
 1836 out of the records of the Patent 
 
 Office but a single drawing. Patentees 
 were invited to return their letters 
 patent to the commissioner, who had 
 the specifications copied into books and 
 the drawings copied on sheets for the 
 draftsman's room. Many of these re- 
 produced drawings are models of artis- 
 tic excellence. 
 
 But many patentees neglected to 
 have their patents re-recorded. In 
 fact, I presume but few except those 
 whose patents were still young, or 
 which had proved to be remunerative, 
 responded. A great many who did 
 respond also filed duplicate models. 
 
 At the fire of 1877 but few, if any, 
 models of pending cases were lost, since 
 models of pending cases are kept in the 
 secret archives of the office, and mostly 
 in the examiner's rooms. The fire did 
 not extend beyond the north and west 
 model rooms on the upper floor. None 
 of the examiners had rooms on that 
 floor at that time, and few, if any, of 
 the paper records were lost. I believe 
 there were some duplicate copies of the 
 printed specifications which were 
 burned, but none of the original records 
 and none of the relics or other me- 
 mentoes which were then preserved in 
 the Patent Office, since all such were 
 kept in the old or South Hall. The 
 two burned model halls were the most 
 spacious, and contained, I presume, 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 By Albert Spies, Mem. Am. Soc. Mech. Eng. 
 
 i 
 
 $econd 
 
 HE fact has already 
 been briefly 
 noted that 
 not a few of 
 the gas en- 
 gines now on 
 the market 
 are adapted 
 as well to the 
 use of gaso- 
 line as to the 
 use of gas 
 proper, and 
 that only a 
 f e w slight 
 modifications 
 of design are sometimes necessary, and 
 are provided for to permit changing 
 from one fluid to the other. Such 
 provision is made in the case of the 
 Otto engine, as described in the preced- 
 ing paper, and also in that of the 
 Caldwell-Charter gas engine, built by 
 the H. W. Caldwell & Son Company, 
 Chicago, 111., and shown in perspective 
 and in sectional elevation, respectively, 
 in Figs. 13 and 14. In both these views 
 the engine is represented as arranged 
 for the use of gasoline. In Fig. 14 A 
 is the working cylinder ; B, the piston ; 
 <T, the inlet valve to the cylinder ; /?, 
 the mixing chamber ; , a gasoline 
 pump ; F, an air-gate worked by the 
 rod J t which, in turn, is operated by 
 the governor ; K, a gasoline supply 
 regulating valve ; H, a gasoline tank ; 
 N IV, pipe from gasoline pump to a 
 brass pan or reservoir, P ; O, a supply 
 pipe from gasoline tank to pump ; Q, 
 the ignition tube ; and R, the chimney 
 surrounding it ; / and L are air suc- 
 tion pipes taking their air supply from 
 the hollow base of the engine. 
 
 The pump E works constantly and 
 
 keeps the gasoline in the small brass 
 pan, P, which holds about a quarter 
 pint, at a level fixed by an overflow 
 pipe, which returns the surplus to the 
 supply tank. The air-gate /MS a brass 
 plate, having two holes so arranged 
 that in normal position a free passage 
 of air is allowed through pipe / When 
 the governor opens the air-gate, the 
 pipe /is closed and the air is sucked 
 through pipe L. In this pipe is a 
 nozzle leading to the pan P, and the 
 passing air draws from nozzle the 
 proper amount of gasoline and forms a 
 combustible mixture of gasoline and 
 air. Each suction takes fresh gasoline 
 from the reservoir, always the same 
 quantity as controlled by supply or 
 throttle-valve K, and the charges of gas 
 are therefore of equal strength and 
 value. The ignition tube Q is kept at 
 a uniform heat by a simple gasoline 
 burner, furnished with engine. This 
 tube is surrounded by the asbestos- 
 lined chimney R which retains the 
 heat. The governor is arranged on 
 the crank-shaft, and through the rod J 
 operates the air-gate F as already in- 
 timated. The exhaust valve, shown at 
 the side of the cylinder, is controlled 
 by a spring and a rod, receiving mo- 
 tion from the larger of two gear wheels. 
 This gear wheel, as will be understood, 
 is twice as large as the smaller driving 
 pinion on the main shaft, and, there- 
 fore, makes only half as many revolu- 
 tions as the latter, thus, of course, 
 opening the exhaust valve only once in 
 every two revolutions of the shaft. The 
 engine, it would seem almost unneces- 
 sary to state, works on the Otto cycle. 
 A water jacket, as usual, surrounds the 
 cylinder. The engine, when intended 
 for the use of gas instead of gasoline, 
 
 427 
 
428 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 dispenses with the gasoline pump and 
 tank, and one of the suction pipes is 
 connected with a gas supply pipe, in 
 which a gas valve is located. It will be 
 seen, therefore, that at a slight expense 
 the gasoline engine can be changed to 
 a gas engine, or vice versa. 
 
 A 95 indicated horse-power Calcl- 
 well-Charter gasoline engine, develop- 
 ing 65 actual horse-power, is now fur- 
 nishing power for a large grain elevator 
 at Camden, N. J., and is said to give 
 
 cycle, there being one explosion for 
 every two revolutions, but the compres- 
 sion of the gas and air mixture is ef- 
 fected in a novel manner, which con- 
 stitutes the chief feature of the engine. 
 Figs. 15 and 16 represent a perspective 
 view and sectional elevation respect- 
 ively. The admission valve, shown on 
 the left of Fig. 16, opens into a special 
 compression chamber. No special gas 
 valve is used, the supply being ad- 
 justed by suitably proportioning the 
 
 FIG. 13. THE CALDWELL-CHARTER GAS ENGINE. BUILT BY THE H. W. CALDWELL & SON COMPANY, 
 
 CHICAGO, ILL. 
 
 entire satisfaction. For such large 
 engines the makers supply a self- 
 starter, consisting of a hand pump for 
 forcing a charge into the cylinder, and 
 a detonator for exploding the charge 
 after it has been introduced. This 
 gives the engine its first impulse, after 
 which it continues to operate with its 
 automatic gear. 
 
 The Roots engine is built by the 
 Roots r Economic Gas Engine Com- 
 pany, London. It works on the Otto 
 
 gas inlet. To make the manner of 
 working clear, we will assume that one 
 working cycle has just been completed. 
 By studying the sectional view it will 
 then be understood that on the next 
 upward stroke of the piston, or on the 
 suction stroke, the air and gas are 
 drawn in through the admission or 
 suction valve, which opens automatic- 
 ally, and displace whatever products of 
 combustion may be in the compression 
 chamber. The latter is thus filled with 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 429 
 
 a rich mixture of gas and air, only a 
 small proportion of which enters the 
 working cylinder through the port a. 
 Thiscylinder, therefore, at the beginning 
 of the first down-stroke, contains a 
 rather dilute mixture of fresh gas, air, 
 and burnt gases, which, as well as the 
 rich charge in the compression chamber, 
 is compressed when the piston descends. 
 Before the piston has gone down very 
 far, however, it passes over the port #, 
 cutting off communication with the 
 compression chamber, and during the 
 remainder of the stroke only the dilute 
 mixture in the cylinder is further coin- 
 
 pressure begins to fall, and when the 
 port a to the compression chamber con- 
 taining gas at a low pressure begins to 
 open, this fall is accentuated, but very 
 soon the fresh charge in the chamber 
 is fired, and the pressure line rises 
 again, and is well maintained for a con- 
 siderable proportion of the stroke. At 
 the end of the working stroke the ex- 
 haust valve is opened by the action of an 
 eccentric. 
 
 The peculiar system of compression 
 is claimed by the makers to effect a 
 considerable economy of working, the 
 degree of compression in the special 
 
 FIG. 14. SECTIONAL ELEVATION OF THE CALDWELL-CHARTER GAS ENGINE. 
 
 pressed. At the end of the stroke this 
 mixture is fired by a tube igniter shown 
 at the right. The pressure rapidly 
 rises and the piston commences its 
 working stroke. After having gone a 
 short distance it uncovers the port a 
 leading to the compression chamber, 
 and the rich charge there is further 
 compressed under the influence of the 
 explosion of the weak charge, and is 
 fired. Just how this manner of work- 
 ing affects the diagram is shown in Fig. 
 17, which is a sample indicator card. 
 After the first explosion, it is seen, the 
 
 chamber amounting to about 120 
 pounds per square inch. This is con- 
 siderably more than is ordinarily at- 
 tained in gas engine compression. 
 
 A novel form of gas engine built by 
 the Palatine Engineering Company of 
 Liverpool, England, is shown in Figs. 
 1 8, 19 and 20, which represent vertical 
 sections and an elevation. The engine 
 is of the vertical type, and the crank and 
 connecting rod are completely cased in. 
 An air inlet valve admits air into the 
 enclosed space when the piston de- 
 scends. This air is slightly compressed 
 
430 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 on the up-stroke, and when the piston 
 reaches the top of the stroke, a quantity 
 of this compressed air rushes into the 
 cylinder through air blow through 
 ports, the cylindrical part of the piston 
 being then above these ports see Figs. 
 1 8 and 19. At this moment the ex- 
 haust valve is opened by the lever /,, 
 
 close to the gas admission. The gas is 
 taken into the gas pump, Figs. 19 and 
 20, and the quantity admitted is deter- 
 mined by the governor and detent, 
 Fig. 19, which control the admission of 
 the gas to the pump by means of the 
 small gas valve. 
 
 Ignition of the charge is effected by 
 
 FIG. 15. THE ROOTS GAS ENGINE. BUILT BY THE ROOTS ECONOMIC 
 GAS ENGINE CO., LONDON, ENG. 
 
 Fig. 20, which is operated by one of 
 the cams on the spindle driven by the 
 wheel W. The cylinder is thus com- 
 pletely swept out by a charge of fresh 
 air. Referring to Fig. 18 it will be 
 seen that the air suction valve is placed 
 in the space below the cylinder and 
 
 a tube igniter, / T, and the moment at 
 which the charge is permitted to enter 
 the tube is controlled by a valve / V, 
 worked by the lever /,, Fig. 20. The 
 engine, it will be noted, works on the 
 Otto cycle. 
 
 The Campbell engine, made by 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 the Campbell Gas Engine Company, 
 London, shown in Fig. 21, is designed 
 to work according to a cycle in which 
 there is an explosion at each revolution, 
 
 rupted only by a simple non-return 
 valve. The compressing action of the 
 pump on the back stroke is so timed 
 that the mixture attains a pressure of 
 
 FIG. 16. SECTIONAL ELEVATION OF THE 
 ROOTS ENGINE. 
 
 an 
 
 twice as many, therefore, as in 
 engine working on the Otto cycle. 
 
 This effect is attained by taking in 
 the charge of gas and air by means of 
 a pump, instead of by the action of the 
 main piston. This pump is driven off 
 a crank-pin in the side of the flywheel, 
 
 AIR BLOW 
 HROUGH PORTS 
 
 FIG. 18. VERTICAL SECTION OF THE PALATINE GAa 
 ENGINE. BUILT BY THE PALATINE ENGINEERING- 
 CO., LIVERPOOL, ENG. 
 
 FIG. I?. INDICATOR CARD FROM ROOTS ENGINE. 
 
 GAS SUCTION 
 TO PUMP 
 
 FIG. 19. FRONT SECTIONAL ELEVATION OF 
 THE PALATINE ENGINE. 
 
 and draws in gas and air through ports, 
 controlled by a slide valve. There is 
 a straight connection between the 
 pump and the working cylinder, inter- 
 
 from six to ten pounds, just as the 
 main piston passes an exhaust port in 
 the side of the cylinder, and allows the 
 expanded, acting charge to escape. The 
 
432 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 new charge then lifts the valve and 
 enters the cylinder, driving the remain- 
 ing products of combustion before it 
 through the exhaust valve. On the 
 return stroke of the main piston the 
 charge is compressed, and at the com- 
 mencement of the next stroke it is 
 fired by a tube igniter. 
 
 The slide valve by which the admis- 
 sion of gas and air to the pump is con- 
 trolled, is driven in one direction by an 
 eccentric and in the opposite direction 
 by a spring. The connection with the 
 eccentric is not positive, but between 
 the eccentric rod and the valve is in- 
 terposed a hit-and-miss motion under 
 
 FIG. 20. SIDE ELEVATION OF THE 
 PALATINE ENGINE. 
 
 the control of a governor. When the 
 speed of the engine becomes too high, 
 the ^governor raises the hit-and-miss 
 device, and the valve is either not 
 opened at all, or is opened only slight- 
 ly, depending upon the position of the 
 stepped piece, shown in Fig. 22. 
 When the engine is permanently on 
 light work, the amount of the gas and 
 air charge can be reduced by setting 
 the eccentric further around, ?nd the 
 strength of the charge can be gradu- 
 ated by means of a cock on the inlet 
 pipe. 
 
 The several indicator cards, Fig. 23, 
 
 clearly show the effect of igniting gas 
 mixtures of varying quantity in the 
 engine. So far as structural features 
 are concerned, it will be noticed from 
 the perspective view of the engine that 
 the cvlinder does not overhang-, as in 
 
 GAS AND AIR VALVE 
 
 STEPPED PIECE 
 
 PUSHER FROM ECCENTRIC ROD 
 
 TOT 
 
 FIG. 22. GOVERNOR DETAIL OF THE 
 CAMPBELL ENGINE. 
 
 most gas engines, and the cylinder 
 jacket, engine bed and crank bearings 
 are all cast together in one solid piece. 
 
 In the Foos engine, either gas or 
 gasoline may be used indiscriminately, 
 the design being the same in both 
 cases, the use of gasoline, however, 
 of course necessitating the addition of 
 a gasoline tank or carburetor to the 
 outfit as shown in the general view, Fig 
 24. The engine is designed to work 
 on the Otto cycle, there being ordinarily 
 one explosion in the cylinder at every 
 second revolution, or fourth stroke. 
 
 We will assume, by w r ay of explana- 
 tion, that the piston is making the first 
 stroke of a cycle, or that, in other 
 words, it is descending and sucking in 
 
 FIG. 23. CAMPBELL ENGINE INDICATOR CARDS. 
 
 the explosive charge. The gas then 
 goes to the engine through the valve 
 O, and mixes with air coming through 
 the branch pipe and valve N. The 
 gas and air mixture passes on through 
 the governor valve M, ascends in the 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 433 
 
 vertical pipe shown at the left of the 
 engine, passes through the check valve 
 /*, and enters the exploding chamber 
 B through a lift valve, which ordinarily 
 is kept down on its seat by a spring, 
 C but which opens automatically under 
 the influence of the partial vacuum 
 formed in the engine cylinder during 
 the suction stroke. When gasoline is 
 used instead of gas, air is drawn 
 through the gasoline tank or carbu- 
 retor, entering at /, and in its pas- 
 sage it absorbs sufficient gasoline 
 
 the engine as just described. The 
 engine cylinder and chamber B having 
 been filled with the explosive mixture, 
 the piston performs its upward or com- 
 pressing stroke, during which the 
 charge is compressed. At the begin- 
 ning of the next down-stroke ignition 
 of the charge is effected in the explod- 
 ing chamber B by an electric spark, 
 caused by the contact and immediately 
 following separation of the inner ends 
 of the two electrodes, D and E. The 
 arrangement of these will be better 
 
 FIG. 25. IGNITING ELECTRODES OF THE FOOS ENGINE. 
 
 vapor to make it ignitable. Warm air 
 is used to absorb the gasoline, being- 
 led to the tank pipe U through the 
 rubber hose shown in dotted lines. 
 This hose is connected to a small drum, 
 yon the exhaust pipe A. The drum is 
 perforated so as to admit air which, in 
 passing around the exhaust pipe is 
 warmed. The gasoline vapor coming 
 from the carburetor passes through 
 the check valve at R, at the out- 
 let end of the tank, and then on to 
 
 understood from Fig. 25. When the 
 two ends X and Y are brought to- 
 gether, as shown in this illustration, 
 the electric current from the battery 
 provided with the engine is closed, and 
 when they are then quickly separated, 
 a spark is produced, and the gas or 
 vapor charged is exploded. 
 
 The connection and separation of 
 the points of the electrodes is caused 
 by the revolving motion of electrode 
 E, Fig. 24, the end of which is made 
 
434 
 
 GASSIER' S MAGAZINE. 
 
 FIG. 24. THE FOOS ENGINE. BUILT BY THE FOOS GAS ENGINE CO., SPRINGFIELD, OHIO. 
 
 in the shape of a half circle as shown at 
 X in Fig. 25, bringing the points J^and 
 Y together at every revolution of elec- 
 trode E. Electrode D is made to 
 screw further in so that when the in- 
 side end Kis worn off it can still be 
 kept in contact with electrode E at X. 
 Care must be taken not to screw it in 
 so far but that there will be a 
 separation of an eighth of an inch 
 between the points of the two elec- 
 trodes at every revolution of electrode 
 E. The latter is worked from the main 
 shaft through the intervention of two 
 gear wheels and the rod/, the second- 
 ary gear wheel K being twice the size 
 of the one mounted on the driving- 
 shaft, and, hence, making only half as 
 many revolutions. It follows, there- 
 fore, that the electrode end X (Fig. 
 25), will revolve once for every two 
 revolutions of the engine shaft, and, 
 
 accordingly, will produce an igniting 
 spark once for every two such revolu- 
 tions. 
 
 The explosion having taken place 
 the piston is forced down, making its 
 working stroke, and on the next up- 
 stroke the products of combustion are 
 expelled from the cylinder through the 
 exhaust valve and pipe A at the back 
 of the cylinder. The exhaust valve, 
 which is of the lift type, is worked by 
 a cam on the spindle of the gear wheel 
 K, and by a rock-shaft connection. 
 This valve, which is fitted with a 
 spring to bring it firmly back to its 
 seat after having been opened, and the 
 governor valve M are the only valves 
 in the engine which receive positive 
 motion from the engine shaft. 
 
 The governor is of the centrifugal 
 type, and is mounted on the crank 
 shaft. Its revolving weights are shown 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 435 
 
 FIG. 21. THE CAMPBELL GAS ENGINE. BUILT BY THE CAMPBELL GAS ENGINE CO., LONDON, ENG. 
 
 at L L. These, it will be noted, re- 
 volve in the same plane as the fly-wheel, 
 and, when the normal speed is ex- 
 ceeded, fly outward and move a lever 
 controlling the position of the valve M, 
 and cutting off or reducing the supply 
 of explosive mixture. 
 
 The engine has the usual water 
 jacket to prevent over-heating of the 
 cylinder. In Fig. 24 the inlet and out- 
 let pipes for this jacket are marked H 
 and // G is a stop-cock for the escape 
 of compressed gas, and is to be opened 
 when starting up ; T is an oil cup con- 
 nection ; V is a float in the gasoline 
 tank to indicate the level of the fluid, 
 W\s the feed opening for tank. 
 
 The engine is built by the Foos Gas 
 
 Engine Company, ofSpringfield, Ohio, 
 the range of sizes being from two to 
 ten horse-power. 
 
 The Priestman oil engine is made 
 both in the United States and England, 
 Messrs. Priestman & Co., of Phila- 
 delphia, the American builders, turning 
 out the design shown in Fig. 26, while 
 the English builders, Messrs. Priest- 
 man Bros., of London and Hull, have 
 for their latest type of engine the one 
 illustrated in Fig 27. The engine uses 
 for fuel common petroleum such as is 
 burned in lamps,' and the quality best 
 suited to this purpose is just what is 
 safest in common use, that is, the 
 highest proof oil. A sprayed jet of 
 this oil is first broken up by compressed 
 
 3 18 
 
436 
 
 GASSIER 'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 air playing on it in a special nozzle, 
 and then it is further mixed with air, 
 heated and vaporized by the hot prod- 
 ucts of combustion from the exhaust 
 which are led around a vaporizer or 
 mixing chamber before being allowed 
 to escape. This might be called a re- 
 generator. The oil vapor thus thor- 
 oughly mixed with air in proper pro- 
 portions is drawn through an automatic 
 suction valve into the engine cylinder 
 by the piston in its forward stroke. On 
 the return stroke this change is corn- 
 
 it would be burned in the wick of an 
 oil lamp, and all the oil is so burned, 
 except that in contact with the com- 
 paratively cool surfaces of the water- 
 jacketed cylinder. Upon these cooler 
 surfaces, the oil not burned is con- 
 densed and furnishes the means of 
 lubrication. As in many other engines 
 of this type, there is in the Priestman 
 engine a space at the back end of the 
 cylinder over which the piston does 
 not sweep in its motion. This space, 
 or compression chamber, bears a fixed 
 
 
 FIG. 26. THE AMERICAN PRIESTMAN PETROLEUM KNGINE. BUILT BY PRIESTMAN & CO., PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 pressed to about half its bulk, and on 
 the next forward stroke it is ignited 
 electrically producing the working 
 pressure. At the end of this working 
 stroke, as it may be called, an exhaust 
 valve opens and permits escape of the 
 products of combustion during the 
 succeeding return stroke, thus comple- 
 ting one cycle which, it will be ob- 
 served, is the same as in the Otto 
 engine, and to which frequent reference 
 has already been made as the Otto 
 cycle. The oil is burned precisely as 
 
 proportional relation to the whole cu- 
 bic contents of the cylinder, and acts 
 as the furnace and boiler that is to 
 operate the engine, being, in fact, the 
 seat of power of the machine. 
 
 Fig. 27, as already remarked, shows 
 the latest type of the English Priest- 
 man engine. This differs from the 
 earlier English design in that the vari- 
 ous working parts have been made 
 more accessible, and at the same time 
 have been somewhat simplified. As 
 the illustration shows, the hand pump, 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 437 
 
 FIG. 27. THE ENGLISH PRIESTMAN PETROLEUM ENGINE. BUILT BY PRIESTMAN BROS., LONDON, ENG. 
 
 by means of which air is compressed into 
 the oil chamber preparatory to starting 
 the engine, is now fitted on an exten- 
 sion of the engine frame in place of be- 
 ing concealed inside this framing, as in 
 the old type. The air pump is also 
 now arranged to be driven by the same 
 
 a minimum of trouble. In all other 
 points the engine is similar to the old 
 type, the action of which has already 
 been outlined. 
 
 In the American design, shown in 
 Fig. 26, the idea of making all the 
 parts readily accessible has been still 
 
 FIG. 28. EXPLANATORY DIAGRAM OF PRIESTMAN ENGINE. 
 
 eccentric-rod as that which operates the 
 gas valve and firing gear, in place of 
 being driven by a separate rod as for- 
 merly. The wide opening in the frame 
 permits of the vaporizer and spray 
 maker being got at in case of need with 
 
 further carried out ; hence, the im- 
 mediately striking difference of appear- 
 ance. All the main features of the 
 engine are, however, practically the 
 same. In the English engine, it will 
 be noticed, the fly-wheel is placed out- 
 
438 
 
 GASSIER "S MAGAZINE. 
 
 side of the bearings, and the shock 
 from the sudden ignition of the charge 
 thus comes upon the crank. With the 
 principle adopted in the American de- 
 sign, it is argued that the two fly- 
 wheels which are used instead of one, 
 and which form part of the crank, offer 
 their great weight to the blow between 
 the bearings and present a mass of 
 
 veyed to the atomizer C, where the oil 
 is met by a current of air and broken 
 up into atoms and sprayed into the 
 mixer D. It is there mixed with 
 the proper proportion of supplementary 
 air and sufficiently heated by the ex- 
 haust from the cylinder passing around 
 this chamber. The mixture is then 
 drawn by suction through the inlet 
 
 m 
 
 FIG. 29. THE PRIKSTMAN DOUBLE CYLINDER MARINE ENGINE. 
 
 sufficient inertia to neutralize the effect 
 of this blow. 
 
 The diagram shown in Fig. 28 more 
 clearly explains the operation of the 
 engine. In this illustration, A repre- 
 sents an oil tank filled with any ordi- 
 nary high test (usually 150 degrees 
 test) oil, from which oil under air press- 
 ure is forced through a pipe to the 
 three-way cock, B, and is thence con- 
 
 valve /into the cylinder E where it is 
 compressed by the piston and ignited 
 by an electric spark passing between 
 the points of the ignition plug /% the 
 current for the spark being supplied 
 from an ordinary battery furnished with 
 the engine. The governor G controls 
 the supply of oil and air proportion- 
 ately to the work performed. The- 
 burnt products are then discharged 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 439 
 
 through the exhaust valve //, which is 
 actuated by a cam. The inlet valve / 
 is directly opposite the exhaust valve. 
 The air pump j is used to maintain a 
 small pressure in the oil tank to form 
 the spray. K is the water jacket out- 
 let. 
 
 The engine at the Philadelphia works 
 is now made in four sizes, ranging from 
 five to twenty indicated horse-power. 
 
 One of the various applications ol 
 the Priestman engine has been made by 
 the English builders to the propulsion 
 of a launch which, last year, was run- 
 ning on the river Thames, where she 
 aroused considerable interest. The 
 
 simple. The inlet valves on top of the 
 cylinders act automatically. 
 
 The engine was placed amidships and 
 occupied very little space as compared 
 with machinery and boiler space of a 
 steam launch. The speed of revolution 
 was controlled by a governor which cut 
 off a part of the charge according to 
 the amount of work to be done, and 
 the engine was slowed down when re- 
 quired by depressing the governor 
 spindle by hand. The normal speed 
 was 240 revolutions per minute, giving 
 the boat a speed of about nine miles 
 an hour. In this marine type of engine 
 the motion is in one direction only, and 
 
 FIG. 30. PRIESTMAN ENGINE AND PUMP COMBINED. 
 
 boat was thirty-six feet long by seven 
 feet three inches beam, by four feet six 
 inches deep. A ten horse-power engine 
 of the marine type, illustrated in Fig. 
 29, was used, there being two cylinders 
 each nine inches in diameter by nine 
 inches stroke. In principle the engine 
 was the same as the regular Priestman 
 oil engine, the oil being sprayed by a 
 jet of compressed air and afterward 
 heated in a vaporizer kept hot by the 
 exhaust gases. The ignition also was 
 effected electrically, a battery being 
 used to give the spark. The valve 
 gear in the engine, as shown, is very 
 
 reversing is effected by means of a fric- 
 tion clutch which also admits of running 
 the engine detached from the propeller. 
 The boat was easily handled and the 
 machinery required very little attention. 
 About forty gallons of oil, sufficient for 
 several days' running, were carried in 
 the bow, from which the engines drew 
 their supply. 
 
 The Kane Electro-Vapor engine, 
 like the one just described, is also 
 adapted to the use of either gas or 
 gasoline. It is built by Messrs. 
 Thomas Kane & Co., Chicago, 111., 
 and is shown in Fig. 31 as ar- 
 

 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 44 i 
 
 FIG. 31. THE KANE ELECTRO- VAPOR ENGINE. BUILT BY THOS. KANE & CO., CHICAGO, ILL. 
 
 ranged for the use of gasoline. The 
 engine works on the Otto cycle, there 
 being one working stroke in every 
 four. The gas or gasoline vapor goes 
 to the engine through the regulating 
 valve G, and mixes with a suitable 
 supply of air, which is drawn in from 
 the hollow bed of the engine through 
 the cock B. The admission valve 
 through which the mixture finally 
 enters the exploding chamber is a pop- 
 pet valve, operated by a lever on the 
 other side of the engine, not visible in 
 the illustration, and controlled by a 
 centrifugal governor through a hit-and- 
 miss device. Having passed through 
 this admission valve during the first 
 stroke of the cycle, the mixture is com- 
 pressed during the second stroke, and 
 exploded at the beginning of the third 
 stroke, exhaust of the burnt gases, as 
 usual in this class of engines, taking 
 place during the fourth stroke. The 
 exhaust valve chamber is marked , 
 the valve itself also being a poppet 
 valve ordinarily kept closed by the 
 spring shown. It is opened at the 
 proper exhaust moment, however, by 
 being pushed upward by the end of a 
 pivoted lever, which receives motion 
 from the crank shaft F through the 
 intervention of a small and a large 
 gear wheel, in much the same man- 
 ner as that followed in connection 
 with the Caldwell-Charter engine de- 
 
 scribed in the beginning of this paper. 
 The explosive charge is ignited by 
 an electric spark, and one of the electric 
 contact points, connected with one pole 
 of a battery, is carried by the exhaust 
 valve operating lever just mentioned. 
 It is shown at C and is pressed against 
 another contact piece on the engine bed 
 at the end of every down stroke of the 
 right hand end of this valve lever. The 
 other pole of the battery is connected 
 by a wire with an insulated electrode 
 in the exploding chamber at the end ot 
 the engine cylinder. The second elec- 
 trode is in the shape of a metallic point 
 carried by the piston. At the proper 
 
 FIG. 32. SECTION OF CARBURETOR FOR 
 GASOLINE USE. 
 
 moment for exploding a charge, the 
 contact pieces at (Tare pressing against 
 each other, and the electrode on the 
 piston, which then is at the right hand 
 end of its stroke, is just breaking con- 
 tact with the insulated electrode in the 
 
442 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 443 
 
 FIG. 35. KANE ELECTRO-VAPOR LAUNCH. 
 
 exploding chamber. The result is that 
 a spark is produced, and the charge is 
 exploded. The contact pieces at Care 
 for the purpose of completing the elec- 
 tric circuit only at the end of every 
 fourth stroke. At other times they are 
 separated as will be understood from the 
 nature of the connection to the exhaust 
 valve lever. The cylinder is water- 
 jacketted, and the water on its way 
 from the jacket passes around the 
 
 exhaust valve chamber, cooling it also, 
 and is led off through the pipe O. 
 
 Fig. 32 represents a sectional view of 
 the carburetor or gasoline tank used 
 when the engine is working with gaso- 
 line. It is a small circular tank partly 
 filled with gasoline and connected with 
 the engine by a pipe. It may stand 
 five feet, or, for that matter, fifty feet 
 away from the engine. Upon starting 
 the engine, a current of cool air is drawn 
 
444 
 
 GASSIER 'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 through suction pipe E, and passing 
 around through the circular chamber 
 XXX, finally arrives at the gas box D ; 
 from there it passes directly into the 
 engine cylinder through the connecting 
 pipe. During its passage through the 
 carburetor, the air absorbs the requisite 
 amount of vapor for the charge. The 
 carburetor works automatically and 
 requires no attention other than that 
 necessary to keep it supplied with 
 gasoline. When the engine works with 
 gas, the carburetor, of course, is not 
 needed, and the end of the gas intake 
 pipe carrying the valve G is then con- 
 nected directly with a gas supply pipe 
 carrying the customary gas-bag to give 
 uniformity of pressure. The engine is 
 made in seven sizes ranging from one- 
 half actual horse-power up to ten. 
 One of the uses to which this engine 
 when using gasoline is being extensively 
 applied is the propulsion of small boats, 
 and special modifications have, accord- 
 ingly, been made by the builders to 
 successfully meet the requirements in 
 such cases. Thus Fig. 35 gives a 
 
 general view of one of the marine 
 engine outfits. The engine, as there 
 used, is fitted up with two fly-wheels 
 and a reversing gear. The latter con- 
 sists simply of a friction wheel with 
 rubber rim so arranged that when 
 thrown, by means of the lever shown, 
 against the inner side of either one or 
 the other fly-wheel, it will, ^together 
 with the propeller shaft, revolve either 
 to the right or left as the case may be, 
 moving the boat either ahead or astern 
 while the engine runs always one way, 
 being itself not reversible. With the 
 friction wheel in mid-position, it will be 
 at a standstill. This arrangement pro- 
 vides a noiseless reversing gear and 
 one which will respond at a moment's- 
 notice. Fig. 34 represents a plan and 
 sections of a launch fitted up with the 
 engine, while Figs. 33 and 35 are general 
 views. 
 
 Messrs. Kane & Co. build also a 
 vertical gas engine, and a special 
 horizontal gas engine and pump com- 
 bination designed for supplying water 
 for hotels, residences, etc. 
 
 ( To be continued. } 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 By Albert Spies, Mem. Am. Soc. Mech. Eng. 
 
 uses to which gas 
 engines are especially 
 adapted have been 
 mentioned in a previ- 
 ous article; one of 
 these is the driving of 
 electric light machin- 
 ery, especially the 
 dynamos of isolated 
 lighting plants, where 
 steam engines with the 
 necessarily attendant boiler 
 equipment are often undesir- 
 able. Ease of management and 
 simplicity of power installation 
 in such plants are frequently of 
 the utmost importance and, coupled 
 with the intermittent character of the 
 service required, make the gas engine 
 a prime mover of special acceptability. 
 One of the several later types of gas 
 engine which appear to have found 
 much favor for such electric light ser- 
 vice is the White & Middleton engine, 
 built by the White & Middleton Gas 
 Engine Company of Baltimore, Md., 
 and illustrated in Figs. 36 and 37, the 
 latter representing a sectional plan. This 
 engine is of the prevailing two-cycle or 
 so-called Otto type, to which repeated 
 reference has already been made in con- 
 nection with many of the engines de- 
 scribed in the previous articles. 
 
 The piston is of trie trunk pattern 
 and is connected to the crank direct by 
 the wrist-pin and connecting rod with- 
 out an intervening cross-head. The 
 gas and air are mixed in the chamber 
 #, and the mixture is drawn through 
 the valve b into the engine cylinder 
 during the out-stroke of the piston. 
 During the return stroke the mixture 
 is compressed to about one-fourth its 
 original volume, and, at the beginning 
 of the second out-stroke, it is ignited by 
 
 uncovering the inlet to an ignition tube. 
 The ignition, or explosion, of the 
 charge drives the piston forward. At 
 the end of this working stroke, as it 
 may be called, the piston uncovers the 
 exhaust port f and the larger part of 
 the products of combustion escapes. 
 The portion still remaining in the 
 cylinder, except that filling the com- 
 pression or combustion chamber on 
 the left-hand end, is expelled, during 
 the following return stroke, through 
 the valves c and d. This completes one 
 working cycle, and the engine is then 
 ready to take in a new charge of gas 
 and air and go through the same series 
 of operations. 
 
 The valves, it will be noticed, are all 
 of the poppet type. The valve c is 
 worked by the lever g pivoted at h. 
 This lever receives its motion from the 
 rod i and the latter, in turn, is operated 
 by the slide k. A cam is placed on the 
 crank-shaft at / and works with a 
 smaller cam which imparts motion to k. 
 This smaller cam is under the control of 
 a centrifugal governor and a spring, be- 
 ing thrown out of gear with the larger 
 cam whenever the speed of the engine 
 exceeds the normal rate, and thus fail- 
 ing to open the admission valve c and 
 the gas supply valve until the engine 
 has again come down to its proper 
 speed. Ordinarily, when the engine 
 runs under a full load, these valves, of 
 course, open at every other stroke. 
 The valve c always opens slightly in 
 advance of the gas supply valve, the 
 latter being arranged in the casing 
 shown at the side of the cylinder in the 
 perspective view, Fig i. In Fig. 2 it is 
 not shown. A small valve is fitted to 
 the opening n, and is opened and closed 
 by hand for the purpose of relieving the 
 air pressure in the cylinder on starting 
 
 25 
 
26 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE, 
 
 the engine. It will be observed that, 
 unlike many other gas engines, the one 
 here shown has no gear wheel combina- 
 tion for reducing the speed for the valve 
 gear, the necessary reduction being 
 effected by an ingenious arrangement in 
 the slide k. The governor also is quite 
 
 to be employed, however, the gas sup- 
 ply valve on the side of the cylinder is 
 replaced by a small pump worked 
 also by the rod i. No outside car- 
 buretor is employed, but the pump 
 discharges at every other stroke of the 
 engine piston, or less frequently as de- 
 
 FIG. 36. ENGINE BUILT BY THE WHITE & MIDDLETON GAS ENGINE CO., BALTIMORE, MD. 
 
 FIG. 37. SECTIONAL PLAN OF WHITE & MIDDLETON ENGINE. 
 
 inconspicuous, and the whole engine is 
 very simple in appearance, the number 
 of working parts having been reduced 
 to a minimum. 
 
 The engine, like many of those al- 
 ready described, is adapted to use gaso- 
 line as well as gas. Where gasoline is 
 
 termined by the position of the governor, 
 a suitable proportion of gasoline into 
 the chamber a where it is taken up and 
 carried along by the air into the cylinder 
 through the self-acting valve b. The 
 engine is built in sizes of from two 
 to thirty-two indicated horse-power, 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 though arrangements are being com- 
 pleted to turn out larger sizes for which 
 demands have been made. 
 
 The gas consumption of the engine is 
 said to be remarkably small, test figures 
 being claimed to have shown a con- 
 sumption of nineteen cubic feet per 
 brake horse-power per hour, in an en- 
 gine developing actually 5.98, or in 
 round numbers, six horse-power. 
 
 The combustion or power chamber is 
 formed partly in a separate hood, as 
 shown in the vertical section Fig. 39, 
 and communicates at one side of the 
 latter with the supply valve port. The 
 forward end of the power cylinder opens 
 into the crank casing which forms a 
 compression supply chamber, the piston 
 being the compressor. In this chamber 
 work the connecting rod and crank, 
 
 FIG. 38. THK NASH ENGINE, BUILT BY THE NATIONAL 
 MKTER CO., NEW YORK. 
 
 Another one of the later designs ot 
 American gas engines, known as the 
 Nash engine, and built by the National 
 Meter Company, New York city, is 
 shown in perspective in Fig. 38. In 
 this engine there is one explosion of a 
 gas and air charge at every revolution 
 instead of at every second revolution, 
 and the engine is thus practically single- 
 acting. 
 
 and into it the combustible mixture of 
 gas and air is drawn during the up- 
 ward stroke of the piston through the 
 mixing valve, shown in Fig. 40, which 
 is placed externally as represented in 
 Fig. 41. This valve automatically 
 regulates the relative supply of gas and 
 air to the cylinder. Air enters through 
 the opening at the bottom, while the 
 flow of gas is regulated by the valve/". 
 
28 
 
 GASSIER 'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 In the interior are two valve ports of 
 unequal area controlled by the double- 
 seated valve i which regulates the flow 
 of gas through the smaller port, and 
 the flow of air through the larger one. 
 It is evident that the relative quantities 
 of air and gas drawn in by the upward 
 movement of the piston will be in 
 accordance with the size of the air and 
 gas openings. The valve i is made of 
 
 the piston is controlled by a poppet 
 valve having an ample seat. The 
 quantity of mixture admitted at each 
 stroke is controlled by the valve k, 
 operated by the governor. After igni- 
 tion and expansion, the products of 
 combustion escape through the circum- 
 ferentially arranged exhaust openings 
 in the cylinder walls, which are shown in 
 both the sectional views and which are 
 
 FIG. 39. VKRTICAL SECTION OF NASH ENGINE. 
 
 sufficient weight to greatly overbalance 
 the gas pressure so that any slight 
 variations in the latter will not materi- 
 ally effect the proportions of the parts 
 of the mixture. 
 
 From the supply reservoir the mix- 
 ture passes upward through a passage 
 clearly shown in Fig. 39. Its admis- 
 sion to the combustion chamber above 
 
 uncovered by the piston at the end of 
 its down-stroke. 
 
 The igniter b, Fig. 39, and shown 
 enlarged in Fig. 42, is based upon a 
 new principle. The igniting jet of com- 
 bustible mixture is caused to rotate in the 
 circular chamber r, into which it enters 
 through a passage tangentially placed. 
 This forms a vortex of flame, \vhich is 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 29 
 
 positive in its action and simple. The 
 valve B itself is made of steel, and is 
 hardened and ground to size. It moves 
 in a reamed hole in the case, being so 
 loosely fitted as to drop of its own 
 
 FIG. 40. NASH MIXING 
 VALVE. 
 
 weight, and yet making a gas-tight 
 joint. Since the valve is pefectly 
 balanced as to gas pressure it moves 
 without friction, and therefore requires 
 a very small quantity of oil just suffi- 
 cient to prevent it becoming dry. The 
 valve is made long, and the lower part 
 has a bearing in that part of the case 
 kept cool by a water jacket. As oil is 
 only applied to the lower end, very 
 little can work up to the hot end where 
 the igniter is heated ; hence the forma- 
 tion of gummy oil is prevented, and 
 the valve seldom needs cleaning. In 
 actual use it has been found that the 
 case and upper end of the valve never 
 come into metallic contact, as, on ac- 
 count of the looseness of fit at that 
 point, a scale of hard carbon is formed 
 over the surface of each, which protects 
 them from abrasion. The valve is 
 positively operated by an eccentric on 
 the shaft. 
 
 As already stated, the engine ignites 
 each charge at each revolution, and the 
 amount of the charge is controlled at 
 each stroke by the governor, so that 
 the regulation is as close as for a steam 
 engine. An examination of a card 
 taken from this engine shows a remark- 
 able resemblance to the card of a steam 
 engine. The pressure at the beginning 
 of the stroke is moderate, and the line 
 of the expansion is well sustained 
 throughout the entire stroke. The fly- 
 wheel is stationed between two bearings 
 
 formed in the single base casting ; hence 
 the alignment of the shaft is always true. 
 The working parts are enclosed and 
 protected from dust, and at the same 
 time they are readily accessible by 
 hinged covers. 
 
 The engine is made in sizes of from 
 one-third actual horse-power up to four 
 horse-power, and, like all others of its 
 class, is adapted to a wide variety of 
 work. A special engine and pump 
 combination, put on the market by the 
 makers, has met with much favor and 
 is widely used. Gasoline can be used 
 with the engine as well as gas, but in 
 that case, of course, some kind of car- 
 buretting device must be employed 
 which forms an independent adjunct. 
 
 The Backus engine, made by the 
 Backus Water Mfg. Company, of New- 
 ark, N. J., is shown in Figs. 43 and 
 
 FIG. 41. VERTICAL SECTION OF NASH ENGINE. 
 
 44. It is a vertical engine, made 
 for small powers, and, like several al- 
 ready described, works according to the 
 Otto cycle, there being one explosion in 
 every two revolutions. Fig. 44, which 
 
CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 FIG. 42. IGNITER OF NASH ENGINE. 
 
 represents a vertical section of the 
 cylinder and valve mechanism, will help 
 to clearly explain the functions of the 
 several parts. The gas, coming through 
 a special gas regulating valve, shown at 
 the left in Fig. 43, enters at a, and, 
 mixing with air, enters the engine 
 cylinder through the admission valve b. 
 This valve is ordinarily held down on 
 its seat by a helical spring, not shown 
 in the illustration, but lifts during the 
 upward suction stroke of the piston, 
 opening communication between a and 
 the cylinder. Above the valve b is the 
 exhaust valve d, which also is held to its 
 seat by a helical spring, except when 
 opened by the action of the exhaust 
 valve rod which is operated by a gear 
 wheel running at half the speed of the 
 crank shaft. The exhaust pipe is in- 
 dicated by the dotted circle above the 
 valve d. 
 
 When the piston makes its first up- 
 stroke, the valve b opens and the ex- 
 plosive charge is drawn into the 
 cylinder, the exhaust valve d being 
 closed. On the following down-stroke 
 compression takes place, both valves b 
 and d being closed. At the end of this 
 
 stroke the charge is in such a state 
 of compression that it becomes ig- 
 nited through that portion of it which 
 has entered the incandescent ig- 
 nition tube c. The piston is then 
 forced up, doing useful work, and 
 during the next down-stroke or ex- 
 haust stroke, the valve d is open 
 and the waste gases ' escape. The 
 engine, after this, is again ready to 
 recommence the same cycle. 
 
 The governor, which is of the cen- 
 trifugal type, is arranged in the belt 
 pulley shown at the upper left-hand 
 corner of Fig. 43. As the revolving 
 weights of the governor move out- 
 ward under the influence of centrifu- 
 gal force they move the upper end 
 of a centrally pivoted lever, shown 
 in the perspective view. The lower 
 end of this lever is attached to the 
 gas valve, which is thus opened or 
 closed more or less, depending upon 
 the engine speed and the correspond- 
 ing position of the governor weights. 
 At the lower end of the lever 
 there is also a knurled collar, by 
 turning which the connection between 
 
 FIG 44. VERTICAL SECTION OF THE 
 BACKUS ENGINE. 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 FIG. 43. THE BACKUS ENGINE, BUILT BY THE BACKUS 
 MANUFACTURING CO., NEWARK, N. J. 
 
 the lever and valve can be either 
 shortened or lengthened, and the speed 
 of the engine can thus be changed 
 while the engine is in motion. The 
 
 engine cylinder is provided with the 
 customary water jacket to prevent over- 
 heating. The sizes of the engine range 
 from one-half to three horse-power. 
 
 (To be continued.} 
 
MACHINERY HALL, WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 
 
 STEAM ENGINES AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. I. 
 
 By Geo. L. Clark. 
 
 OF all the great structures at the 
 World's Columbian Exposition 
 at Chicago, the Administration 
 Building, while not the largest, is one of 
 the most beautiful, if not the gem of the 
 Exposition palaces. Machinery Hall, 
 however, has been pronounced second 
 only to this in the magnificence of its ap- 
 pearance. It measures 846 by 492 feet, 
 and, with the Machinery Annex and 
 Power House, cost about $1,250,000. 
 These several structures together cover 
 an area of nearly eighteen acres. The 
 main machinery hall is spanned by 
 three arched trusses, and the interior 
 presents much of the appearance of 
 three great railroad train houses. In 
 each of the long naves is an elevated 
 traveling crane, running from end to 
 end of the building for the purpose of 
 moving machinery. During the time 
 of the Exposition it is intended to put 
 platforms on these, so that visitors may 
 be carried throughout the exhibition 
 space and view all the machinery. 
 
 That with such extensive provisions 
 for the exhibit of machinery the latter will 
 form a most important feature of the Ex- 
 position seems almost needless to say, 
 and that steam engines will be of the first 
 prominence in this line of exhibits will 
 be equally well appreciated. Interest 
 will undoubtedly be centred in the 
 
 32 
 
 large Corliss engine, one of magnifi- 
 cent proportions, built by the E. P. 
 Allis Company, of Milwaukee, Wis. , 
 and suggestive at once of comparison 
 with the famed Corliss engine used in 
 Machinery Hall at the Philadelphia 
 Centennial Exhibition in 1876, which 
 was built by George H. Corliss. The 
 illustration of that engine, shown on 
 another page, will give the reader 
 some idea of the great dissimilarity 
 of the two. This Corliss engine, at 
 the time one of the finest examples 
 of its type ever constructed, had a 
 pair of forty-inch cylinders, of ten- 
 foot stroke, and while its full power 
 was never developed, it supplied 
 something like 1250 horse-power while 
 in operation at the Exhibition. The 
 length of the beams, between cen- 
 tres, was twenty-five feet, the diameter 
 of the crank shaft was nineteen inches, 
 and the diameter of the fly-wheel was 
 nearly thirty feet. The revolutions of 
 the Centennial engine per minute 
 amounted to thirty-six, and it may be 
 of interest to know that the total num- 
 ber of revolutions made during the 
 exhibition was 2,355,300. 
 
 The duty of the World's Fair engine 
 will, however, be of a different nature 
 from that of the Corliss engine at the 
 Centennial, which transmitted its poxver 
 
FAST TRAINS OF ENGLAND AND AMERICA. 
 
 cent, of the through passengers from 
 New York to Chicago, although in 
 elegance and comfort there is little 
 choice between its limited trains and 
 those of the Pennsylvania. Were it 
 not, however, for the passengers who 
 stop off at intermediate stations, these 
 through fast express trains would be 
 very unprofitable ventures. 
 
 From official reports it is found that 
 the average number of through passen- 
 gers on all trains to Chicago, both fast 
 and slow, is one hundred and seventy 
 daily. Divided up between the twenty- 
 six through westbound trains it gives 
 an average of eight each. Of the 
 twenty-six through trains, the New 
 York Central runs eight. This new 
 train, however, will undoubtedly carry 
 as many through passengers as it can 
 accommodate between the World's Fair 
 city and New York. 
 
 Another remarkably fast train will be 
 that of the New York, New Haven and 
 Hartford Railroad, which will shortly 
 be put on and which will make the run 
 between New York and Boston in five 
 hours. The train will run by way of 
 Providence, and will be the fastest ever 
 run in New England, the average speed 
 being forty-eight and nine-tenths miles 
 an hour, including three stops of five 
 minutes each. Trains will leave New 
 York and Boston simultaneously, at ten 
 o'clock in the morning, and reach 
 their destinations at three in the after- 
 noon, making almost as good time 
 as the "Exposition Flyer" just re- 
 ferred to. The train is scheduled to 
 
 Leave New York at 10.00 A.M. 
 
 " New Haven " 11.35 ' 73.23 miles. 
 New London" 12.43 " 124.20 " 
 Providence ' 2.06 P.M. 188.20 " 
 
 Arrive Boston " 3.00 " 232.20 " 
 
 West of Chicago probably, the fast- 
 est train is on the Chicago, Burlington 
 and Quincy road, running between 
 
 Denver and Chicago. Train No. 6, 
 eastbound from Denver, makes the run 
 in twenty-nine hours and forty-nine 
 minutes, the distance being 1025 miles. 
 Train No. i, leaving Chicago daily for 
 Denver, makes the run in thirty hours 
 and fifteen minutes. The engines haul- 
 ing these trains are of the eight-wheel 
 American type, built by the Rogers 
 Locomotive and Machine Works. 
 They belong to the standard class 
 "M" locomotives of the road, have 
 eighteen by twenty-four-inch cylinders, 
 sixty-nine-inch drivers, and weigh, with 
 tender, ready for service, 174,000 
 pounds. The total weight on the 
 drivers is 65,500 pounds. 
 
 Reviewing all the facts presented, 
 it appears that, notwithstanding the 
 great variety in type of locomotives and 
 weights of trains, the running time be- 
 tween various terminals both in Eng- 
 land and America, whether the distance 
 be long or short, does not much ex- 
 ceed fifty miles per hour. At the same 
 time it has been demonstrated that a 
 speed of sixty to sixty-five miles is 
 made by many roads daily for part of a 
 run, and as high as 80 to 100 miles 
 for a short stretch on a particularly good 
 piece of roadbed has been accomplished 
 by different types of locomotives. The 
 superiority of any particular type 
 among those illustrated is hard to de- 
 termine, although for many reasons 
 the locomotives of the "800" class, 
 hauling the Empire State Express on 
 the New York Central road, are capable 
 of pulling a train faster for a long dist- 
 ance than any now in use. 
 
 There is no doubt that as regards 
 first-class express trains those in the 
 United States lead in point of spe'ed over 
 long distances, exceeding, say 200 miles. 
 For shorter runs, however, in the neigh- 
 borhood of 100 miles, the English re- 
 gular trains still hold the supremacy. 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 By Albert Spies, Mem. Am. Soc. M. E. 
 
 AS at a low price, much 
 lower than that at 
 which it is now gener- 
 ally sold by gas com- 
 panies, is one of the 
 desiderata to which 
 gas engine builders 
 and users alike have 
 been looking forward 
 for some time. It is 
 not that the gas en- 
 gine, even with the 
 current prices of gas, 
 is by any means un- 
 duly expensive in 
 point of fuel, but it is manifest that with 
 cheaper gas the full possibilites of mo- 
 tors of this type would be more readily 
 and widely appreciated, and could be 
 more strikingly emphasized by the prob- 
 ably greatly increased numbers in use. 
 In one of the preceding papers a few 
 figures were given, showing what was 
 actually accomplished with a cheap 
 heating gas in the line of reducing the 
 cost of power in a gas engine. Unfor- 
 tunately, however, enterprises of the 
 character there mentioned, keeping in 
 view the manufacture and distribution 
 for general consumption of low cost gas 
 for heating purposes, have not yet been 
 pushed to any extent, and users of the 
 larger sizes of gas engines, developing 
 about forty horse-power and more, who 
 have been impressed with, and who de- 
 cided to profit by, the economies of 
 cheap gas utilization have been 
 obliged to avail themselves of special 
 gas producer outfits to be worked in 
 conjunction with their engines, just as 
 steam boilers ordinarily are operated in 
 connection with steam engines. 
 
 This plan of putting in independent 
 gas producers has been specially de- 
 
 144 
 
 velopecl in England, and a compar- 
 atively large number of such gas plants 
 on the Dowson system have been built 
 and operated with the most satisfactory 
 results. The outfits, as generally used, 
 consist of a small gas holder and tank 
 with a scrubber placed inside the tank. 
 The scrubber is filled with coke or 
 other suitable material, and the gas, as 
 made, is passed through this before it 
 reaches the holder. A regulator on the 
 gas producer governs the production 
 of gas, within certain limits, by the rise 
 or fall of the holder, and makes large 
 storage capacity unnecessary. In some 
 of the outfits an escape valve has 
 been used on top of .the holder to let 
 off gas into the open air or up through 
 a waste pipe when the holder is full, 
 and when the make of gas exceeds the 
 consumption. This, however, has not 
 been employed to any great extent, 
 since the regulator arrangement satis- 
 factorily provides for fluctuations in 
 consumption and avoids the waste of 
 fuel. 
 
 The gas is made by forcing a con- 
 tinuous current of steam and air through 
 a coal fire in the producer proper, or 
 generator, so that the necessary high 
 temperature of the fire is maintained 
 while a constant volume of steam is de- 
 composed. The oxygen of the air and 
 steam combines with the carbon, pro- 
 ducing carbonic oxide which is rendered 
 still more inflammable by the hydrogen 
 set free by the steam. The total cost 
 of the gas, including wages, etc., and 
 allowing for the increased volume of 
 the gas required to develop the same 
 power as coal gas, has been found, it is 
 stated, to be equal to coal gas at about 
 forty cents per 1000 cubic feet. The 
 result of this certainly very acceptable 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 price has been, as already intimated, 
 the installation abroad of quite a large 
 number of Dowson producers for private 
 use, and the gradual adoption of gas 
 engines of larger and larger sizes, so 
 that now there remains very little cause 
 for the impression, still entertained by 
 some, that the gas engine is essentially 
 a small power motor. In the United 
 States, combination engine and pro- 
 ducer plants are not so well known, or, 
 at least, not so much used, but their 
 advantages are pretty well appreciated, 
 and their more extensive introduction 
 would seem to be a matter of but 
 a few years. Plants of this kind are 
 already in use there in several places, 
 and, from all accounts, seem to be doing 
 satisfactory work. Where they are put 
 in, one is, of course, entirely indepen- 
 dent of gas companies, just as in the 
 case of oil engines, the whole outfit 
 being complete in itself. 
 
 Careful tests of Otto engines work- 
 ing in conjunction with Dowson pro- 
 ducers, as already stated in one of the 
 preceding papers, have shown a fuel 
 consumption as low as 1.2 pounds of 
 coal per indicated horse-power per 
 hour, and Messrs. Crossley Brothers, of 
 Manchester, the English builders of the 
 Otto engine, in the early days of Dow- 
 son gas found that the wages of a fire- 
 man for several gas generators are not 
 more than those for a set of steam 
 boilers. The gas also can be conveyed 
 with little loss from condensation to 
 various parts of a large establishment 
 using power, and independent gas en- 
 gines can thus be employed for differ- 
 ent lines of shafting. Any department 
 working overtime can have its engine 
 supplied with gas from a single gener- 
 ator, and all the advantages can in 
 this way be secured that are usually 
 claimed for, and achieved by, the system 
 of sub-division of power. 
 
 To return, however, from this brief 
 digression to the descriptions of cur- 
 rently used engines, we will present, 
 to begin with, the so-called " Safety 
 Vapor " engine, shown in Fig. 45, 
 and put on the market by the Safety 
 Vapor Engine Company, of New York. 
 A feature at once noticeable in this en- 
 
 520 
 
 gine, which also works on the Otto 
 cycle, is the chain or link belt shown at 
 the right, operating the valve. The 
 latter is simply a flat, circular plate 
 with one port cut through it in the 
 shape, nearly, of a sector of a circle. 
 The valve seat is provided with two 
 similarly shaped ports placed close to- 
 gether, one for admission of the charge 
 into the cylinder, and the other for ex- 
 haust. 
 
 Two ports, exactly the same in 
 shape and similarly located, are pro- 
 vided in the cover plate which holds 
 the valve in position. One of these 
 ports communicates with the exhaust 
 pipe and the other with the gas and air 
 supply pipe. The valve, it will be 
 understood, rotates constantly in one 
 direction and as the port in the valve 
 establishes communication between the 
 first seat port and the corresponding 
 port in the cover plate, exhaust takes 
 place. The valve, proceeding further 
 around, next brings its port over the 
 adjoining admission ports in the seat 
 and cover plate, and the charge of gas 
 and air then enters the cylinder, and is 
 subsequently compressed, ignited, and 
 expanded while the valve completes its 
 revolution until its port again establishes 
 communication between the exhaust 
 ports. This completes one cycle. The 
 valve, of course, makes only one 
 revolution for every two revolutions of 
 the crank-shaft, the large link belt 
 pulley above having twice the diameter 
 of the smaller pulley below which drives 
 it. 
 
 The gas goes to the engine through 
 the horizontal branch pipe, shown at 
 the left in the illustration, passes 
 through a graduating gas valve by 
 which the gas supply, and consequently 
 the speed of the engine, can be regu- 
 lated, and then mixes in a pipe chamber 
 with air taken in through the vertical 
 pipe shown extending downward. The 
 mixture finally enters the admission 
 compartment of the valve chest. Ig- 
 nition of the charge is effected electric- 
 ally by a spark passing between two 
 electrodes in the extreme upper end of 
 the cylinder, the current being furnished 
 by an electric battery. Special electric 
 
146 
 
 GASSIER' S MAGAZINE. 
 
 contact strips are arranged on the valve 
 chest cover and are brought together 
 once in every revolution of the large 
 link belt pulley operating the valve. 
 By this arrangement a spark between 
 the electrodes in the cylinder is pro- 
 duced once in every two revolutions of 
 the crankshaft, or at the beginning of 
 every fourth stroke of the piston. 
 
 The engine, as shown in the illustra- 
 tion, is arranged for use in a launch 
 and for this purpose is fitted up with a 
 friction driving gear for the propeller 
 shaft. This gear is similar to the one 
 already described in connection with 
 the Kane electro-vapor launch engine 
 in the April number, and its action 
 will be at once understood from the 
 illustration. There are, as will be ob- 
 served, two friction wheels, mounted 
 in a frame pivoted on the propeller 
 shaft. The latter carries a third and 
 larger friction wheel, which is in con- 
 tact with the other two. By means of 
 a lever extending upward, the frame 
 with its two friction wheels, may be 
 thrown over to either one side or the 
 other, bringing the wheels into contact 
 with the rim of either one of the 
 engine fly-wheels and thus causing the 
 propeller shaft to revolve in either 
 direction as desired, driving the launch 
 either ahead or astern. When the 
 friction gear lever is in mid-position, 
 both of the small friction wheels are out 
 of gear, and the engine revolves idly, 
 the propeller shaft being at rest. 
 The stationary engine is exactly 
 similar to the marine engine, except 
 that it is provided with a governor 
 belted to the engine shaft and con- 
 trolling the main gas valve, either 
 reducing the amount of gas admitted 
 or cutting off the supply altogether 
 when the speed of the engine rises 
 above the normal. The engine is built 
 in sizes of from one-half to six 
 horse-power and, as may have been 
 already gathered from the fact that it 
 can be applied to boat propulsion, is 
 adapted to the use of gasoline as well 
 as gas. 
 
 The Rollason gas engine, of which 
 both horizontal and vertical designs 
 are shown in Figs. 46 and 47, is the 
 
 invention of Arthur Rollason, and has 
 been in use in England for several years 
 with very satisfactory results, the 
 English builders being Messrs. Wells 
 Brothers, of Sandiacre, near Notting- 
 ham. It is now also being made in 
 the United States by the Electric 
 
 FIG. 45. THE SAFETY VAPOR ENGINE. 
 
 Manufacturing and Gas Engine Com- 
 pany, of Greenbush, N. Y. 
 
 When first brought out, the engine 
 was of the three-cycle type, that is to 
 say, there was in ordinary working, 
 one explosion or impulse in every three 
 revolutions or in every six strokes. An 
 explosion having taken place, the pis- 
 ton made a forward stroke under its 
 impulse ; then the exhaust valve was 
 opened, and the piston on its return 
 expelled a large proportion of the prod- 
 ucts of combustion. During the sec- 
 ond forward stroke the piston drew in 
 behind it what was termed a scavenger 
 charge of air which it forced out on the 
 back stroke together with what re- 
 mained of the burnt gases. On the 
 third outward stroke a combustible 
 charge of gas and air was drawn in, 
 and on the next back stroke, or sixth 
 stroke, this mixture was compressed 
 ready for ignition. This completed the 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 cycle, and the engine was then ready 
 to again go through the same series of 
 operations. In the engine as now built, 
 however, a four-stroke cycle is followed, 
 and yet the use of the scavenger charge 
 is retained, a feature which is probably 
 not found in any other four- stroke cycle 
 gas or oil engine now on the market. 
 The particular advantage of a scavenger 
 charge of air will be appreciated when 
 it is borne in mind that ordinarily the 
 clearance spaces in a gas engine cylin- 
 der are filled with used-up gases when 
 
 through the valve F in the bed-plate, 
 and gains access to the passage E, one 
 end of which communicates with the 
 pump and the other end with the air 
 valve entering .the main cylinder. On 
 the suction stroke of the main piston, 
 air is drawn into the pump, and a gas 
 and air mixture into the cylinder. On 
 the compression stroke the air is com- 
 pressed in the pump, but only slightly, 
 because the clearance space is so large. 
 On the explosion stroke this air is ex- 
 panded. As soon as this stroke 
 
 FIG 46. THE ROLLASON HORIZONTAL GAS ENGINE. 
 
 the fresh charge ot explosive mixture 
 enters the cylinder, and these remain- 
 ing burnt gases probably exert a de- 
 laying action on the explosion. 
 
 The interior construction of a portion 
 of the Rollason engine is shown in the 
 sectional views Figs. 48 and 49, from 
 which it will be seen that in front of 
 the cylinder is a long tubular guide in 
 which works a second piston rigidly 
 connected to the front. This tubular 
 guide and piston constitute a pump in 
 which air, slightly compressed, forms 
 the scavenger charge. Air enters 
 
 is completed, the exhaust valve C 
 opens, and the main piston, returning, 
 sweeps the products of combustion be- 
 fore it, while the pump piston com- 
 presses the air. Shortly before the end 
 of this stroke the air valve is opened 
 and allows the compressed charge 
 from the pump to rush into the cylin- 
 der and out through the still open ex- 
 haust valve. The exhaust valve is kept 
 open until the crank passes the centre, 
 affording ample time for all the prod- 
 ucts of combustion to be completely 
 swept out. The annular gas valve is 
 
148 
 
 GASSIER' S MAGAZINE. 
 
 FIG. 47. THE KOLLASON VERTICAL GAS ENGINE. 
 
 then opened and the motor piston draws 
 in its charge. 
 
 The regulation of speed in the large 
 engines is effected in two different ways. 
 There is a centrifugal governor con- 
 nected with a throttle valve, and small 
 variations of load are met by reducing 
 the strength of the charge. If the speed 
 is greatly increased, however, the gas 
 valve is not opened at all. It is worked 
 by a hit-and-miss device, and at high 
 
 speeds a cam connected to the governor 
 trips the device and cuts off the gas. 
 
 The admission and exhaust valves 
 are of the poppet type, and the original 
 slide-valve design has been abandoned 
 as in most other makes of gas engine. 
 Firing of the charge is effected by a 
 tube igniter. 
 
 The nature of the valve gear will be 
 made clear by an examination of Fig. 
 50, which represents a cross-section of 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 149 
 
 the cylinder and of the valve chambers. 
 The explosion or combustion chamber 
 A is surrounded with the usual water 
 jacket and has the passage a through 
 which air enters on its way to the air 
 admission ports b. The lay-shaft B is 
 driven from the crank shaft by reduc- 
 ing gearing and is provided with a 
 cam, C, for operating the igniting 
 device, and with a second cam, D, for 
 governing the admission valve E and 
 exhaust valve F through the interven- 
 tion of a two-armed rocking lever 
 pivoted at G. This lever carries at 
 one end a roller, H, which is kept 
 pressed against the cam D by means of 
 the spring J. When the cam D forces 
 the roller H outward, the opposite end 
 of the rocking lever strikes the stem of 
 the exhaust valve F and lifts this valve 
 from its seat, at tne same time enabling 
 the admission valve E to close under the 
 influence of the spring with which it is 
 provided. Thus the movement of the 
 lever in one direction under the action 
 of the roller H opens the admission 
 valve, and the return movement under 
 the influence of the spring J opens the 
 exhaust valve, the latter also being 
 fitted with a spring, as shown. 
 
 The admission chamber, as already 
 
 FIGS. 48-49 SECTIONAL VIEWS OF THE 
 ROLLASON ENGINE. 
 
 stated, is provided with air ports b 
 which communicate with the external 
 air through the passages a. The gas 
 chamber K, on the other hand, com- 
 
 municates with the source of gas supply 
 and has small ports governed by a lift 
 valve, c. Let us suppose now that 
 an explosive charge of gas and air is 
 being compressed in the cylinder end 
 
 FIG. 50. VALVE GEAR DETAIL OF 
 ROLLASON ENGINE. 
 
 A. A small portion of the compressed 
 charge will escape through a narrow 
 
 froove into the port v, and pass 
 om there through the port i into the 
 chimney N, where it is ignited by the 
 gas flame from R. The flame of the 
 ignited mixture passes back into the 
 port v, but the fineness of the groove 
 m prevents it from passing into the 
 cylinder end A. When the time of 
 igniting the charge in the cylinder has 
 arrived, the cam C permits a quick out- 
 ward movement of the piston valve P, 
 first closing the port i by a small valve 
 controlling it, and afterward opening the 
 small end of the port v by the com- 
 pletion of the out-stroke of the piston 
 valve P. The flame is thus first shut 
 in, and then put in free communication 
 with the combustion chamber A, effect- 
 ing ignition of the charge. The press- 
 ure in the combustion chamber, acting 
 through the piston-valve P upon the 
 three-armed rocking lever L, tends to 
 keep the valve which controls the open- 
 ing / tight upon its seat. 
 
 For starting large engines, the ar- 
 
15 
 
 GASSIER 'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 FIG. 51. DETAIL OF STARTING GEA1 
 LARGE ROLLASON ENGINES. 
 
 rangement shown in Fig. 51 is used. 
 A separate hand pump Q, is connected 
 with the gas supply pipe, provided 
 with check valves, so that a sufficient 
 quantity of gas may be pumped into 
 the combustion chamber to form an ex- 
 plosive mixture. To effect ignition of 
 this mixture, the igniting device is pro- 
 vided with a releasable catch, S, Fig. 
 51, to hold it in the non-igniting posi- 
 tion after the crank has turned the 
 centre. If the mixture be burning in 
 the passageway v, the release of the 
 catch S will cause ignition and explo- 
 sion of the contents of the engine cylin- 
 der. 
 
 In the smaller sizes of engine, the 
 vertical engine, for example, the special 
 igniting valve is not used, and the two- 
 armed rocking lever controls simply the 
 admission and exhaust valves, the tube 
 igniter being always in direct com- 
 munication with the end of the engine 
 cylinder. The engine shown in Fig. 56 
 is one of two indicated horse-power. 
 The horizontal design is turned out in 
 sizes to meet the demand. 
 
 An example of what is being done in 
 Germany in the way of petroleum 
 engines is afforded by the Capitaine 
 engine shown in elevation and vertical 
 section in Figs. 54 and 55. This 
 engine is now being introduced into 
 England by Mr. L. Tolch, of Liver- 
 pool. 
 
 The engine works on the Otto cycle. 
 Oil is taken through a pump at K, Fig. 
 54, and is forced into the vaporizer D, 
 Fig. 55. This vaporizer is kept hot by 
 a flame from the lamp C. The latter is 
 provided with a long tube which bends 
 back upon itself, and ends in a burner 
 cone. The flame plays on the lamp 
 tube as well as on the vaporizer, and 
 in this way the pretroleum is converted 
 into vapor before it reaches the burner 
 cone. The ignition tube F also stands 
 in the flame, and is made incandescent 
 for the purpose of firing the charge, 
 which is compressed within it on the 
 second stroke of the piston. In the 
 latest form of the engine, however, the 
 use of the ignition tube has been 
 abandoned, and the charge is fired by 
 the heat of the vaporizer alone. On 
 the first stroke of the piston air enters 
 through the pipe B and inlet valve A, 
 while the contents of the vaporizer are 
 
 FIG. 52. THE CAPITAINE OIL ENGINE. 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES, 
 
 FIG 53. DOUBLE-CYLINDER CAPITAINE LAUNCH^ENGINE. 
 
 drawn out by admitting air at its end 
 through the valve C. 
 
 The exhaust valve and the oil pump 
 are both operated by an eccentric. 
 As they are required to move only at 
 each alternate revolution, the mech- 
 anism shown in Fig. 56 is introduced 
 to throw the eccentric rod in and out of 
 engagement. The eccentric rod is 
 pivoted to a slipper working in a 
 guide ; to this slipper is pivoted a cross- 
 piece S with two arms. These arms 
 work in conjunction with two fixed 
 shoulder pieces striking them in suc- 
 cession. If with the parts in the posi- 
 tion shown, the cross-piece were to rise 
 it would operate the bell-crank M. As 
 
 it neared the end of its travel one ol 
 the arms would strike the right-hand 
 shoulder, tilting the cross-piece, so that 
 on its next stroke it would miss the bell- 
 crank. The left shoulder piece could 
 then restore the cross-piece to its old 
 position, and on the next stroke the 
 bell- crank would be moved. 
 
 The bell-crank M works the lever L, 
 one member of which raises the exhaust 
 valve O, Fig. 55, while the other 
 operates the pump, Figs. 54 and 57. 
 The oil enters the tube at V by natural 
 pressure, and through the small aper- 
 ture at the bottom of the bucket S 
 ascends up to the non-return valve H. 
 On pressing the pump rod W upward, 
 
CASS/EX'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 FIG. 54. ELEVATION OF THE CAPITAINE 
 ENGINE. 
 
 FIG. 55. VERTICAL SECTION OF THE 
 CAPITAINE ENGII^E. 
 
 FIG. 56. VALVE GEAR DETAIL OF 
 CAPITAINE ENGINE. 
 
 FIG. 57. OIL PUMP OF 
 CAPITAINE ENGINE. 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 153 
 
 the conical top point closes the bottom 
 hole of the bucket S and carries the 
 bucket before it, thus forcing the oil 
 through the non-return valve 
 H through T into the sprayer 
 valve C of the vaporizer. On 
 letting go the rod W, the non- 
 return valve, the bucket, and 
 rod will be pressed down by 
 springs to their original position 
 shown in Fig. 57. All parts of 
 the pump can be easily got at 
 after slacking the top screw and 
 removing the traverse. The 
 capacity of the pump is regu- 
 lated by screwing up or down 
 the nut a, thus limiting the 
 stroke of the rod W, which is 
 securely screwed to the nut b. 
 When an engine of this kind is 
 fitted to a launch, the pump is 
 a suction and delivery pump of 
 similar design, thus enabling 
 the engine to pump oil from a 
 tank below the pump. The 
 vertical arm of the bell-crank 
 ends in a detent which can be 
 engaged by a corresponding 
 detent N, Fig. 54, on a rod con- 
 .nected to the governor. The 
 governor is carried in the fly- 
 wheel, and transmits its motion 
 through the boss to a sliding 
 collar between the wheel and 
 the bearing. A bell-crank and 
 a rod connect the collar to the 
 detent. The admission of oil 
 is thus regulated by the gov- 
 ernor according to the needs of 
 the engine. 
 
 The operation of the engine 
 is as follows : Explosion takes place 
 with the piston on the top centre, after 
 previous admission of oil-gas and air; 
 the consequent impulse drives the pis- 
 ton down. On the upstroke the ec- 
 centric opens the exhaust valve and 
 the burnt gases escape, the same 
 movement of the eccentric also caus- 
 ing the feed pump to inject oil to 
 the vaporizer. On the next down- 
 stroke there is admission or suction 
 of oil-gas and air ; on this down- 
 stroke and the next, the eccentric 
 vibrating piece "misses," and on the 
 
 upstroke the explosive charge is com- 
 pressed, and when the piston is at 
 top centre there is ignition and im- 
 
 FIG. 58. SINGLE-CYLINDER CAPITAINE LAUNCH ENGINE. 
 
 pulse. We thus have during two 
 revolutions impulse, exhaust, admis- 
 sion of fresh charge, and compres- 
 sion. The exhaust pipe is connected 
 to the chamber marked J in Fig. 54 ; 
 Q and P in Fig. 55 are pipes leading 
 from and to the water jacket surround- 
 ing the cylinder. 
 
 During the early part of last year a 
 launch was on trial at Chester, 
 England, fitted with one of the Capi- 
 taine engines, a friction gear being used 
 for reversing or letting the engine run 
 idly with the propeller shaft at rest. 
 
GASSIER 'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 The products of combustion from the 
 cylinder were led to an exhaust 
 chamber under a thwart, and from there 
 were discharged under water. To the 
 eccentric was attached a lever which 
 worked a small pump. The latter 
 circulated cooling water around the 
 cylinder. An oil supply was carried in 
 a tank in a bow chamber. The launch 
 was thirty-five feet long by six feet ten 
 inches beam by two feet six inches 
 draught, and could comfortably carry 
 about fifty passengers. The engine 
 developed, as a maximum, six and one- 
 
 also a single cylinder engine. Both 
 types work on the four-stroke, or Otto 
 cycle. In the double-cylinder en- 
 gine, it will be noticed, the cranks 
 are set together, and one impulse is 
 thus obtained at every revolution, the 
 cylinders acting alternately. Ordinary, 
 refined oil of commerce is used in the 
 engine. The whole outfit is made up 
 of the engine proper, a small oil pump, 
 and a vaporizer, the last being arranged 
 at the end of the cylinder. The oil is 
 poured into a small tank, which is 
 separate from the engine and can be 
 
 FIG. 59. THE "TRUSTY" ENGINE, BUILT BY MESSRS. WEYMAN & HITCHCOCK, GUILDFORD, ENGLAND. 
 
 half horse-power, and gave a speed ot 
 about eight and one-half knots an hour. 
 The weight of the engine complete was 
 about 2000 pounds. On the European 
 continent launches propelled by these 
 Capitaine motors are extensively used, 
 especially -at Hamburg, where a com- 
 paratively large number are at work. 
 
 The "Trusty" petroleum engine, 
 built by Messrs. Weyman & Hitch- 
 cock, Limited, of Guildford, England, 
 is shown in Fig. 59, the illustration 
 representing a view of a double- cyl- 
 inder engine, though the firm make 
 
 placed in any convenient position in the 
 engine room. 
 
 From this tank the oil passes to the 
 pump through a small pipe, the pump 
 being controlled by the governor. The 
 requisite amount of oil is thus pumped 
 into the vaporizer, and the vapor is 
 drawn into the working cylinder during 
 the suction stroke, mixing, in the 
 cylinder, with a suitable proportion of 
 air to make an explosive charge. Igni- 
 tion of the charge is effected by an 
 ordinary tube igniter kept hot by 
 means of a small blow pipe flame. 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES, 
 
 155 
 
 The Bray ton petroleum engine, 
 shown in Fig. 60, has already been 
 illustrated and described in a separate 
 article in an earlier number of this 
 magazine, but is here again incorpor- 
 ated for the sake of convenience and 
 completeness. The illustrations, while 
 
 made to gasify or to vaporize, or even 
 to heat the petroleum spray. The oil is 
 finely divided atomized in fact in a 
 large quantity of air.- and is flashed into 
 flame instantly. Trie combustion re- 
 sembles that of flour dust or coal dust, 
 suspended in the air, and which is so 
 
 FIG. 60. THE BRAYTON PETROLEUM ENGINE. 
 
 showing one ot the older types ol Bray- 
 ton engines, used with very good re- 
 sults in the United States, perfectly rep- 
 resent the principles of operation. 
 The engine, as indicated by its name, 
 belongs to the general class of petro- 
 leum engines, but in it no attempt is 
 
 rapid that it constitutes an explosion. 
 The combustible material is divided in- 
 to infinitely small particles, and each 
 particle is surrounded with an ample 
 supply of oxygen, to which it exposes 
 a surface which is very great in relation 
 to its bulk. Under these conditions 
 
156 
 
 CASS/EX'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 combustion is exceedingly rapid, and 
 spreads from particle to particle with 
 amazing celerity. The oil is burned 
 suspended in air ; its combustion is 
 complete, and is not impaired or de- 
 layed by metallic surfaces on which de- 
 posit can accumulate. 
 
 The method of ignition is entirely 
 novel. As the oil is not admitted till 
 the moment of explosion, there is no 
 question of ' ' timing ' ' valves, or of 
 attaining a certain degree of compres- 
 sion before the charge can be fired. A 
 
 platinum is maintained at a glowing- 
 temperature within the cylinder. 
 
 The engine works on a modification 
 of the Otto cycle. Explosion, exhaust, 
 suction, and compression follow each 
 other in the usual order, but the suc- 
 tion is a suction of air only (not gas 
 and air), and the compression, also a 
 compression of air only. Further, the 
 exhaust valve is held open during the 
 early part of the compression stroke to 
 "scavenge" the products of combus- 
 tion out of the clearance space, and to re- 
 
 FIG. 6l. SECTION A L'VIEW OF BRAYTON ENGINE. 
 
 brilliantly incandescent surface can be 
 maintained in the cylinder all the time, 
 ready to ignite the first drop of oil that 
 comes in contact with it. To do this, 
 advantage is taken of the well-known 
 phenomenon of flameless combustion, 
 which is often shown on the lecture 
 table, and but seldom found in practical 
 work. A jet of air laden with hydro- 
 carbon vapor is made to impinge con- 
 tinuously on a coil of platinum wire 
 w r hich has been previously heated, and 
 as long as the jet is continued the 
 
 place them by air. As the oil is sprayed 
 into the compressed air in the cylinder 
 it requires a blast of high-pressure air 
 to effect its entrance. This air is 
 obtained from a pump, which also 
 supplies air to the incandescent burner, 
 a pressure of eighty pounds to the 
 square inch being employed for this 
 purpose. 
 
 A sectional view of the engine is given 
 in Fig. 61, while Fig. 62 shows some 
 of the details. The general appearance 
 of the engine is that of an inverted 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 beam engine, the beam being inclosed 
 within the bed, and having a connecting 
 rod at each end of it. From an inter- 
 mediate point in the beam is worked 
 the small pump which supplies the com- 
 pressed air for spraying the charge and 
 for maintaining the firing light. This 
 pump is connected by a pipe to the 
 cylinder head, shown on an enlarged 
 scale in Fig. 62. The pipe A, to- 
 gether with the oil supply pipe B, 
 
 to the sprayer D. The former consists 
 of a tube in the end of which there are 
 coils of platinum wire. These are 
 separated from a packing of asbestos F 
 by a perforated steel disc and a plate 
 of wire gauze. A fine bore tube con- 
 nects the firing device with the auxiliary 
 oil reservoir G in which the oil is kept 
 at a constant level by a float. Air from 
 the 'pump is admitted to this reservoir 
 by the pipe H ; part of it goes direct to 
 
 FIG. 62. SECTIONAL VIEW OF BRAYTON ENGINE. 
 
 discharges into a chamber, the bottom 
 of which is closed by a valve C. When 
 this valve is lifted, the oil is driven 
 violently down the pipe, and through 
 the circumferential cuts at its lower 
 end, into the clearance space of the 
 cylinder. The oil is finely divided by 
 the action of the blast and is driven out 
 at several different levels in minute 
 particles. 
 
 The igniting device E is placed near 
 
 the platinum burner through the adjust- 
 able cock J and part through the device 
 K. This latter consists of a perforated 
 vessel having an internal pipe, the lip 
 of which is below the oil level, so that 
 oil and air are driven upon it in spray 
 to the asbestos pad F. The heat of the 
 cylinder continually vaporizes the petro- 
 leum in the asbestos, and insures it be- 
 ing carried forward in gaseous form to 
 the platinum coils. In order to effect 
 
CASSIER'S MAGAZINE, 
 
 the preliminary heating of the platinum, 
 there is provided opposite to it a door 
 L with a glass-covered aperture in its 
 centre. This door is opened, and a 
 torch is inserted by which the platinum 
 is raised to a red heat. 
 
 The oil pump M, Fig. 61, is operated 
 by an eccentric driven by one to two 
 gearing from the crankshaft. The exact 
 length of stroke of this pump is deter- 
 mined by a wedge, which occupies a 
 position in a slot between the ends of 
 the eccentric-rod and of the pump 
 plunger. When the engine is running- 
 above the normal speed, the wedge is 
 raised by the governor ; when it is run- 
 ning below the normal, the wedge is 
 lowered and the stroke of the pump is 
 nearly equal to that of the eccentric. A 
 hand crank is provided, Fig. 60, by 
 which the pump can be worked before 
 the engine is started. On the same 
 shaft with the eccentric is a cam for 
 operating the oil inlet valve C, and the 
 exhaust valve M, the former being 
 opened when the left-hand end of the 
 lever above it is raised, and the latter 
 
 when it is depressed. The exhaust 
 valve, as already stated, is opened at 
 each revolution. It first evacuates the 
 greater part of the products of combus- 
 tion, and next it allows part of the air 
 to blow through to scavenge the clear- 
 ance space. This air is admitted by an 
 automatic valve in the piston, Figs. 61 
 and 62, which opens as soon as a partial 
 vacuum is formed in the cylinder. This 
 position is chosen for the valve because 
 the air can enter with little disturbance 
 of the hot products of combustion, 
 which congregate above, and can then 
 sweep them completely out of the cylin- 
 der. To start the engine, the door L is 
 opened and a torch of asbestos soaked 
 in paraffin is introduced and placed be- 
 neath the burner E. When this is 
 properly heated the torch is withdrawn 
 and the door closed. A charge of oil 
 is then injected by hand and the fly- 
 wheel turned. On the compression 
 stroke an explosion should occur, after 
 which the engine runs without further 
 attention. The cylinder is, of course, 
 water-jacketed in the usual way. 
 
 (To be continued."] 
 
 THE FUTURE OF CAST STEEL" 
 
 EVERY day we see a further de- 
 velopment of the employment 
 of the extra soft steel or homo- 
 geneous iron generally called cast steel. 
 Without recounting all that has been 
 said respecting the manufacture of this 
 metal, it will be doubtless admitted that 
 no metallurgical operation presents 
 more precision or certainty than the 
 working of the Martin furnace with 
 basic or neutral hearth, or of the 
 Thomas converter, which are the prin- 
 cipal producing furnaces of cast steel. 
 
 In these days we no longer attach as 
 much importance as in the past to the 
 employment of very pure raw materials 
 of well-known origin. Chemical analysis 
 has taken the place of the foreman's 
 
 *By permission of La Metallurgie. 
 
 eye in appreciating the purity and 
 quality of the material used in working. 
 What matters the quantity of phos- 
 phorus of the pig or scrap worked in 
 the Martin furnace, since this phos- 
 phorus is sure to be eliminated in the 
 course of working, thanks to a suitable 
 addition of lime, which forms a basic 
 slag capable of retaining the phos- 
 phoric acid proceeding from the oxida- 
 tion of the phosphorus charged ? We 
 might say as much up to a certain 
 point of the presence of sulphur. This 
 substance, which very justly occupies 
 the attention of manufacturers of soft 
 steel, can now be very easily eliminated 
 by a preliminary operation in the pres- 
 ence of manganese. The Martin furn- 
 ace, with basic or neutral sole, is there- 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 By Albert Spies, Mem. Am. Soc. M. E. 
 tfifth 
 
 FIELD which almost 
 from the beginning of 
 the oil engine indus- 
 try had suggested it- 
 self as a promising 
 one for the extensive 
 use of engines of that 
 class is that of agri- 
 cultural engineering. 
 Steam engines have 
 for quite a number of 
 years been largely em- 
 ployed in agriculture, 
 and have demonstrated 
 con clusively that 
 something more than 
 man power has be- 
 c o m e necessary to 
 economically carry on 
 much of the farm 
 work of the present day. For such work, 
 however, steam engines have always 
 carried with them the dangers of steam 
 boilers, necessarily entrusted to the 
 care of comparatively unskilled attend- 
 ants, and it has become generally rec- 
 ognized that if some other, less danger- 
 ous source of power were available, it 
 would be well worth having. Oil en- 
 gines with their comparative simplicity 
 and absence of complication in manage- 
 ment appeared to exactly meet the re- 
 quirements, and as a consequence port- 
 able outfits were built and are already 
 much used for threshing and other 
 similar purposes. 
 
 One of the makes which has become 
 prominent in this line is the Hornsby- 
 Akroyd oil engine, of which a portable 
 form is shown in Fig. 64, while Fig. 63 
 represents the stationary design. It is 
 built by Messrs. Richard Hornsby & 
 Sons, Limited, of Grantham, England. 
 The engine is horizontal and works on 
 
 the well - known Otto cycle. It is 
 constructed with a working cylinder 
 closed at one end by a cover and open 
 at the other. In this cylinder works the 
 piston, which is formed like a plunger, 
 being open at one end to receive the 
 end of the connecting rod. Near the 
 closed end of the cylinder a valve box 
 is fitted, which contains two valves, one 
 being the air valve and the other the 
 exhaust valve. The air and the ex- 
 haust valves are operated by separate 
 levers, each lever being moved by a 
 cam mounted on a horizontal shaft, 
 driven by the crankshaft through skew 
 or bevel wheels. This horizontal shaft 
 makes only one revolution while the 
 crankshaft makes two, so that the air 
 and exhaust valves are each opened 
 only once in every two revolutions. 
 
 At the back of the cylinder is a cast- 
 iron box, called the vaporizer, which is 
 always open to the cylinder through a 
 neck. This vaporizer is heated, before 
 starting the engine, by an external 
 lamp blown by a small fan for a few 
 minutes, so that the vaporizer shall be 
 able to vaporize and explode the oil 
 when it is pumped into it. After the 
 engine has started running, the lamp is 
 no longer required, the vaporizer being 
 kept hot enough by the explosions 
 which take place in it. 
 
 A small oil pump worked by the air 
 valve lever draws oil from the oil tank 
 under the engine and forces it into the 
 vaporizer ; this takes place only during 
 the outstroke of the piston, when it is 
 drawing in air. The oil on its way 
 from the pump to the vaporizer passes 
 through a valve box attached to the 
 vaporizer. This valve box has two 
 valves in it, one kept closed by a spring 
 which the oil forces open as it goes into 
 
 185 
 
186 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 the vaporizer. The other is also kept 
 closed by a spring, and should the en- 
 gine run too quickly, the governor 
 opens it and allows some of the oil to 
 flow back to the tank. This valve can 
 also be opened by turning a little regu- 
 lating handle, which will stop the sup- 
 ply of oil to the vaporizer, and thus 
 stop the engine. The action of the 
 engine may be explained as follows : 
 
 The vaporizer having been previously 
 heated and the fly-wheel being pulled 
 round, the first outstroke of the engine 
 thus made will cause air to be drawn 
 into the cylinder, and at the same time 
 the pump will force oil into the vapo- 
 rizer, which is immediately transformed 
 
 vaporizer, so that when the engine runs 
 too quickly this valve is opened by the 
 governor and the oil allowed to return 
 to the tank instead of going into the 
 vaporizer. The latter getting little or 
 no oil, the speed of the engine is thus 
 regulated. 
 
 The oil used for running these en- 
 gines can be varied from oil of a specific 
 gravity of . 8 to one of . 85 and even . 88, 
 with flashing points of from 200 to 250 
 degrees Fahrenheit. 
 
 The outline drawing, Fig. 65, will 
 help to further explain the general con- 
 struction and manner of working of the 
 engine. In this, P represents the ex- 
 haust valve lever ; Q is the oil pump, 
 
 FIG. 65. EXPLANATORY DIAGRAM OF HORNSBY-AKROYD ENGINE. 
 
 into oil vapor. On the return stroke 
 of the piston, the air is compressed in- 
 to the vaporizer and thereby mixed 
 with the oil vapor, and just as the pis- 
 ton gets to the end of its stroke, and 
 the compression is, therefore, greatest, 
 an explosion takes place, which forces 
 the piston out on its second stroke. 
 When the piston gets to the end of this 
 stroke the exhaust valve opens, and the 
 return stroke expels the gases, the same 
 cycle of operations being repeated con- 
 tinuously. 
 
 The speed of the engine is governed 
 by a small Porter governor which acts 
 through levers on an overflow valve 
 fitted in the valve box attached to the 
 
 and R is the small fan referred to, 
 driven from the pulleys S. The vapo- 
 rizer lamp is shown at T, the vaporizer 
 itself being marked V ; H is the cam 
 shaft, and K are the governor gear 
 wheels ; B is a cylinder oiler ; M is the 
 connecting rod from the governor to 
 the vaporizer valve box X. The water 
 circulating pipes for the cylinder jacket 
 are marked a and b, and those for the 
 vaporizer valve box are marked c and 
 d. The oil supply pipe f from the 
 tank to the pump has a three-way cock 
 e with a fitter inside ; g is the oil pipe 
 from the pump to the vaporizer valve 
 box, and h is the overflow pipe from the 
 vaporizer valve box to the oil tank. 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 18? 
 
 FIG. 63. STATIONARY HORNSBY-AKROYD ENGINE. 
 
 The absence ot all flame in this en- 
 gine, after having started, is a striking 
 feature, and is claimed to make the en- 
 gine a peculiarly safe one. The engine 
 is turned out in large numbers, and, 
 like other engines of its class, is used 
 for almost every purpose that power is 
 required. The stationary motor is built 
 in sizes of from one and one-half to 
 nineteen actual horse-power, and the 
 portable type, in sizes of from three and 
 one-half to nineteen horse-power. In 
 the portable type that which takes the 
 place of the boiler is a water tank con- 
 taining water for circulation through the 
 engine cylinder jacket ; that which 
 takes the place of a smokestack is an 
 exhaust silencing chamber, and that 
 which takes the place of the fire-box is 
 an oil tank. The outfit is thus remark- 
 ably independent and self-sufficing. 
 
 A somewhat similar portable oil en- 
 gine outfit is that shown in Fig. 66, and 
 built by Messrs. Robey & Co., of Lin- 
 coln, England. The engine in this case 
 also works on the vaporizer system, oil 
 being injected under pressure into an 
 annular vaporizer chamber, heated only 
 by the heat of combustion in the work- 
 ing cylinder. The governor also acts 
 by determining whether the supply of oil 
 shall go into the vaporizer or back into 
 the oil supply tank. A heavy oil of 
 about 0.85 specific gravity is used, with 
 a flashing point of about 243 degrees 
 Fahrenheit. The water tank contains 
 sufficient water for circulation through 
 the engine cylinder jacket for a whole 
 day, and the oil tank is made large 
 enough to hold a week's supply of oil. 
 Robey & Co. make also a semi-portable 
 engine of the same general design. 
 
i88 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 FIG. 64. PORTABLE HORNSBY-AKROYD OIL ENGINE, BUILT BY RICHARD HORNSBY & SON, GRANT- 
 HAM, ENGLAND. 
 
 One of the American engines which 
 has made rapid progress during the past 
 few years is that built by the Van Duzen 
 Gas and Gasoline Engine Company, ol 
 Cincinnati, O., and of which a number 
 of different forms are shown. Altogether 
 this company turns out seven styles : 
 a simple stationary gas engine, a 
 stationary gas and gasoline engine com- 
 bined, a stationary gasoline engine, a 
 portable gasoline engine, a stationary 
 gas engine and pump combined, a 
 stationary gasoline engine and pump 
 combined, and a portable gasoline 
 engine and pump combined. The gas 
 and gasoline engine combined, as 
 will be understood, may be used 
 with gas alone, but has a gasoline 
 apparatus attached to prevent any 
 delays in operation should the gas sup-' 
 
 ply suddenly fail. The portable gaso- 
 line engine is mounted on trucks, as the 
 illustration shows, and may be used 
 for driving threshing machines, hay 
 presses, etc. The gas and gasoline en- 
 gines and pumps combined, both 
 stationary and portable, need no special 
 explanation as to the uses to which they 
 are to be put ; the name sufficiently in- 
 dicates the purposes to which they can 
 be applied. In addition to the types 
 already mentioned, the company also 
 build a marine engine which appears to 
 have met with much favor. 
 
 From the illustration of the horizontal 
 stationary engine, Fig. 67, it will be 
 observed that the cylinder, water jacket 
 and pillow-blocks are all cast in one 
 piece, and are supported by a cast-iron 
 base. The four and five horse-power 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 189 
 
 engines carry one balance wheel, but 
 those from seven horse-power up carry 
 two such wheels. The four-stroke, or 
 Otto, cycle of operation is followed. 
 Between the cylinder and the base is a 
 countershaft, worked by spur gearing 
 from the crank shaft. On one end of 
 this countershaft is mounted a cam for 
 operating the exhaust valve, and on the 
 other end are cams for similarly work- 
 
 into such a position that the toe A will 
 come in contact with it as soon as the 
 rocker arm, marked 4, is raised. This 
 arm begins to raise when the piston is 
 at the end of its in-stroke, or when it is 
 in the same position as that shown in 
 Fig. 69. The cam marked i, it will be 
 noticed, is first about to come in con- 
 tact with the cam roller 5 and the 
 rocker arm 4. When it actually comes 
 
 FIG. 66. PORTABLE OIL ENGINE, BUILT BY R.OBEY & CO., LINCOLN, ENGLAND. 
 
 ing the admission and ignition valves. 
 The valves all are of the poppet type, 
 and their stems are fitted with long 
 guides. Figs. 69 and 70, which repre- 
 sent, respectively, side and end eleva- 
 tions of the engine, will help to explain 
 the functions of the main parts. 
 
 To begin with, if the engine be below 
 its normal speed, the governor rod D 
 will allow the vibrating stem B to drop 
 
 in contact with it and raises the arm 4, 
 the toe A will be depressed, come in 
 contact with the valve stem B, and open 
 the admission valve C. By the time 
 that the crank has come into the posi- 
 tion B, corresponding to the end of the 
 out-stroke of the piston, the valve C is 
 again shut. The cams i and 3, work- 
 ing, respectively, the admission and the 
 exhaust valves, are so designed as to 
 
1 90 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 effect quick opening and shutting of 
 valves, and also to keep them wide 
 open during a large portion of the pis- 
 ton travel. 
 
 During the next half- revolution of 
 the crank, from the position B back 
 again to the position A, the mixture in 
 the cylinder of the engine is com- 
 pressed, and as the crank passes the 
 inner centre, the cam, marked 2, comes 
 in contact with the lower end of the 
 two-armed lever E, and though it opens 
 
 the other end of the cam shaft opens 
 the exhaust valve, and allows it to close 
 again when the crank finally resumes its 
 initial position A. This completes a 
 full working cycle, and everything is 
 then in readiness to resume the same 
 series of operations. 
 
 The end elevation, Fig. 70, shows, 
 among other things, a vertical section 
 of the carburettor. It consists of an 
 iron casing with an inner tube through 
 which the air necessary for the work- 
 
 FIG. 67. STATIONARY ENGINE, UUILT BY THE VAN DUZEN GAS AND GASOLINE ENGINE CO., CIN- 
 CINNATI, OHIO. 
 
 the ignition valve N. The opening ot 
 this valve allows part of the explosive 
 mixture from the cylinder to pass up 
 into the ignition tube O. On the end 
 of this tube is a ball H which is said to 
 serve as a cushion, and to dispose of 
 the waste gases which accumulate in the 
 ignition tube. The mixture, being 
 ignited, again forces the piston forward, 
 bringing the crank once more into the 
 position B. By this time the cam 3 on 
 
 ing charge enters. On top of this 
 inner tube is seated a flange valve. As 
 the air enters, it necessarily raises this 
 valve which, in turn, raises the fluted 
 stem of the check valve above it. 
 The gasoline is in the chamber above 
 this valve, and as soon as the valve is 
 lifted the gasoline flows down inside the 
 flange valve and out through the late- 
 rally disposed holes, as indicated by the 
 arrows. Thence the Qfasoline flows 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 191 
 
 FIG. 68 PORTABLE VAN DUZEN ENGINE. 
 
 over the edges of the air valve and is 
 caught up by the air current flowing 
 downward through the inner chamber 
 and through a number of gauze rings, 
 being vaporized on its way. It will be 
 observed that no gasoline is allowed to 
 enter the carburettor until the engine 
 calls for it. From the carburettor the 
 mixture goes immediately to the cylin- 
 der through the admission valve. 
 Should any premature explosions occur, 
 they would have to take place in the 
 carburettor, and this is made strong 
 enough to withstand them. As soon as 
 the admission valve on the engine 
 cylinder is closed, the air valve in the 
 carburettor drops back on its seat, thus, 
 in turn, allowing the gasoline check 
 valve to drop back also, and effect- 
 ively shutting off the gasoline supply. 
 The gasoline tank necessarily is placed 
 above the level of the top of the car- 
 burettor in order to allow the gasoline 
 to flow to the latter by gravity. 
 
 The main features of the governor 
 with which the engine is supplied are 
 shown in the side elevation. The 
 governor is worked from the crank- 
 shaft by intermediate gear wheels, and 
 can be set to run at any desired speed. 
 Changes of speed can be easily and 
 quickly made. 
 
 Another engine of American design, 
 more recently put on the market, is the 
 Sintz engine, shown in Fig. 81, and 
 built by the Sintz Gas Engine Com- 
 pany, of Grand Rapids, Mich. It is of 
 the vertical type and is turned out both 
 for gas and gasoline use. When gas- 
 oline is to be employed, the engine is 
 provided with a small pump and is con- 
 nected with a gasoline supply tank con- 
 veniently located. The operation of 
 the engine is substantially as follows :. 
 When the piston makes its first up- 
 ward stroke of the working cycle, it 
 draws a charge of air into the crank 
 casing with which, as will be noticed,. 
 
192 
 
 GASSIER 'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 the engine is fitted. On the following 
 downstroke, and when near the end of 
 its stroke, the piston passes a port in 
 the side of the cylinder which com- 
 municates with the crank chamber. 
 Just as the piston begins to open this 
 port, the small gasoline pump (when 
 gasoline is used) begins its downward 
 or discharge stroke, causing the gaso- 
 line to pass into the port in the form of 
 fine spray, and it finishes its stroke at 
 the same time that the main piston 
 
 this time performing a working stroke. 
 On reaching the end of this stroke an 
 exhaust port is uncovered, about op- 
 posite the transfer port already men- 
 tioned, and the waste gases are enabled 
 to escape before the fresh charge is 
 transferred to the cylinder. The de- 
 sign is such that an impulse, or explo- 
 sion, takes place at every revolution 
 while gasoline or gas is supplied. The 
 supply of the oil or gas is controlled by 
 the governor by its action on either the 
 
 FIG. 69. SIDE ELEVATION OF A HORIZONTAL VAN DUZEN ENGINE. 
 
 completes its downward stroke. In the 
 meantime the air, which has been 
 slightly compressed in the crank cham- 
 ber, is rushing through the port, and is 
 deflected to the top of the cylinder, 
 carrying the gasoline with it, and form- 
 ing an explosive mixture. 
 
 The piston, on its next upward 
 stroke, compresses the charge in the 
 upper end of the cylinder where it is 
 ignited electrically at the proper mo- 
 ment and drives the piston down again, 
 
 gasoline pump or on the gas valve, de- 
 pending upon the kind of fluid used. 
 
 A special marine engine outfit is made 
 by the builders, the engine itself being 
 of substantially the same design as that 
 shown. Both the marine and the 
 stationary engines are made in sizes of 
 from one to fifteen horse-power. 
 
 The "Forward" gas engine, an 
 English design, built by Messrs. T. B. 
 Barker & Co. of Birmingham, is shown 
 in Figs. 76 and 77, the former repre- 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 193 
 
 seating the type followed in engines up 
 to nine horse-power, having a single 
 fly-wheel, w r hile the latter shows an en- 
 gine with two fly-wheels of the kind 
 turned out in sizes of from twelve to 
 twenty horse-power. The engine fol- 
 lows the Otto cycle in its operation, 
 working ordinarily, with one explosion 
 in every two revolutions, the number 
 
 the bulk or complexity of the engine, 
 at the same time answering its purpose 
 admirably, and making the engine as 
 easy to handle as an ordinary steam 
 engine. A sectional view of this start- 
 ing gear is given in Fig. 79 The 
 method of operation of the attachment 
 is extremely simple. 
 
 Gas is allowed to blow into and 
 
 FIG. 70. END ELEVATION OF VAN DUZEN ENGINE. 
 
 of explosions, however, being reduced, 
 as in many other engines, by the ac- 
 tion of the governor when the engine is 
 running with a light load. The prin- 
 cipal feature of interest in the engine is 
 the application, to the larger sizes, of a 
 starting gear invented by Mr. F. W. 
 Lanchester, and which adds nothing to 
 
 321 
 
 through the cylinder until an explosive 
 mixture is created within it, the condi- 
 tion of the mixture being judged by the 
 color of the flame produced by allow- 
 ing it to blow through an external pilot 
 jet. At the right moment the gas is 
 shut off and the flame strikes back 
 through the blow-off cock, causing an 
 
i 9 4 
 
 CASS1EKS MAGAZINE. 
 
 FIG. 71. LARGE SIZE VERTICAL VAN DUZEN ENGINE. 
 
 explosion which starts the engine. The 
 back stroke of the piston exhausts the 
 gases, and the next stroke draws in a 
 charge in the usual way ; it also sucks 
 in the pilot flame through the blow-off 
 cock, and fires the charge, the engine 
 thus temporarily working on the 
 Lenoir cycle, explained in the first 
 paper, with an explosion at each revolu- 
 tion. Under these conditions a speed 
 of 1 20 revolutions per minute is gained 
 in a few seconds. A certain speed, 
 less than 120 revolutions, however, is 
 needed to insure a compressed charge 
 
 exploded by an incandescent tube. 
 When the requisite speed is attained, 
 the blow-off is closed, and the cam set to 
 exhaust every second revolution ; the 
 engine then works compressively and 
 fires its charge from the hot tube. In 
 the diagram j is the gas nozzle, f the 
 blow-through cock containing a lightly 
 loaded non-return valve which closes at 
 the explosion, d the outlet, c the pilot 
 flame, h the gas pipe, e the exhaust 
 valve, and m the exhaust cam. 
 
 It is interesting to note that besides 
 having been applied to the ' ' Forward 
 

 MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 195 
 
 gas engines for some time past, the ap- 
 paratus has also been used with success 
 on engines of other makers. 
 
 The Trent gas engine, shown in per- 
 spective in Fig. 72, is a single acting 
 engine, receiving one impulse for every 
 revolution, and is made by the Trent 
 Gas Engine Company, Limited, of 
 Nottingham, England. Sectional views 
 of the cylinder are given in Fig. 75. 
 The cylinder, as shown, is of two differ- 
 
 then ignited. The resulting explosion 
 drives the piston outward, and the 
 acquired momentum of the fly-wheel 
 performs the next instroke. The valves 
 are worked by cams on the crankshaft, 
 and the gas supply is regulated by a 
 hit-and : miss device controlled by a 
 centrifugal governor. Firing of the 
 gas and air charge is effected by a tube 
 igniter. The engine is built in sizes of 
 from one-half to 100 horse-power, and 
 
 FIG. 72. THE TRENT GAS ENGINE, BUILT BY THE TRENT GAS ENGINE CO., NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND. 
 
 ent diameters and contains the double- 
 headed piston B D. When this 
 piston makes its outstroke, gas and 
 air are drawn in through a simple 
 steel valve E. On the instroke of 
 the piston this valve is closed me- 
 chanically and the mixture of gas 
 and air is forced through the valve 
 O into the explosion chamber M, 
 where it is compressed, driving be- 
 fore it the exhaust gases remaining 
 from the previous explosion which 
 escape through the valve R, and is 
 
 has done some good work in electric 
 lighting. 
 
 A gas engine, somewhat unusual in 
 appearance, reminding one of a steeple 
 compound steam engine, is made by 
 the Hicks Gas Engine Works, of Cleve- 
 land, O., and is shown in Fig. 80. 
 The two cylinders are set in line, one 
 above the other, and are arranged to 
 work alternately, so that practically 
 there is one effective impulse for every 
 revolution of the crankshaft, the Otto 
 working cycle being followed in each 
 
196 
 
 GASSIER 'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 FI G. 73. THE ROCKET PETROLEUM ENGINE, BUILT BY ROBERT STEPHENSON & CO., NEWCASTLE, ENGLAND 
 
 cylinder. Compared with a single cyl- 
 inder gas engine, therefore, we find in 
 this case, for the same sets of con- 
 
 der and its piston. Another advantage 
 of the two alternately working cylinders 
 is found in the circumstance that the 
 weight of the fly-wheel may be reduced 
 considerably without unfavorably affect- 
 ing the regular running of the engine. 
 The design and construction of the 
 engine are very simple and call for little 
 explanation. The illustration, in fact, 
 tells almost the whole story. 
 
 The amount of the explosive charge 
 admitted to the cylinders is controlled 
 by a governor as in a steam engine. 
 
 FIG 75. SECTIONAL VIEWS OF THE TRENT ENGINE. 
 
 ditions, that the power of the engine is 
 doubled, while the additional weight 
 consists only of the weight of one cylin- 
 
 the governor either throttling the sup- 
 ply or opening the valve wide, accord- 
 ing to the demand for power. All the 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 197 
 
 valves used are of the lift type. The 
 exhaust valves, shown on the left of the 
 cylinders, are worked by rods and tap- 
 pets, and these, in turn, are moved by 
 suitable cams carried on a small shaft 
 in back of the engine frame. The cam 
 shaft is driven from the main shaft 
 through intervening gear wheels of 
 such diameters that its speed is reduced 
 
 Robert Stephenson & Co. of Newcastle- 
 on-Tyne, England, under the patents 
 of E. Kaselowsky. The engine works 
 on the well-known four stroke cycle. 
 The governing arrangement is such 
 that the supply of explosive vapor is 
 entirely cut off when the speed of the 
 engine runs above the normal, and with 
 the exercise of the governor in this way 
 
 FIG. 74. END VIEW OF "ROCKET" OIL ENGINE. 
 
 one-half. Gasoline as well as gas 
 may be used in operating the engine, 
 the former, however, naturally calling 
 for the addition of a carburetting ap- 
 paratus of some kind. 
 
 A petroleum engine, which by its 
 name as by its builders, recalls the 
 early days of the locomotive, is shown 
 in Figs. 73 and 74. It is called the 
 "Rocket," and is made by Messrs. 
 
 a lever acts simultaneously to relieve 
 the compression of the waste gases in 
 the cylinder, thus helping to make the 
 speed more regular. Sufficient oil for 
 a day's work can be stored in a tank 
 fixed above the cylinder, from which it 
 is allowed to flow by gravity into a 
 lower receiver. In this latter there is 
 a float regulating the supply. The 
 firing of the charge is effected by an 
 
198 
 
 GASSIER >S MAGAZINE. 
 
 FIG. 77. DOUBLE FLY-WHEEL "FORWARD" E-NGINE. 
 
 FIG. 76. THE "FORWARD" ENGINE, BUILT BY T. B. BARKER & co., BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND. 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 199 
 
 The sprayed oil is converted into 
 vapor in its downward travel through 
 
 FIG. 78. VERTICAL "FORWARD" ENGINE. 
 
 ignition tube with a timing valve worked 
 by the lever I and cam O. Compres- 
 sion in the cylinder is diminished by 
 keeping the exhaust open when the 
 engine is being started, and one man 
 can, therefore, easily turn the engine 
 over. The oil used is ordinary lamp 
 oil. 
 
 From the oil tank A the oil, as just 
 stated, flows to the lower receiver B, 
 and from the latter it passes through 
 the regulator and into the top of the 
 vaporizer E. In this the oil is sprayed 
 by an air current and passes through 
 tubes in the vaporizer, which forms an 
 enlargement of the exhaust pipe. The 
 bottom of the vaporizer is heated by a 
 lamp flame for starting, but after the 
 engine is once in operation the exhaust 
 gases perform the heating. The main 
 air admission pipe is marked F and is 
 provided with a regulating cock, F 1 . 
 Air is also admitted to the vaporizer 
 through the pipe D, which, similarly, 
 has a regulating valve. 
 
 FIG. 79. LANCHKSTER'S STARTING GEAR. 
 
 FIG. So. THE HICKS GAS ENGINE, BUILT 
 HICKS GAS ENGINE WORKS, CLEVELAND, 
 
 BY THE 
 OHIO. 
 
200 
 
 CASS/X'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 FIG. 8l. THE SINTZ ENGINE, KUILT BY THE SINTZ GAS ENGINE COMPANY, 
 GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. 
 
 the vaporizer, and, in addition to the 
 air of the spraying current, takes in a 
 further supply through the pipe D. It 
 then passes into the pipe issuing from 
 the bottom of the vaporizer and joins 
 the main air inlet pipe at a point above 
 the cock F 1 . From this point it finds 
 its way into the cylinder of the engine 
 through a valve, G, controlled by the 
 governor H, trip P and notch piece N. 
 When the engine runs too fast the 
 spindle of the admission valve G is 
 
 missed, and another valve, not shown 
 in the illustration, is opened to allow 
 the gas contents of the cylinder to 
 escape. The exhaust valve lever is 
 shown at J ; W and W 1 are water cir- 
 culating pipes for the cylinder jacket, 
 and X is the exhaust pipe. The ig- 
 nition tube is surrounded by a case, K, 
 and L is the oil and air admission pipe 
 for the heating flame. The engine is 
 made in sizes of from one to ten horse- 
 power. 
 
 (To be continued. ) 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES 
 
 By Albert Spies, Mem. Am. Soc. M. E. 
 $ixth 
 
 VER since the first practical 
 utilization of gas and oil 
 engines and the satis- 
 factory demonstration of 
 their applicability to 
 general power purposes, 
 builders of such engines 
 have sought to cultivate 
 special fields in which to 
 secure new employment 
 for the motors and, as a 
 consequence, they are 
 found at the present time 
 performing the widest 
 variety of services. Not 
 only as stationary, but 
 also as portable engines, 
 mounted on trucks, for 
 agricultural purposes, as fire engines, 
 pumping engines capable of being 
 rapidly taken from place to place, 
 as locomotive engines driving road 
 carriages, and as marine engines for 
 propelling launches, as instanced re- 
 peatedly in the preceding papers, 
 they are successfully used. In fact, 
 there is no line of work that can be 
 readily called to mind in which they 
 are not now either successfully operated, 
 or to which they do not promise to 
 lend themselves with satisfaction. They 
 are no longer the clattering, noisy 
 engines of early years, nor have they 
 retained the excessive bulk and great 
 weight for even moderate powers 
 which characterized some of them when 
 first brought out ; instead, they have 
 been made surprisingly quiet in 
 operation, and in size and weight have 
 been brought down almost to the 
 figures ruling in steam engine practice, 
 so that, for the same powers, a modern 
 gas or oil engine and an 'average steam 
 engine are not very unlike. 
 
 Among the many oil engines which 
 
 probably first became best known in 
 the United States as specially applicable 
 to launch propulsion is the Daimler 
 motor, built in this country by the 
 Daimler Motor Company, of Steinway, 
 Long Island City, N. Y., and intro- 
 duced also in England by Messrs. 
 Sims & Co., of London. The engine 
 is designed for the use of either gas or 
 gasoline, and is the invention of Mr. 
 Gottlieb Daimler, of Cannstatt, Ger- 
 many, who for many years was asso- 
 ciated with the late Dr. Otto. It is by 
 no means, however, restricted to launch 
 use, but is applicable to all the several 
 motor purposes for which the various 
 engines of its class have been employed. 
 Figs. 82 and 83 represent different 
 views of a single-cylinder Daimler 
 motor, while Fig. 84 shows a double- 
 cylinder design, the motor, it being 
 proper to state here, being made with 
 one or more cylinders according to the 
 power required. Thus, while the 
 smaller sizes are of the single and 
 double-cylinder designs here illustrated, 
 the five and ten-horse-power engines 
 have four cylinders placed side by 
 side. 
 
 The principle of operation, however, 
 and the main features of construction 
 are the same in all the engines. For 
 the purpose of our explanation of the 
 manner of working we will take the 
 single-cylinder engine, the cycle of 
 operations applying equally well to all 
 the others, being simply multiplied in 
 number with the increase in the num- 
 ber of working cylinders. Fig. 87 
 represents a vertical section of one of 
 the engines along the line of the shaft 
 and clearly illustrates the character of 
 the internal construction, the valve me- 
 chanism, governor connection and other 
 important working details. Within'the 
 
 293 
 
294 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 X 
 
 R 
 
 FIG. 52. SINGLE CYLINDER MOTOR, BUILT BY THE DAIMLER MOTOR 
 COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
 base of the motor, which consists of a 
 cast iron circular chamber, are arranged 
 two crank discs, mounted upon the two 
 sections of the main shaft and connected 
 by the crank pin, the crank discs serv- 
 ing also the purpose of fly wheels. In 
 one of the discs is formed a double cam 
 groove which passes twice around the 
 crank-shaft and returns into itself. In 
 this cam groove works a follower, or 
 two followers in the case of a double- 
 cylinder engine (see Fig. 85), operating 
 the exhaust valve gear so as to make 
 every other stroke a working stroke, 
 and thus maintaining the Otto cycle. 
 When two or more cylinders are used, 
 
 they are arranged either parallel with 
 one another, or they are inclined so as 
 to form a slight angle. In the double- 
 cylinder engine both connecting rods 
 work on the same crank pin, and both 
 pistons, therefore, move up and down 
 together ; but on the down-stroke one 
 of them is always moving under the 
 impulse of an explosion, while the other 
 is drawing a working charge into its 
 cylinder, and on the up-stroke one of 
 them is always expelling the waste 
 gases, while the other is compressing a 
 charge. Ordinarily, therefore, there is 
 in the double-cylinder engine an explo- 
 sion in either one or the other cylinder 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 295 
 
 at every revolution of the crank-shaft. 
 In the engine as arranged for work- 
 ing with gasoline, A (see Fig. 82) is the 
 carburetor ; O is the exhaust pipe 
 which is provided with a perforated 
 casing through which the air is drawn 
 on its way to the carburetor, becomes 
 warmed before it reaches the latter, and 
 is thus better able to become impreg- 
 
 a platinum ignition tube C. With this 
 ignition tube heated to redness and a 
 few turns given to the engine by means 
 of the crank handle S to draw in the 
 initial working charges, the engine will 
 proceed regularly with its work. A 
 vertical section of the cylinder, valves 
 and crank chamber is given in Fig. 86. 
 The admission valve is held to its seat 
 
 FIG. 83. SINGLE-CYLINDER DAIMLER MOTOR, WITH COOLING 
 WATER CIRCULATING PUMP. 
 
 nated with gasoline vapor. From the 
 carburetor the mixture goes through 
 the valve H which also admits an addi- 
 tional air supply through the open-end, 
 curved pipe, shown at the left, and the 
 charge finally reaches the valve chamber. 
 The small valve F regulates the supply 
 of gasoline to the burner D which heats 
 
 by a spring and opens inward under the 
 influence of the partial vacuum formed 
 in the cylinder by the suction stroke of 
 the piston . The exhaust valve is simi- 
 larly kept closed by a spring while the 
 admission valve is open, and is pushed 
 upward and opened to permit escape of 
 the waste gases from the cylinder at the 
 
296 
 
 CASS/EjR'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 proper time by the exhaust valve rod 
 which is % operated, as previously re- 
 marked, by the follower working in the 
 cam groove in one of the crank discs. 
 The governor arrangement is exceed- 
 ingly neat and simple. The governor, 
 it will be seen, is mounted inside the 
 driving pulley on the crank-shaft, and 
 by means of a sliding collar controls the 
 position of a centrally pivoted rod. 
 When the speed of the engine rises above 
 the normal, the governor weights move 
 
 charge of explosive mixture can obviously 
 not enter. No impulse can, therefore, 
 take place in the cylinder until the speed 
 has become slower and the exhaust valve 
 rod has been allowed by the governing 
 gear to resume its original position where 
 it can strike the exhaust valve spindle 
 and open the valve. 
 
 The pipe R, Figs. 82 and 83, is one 
 
 FIGS. 84 AND 85. PERSPECTIVE VIEW AND ELEVATION OF DOUBLE-CYLINDER DAIMLER MOTOR. 
 
 outward, carry the sliding collar along 
 the shaft, and deflect the upper end of 
 the pivoted rod which comes in contact 
 with the upper, jointed end of the ex- 
 haust valve rod and turns it to one side. 
 In this position the exhaust valve rod, 
 on its upward stroke, misses the exhaust 
 valve spindle, passing to one side of it, 
 and the exhaust valve consequently is 
 not opened, the waste gases cannot 
 escape from the cylinder, and a new 
 
 of the water circulating pipes delivering 
 cooling water from a small pump, marked 
 2, to the jacket Q around the cylinder, 
 another pipe returning the water, which 
 may be used over and over again, to a 
 tank marked i. Where some other 
 source of water supply is available, the 
 tank and pump may, of course, be dis- 
 pensed with. In fact the design shown 
 in Fig. 83 is now but little used. With 
 the pump and tank attachment, however, 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 297 
 
 FIG. 86. A DAIMLER MOTOR LAUNCH. 
 
 the motor is entirely self-contained and 
 can be used anywhere, without depend- 
 ence upon either gas or water mains. 
 The tank I, Fig. 82, serves for gasoline 
 storage and can be conveniently located, 
 outside of the building if desirable. 
 
 A float index E on the carburetor A, 
 indicates the level of the gasoline within. 
 When the carburetor is completely 
 charged, the supply will last about five 
 hours. Where the reserve tank I is 
 applicable it will be necessary to charge 
 the outfit only once a day for a running 
 time of ten hours. When gas is avail- 
 able the carburetor and reserve tank 
 naturally are done away with, and the 
 engine assumes a somewhat simpler 
 appearance, as shown, for example, in 
 the illustration of the double-cylinder 
 motor. The single cylinder design is 
 followed for sizes up to one horse-power ; 
 beyond that, two and four cylinders are 
 employed. In the four-cylinder engines, 
 and also in some of the two-cylinder 
 engines as built in Germany, the cam- 
 groove exhaust valve gear as here de- 
 scribed is not used, but in its place a 
 separate cam shaft, driven by gearing 
 
 from the main shaft is employed. The 
 general features of design and the manner 
 o'f working are, however, exactly the 
 same. When used for boat propulsion, 
 the motor is generally completely boxed 
 in so as to protect it against the weather, 
 and is fitted with a suitable reversing gear. 
 Being of German origin, the engines 
 having first been built by the Daimler 
 Motoren Gesellschaft, of Cannstatt, 
 which is still making them, it is only 
 natural that in Germany and in Europe 
 generally we should find the motor 
 applied most extensively and to the 
 widest variety of uses. At Stuttgart, 
 for example, it is in successful operation 
 in propelling a street car. It has also 
 been applied on some of the German 
 railroads to driving small inspection cars, 
 similar to the familiar hand cars, and has 
 similarly found favor for the propulsion 
 of road carriages, quadricycles and even 
 bicycles, not to mention the large num- 
 ber of pleasure boats which are equipped 
 with it. The English firm of Sims & 
 Company, of London, are actively prose- 
 cuting the introduction of the motor into 
 British territory. 
 
298 
 
 GASSIER' S MAGAZINE. 
 
 Before finally leaving the Daimler 
 motor a little more information concern- 
 ing the carburetor used may not be 
 amiss. A sectional view of it, with some 
 of its accessories is, therefore, given in 
 Fig. 89. The lower part of the appa- 
 ratus consists of a small tank H, con- 
 taining a float B, which rests upon the 
 gasoline. The float is provided with a 
 central funnel which communicates with 
 the main body of the liquid in the tank 
 through a small opening at the bottom, 
 so that while the liquid is maintained at 
 a constant level in the funnel, it is practi- 
 cally isolated from the main body of the 
 petroleum. The float is provided with 
 an air tube entering the funnel, and per- 
 forated below the surface of the gasoline. 
 This air tube slides freely in the tube F, 
 attached to the cover of the apparatus 
 and acting as a guide, allowing the float 
 to rise and fall according to the supply 
 of gasoline. Hot air is admitted to the 
 carburetor through the pipe attached to 
 the upper part of the apparatus, the air 
 being heated in its passage to the car- 
 buretor by the products of combustion 
 as already explained in describing the 
 engine proper. The carbureted air 
 passes through the vapor pipe in the 
 direction indicated by the arrow, and 
 unites with a stream of air drawn into 
 the motor cylinder through the admission 
 valve at G. This valve is provided with 
 a graduated scale which facilitates the 
 adjustment. It has also an automati- 
 cally operating safety valve. The reser- 
 voir is filled through a supply pipe 
 extending down to the bottom through 
 the air tubes and float. The supply pipe 
 communicates with the lamp font p, 
 which furnishes the oil to the burner, by 
 means of which the ignition tube is 
 heated. The time required for heating 
 the latter and starting the motor is in- 
 appreciable. The motor may be stopped 
 temporarily by shutting off the supply 
 of combustible gas, allowing the ignition 
 tube burner to continue burning. For 
 a complete stop, however, the ignition 
 tube burner is extinguished in addition 
 to shutting off the gas. 
 
 One of the most interesting and in- 
 geniously designed gas engines put on 
 the market by English makers is the 
 
 Atkinson differential engine, first brought 
 out eight or nine years ago by the 
 British Gas Engine & Engineering 
 Company, of London. The main object 
 
 FIG. Sj. SECTION OF DAIMLER MOTOR. 
 
 sought after in this engine was to allow 
 the exploded charge to expand much 
 more rapidly than is usual or possible in 
 most other gas engines, and to thus be 
 in contact with the relatively cold cylin- 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 299 
 
 der walls for a shorter period of time. 
 In this way, it was agreed, an important 
 economical end is served. 
 
 The engine in its earliest form is shown 
 diagrammatically in Figs. 91 to 94, from 
 which the main peculiarities of its opera- 
 tions will be more clearly understood. 
 The cylinder in this early design was 
 open at each end and had two piston^ 
 connected by curved levers and short 
 connecting rods to one crank pin. The 
 
 through a port in the cylinder wall. The 
 crank pin was, at this time, on the left, 
 and as it proceeded upward and around 
 to the right, the left-hand piston moved 
 rapidly away from the other, leaving a 
 space between them into which the gas 
 and air mixture was drawn through a 
 self-acting suction valve. When the 
 crank pin had reached its highest posi- 
 tion, as in Fig. 92, the right-hand piston 
 traveled past and closed the openings to 
 
 FIG. 88. QUADRICYCLE PROPELLED BY A DAIMLER MOTOF. 
 
 pistons both traveled in the same direc- 
 tion but at very different speeds. When 
 at the outer end of their stroke, they 
 remained almost at rest for nearly half a 
 revolution of the crank pin, but when at 
 the inner end of the stroke they traveled 
 rapidly. When the pistons had com- 
 pleted a stroke to the right, as in Fig. 
 91, they almost touched each other, and 
 had driven out the products of combus- 
 tion of the previous working stroke 
 
 the suction and exhaust valves, and 
 during the next quarter turn the pistons 
 again approached each other, compress- 
 ing the explosive charge between them, 
 the crank pin by that time being'overat 
 the right-hand side, as in Fig. 93. At 
 the moment of greatest compression, the 
 left-hand piston passed an opening to an 
 ignition tube which produced explosion 
 of the charge, and an immediate, rapid 
 stroke was made by the right-hand 
 
3 oo 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 piston and was completed by the time 
 the crank pin arrived at the lower 
 quarter, as in Fig. 94. The exhaust 
 port was then opened by the continued 
 travel of the piston, and the contents of 
 the cylinder were driven out through 
 the self-acting exhaust valve by the left- 
 hand piston which assumed the position 
 shown in Fig. 91, the whole cycle being- 
 
 cylinder becomes very low. It will also 
 be observed that the total expansion to 
 twice the original volume took place in 
 a quarter revolution of the crank-shaft 
 as compared with other gas engines 
 and this expansion to double the original 
 volume was accomplished in one-fourth 
 of the time taken for the same degree ot 
 expansion in other engines, assuming 
 
 FIG. 9. SECTIONAL VIEW OF THE CARBURETOR 
 USED WITH THE DAIMLER MOTOR. 
 
 completed in one revolution of the crank- 
 shaft. 
 
 The space between the pistons into 
 which the ignited charge expanded was 
 nearly double the space into which the 
 charge was first drawn previous to ex- 
 plosion ; consequently, the expansion 
 amounted to nearly twice the original 
 volume, and the terminal pressure at 
 which the gases were expelled from the 
 
 the engine to run at the same speed. 
 The economy to be gained from the 
 extra expansion is obvious, while the 
 saving due to the rapid motion of the 
 piston is also beyond question, having 
 been conclusively demonstrated experi- 
 mentally by a French authority, Pro- 
 fessor Witz, a number of years ago. 
 
 Without going in detail into the 
 experiments made by him, it may not 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 301 
 
 FIG. 90.- -ATKINSON'S MODERN GAS ENGINE AND AIR COMPRESSOR COMBINED. 
 
 be uninteresting to here briefly state 
 that in one series of experiments he 
 used a mixture of one volume of illumi- 
 nating gas and 6. 33 volumes of air a 
 not unusual proportion for gas engines. 
 This mixture was drawn into an experi- 
 mental cylinder and exploded, the 
 piston being allowed to travel at the rate 
 of i . 7 meters per second, corresponding 
 to an ordinary piston speed in a medium- 
 sized gas engine. The actual amount 
 of work done was estimated from a 
 diagram obtained from the cylinder. 
 He then increased the speed of the 
 piston, and found that by allowing the 
 piston to move at the rate of 4. 3 meters 
 per second, or 2.54 times as fast as 
 before, the same amount of gas did 2.9 
 times as much actual work. This large 
 increase is chiefly due to the fact that 
 the heat of combustion of the gaseous 
 mixture is, at the higher speed, not 
 allowed to continue so long in contact 
 with the walls of the cylinder which are 
 kept cool by the customary water jacket. 
 It has been held that more than one- 
 half of the total heat in the gas, even if 
 
 thoroughly consumed, is lost by trans- 
 mission to the water. If then the work 
 is done in one-fourth of the time, as in 
 the Atkinson engine, three-fourths of 
 this serious Joss must be saved, since 
 the transmission of heat through metallic 
 substances is directly proportionate to 
 the length of time that the differences 
 of temperature exist ; hence, the great 
 increase of power shown by Professor 
 Witz's experiments. 
 
 The engine in its early form was ex- 
 tremely simple. There were no slide- 
 valves, nor were there any complicated 
 substitutes, the working charge being 
 efficiently controlled by the pistons 
 passing the ports to the two self-acting 
 valves and the port to the ignition tube. 
 There were also neither cams nor 
 eccentrics. In the course of the last few 
 years, however, the design of the engine 
 has undergone some changes, so that 
 at the present time its appearance is 
 like that shown on this page. 
 
 The ' ' Utilite ' ' gas engine, built by 
 the same firm, was not designed as a 
 rival to their standard engine, but 
 
302 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 simply as an alternative motor for 
 obtaining practically the same results 
 and, to a certain extent, to meet the 
 varied views of buyers of gas engines. 
 Perhaps the most distinctive feature of 
 this later engine is found in the fact that 
 the crank end is cased in and the space 
 thus afforded is used as an air chamber 
 whose supply serves to flush out the 
 cylinder after each working stroke, 
 the waste gases being allowed to escape 
 through an opening in the side of the 
 cylinder uncovered by the piston in its 
 travel. There is thus no exhaust valve 
 of the usual kind. After the flushing of 
 the cylinder has taken place, a small 
 charging pump delivers into the firing 
 end of the cylinder a rich mixture of 
 fresh gas and air, the air proportion, 
 however, being insufficient to permit 
 explosion until it has been further added 
 to. 
 
 The piston, after having made a 
 working stroke, returns and is allowed to 
 expel through the exhaust opening some 
 of the cylinder contents which, at the 
 piston end of the cylinder, are made up 
 of waste products of combustion or, per- 
 haps, simply air. At about half the 
 return stroke, however, the piston closes 
 the exhaust opening or port, and what 
 then remains in the cylinder is air and 
 gaseous mixture in more or less defi- 
 nitely separate layers, the gas mixture 
 being in the firing end of the cylinder, 
 and the air alone, in the piston end. 
 As compression takes place, the air and 
 gas and air mixture become more inti- 
 mately mixed and by the time the cylinder 
 contents are fully compressed they are in 
 a proper condition for ignition which then 
 takes place ; a working stroke is made 
 in this manner once for every revolution 
 of the crank-shaft. A small valve, in 
 addition to the exhaust opening in the 
 cylinder wall, controlled by an eccentric, 
 allows a portion of the air to be removed 
 from the cylinder before the compression 
 stroke is completed, so as to leave only 
 about one-half the original cylinder con- 
 tents shut up, which, after compression 
 and ignition, is allowed to expand to 
 double its original volume. As a result, 
 the diagram from the engine is prac- 
 tically the same as the diagram from the 
 
 regular Atkinson engine, and the 
 economy of the two is claimed to be 
 practically the same. It is further 
 claimed for the " Utilite " engines that 
 they combine great lightness with 
 rigidity and that they can be run at very 
 high speeds without heavy foundations 
 and without causing any trouble from 
 excessive vibration. Speeds as high as 
 600 revolutions per minute are claimed 
 to have been maintained with good re- 
 sults. 
 
 One of the later types of vertical gas 
 
 FIG. 92. 
 
 FIG. 93 
 
 FIG. 94. 
 
 DIAGRAMS OF THE ATKINSON DIFFERENTIAL 
 KNGINE. 
 
 engines is that made by the Hartig 
 Standard Gas Engine Company, of 
 Brooklyn, N. Y., both single and double 
 fly-wheel designs being shown in Figs. 
 95 and 96. There are, in all, four 
 valves in this engine, a governor valve, 
 automatically controlling the gas supply 
 according to the amount of po\ver re- 
 quired, a lighting valve, a gas and air 
 admission valve, and an exhaust valve. 
 The governor valve is in the main gas 
 supply pipe and is worked by the verti- 
 cal rod sho\vn at the extreme left of 
 Fig. 95. The governor itself is of the 
 shaft type, the centrifugal force of the 
 two weights being restrained by springs 
 attached to the weight arms and to the 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 303 
 
 weights in the manner indicated. With 
 increase in speed above the normal, the 
 weights move outward, and revolve a 
 cam, mounted on the crank-shaft and 
 provided with a helical groove and pin 
 arrangement which causes the cam to 
 slide in and out along the line of the 
 shaft. When moved inward, that is, 
 
 a decrease in speed. With the lower 
 speed the governor weights return to 
 their original position, the cams are 
 thrown out of contact, and the gas 
 supply valve is again opened. 
 
 The exhaust valve is worked by the 
 rod shown furthest to the right in the 
 engraving, and receives motion from the 
 
 FIG. 95. THE HARTIG ENGINE, BUILT BY THE HARTIG 
 STANDARD GAS ENGINE COMPANY, BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
 
 from left to right in the engraving, the 
 cam comes in contact with another and 
 smaller cam, directly connected with the 
 main gas valve rod, and causes the valve 
 to close more or less, thus shutting oft 
 the gas supply or simply reducing its 
 volume, and consequently bringing about 
 
 crank through the intervention of two 
 gear wheels, one of which has twice the 
 diameter of the other. The valve is 
 thus opened once in every two revolu- 
 tions, the engine working on the Otto 
 cycle. The valve rod connects with a 
 valve lifting arm pivoted at one end, 
 
304 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 and, in its upward motion striking the 
 valve spindle from below and lift- 
 ing the valve from its seat to which, 
 ordinarily, it is held by a spring. 
 The igniting valve at the front of the 
 engine is operated by a rod connected 
 with a rock shaft, mounted on the 
 engine frame as clearly shown, and re- 
 ceiving motion from the crank shaft 
 
 tial vacuum formed in the engine cylin- 
 der during the suction stroke of the 
 piston, and closes of its own accord 
 during the compression period, remain- 
 ing also closed, for obvious reasons, 
 during the working and exhaust strokes. 
 The valves all are of the lift type, insur- 
 ing lightness and freedom from sticking 
 and clogging. The engine is made in 
 
 
 FIG. 96. HARTIG DOUBLE FLY-WHEEL ENGINE. 
 
 through a rocker arm and cam gearing. 
 The igniting gas jet burns at the side ot 
 this valve and, at the moment of valve 
 opening, communicates with the explo- 
 sive mixture in the cylinder and fires it. 
 The gas and air admission valve, located 
 almost directly behind the igniting valve, 
 is not worked by any rod or gearing, 
 but opens under the influence of the par- 
 
 sizes of from one to eight horse-power, 
 though a small half horse - power 
 pump and engine combination is also 
 turned out. 
 
 Experience with this engine has shown 
 that it is well adapted to the driving of 
 electric light dynamos, and it is for this 
 work that its builders' make one of their 
 strongest claims, being specially pre- 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 305 
 
 FIG. 97. THREE CYLINDER "TRUSTY" OIL ENGINE AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. 
 
 pared to furnish gas driven, isolated 
 electric light plant outfits. 
 
 A petroleum engine in which the now 
 so widely used Otto cycle is not followed 
 is that built by Messrs. Penney & Co., 
 of Lincoln, England, and known as the 
 Weatherhogg engine. In this a prac- 
 tical application is made of the six-stroke 
 cycle, already referred to in one of the 
 preceding papers, a scavenger charge 
 of air being taken into and discharged 
 from the cylinder during the interval 
 between exhaust of the products of com- 
 bustion and the admission of the work- 
 ing charge. 
 
 The oil is injected into a vaporizer by 
 a pump, which acts only when the speed 
 
 5-22 
 
 of the engine is normal or less,' being 
 operated by a hit-and-miss device con- 
 trolled by the governor. The oil is 
 delivered into a coil heated by a blow- 
 pipe flame, and is there vaporized under 
 pressure. The flame is produced from 
 a spray of petroleum, and is fed by 
 compressed air from a pump, which can 
 be worked by hand at starting. 
 
 When starting the engine, a handle is 
 fixed to the crank which works the 
 pump, and it is rotated by hand for a 
 few minutes, until the coil is hot. The 
 oil is then injected and the vapor is 
 allowed to accumulate until it attains a 
 considerable pressure, which is main- 
 tained during working. It is claimed 
 
CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 that better results are obtained by this 
 pressure, and that it enables crude 
 petroleum to be used if required. The 
 pressure can be regulated by adjusting 
 a throttling device at the outlet of the 
 vaporizer. Between the vaporizer and 
 the cylinder is the air admission valve, 
 contained in a box in which mixture of 
 the charges take place, ignition being 
 effected by a heated tube. In some 
 cases a part of the air is taken from a 
 box in which the crank and connecting- 
 rod are inclosed, and in this Way any 
 leakage past the piston is caught and 
 prevented from escaping into the engine 
 room. 
 
 In connection with the ' ' Trusty ' ' 
 double-cylinder oil engine shown in the 
 
 June number, it is of interest to direct 
 attention to a 'vertical, three-cylinder oil 
 engine built by the same firm, Messrs. 
 Weyman & Hitchcock, of Guildford, 
 England, and shown at the World's 
 Fair at Chicago. The principle of oper- 
 ation is essentially the same as that of 
 the engine already described. The three 
 cylinders are connected to a three-throw 
 crank shaft, with the cranks set at 
 angles of 120 degrees, so that the work 
 of the cylinders is well distributed 
 throughout the period of each revolu- 
 tion. The valve gear is worked from a 
 cam shaft driven by worm gearing, but 
 each cylinder has its separate cams so 
 that any one of them may be cut out at 
 will. 
 
 ( To be continued '. 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES 
 
 By Albert Spies, Mem. Am. Soc. M E. 
 $eventh 
 
 | HE methods of ig- 
 niting the working 
 charges in gas and 
 oil engines are de- 
 tails of design to 
 which considerable 
 study has been given 
 without, however, 
 having brought 
 about anything like 
 uniformity of prac- 
 tice. No one partic- 
 ular device, as was 
 to be expected, has 
 been centered upon 
 as the best or most 
 desirable one, and 
 recurrence to the descriptions of engines 
 already given in the preceding papers 
 will show that electric ignition, flame ig- 
 nition and ignition by incandescence all 
 have found a share of favor in the eyes 
 of gas engine builders. Electric igni- 
 tion has been practiced either by the 
 spark method, as in the early Lenoir 
 engine, in which, at the proper times, 
 an electric spark was made to pass 
 between two electrodes within the cyl- 
 inder, or by the incandescent wire 
 method, in which an electric current 
 was applied directly to heat a thin plat- 
 inum wire. This latter method would 
 appear to have been used only in an ex- 
 perimental way. Still another electric 
 arrangement has been suggested a num- 
 ber of times, by which an electric arc 
 was to be maintained in the cylinder of 
 the engine, between two heavy platinum 
 points, but this device, so far as can be 
 found, simply figured in patent specifi- 
 cations, and never came into actual use. 
 The flame method is currently em- 
 ployed in many good engines of the 
 present day, and was put into its first 
 practical shape more than fifty years 
 
 ago, since which time it has undergone 
 a variety of modifications. With the 
 early non-compression engines, in 
 which the pressure in the cylinder be- 
 fore explosion of the charge was the 
 same as, or even less than, the pressure 
 of the atmosphere, flame ignition was a 
 comparatively simple thing, and it was 
 easy enough to transfer a flame from 
 the outer air into the interior of the cyl- 
 inder with little, if any, trouble from ex- 
 tinction. In the early flame-ignition ex- 
 periments the very simple expedient 
 was adopted of providing a hole in the 
 cylinder wall, which hole was uncovered 
 by the piston after a portion of the 
 stroke had been passed over, and the 
 flame was sucked through it into the 
 cylinder. The hole was either so small 
 that no appreciable loss of pressure oc- 
 curred upon explosion of the charge, or 
 it was covered by a small valve which 
 closed automatically as soon as the 
 pressure in the cylinder rose. When 
 the gases to which the flame was to be 
 communicated, however, were under a 
 pressure of some magnitude, as is the 
 case in nearly all the gas engines of the 
 present time, the difficulties of the igni- 
 tion problem were at once increased. 
 The method just referred to, and not in- 
 aptly termed the ' ' touch-hole ' ' meth- 
 od, obviously became inapplicable, and 
 special valve devices had to be designed 
 to meet the new conditions, a good ex- 
 ample of one of them being that of the 
 earlier Otto engine, as illustrated in the 
 first paper of this series. 
 
 Ignition of explosive gas and air mix- 
 tures by contact with more or less 
 highly heated metallic surfaces, or the 
 hot-tube method, as it is now generally 
 termed, was suggested independently 
 by several investigators a number of 
 years ago. The general scheme pro- 
 
 363 
 
364 
 
 GASSIER' S MAGAZINE. 
 
 posed was to ignite the gas and air 
 charge by passing it through a metal 
 tube heated to redness by a flame out- 
 side of it, and this method is in success- 
 ful use to-day in a large number of en- 
 gines. Wrought iron is generally em- 
 ployed for the tubes, though in a few 
 engines platinum has been pressed into 
 service, its higher cost being counter- 
 balanced, in a measure, by its greater 
 durability. A difficulty with the iron 
 
 compressed air and gas charge to the 
 tubes at the proper moment. The flame 
 method and the hot-tube method just 
 mentioned are the ones which seem to 
 have secured the greater measure of 
 popularity, being claimed, by their ad- 
 vocates, to be more certain in action 
 and cheaper and simpler in arrangement 
 than the electric devices. The latter, 
 however, are by no means allowed to 
 rest under any such imputations of com- 
 
 FIG. 98. -THB PACIFIC ENGINE MARINE TYPE. 
 
 tubes is found in their rapid oxidation 
 and furring, necessitating their more or 
 less frequent renewal, but with their 
 cheapness and the ease with which an 
 old and worn-out one may be replaced 
 by a new one, this objection is not so 
 serious as might be supposed. In some 
 engines the tubes are so screwed into 
 the cylinders as to be constantly in com- 
 munication with them, while in others 
 valves are arranged which admit the 
 
 parative inefficiency. A number of en- 
 gine builders have devoted much en- 
 ergy to their development, and as a re- 
 sult this type of ignition device is now 
 used with much satisfaction in some of 
 the best engines on the market. A 
 flexible electrode arrangement, which is 
 employed in several of these devices, 
 affording absolute certainty of contact 
 in completing the electric battery cir- 
 cuit, is one of the most important im- 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 365 
 
 provements that has been made in con- 
 nection with them, and to it is mainly 
 due their present satisfactory action. 
 
 One of the forms of gas and oil en- 
 gines, in which this arrangement is in 
 
 FIG. 99. SECTION OF PACIFIC ENGINE. 
 
 use, and which has attained much pop- 
 ularity, especially for boat propulsion, 
 is the Pacific engine, built both by the 
 Union Gas Engine Company, of San 
 Francisco, CaL, and the Globe Gas En- 
 gine Company, of Philadelphia. One of 
 the earlier designs of this engine, ar- 
 ranged as a launch motor, with revers- 
 ing gear and circulating pump for the 
 cylinder water jackets, is shown in Fig. 
 98. In this A represents a relief valve, 
 through which part of the compressed 
 vapor may be allowed to escape to fa- 
 cilitate starting up the engine. The 
 throttle valve is marked B, while C and 
 D are gas and air regulating cocks ; E 
 is the reversing lever which, by being 
 shifted from the upper to the lower po- 
 sition, brings a back gear into operation 
 and causes the propeller shaft to run in 
 a reverse direction ; G is a clutch lever 
 for stopping and starting the propeller 
 shaft. The circulating pump H takes 
 
 water through the bottom of the boat, 
 and discharges it into the lower part of 
 the water jacket around the cylinder, 
 while the overflow pipe L from the upper 
 part of the jacket is led out through the 
 side of the boat above the water line. 
 Water from the jacket may be drained 
 off through the cock K. The coupling 
 for connecting the engine with the pro- 
 peller shaft is placed at the end of the 
 secondary shaft /. The exhaust valve 
 is marked J. The engine works ac- 
 cording to the Otto cycle, and the 
 charge, as previously intimated, is fired 
 by an electric spark, I 7 and M being the 
 wires from the battery, the former con- 
 necting with an interrupting device, so 
 that a spark is produced only at the be- 
 ginning of every second down stroke of 
 the piston. It will be understood that, 
 like in the several other launch outfits, 
 
 Vf- 
 
 
 FIG. 100. THE VAPORIZER. 
 
 described in some of the preceding pa- 
 pers, the engine itself is never reversed, 
 but runs continuously in one direction, 
 and the direction of motion of the pro- 
 peller shaft and the secondary engine 
 
3 66 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 FIG. IOI.-A DOUBLE-CYLINDER PACIFIC ENGINE. 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 367 
 
 shaft alone is changed, when desired, 
 by the lever arrangement already men- 
 tioned. 
 
 The valve gearing of the engine, 
 which is one of its special features, and 
 entirely unlike that of any other engine 
 in the market, is illustrated more clearly 
 in the sectional view, Fig. 99. It will 
 be noticed that on the crank shaft is a 
 cam, /*, having two grooves which run 
 parallel part of the way around, and 
 then intersect each other. A segment- 
 shaped finger, S, rests in one of these 
 grooves, and as the engine shaft re- 
 volves the finger is guided through the 
 intersection from one groove to the 
 other, and carries a swinging arm, T, 
 under the exhaust valve stem once in 
 
 and air mixture into the cylinder is, at 
 such times, prevented simply by the 
 fact that the exhaust passages are very 
 large as compared with the gas and air 
 inlet, and the exhaust valve, as stated, 
 is held wide open, and there is thus less 
 resistance to the flow of air through 
 them than there is to the flow of gas and 
 air mixture through its regular admis- 
 sion port and valve. The latter will, 
 therefore, not open, and, consequently, 
 no working charge can enter the cylin- 
 der until the governor catch on the ex- 
 haust valve rod is released by a falling- 
 ofT in the engine speed and the exhaust 
 valve is allowed to close. 
 
 The design of the engine has latterly 
 been somewhat modified, but only in 
 
 FIG. 102. VALVE GEAR OF THE UNION ENGINE. 
 
 every two revolutions. The cam Q at 
 those periods lifts the arm 7", and with 
 it the exhaust valve rod, opening the 
 valve and permitting the escape of the 
 waste gases from the cylinder. The 
 governor acts directly on the exhaust 
 valve rod, holding it up, with the valve 
 open, whenever the speed of the engine 
 rises above the normal. The effect of 
 this, to begin with, is that neither back 
 pressure nor partial vacuum are created 
 in the cylinder when running without 
 working explosions, air from without 
 being alternately drawn into the cylin- 
 der and expelled from it through the 
 exhaust pipe. Admission of fresh gas 
 
 details which but slightly change its 
 appearance, the manner of operation 
 remaining exactly the same. A double- 
 cylinder engine is built on essentially 
 the same lines as the one just described, 
 and is shown in Fig. 101. This illustra- 
 tion also shows the improved form of 
 vaporizer with which the engine is fitted 
 when using gasoline, and which takes 
 the place of the various forms of car- 
 burettors employed in connection with 
 most other engines. The vaporizer is 
 shown attached to the lower right hand 
 part of the engine, at the side of the 
 base near the fly-wheel, a detail view 
 being given in Fig. 100. It consists of 
 
368 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 either a glass or metal body E, glass 
 being used in the one shown attached 
 to the engine, and inside of this is a 
 ball-shaped valve, N, seated on the end 
 of a tube connected with the air inlet 
 pipe G. Connection from the vapori- 
 zer to the engine cylinders is made at 
 M, A casing around the exhaust pipe 
 of the engine affords an annular space 
 through which the air is drawn on its 
 way to the vaporizer inlet G, and is 
 heated by contact with the hot exhaust 
 pipe. As the air enters the vaporizer 
 body, it lifts the ball valve A 7 ", and the 
 latter strikes against the spindle O of 
 the gasoline valve, raising it and per- 
 
 flow of gasoline through the opening, C, 
 if desired, when starting the engine. 
 The gasoline and air inlet valves O and 
 N, of course, open only during the suc- 
 tion strokes of the pistons, remaining 
 shut during the remainder of the work- 
 ing cycles. In actual practice this 
 vaporizer has been found to perform 
 admirably, and some preliminary trials 
 made even with ordinary oils have 
 been found to give promising results. 
 The vaporizer being directly attached 
 to the engine, and not a separate addi- 
 tion like the several currently used 
 carburettors, makes the whole outfit 
 comparatively simple and self-con- 
 
 FIG. 103. VERTICAL SECTION THROUGH VALVE CHAMBERS OF UNION ENGINE. 
 
 mitting a small quantity of gasoline to 
 flow into the vaporizer through the 
 cock Ay from a conveniently placed 
 tank at a higher level. The gasoline so 
 admitted is at once turned into vapor 
 by the heated air and is drawn oft on its 
 way to the engine through the connec- 
 tion M. 
 
 The low^er end of the valve N\s shown 
 at H where a leather washer, I, is pro- 
 vided on a collar, /, the latter prevent- 
 ing the valve from lifting too high. 
 The upper part X X of the vaporizer 
 proper is arranged so that it may be 
 revolved by loosening the screw D, 
 enabling the attendant to observe the 
 
 tained. The stationary Pacific engine 
 is, in all essential details, the same as the 
 marine type except that the reversing 
 and clutch gears are omitted. 
 
 Another engine, of the horizontal 
 type, however, made by the same 
 builders, and known as the Union en- 
 gine, is shown in Fig. 104. Details of 
 the valve gear and igniting device are 
 shown in Figs. 102 and 103, the former 
 representing an arrangement slightly 
 different in appearance from that seen 
 in the general view of the engine in 
 Fig. 104, but exactly the same so far as 
 the manner of operation is concerned. 
 Motion from the crank shaft C of the 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 369 
 
 FIG. 104. THE UNION ENGINE. 
 
 engine is reduced and transmitted to 
 the cam shaft A through a series of in- 
 tervening gear wheels not shown in the 
 illustration, and the several cams on 
 this shaft A operate on the cam rollers 
 B and D, the former being on a rocker 
 arm which works both the inlet and 
 exhaust valves at the same time through 
 a bell crank, E, while the latter is on 
 another rocker arm controlling an elec- 
 trode disc, F. The inlet- and exhaust 
 valves are designated by the letters G 
 and H, respectively, and it will be 
 easily seen that when one of these 
 valves is closed, the other is opened, 
 and vice versa, a small rocking beam, 
 y, being interposed for this purpose. 
 
 Mounted on the engine crank shaft 
 is also the governor with its restraining 
 spring and weight, K, which latter, un- 
 der the influence of excessive speed, 
 moves outwards and, in the course of 
 its revolution, depresses the catch lever 
 L. The latter when so depressed 
 hooks on to the upper end of the 
 rocker arm B when the latter reaches 
 its extreme right hand position, and 
 keeps it there, with the inlet valve G 
 closed and the exhaust valve H wide 
 
 4-23 
 
 open, until the speed becomes slower 
 and the governor weight again moves 
 inward and no longer presses down the 
 lever L. 
 
 As in the case of the Pacific engine, 
 previously described, the exhaust 
 valve, in virtue of this arrangement, 
 is held open constantly while the 
 idle strokes of the piston are being 
 made, air being freely drawn into and 
 expelled from the engine cylinder 
 through the exhaust pipe during this 
 period, so that there is no possibility 
 of a partial vacuum being formed in 
 the cylinder, or of back pressure being 
 created. 
 
 The current interrupter for the elec- 
 tric igniting device is shown at M, and 
 requires no special explanation as its 
 manner of working is quite clear from 
 the illustration. There is, it will be 
 noticed, a flexible contact strip carried 
 by a collar on the rod operating the 
 bell crank E, and this strip, in moving 
 back and forth with the rod in ques- 
 tion, makes and breaks the electric 
 contact at M at the proper periods 
 which are determined both by the gov- 
 ernor and by the nature of the reduc- 
 
370 
 
 GASSIER' S MAGAZINE. 
 
 ing gearing between the crank shaft C 
 and the cam shaft A. 
 
 A vertical section through the ex- 
 haust and inlet valve chambers, show- 
 ing also the nature of the igniting elec- 
 trode arrangement which is somewhat 
 different from that used in the Pacific 
 engine, is given in Fig. 103. The rod 
 R, in Fig. 102, connects by means of the 
 pin P, with the electrode disc /% seen 
 in both views, and gives it an oscillating 
 motion which, of course, is imparted 
 also to the electrode A" carried on the 
 
 cylinders placed opposite one another 
 in two pairs, and with a modified form 
 of valve gear has been built and has 
 given particularly good results in point 
 of steadiness of speed. The igniting 
 devices described form subjects of sev- 
 eral patents. 
 
 An English engine, which has 
 achieved considerable prominence, is 
 the Stockport engine, built by Messrs. 
 J. E. H. Andrew & Co., Limited, of 
 Stockport. In its early form it was of 
 the double-end design that is to say, 
 
 FIG. 105. THE STOCKPORT ENGINE, BUILT BY MESSRS. J. E. H. ANDREW & CO., LTD., STOCKPORT, ENG. 
 
 end of the electrode disc spindle. This 
 electrode A", as will be at once under- 
 stood, is thus made to alternately 
 strike and clear the flexible electrode 
 S, which is connected with one of the 
 battery wires, and when contact is thus 
 made and broken at this point, contact 
 also being made at the interrupter M', 
 in Fig. 1 02, a spark is produced which 
 fires the explosive charge in the inlet 
 valve chamber and cylinder. A four- 
 cylinder engine of this type, with the 
 
 there were two horizontal cylinders 
 placed opposite each other, one being 
 the motor cylinder proper, and the 
 other, the compressor cylinder, and the 
 crank was placed midway between the 
 two. A number of modifications have, 
 however, of recent years, been insti- 
 tuted in the design, so that, in one of 
 its latest shapes, the engine is substan- 
 tially like that shown in Fig. 105. In 
 this, it> will be observed, there is no 
 separate compressor cylinder, and the 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 37i 
 
 FIG. I06. VERTICAL STOCKPORT ENGINE FOR HOISTING. 
 
 -engine works according to the regular 
 Otto cycle, with, normally, one explo- 
 sion in every two revolutions. The 
 valve gearing and governor are oper- 
 ated from a secondary shaft running 
 along the side of the cylinder, and 
 driven from the main shaft through in- 
 tervening bevel gears. Firing of the 
 working charge is accomplished by a 
 tube igniter, and the valves all are of 
 the poppet type. On the larger en- 
 
 gines the type oi governor shown in 
 Fig. 105 is used, while the smaller sizes 
 are provided with a vibrating governor 
 shown on page 375, in which a weight, 
 riding on a spring, is moved by a vi- 
 brating lever. So long as the engine 
 runs at a certain speed the weight keeps 
 in position a small hit-and-miss lever, 
 and gas enters the cylinder of the en- 
 gine. With any variation of speed 
 above the normal, however, the posi- 
 
372 
 
 CASSIEX'S MAGAZINE. 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 373 
 
 tion of the weight changes, moving the 
 valve operating lever out of gear and 
 cutting off the gas supply. For elec- 
 tric lighting and other work requiring 
 very steady motion, a special governor 
 is used for varying the explosive mix- 
 ture, so that the speed may be con- 
 trolled without missing explosions in 
 the cylinder. 
 
 Messrs. Andrew & Co., who, by the 
 way, are, next to Messrs. Crossley 
 Bros, of Manchester, England, proba- 
 bly the oldest firm of gas engine build- 
 ers, are the makers also of the Bisschop 
 engine an engine which will probably 
 appeal only to the smaller power 
 
 its connections extending upward, and 
 motion from the crosshead being im- 
 parted to the crank by a vibrating lever 
 arrangement. In order to prevent 
 sticking of the piston in the cylinder 
 owing to the rather high temperature 
 which it attains, it is fitted quite loosely 
 without rings, and the pressure from 
 the gas explosions is so slight that the 
 leakage past the piston is not serious. 
 The flame ignition method is used to 
 fire the charge, the flame being drawn 
 into the cylinder through an opening 
 in its walls on the already mentioned 
 ' ' touch-hole ' ' principle. 
 
 In the matter of size of engines it is 
 
 EXHAUST 
 
 FIG. IO8. SECTION OF END OF CYLINDER 
 OF STOCKPORT ENGINE. 
 
 FIG. 109. SIDE VIEW OF STOCKPORT 
 ENGINE STARTING GEAR. 
 
 users, being a surviving form of the 
 early non-compression type of motor 
 which has been almost completely 
 driven out of the commercial gas en- 
 gine field by the developments of recent 
 years. In this engine the principal end 
 aimed at is to get a small, workable 
 engine with the least possible compli- 
 cation, economy of gas being a second- 
 ary consideration. Instead of having 
 a water jacket, the cylinder has cast on 
 it a number of radiating ribs, which 
 carry away the heat of the explosions 
 and keep the temperature of the cylin- 
 der walls at a reasonable point. The 
 cylinder is vertical, the piston rod and 
 
 interesting to note that Messrs. An- 
 drew & Co. are now building Stock- 
 port engines indicating as high as 150 
 horse-power in a single cylinder. One 
 of the largest gas-driven electric light 
 installations in England, at Morecambe, 
 was equipped with engines by them, 
 the plant comprising three Stockport 
 engines of sixteen horse-power each, a 
 Dowson gas plant, and three dynamos 
 of 300 lights each, besides a storage 
 battery outfit. Messrs. Tangye, Lim- 
 ited, of Birmingham, and Messrs. Cross- 
 ley Bros., Limited, of Manchester, Eng- 
 land, also have turned out noteworthy 
 engines of large size, developing from 
 
374 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
MODERN GAS 
 
 eighty-five to 100 actual horse-power. 
 One of the Tangye engines, rated at 
 115 indicated horse-power, furnishes 
 power for fine weaving machinery in a 
 Belfast mill, and is stated to give emi- 
 nent satisfaction, both in point of econ- 
 
 FIG. III. VIBRATING STOCKPORT GOVERNOR. 
 
 omy and steady running. The Cross- 
 ley-Otto engine is, in the main, similar 
 to the Otto engine made in the United 
 States, and already described in the 
 first paper of this series, so that it is not 
 necessary to enter into its details here. 
 In nearly all the larger sizes of gas 
 engines some form of starting device is 
 now used which dispenses with the ne- 
 cessity of turning the fly wheels by hand 
 a proceeding which is not only diffi- 
 cult, but, in some cases, would be quite 
 impossible. Of these starting 
 gears that used by Messrs. An- 
 drew & Co. on their engines is 
 shown in Figs. 108 and 109, the 
 former representing a side view, 
 and the latter a sectional view of 
 the end of the cylinder. At A is 
 a Bunsen burner for heating the 
 ignition tube B. At C is the ex- 
 haust valve, and above it a gas 
 admission valve E. Above, and 
 at the outer end of the ignition 
 tube B, is an air outlet valve, with handle 
 D. At F is a timing valve for fixing the 
 period at which the gaseous mixture 
 shall be admitted to the ignition tube. 
 When it is desired to start the engine, 
 
 375 
 
 the gas admission valve E over the 
 exhaust valve C is opened. Gas com- 
 mences to flow into the cylinder, which 
 then contains only air at atmospheric 
 pressure. This air is allowed to escape 
 in quantity equal to that of the gas ad- 
 mitted by the valve at the end of and 
 above the horizontal part of the igni- 
 tion tube B. As soon as sufficient gas 
 has in this way flown into the cylinder 
 to produce an explosive mixture where 
 it enters into the ignition tube, ignition 
 takes place and the engine starts. The 
 valve E and the air outlet valve are 
 then closed, and the gas main, which 
 had been previously closed, is opened 
 and gas allowed to flow into the gas 
 bag. 
 
 Messrs. Tangye' s self-starter consists 
 mainly of an air pump worked by 
 hand, by means of which the space be- 
 hind the piston may be filled with gas 
 and air under a slight pressure. Some 
 of this mixture enters the ignition tube 
 and is fired, giving the initial impulse, 
 after which the engine continues run- 
 ning in the regular way. Messrs. 
 Robey & Co., of Lincoln, England, to 
 whose engines reference was made in 
 the July number of this magazine, use 
 on their large engines what is known 
 as the Clerk-Lanchester starter, illustra- 
 ted in Fig. 112. It consists of a cham- 
 
 FIG. 112. THE CLERK-LANCHESTER STARTING GEAR. 
 
 ber A, outside and separate from the 
 engine, and of a capacity rather 
 greater than that of the cylinder, with 
 which it is connected by a pipe E, and 
 check valve W. The crank being. set 
 
376 
 
 MAGAZINE. 
 
 at about fifteen degrees, gas is turned 
 on by a tap X, from the gas main G, 
 and it flows into the chamber by the 
 pipe J, mingling with the air therein 
 and forming an explosive mixture. At 
 the same time gas flows into the cylin- 
 der by the pipe shown. When the 
 
 and this forces the gas in E into the 
 cylinder under a pressure of about 
 fifty pounds per square inch, and forms 
 there a compressed mixture which, on 
 ignition, gives an average pressure in 
 the cylinder of about eighty-five 
 pounds per square inch, and starts the 
 
 FIG. 113. OIL ENGINE BUILT BY MESSRS. J. M. GROB & CO., LEIPSIC-EUTRITZSCH, 
 
 GERMANY. 
 
 mixture is so far formed as to be in- 
 flammable, it lights at the jet Y, and a 
 little later becomes of sufficient ex- 
 plosive strength. The tap X is then 
 closed, and the ejecting pressure ceas- 
 ing, the flame at Y shoots back, ignites 
 the t gaseous mixture in the chamber, 
 
 engine and its load. In the line ol 
 petroleum motors Germany would ap- 
 pear to have kept well abreast of 
 other countries, and a number of Ger- 
 man makers have established agencies 
 outside of their own domain, notably 
 in England, for the sale and general 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 377 
 
 advertisement of their product, com- 
 peting, thus, directly with a host of 
 other engines in their own territory. 
 Among these is the firm of J. M. Grob 
 & Co., of Leipsic-Eutritzsch, who are 
 building an engine which in Germany, 
 at least, seems to be well known, and to 
 have found considerable favor for all 
 kinds of work marine, stationary and 
 portable. It appears, in fact, to be a 
 modification of the Capitaine engine, 
 already described in one of 
 the earlier papers of this 
 series. 
 
 Though on the market for 
 only about two years and a 
 half, something like 1400 of 
 these engines are said to be 
 now in use. The sectional 
 view clearly explains the 
 working mechanism. The 
 engine belongs to that class 
 of petroleum motors in which 
 the oil is vaporized in a heat- 
 
 atomizer valves closing automatically, 
 and explosion of the charge at the be- 
 ginning of the second down-stroke of 
 the cycle is produced by some of the 
 mixture having been forced into hot 
 vaporizer, which serves the purpose of 
 an ignition tube. The working stroke 
 having been performed, exhaust during 
 the second up-stroke of the piston takes 
 place through the valve E, which is 
 worked by a long shaft receiving 
 motion from the crank 
 shaft of the engine through 
 intervening gear wheels. 
 The valve rod is not con- 
 nected to the exhaust valve, 
 but simply strikes against 
 the valve spindle and pushes 
 it upward, the seating of the 
 valve being effected by a 
 spring. The valve is opened 
 only once in every two rev- 
 olutions of the main shaft. 
 Heating of the vaporizing 
 
 FIG. 114. VERTICAL SECTION OF THE GROB ENGINE. 
 
 ed chamber before being drawn into the 
 working cylinder, the vaporizing cham- 
 ber being marked V in the illustration. 
 Working, as the engine does, on the 
 Otto cycle, it draws in air on its first 
 down-stroke through the valve A, and 
 petroleum through the atomizer S, the 
 petroleum spray being vaporized in V 
 before it mixes with the fresh air and 
 enters the working cylinder. The vapor 
 and air mixture is compressed on the 
 next up-stroke of the piston, the air and 
 
 chamber is effected by the lamp L, and 
 cooling water for the cylinder jackets 
 enters, and escapes through the connec- 
 tions WW. 
 
 The oil pump P, which supplies 
 oil to the vaporizing chamber, is 
 controlled by the governor in such 
 a way that the amount is varied in 
 accordance, with the demand for 
 power. The oil used is of the ordin- 
 ary kind burned in lamps for illuminat- 
 ing purposes. 
 
 ( To be continued.} 
 
RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER VALVES. 
 
 By John Richards, Mem. Am. Soc. M. E. 
 
 THE drawings from Fig. i to 5 
 show some water valves invented 
 by Mr. C. I. Hall, of San Fran- 
 cisco, Cal. , and employed by the Cahill 
 & Hall Elevator Company, to hoisting 
 or elevator machinery, in their practice. 
 
 These valves were aptly described by 
 the inventor in one of his first specifi- 
 cations as permitting the water to flow 
 only in the direction intended, which is 
 the leading characteristic of all the 
 designs. 
 
 The company are makers of ' ' hydro- 
 steam ' ' elevators, in which the im- 
 pelling force is steam pressing upon 
 the water, which actuates the hydraulic 
 pistons, the water by reason of its in- 
 elasticity performing the required func- 
 tion of positive movement and " abut- 
 
 ment," the same as in the case of com- 
 mon hydraulic elevators. The direct 
 steam pressure dispenses with pumps, 
 accumulators and so on, such as are 
 
 378 
 
 employed when the price of water does 
 not admit of its use from the public 
 service. 
 
 The water employed in the hydro- 
 steam system, while inelastic in itself, 
 does not produce regular or safe move- 
 ment when controlled by common stop' 
 valves, for the following reason : Sup- 
 pose, for example, a load is being 
 raised, and the cage is stopped on the 
 way to receive an additional load, as in 
 the case of passengers getting on at: 
 the different floors of a building. When 
 the cage is stopped there is an equi- 
 librium between the load and the steam 
 pressure acting on the water, but when 
 the valves are opened to go on, or to 
 go down, the static pressure will be in- 
 sufficient to sustain the new load, and 
 the cage will suddenly drop until the 
 steam rushes in to check the back-flow 
 of the water and balance this added 
 load. For this reason common stop 
 valves cannot be employed. 
 
 In the case of removing a part of the 
 load during a trip of the cage the same 
 difficulty occurs. The pressure at the 
 time of stopping the cage remains in 
 the steam receiver, and when valves 
 are opened this force is too great for 
 the reduced load, and the cage is sud- 
 denly shot upward until the forces are 
 balanced. The present valves are em- 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES 
 
 By Albert Spies, Mem. Am. Soc. M E. 
 
 Bighth 
 
 connection with 
 the different ig- 
 nition methods 
 referred to in 
 the preceding 
 paper, it may 
 not be amiss to 
 mention that 
 the case of 
 
 in 
 
 engines using 
 either flame or 
 tube igniters 
 the consumption 
 f of gas by the 
 igniting or heat- 
 ing burners is 
 an item not al- 
 ways duly taken 
 into account, 
 and may assume appreciable propor- 
 tions. Where gasoline or some other oil 
 is used in such engines instead of gas, 
 and where the latter is not to be had, 
 the gas flame must, of course, except in 
 a few engines of special design, be sup- 
 planted by an oil torch, and the same 
 additional fuel consumption, above that 
 taking place in the cylinder of the en- 
 gine itself, is there encountered, the 
 torch, moreover, being a rather unde- 
 sirable annex to the whole outfit. 
 These circumstances have, in a great 
 measure, helped to stimulate the im- 
 proving of electric igniting devices, and 
 several of them are now affording very 
 satisfactory accounts of themselves. 
 This much may already have been 
 gathered from what has gone before. 
 With the electric igniter there is, of 
 course, to be considered the expense of 
 the battery which furnishes the electric 
 current, but this has been claimed, and 
 with good reason, to be a very small 
 proportion of the whole operating ex- 
 
 pense, a much smaller one, in fact, 
 than that represented by the gas or oil 
 cost in a flame or tube igniter. It 
 would seem to be a pretty fair con- 
 clusion, under the circumstances, that 
 electric igniters are destined to a yet 
 wider application and a growing share 
 of favor. 
 
 Not less important than the methods 
 of igniting are those of governing, and 
 considerable ingenuity has been ex- 
 pended for years past in developing 
 various contrivances designed to satis- 
 factorily solve the gas engine governor 
 gear problem. At first thought, some 
 sort of throttling gear by which the gas 
 or oil vapor supply to the cylinder is 
 gradually reduced as the speed increases, 
 and vice versa, is apt to suggest itself 
 as a desirable one, and, as a matter of 
 fact, many gears of this kind have been 
 made and are used, both Lenoir and 
 Hugon having followed this method of 
 governing in their early engines. Its 
 wastefulness, however, becomes apparent 
 on even slight consideration, so that 
 one may well wonder that at this late 
 day the throttling governor is still 
 countenanced in gas engine practice. 
 It is obvious that if, with such a gov- 
 ernor, the volume of gas or oil vapor 
 admitted to an engine cylinder is dimin- 
 ished, the volume of air admitted is cor- 
 respondingly increased, and it is well 
 known, too, that the limits of variation 
 permissible in explosive mixtures of gas 
 and air are comparatively narrow, so 
 that if, in a total volume of mixture, 
 the volume of gas either exceeds or 
 falls short of a certain, elastic proportion, 
 no explosion can be produced. While, 
 therefore, a gas throttling governor 
 may either increase or diminish the 
 force of the explosions in the engine 
 
 437 
 
438 
 
 GASSIER J S MAGAZINE. 
 
 cylinder by varying the strength of the 
 gas and air mixture between these lim- 
 its, yet if one of the limits be passed, 
 and the gas volume, for instance, be 
 too greatly diminished, ignition of the 
 mixture will be missed and whatever 
 
 to increase, gas being simply pumped 
 through the cylinder and wasted until 
 its proportion is again increased, by the 
 subsequent opening of the gas valve to 
 that point where the mixture once more 
 becomes explosive. 
 
 FIG. 115. THE PITTSBURGH ENGINE, BUILT BY THE FURL GAS AND MFG. CO., PITTSBURGH, PA. 
 
 gas has been taken into the cylinder 
 will then be discharged into the exhaust 
 pipe unburnt and without having given 
 up any of its energy. Under these cir- 
 cumstances the engine will work ex- 
 actly as though no gas whatever had 
 been admitted, and the speed will cease 
 
 No better evidence is needed of the 
 fact that the wastefulness of the throt- 
 tling governor method has met with a 
 fair share of recognition, than the ex- 
 tended application which for years has 
 been given to what have been termed 
 ' ' hit - and - miss ' ' governors. With 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 439 
 
 these the strength of the explosive gas 
 and air mixture is never changed, but 
 the number of explosions in the engine 
 cylinder in a given time is varied to suit 
 the prevailing requirements, being in- 
 creased when the speed falls below, and 
 decreased when it rises above a certain 
 normal / or putting it in a slightly dif- 
 ferent way, when the speed falls off, the 
 governing device hits the stem of the 
 gas supply valve, causing the latter to 
 open and admit gas into the cylinder, 
 while when the speed becomes too high, 
 the governor by changing its position, 
 misses the gas valve stem, the valve 
 consequently remains closed and no 
 working charge reaches the cylinder. 
 
 One objection to this method of gov- 
 erning always has been that it gives the 
 engine a jerky, unsteady motion which 
 is fatal to success in electric light work, 
 and in order to overcome this, some 
 engine builders now provide the gov- 
 ernor cam which strikes against the gas 
 valve spindle with several steps, so that 
 instead of being either full on or full off, 
 the gas valve may be opened through 
 intermediate degrees. The strength of 
 the explosive mixture -may thus be varied 
 to some extent, but whenever the lower 
 limit of gas percentage necessary to 
 constitute an explosive charge is 
 reached, the gas valve is closed entirely, 
 and the engine then runs without ex- 
 plosions until the speed again drops. 
 The stepped-cam governor, in fact, 
 combines a throttling with a cut-oft 
 action. 
 
 The ideal method of governing, how- 
 ever, would seem to be one akin to that 
 followed in modern, high-class steam 
 engine practice, one by which the 
 strength of the working charge would be 
 kept always the same and only the quan- 
 tity for each working stroke would be 
 varied. In all processes of combustion 
 there is a certain percentage of oxygen, 
 which, by combining with a certain per- 
 centage of combustible, produces a 
 maximum effect, and any variation from 
 these relative proportions will represent 
 a loss of efficiency. This is fully as true 
 of the combustion of gas in a gas engine 
 cylinder as of the combustion of any 
 other kind of fuel in any other place, 
 
 and the economic bearing of maintain- 
 ing a constant and certain strength of 
 explosive mixture in gas engine work 
 will, therefore, be at once recognized. 
 
 An engine in which advantage has 
 been taken of this circumstance is that 
 recently put on the market by the Fuel 
 Gas and Manufacturing Company, of 
 Pittsburgh, Pa. , and known as the Pitts- 
 burgh engine. In external appearance 
 it strikes one much as one of the well- 
 known Westinghouse steam engines. 
 As in these, a crank case encloses 
 the bearings and lower end of the 
 cylinders. This case is filled almost up 
 to the shaft with a mixture of oil and 
 water, into which the crank shaft and 
 connecting rods splash at every revolu- 
 tion, so as to completely deluge the 
 bearings, piston and interior of the cyl- 
 inders, thereby not only affording copi- 
 ous self-lubrication, but also cooling the 
 piston. Oil for the crank case is intro- 
 duced through the main bearings, which 
 are supplied from the only two oil cups 
 on the entire engine. A simple pipe 
 connection with a city main supplies the 
 necessary water. Another pipe, serv- 
 ing to carry off the overflow, is made, 
 by means of a funnel head, to indicate 
 the level of the lubricants in the crank 
 chamber. 
 
 All the Pittsburgh gas engines are 
 built with two cylinders on a single 
 shaft, and, as usual, abnormal heating 
 is obviated by the employment of water 
 jackets. Each revolution made by the 
 engine operates valves admitting the 
 gaseous fuel alternately to the one or 
 the other cylinder. As the period of 
 admission is controlled by a positive 
 action, the crank shaft receives an im- 
 pulse once each revolution, no matter 
 what the load, but the energy of that 
 impulse is predetermined by an inde- 
 pendent piston valve. In order that 
 the maximum amount of energy may be 
 developed by the explosion of the 
 gaseous fuel, there is, as already ex- 
 plained previously, but one value that 
 the relative amounts of gas and air can 
 bear to each other, and the company 
 design their measuring piston valve so 
 that, it is claimed, it always admits gas 
 and air in their correct proportions for 
 
440 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 FIG. Il6. TWENTY-FIVE HORSE-POWER UNION MARINE ENGINE. 
 
MODERN GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 441 
 
 FIG. Iiy. THE CHARTER ENGINE, BUILT BY THE CHARTER GAS ENGINE CO., STERLING, ILL. 
 
 producing the desired maximum result, 
 but at the same time varies the total 
 amount of mixture directly as the work 
 of the individual piston stroke. The 
 governor is mounted upon the shaft, 
 between the cranks, and, by direct 
 connection between the eccentric rod 
 and valve stem, insures an accurate 
 and positive travel to the measuring 
 slide valve. The igniter employed is 
 of the electric spark type. Unfortu- 
 nately, more complete particulars of 
 this engine are not available at the 
 present time. 
 
 In connection with the Union engine, 
 described in the preceding paper, and 
 built, as there stated, by both the Union 
 and the Globe Gas Engine Company, of 
 San Francisco and Philadelphia, respec- 
 tively, the illustration on the opposite 
 page will prove interesting, represent- 
 ing, as it does, the latest type of double 
 cylinder, marine engine of Union make, 
 rated at twenty-five horse-power. This 
 
 engine, according to advices received 
 within the past few weeks from the 
 builders, was completed only a short 
 time ago, and is now in a schooner in 
 San Francisco Bay giving highly satis- 
 factory results. It is the first one ot 
 the kind that they have built, and is 
 probably the largest marine oil engine 
 now in use, except a four-cylinder engine 
 of forty-five horse-power of somewhat 
 different form which was turned out by 
 the same builders a number of years 
 ago. The main features of the engine 
 are essentially the same as those of the 
 horizontal Union stationary engine, 
 shown in the September number ; the 
 valves and igniting devices are similarly 
 operated, and the same form of vapor- 
 izer as that then illustrated is used. 
 
 The propeller reversing gear shown 
 tends to give the impression that there 
 is considerable complication about the 
 engine, but this will disappear upon 
 closer study of the details. A muffler 
 
442 
 
 GASSIER' S MAGAZINE. 
 
 around the exhaust pipe is used to 
 deaden the noise of the exhaust. The 
 schooner in which the engine is placed 
 is S9/^ feet long with 14 feet beam, and 
 carries freight between San Francisco 
 and Bodega Bay. On her trial trip 
 over the Government course in San 
 Francisco Bay she developed a speed 
 of over 8 miles an hour. This was re- 
 garded as a very good showing, as the 
 engine was new and stiff, and the boat 
 was not built for speed. The owners 
 
 FIG. 1 18. DETAILS OF THE CHARTER KNGINE. 
 
 of the vessel also have a 10 horse- 
 power engine in one of their other 
 boats. 
 
 As the last of the series of illustra- 
 tions are presented those of the Charter 
 gas and gasoline engine, which is 
 made by the Charter Gas Engine Com- 
 pany of Sterling, 111., and which in 
 some respects is similar to the Caldwell- 
 Charter engine described in one of the 
 earlier papers. When using gasoline no 
 carbu retting device is used between the 
 oil tank and the cylinder, but the oil is 
 delivered directly into the suction pipe 
 
 by a pump controlled by the governor, 
 a few drops only being admitted at a 
 time. There are three cut-offs between 
 the tank and engine cylinder, viz., a 
 cock at the tank, a throttle valve to 
 regulate the amount of gasoline de- 
 livered, and the plunger of the pump 
 just mentioned. The engine works ac- 
 cording to the Otto cycle, the exhaust 
 valve being pushed open at every other 
 revolution by a rod worked through re- 
 ducing gearing from the crank shaft. 
 The arrangement of the gasoline pump 
 and the manner in which it is controlled 
 by the governor will be easily under- 
 stood both from the general view of the 
 engine and from the details shown in 
 Fig. 1 1 8, the latter representing an 
 elevation and a plan of the governor 
 and its connections. The governor, it 
 will be observed, is mounted on a sleeve 
 on the main shaft, and when the gov- 
 ernor balls, under the influence of un- 
 duly high speed, move outward, the 
 sleeve is carried along the shaft and 
 moves with it a cam roller, which is 
 mounted loosely on the upper end ot 
 the rocker arm A. When so displaced, 
 this cam roller is missed by the cam on 
 the larger of the two gear wheels shown, 
 and the rocker arm, which is connected 
 with the injector rod operating the gas- 
 oline pump, remains undisturbed, and 
 no gasoline is permitted to enter the 
 suction pipe leading to the cylinder. 
 When, on the other hand, the governor 
 balls are in the position shown in the 
 engraving, the cam on the larger gear 
 wheel will, in the course of its revolu- 
 tion, come in contact with the cam 
 roller on the arm A, force it over to 
 the right, and cause a stroke to be 
 made by the gasoline pump through 
 the intervention of the injector rod. 
 The displacement of the pump plunger 
 then admits the proper gasoline supply 
 to the suction pipe, and the entering 
 air carries the oil along into the cylin- 
 der in which the mixture, after com- 
 pression, is fired by a tube igniter. For 
 engines above six horse-power a slightly 
 different form of governor connection is 
 employed, the working principle, how- 
 ever, being the same. The engine is 
 turned out in sizes of from one and 
 
AN EVAPORATIVE SURFACE CONDENSER. 
 
 443 
 
 one-quarter to thirty-five actual horse- 
 power. 
 
 Before finally leaving the subject, the 
 writer would attempt to forestall criti- 
 cism on the score of incompleteness of 
 the series of articles presented by stat- 
 ing that no attempt could be well made 
 to embrace in them all the engines of 
 the class considered which are now in 
 use and built in different countries. It 
 was deemed advisable, in fact, at the 
 outset to try to present only engines of 
 English and American make, and such 
 
 foreign designs as were represented in 
 English and American markets, and 
 even this undertaking was found beset 
 with many difficulties. Aside from the 
 fact that the addresses of some makers 
 of engines could not be ascertained, 
 there were a number of builders who 
 simply ignored requests for information, 
 and others again who flatly declined to 
 furnish particulars of any kind. That 
 the list of engines considered in these 
 articles is by no means comprehensive 
 is, therefore, natural. 
 
 AN EVAPORATIVE SURFACE CONDENSER/ 
 
 By James H. Fitts. 
 
 THE condenser herein described 
 was built at the Virginia Agri- 
 cultural and Mechanical College, 
 at Blacksburgh, Va., after some obser- 
 vations were made on the rate of 
 evaporation of water at different tem- 
 peratures, and with a current of air 
 passed over its surface. Its perform- 
 ance has been successful to such a 
 degree that this paper is presented, in 
 the belief that it will be of general 
 interest to the profession, and that it 
 gives a practical solution of the question 
 of condensation of vapor with a small 
 water supply. 
 
 The condenser consists of two rec- 
 tangular end chambers connected by a 
 series of horizontal rows of tubes, each 
 row of tubes being immersed in a pan 
 of water. Through the spaces between 
 the surface of the water in each pan 
 and the bottom of the pan above, air is 
 drawn by means of an exhaust fan. At 
 the top of one of the end chambers is 
 an inlet for steam, and a horizontal 
 diaphragm about midway causes the 
 steam to traverse the upper half of 
 the tubes and back through the lower. 
 An outlet at the bottom leads to the 
 air pump. 
 
 * From a paper presented at the International 
 Engineering Congress at Chicago. 
 
 The condenser, exclusive of connec- 
 tion to the exhaust fan, occupies a floor 
 space of 5' 4^" x i' 9^", and is 4' 
 iy 2 " high. There are twenty-seven 
 rows of tubes, eight in some, and seven 
 in others ; 210 tubes in all. The tubes 
 are of brass, No. 20 B. W. G., ^" 
 external diameter and 4' 9%" in length. 
 The cooling surface (internal) is 176.5 
 square feet. 
 
 There are twenty-seven cooling pans, 
 each 4' 9^"xi' 9^", and 17-16" 
 deep. The pans have galvanized iron 
 bottoms, which slide into horizontal 
 grooves %" wide and %" deep, planed 
 into the tube sheets. Wooden strips 
 are fitted into the grooves below the 
 bottoms. The tube sheets form the 
 ends, and angle irons i^"x^"x;Hj" 
 bolted to the galvanized bottoms, the 
 joints packed with wooden strips, form 
 the sides. The total evaporating sur- 
 face is 234.8 square feet. Water is fed 
 to every third pan through small brass 
 cocks, and tjjf" overflow pipes feed 
 the rest. A wood casing connects one 
 side with a 30" Buffalo Forge Co.'s 
 disk wheel, which is belted to a 3" x 4" 
 vertical engine. 
 
 The action of this condenser is clear. 
 The passage of air over the water sur- 
 faces removes the vapor as it rises, and 
 
444 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 thus hastens evaporation. The heat 
 necessary to produce evaporation is 
 obtained from the steam in the tubes, 
 causing the steam to condense. It was 
 designed for the college shop engine, to 
 condense 800 pounds steam per hour, 
 and give a vacuum of twenty-two 
 inches, but it was found practically 
 impossible to get the long exhaust pipe 
 air-tight, on account of its numerous 
 connections. Direct connection was 
 therefore made with the boiler. A 
 number of runs of several hours' dura- 
 tion have been made with a boiler press- 
 ure of sixty to seventy pounds. The 
 cooling water was run into a barrel 
 placed overhead and drawn from the 
 barrel. The water of condensation was 
 weighed. The following gives average 
 results : 
 
 Boiler pressure, pounds per square 
 inch per gauge, 65 ; temperatures in 
 Fahrenheit degrees steam, 311 ; cool- 
 water (initial), 60 ; water in pans above 
 diaphragm, 140 ; water in pans below 
 diaphragm, 115 ; hot well, 149; air, 70; 
 dew point, 62 ; working strokes of air 
 pump, 90 ; revolutions of exhaust fan 
 per minute, 740 ; velocity of air in feet 
 per minute, 2300 ; quantity of air 
 moved in cubic feet per minute, 6500 ; 
 horse-power expanded in driving fan, 
 YZ ; barometer in inches, 28 ; cooling 
 water used per hour in pounds, 1350 ; 
 steam condensed per hour in pounds, 
 900 ; vacuum in inches of mercury, 
 
 i6}4 ; vacuum reduced to barometer at 
 thirty, 18^. 
 
 The overflow pipes for regulating the 
 supply of water were found to be too 
 small, so that at times some pans would 
 be too full, causing waste of water over 
 the edges, and at others the tubes would 
 be uncovered, with reduction in effi- 
 ciency. This loss of cooling water will 
 account for the amount being so much 
 in excess of the water of condensation. 
 The amount of steam condensed, it 
 there had been no waste of water, would 
 have been about thirty pounds less than 
 that shown. 
 
 Accurate analysis of the transfer of 
 heat could not be made on account of 
 this waste. An approximate analysis, 
 however, shows that the cooling water 
 required is practically equal in amount 
 to the steam used by the engine, and 
 since consumption of steam is reduced 
 by the application of a condenser, its 
 use will actually reduce the total quan- 
 tity of water required. 
 
 The condenser is still in a crude form, 
 and there are many improvements to 
 be made in it. Enough has been done, 
 however, to demonstrate that it is ap- 
 plicable in any situation, that it is not 
 expensive to construct, is perfectly 
 accessible for cleaning, requires small 
 power to operate, and will give a 
 vacuum of from twenty to twenty-two 
 inches. The floor space required is 
 moderate. 
 
GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 A 
 
 T no time in the 
 history of gas 
 and oil engines 
 has the interest in 
 their application to 
 every-day work been 
 so strongly marked 
 as at present. To- 
 gether with electric 
 motors, these engines 
 have done much to 
 displace small, and 
 in many cases even 
 large, steam engines, 
 and power users have 
 commenced to realize 
 that for economical, reliable and con- 
 venient driving, engines of that class 
 are entitled to very careful considera- 
 tion. This is shown by every new con- 
 tribution to the literature of the subject, 
 and engineers' discussions of it at meet- 
 ings of technical societies. 
 
 Among the latest, and perhaps most 
 interesting, of these discussions is one 
 which was held a short time ago before 
 the American Society of Mechanical 
 Engineers on the occasion of a "Gas 
 and Oil Engine Evening," and to the 
 facts presented at that time, and repro- 
 duced here, in part, it was thought well 
 worth adding a number of illustrations 
 of some of the most recent applications 
 of the engines considered. These are 
 all suggestive in their way and tell 
 their own stories at a glance, more 
 directly and more convincingly per- 
 haps than pages of texts. The subject 
 was introduced by Mr. S. A. Reeve 
 who, among other things, said : 
 
 ' ' The status of the gas engine depends 
 entirely upon the surrounding condi- 
 tions. A plant exists merely because 
 the sun shines, and the seed has been 
 planted. Unless the surrounding con- 
 ditions are favourable, the plant cannot 
 exist, and the amount of its growth, 
 and the character of its growth, depend 
 
 5-2 
 
 entirely on the surrounding conditions. 
 The gas engine follows this general law, 
 in that its status to day is what it has 
 been forced to be, and what it has been 
 allowed to be by general commercial 
 and engineering conditions of the world. 
 Practically all other power that is in 
 use is steam power. I do not lose sight 
 of the tremendous amount of water 
 power that is in use. But water power 
 is restricted to certain localities, and the 
 gas engine is not. It comes into com- 
 petition only with those forms of power 
 which are applicable to almost any 
 locality or set of conditions, and, aside 
 from gas power, steam power is almost 
 the only other occupant of that class of 
 prime movers. 
 
 " The factory and the steam engine 
 grew up together, and the idea that we 
 carried in our m inds of a commercial man- 
 ufacturing plant, driven by any power, 
 was a set of tools, driven by a central 
 motor through the medium of a line of 
 shafting and a number of belts. That 
 scheme of industrial works grew in size 
 and importance until it had reached 
 tremendous proportions, and in certain 
 lines of industry it still survives, and 
 will continue to survive in the future in 
 still larger sizes, and on a still more 
 important scale. But for the vast ma- 
 jority of industries, these species of 
 manufacturing which involve a varied 
 number of processes and departments, 
 and involve the production of a com- 
 paratively complex commodity, such, 
 for instance, as the building of steam- 
 ships or railway cars, or the complicated 
 machines involving woodwork and iron- 
 work and steel-forging work, and all 
 that sort of thing, the modern factory 
 is a collection of factories. 
 
 ' ' The various factories may be merely 
 departments, merely different rooms in 
 one building or on one floor. But, at 
 any rate, the factory now consists of a 
 large number of departments, and those 
 
 48 r 
 
482 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 483 
 
 departments are quite distinct. They 
 often run entirely independently, have 
 separate foremen or superintendents, 
 run different hours, and have different 
 classes of labour. In some, labour is a 
 small item, and power is larger. In 
 others, power is a small item, and labour 
 is the principal feature. All these 
 various conditions make it almost im- 
 possible for such an establishment to be 
 driven by one central prime mover. 
 
 "In the first place, distance of trans- 
 mission comes in and consequent losses. 
 In the second place come in varying 
 conditions. Every engineer knows 
 that no piece of apparatus can work 
 well under varying conditions. We 
 have, therefore, seen grow up the 
 modern industrial works in which power 
 has to be transmitted quite a distance, 
 and subdivided among a large number 
 of different sorts of tools. This was 
 first attempted by shafting and belting, 
 or by rope drives. But it is evident 
 that the losses by transmission are very 
 great. Consequently we have seen 
 other schemes tried. First came the 
 subdivision of the steam engine itself 
 into a large number of units, and we 
 have only to look about us in large 
 factories to see steam-driven plants 
 where the power is furnished from the 
 central boiler plant to anywh ere from 
 ten or a dozen to 70 different engines 
 scattered all over the works, sometimes 
 20 or more in one room. Sometimes 
 the losses in steam transmission are, 
 under average conditions, less than for 
 shafting and belting. Of course, no 
 cast-iron rule can be given for all con- 
 ditions. But the subdivided steam 
 plant has come in to stay. Of later years, 
 superseding the subdivided steam plant, 
 comes in, first, compressed air, and 
 then electrical transmission and sub- 
 division of power. 
 
 ' ' I have given the resume of the 
 changes of the power question to show 
 that the problem of the present is eco- 
 nomical transmission of power, not 
 economical development of power. Of 
 course, economical development at the 
 original point of production is of great 
 importance, but it is vastly more im- 
 portant to transmit it economically, be- 
 
 cause the losses in transmission can 
 easily exceed the largest losses possible 
 in production. 
 
 ' ' Those of you who have spent any 
 time on the problem of the subdivision 
 of power or its transmission, have seen 
 that none of the systems heretofore pro- 
 vided satisfy the question. They all 
 involve tremendous losses in transmis- 
 sion. They all involve heavy first cost, 
 heavy expenditure for generating plant, 
 transmission plant and redeveloping 
 plant at the other end. For instance, 
 in electrical transmission, if your total 
 works need a thousand horse-power, be- 
 sides your thousand horse - power of 
 boilers, you must follow with a thousand 
 horse-power steam engine, a thousand 
 horse-power generator, your mains for 
 carrying the electric power, and then, 
 on top of that, a thousand horse-power 
 of motors. That is, of course, losing 
 sight of all small factors and percent- 
 ages of loss. The present status of gas 
 power, and also of its immediate prom- 
 ise for the future depends upon this 
 statement of the problem in this part 
 that gas powers offers the ideal solution 
 for the subdivision and transmission of 
 power, the mechanical difficulties being, 
 for the time, lost sight of. 
 
 " In other words, let us suppose that 
 a large industrial plant requiring, say, 
 1000 horse -power, subdivided into, 
 say, 50 different units which are utilized 
 at various points, at different buildings, 
 on different floors, at different speeds, 
 for different hours during the day, 
 under different conditions of varying 
 and steady load suppose that in such 
 a plant as that, we install a 1000 horse- 
 power gas generator or its equivalent, 
 and then lead from it, or from the holder 
 to a large number of gas engines, large 
 central gas mains it is evident that the 
 first cost is away below that of any 
 system, with the possible exception of 
 the subdivided steam plant, where our 
 boiler plant corresponds to our generat- 
 ing plant, our steam mains to our gas 
 pipes, and our steam engines to our gas 
 engines. 
 
 "But there is one big advantage 
 which a gas plant has over a steam sub- 
 divided plant, in point of operation, 
 
4 8 4 
 
 GASSIER 'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 A 40 H. P. TANGYES GAS ENGINE AND GAS PRODUCER PLANT. BUILT BY MESSRS. 
 TANGYES, LTD., BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND. 
 
 and that is, that in the steam subdivided 
 plant, no matter how large a proportion 
 of the load be off, the central generating 
 plant must be run, and the fixed charges 
 of running cannot be altered. Steam 
 must be kept up, the boilers must be 
 kept hot, the stack, if there be one, 
 must be kept hot, and the labour must 
 be there to take care of the whole mat- 
 ter. I have myself tested one factory 
 in which, for a large proportion of each 
 day, the efficiency for the transmission 
 of the power between the boiler plant 
 and the work was 5 per cent., simply 
 because they had to keep the whole 
 plant going in order to move one small 
 department. 
 
 "With the gas plant that entirely 
 disappears Your gas generator works 
 for a certain number of hours a day, on 
 whatever load or capacity is best suited 
 to produce maximum economy, and as 
 we all know, there is only one point 
 in capacity in which any apparatus 
 can work at minimum economy. Dur- 
 ing those certain number of hours a day 
 
 the generator makes gas and stores it 
 in the holder. The gas generating 
 plant is entirely unconscious of the 
 consumption of power, provided it be 
 large enough to fulfill all demands. 
 The consumers of power, the foremen ot 
 different departments, are as unconsci 
 ous as is the generating plant of the 
 consumption of power. They simply 
 know that all they have to do is to turn 
 on their gas and start their engine. 
 They may run 24 hours in a day, while 
 the gas generator runs eight, provided 
 the total maximum production of the 
 gas generator is large enough to cover 
 the whole output of power. 
 
 ' ' Comparison between such a gas 
 plant and any plant relying upon trans- 
 mission and subdivision of power by 
 compressed air or by electricity, or by 
 any scheme wherein the power is first 
 developed by the steam engine, and 
 then converted into another form, and 
 then converted back again, is really 
 hardly possible from the economical 
 standpoint. The operation of any such 
 
GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 485 
 
 gas plant would be incomparably more 
 economical than that of the compressed 
 air or the electrical or the hydraulic 
 system of transmission of power. I have 
 entirely left out of the question the 
 mechanical side of it, which I purposely 
 wished to do. But for the merely com- 
 mercial side there is an absolutely un- 
 limited field for the development of 
 power and its transmission and subdivi- 
 sion in industrial works by means of the 
 gas generator and the gas engine. 
 
 "In nearly all large textile mills in 
 New England, and in a great many 
 other forms of industry, steam is used 
 as much, and sometimes more, for heat- 
 ing purposes, and boiling and dyeing 
 than it is for power. In fact, the big 
 promoter of steam power in New Eng- 
 land, where it has proved an indispens- 
 able auxiliary of water power, is the 
 fact that the steam had to be had any- 
 how. That is true also of compressed- 
 air plants. There are a great many 
 factories where compressed air is in- 
 dispensable for blowing, furnishing 
 draft, cleaning, and innumerable pur- 
 poses to which it can be applied, and 
 in a great many plants compressed air 
 is used to transmit and subdivide power 
 
 where no other system would be toler- 
 ated, simply because the compressed 
 air has to be there anyway, and, this be- 
 ing so, they might a great deal better 
 use the compressed air for power. 
 
 " The same thing applies to electric- 
 ity. Those factories relying on the 
 electric current entirely for light may 
 often bring the power question into 
 secondary importance compared with 
 light. If they have got to have their 
 central engines and generators and 
 mains for the productions and distribu- 
 tion of light, and if they need light 
 more than power, then, of course, the 
 electrical transmission of power is the 
 thing, without regard to the general 
 arguments against it. But this same 
 factor of the correlation of the system 
 of transmission of power, and the sys- 
 tem of transmission of other forms of 
 energy needed in the works, applies 
 also to gas. In fact, the gas producer 
 has reached its present state of perfec- 
 tion largely because of the fact that gas 
 is the most economical form of fuel for 
 a large number of industrial purposes 
 metallurgical, for glass works, and for 
 many kinds of cooking and heating and 
 baking, where exact control of tem- 
 
 A DOUBLE-CYLINDER OTTO ENGINE. BUILT BY MESSRS. CROSSLEY BROS., MANCHESTER, ENGLAND. 
 
486 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 487 
 
 perature has to be had. In all those 
 plants the power may again become 
 secondary to other purposes in the 
 factory, and in those plants where 
 generators have already been installed 
 for the purpose of supplying fuel gas, 
 the gas engine follows as a natural 
 sequence. 
 
 1 ' The reply to this side of the dis- 
 cussion is that the mechanical difficul- 
 ties have not yet been overcome ; that 
 the gas engine, after having had spent 
 upon it the best energy in the line of 
 mechanical engineering which the world 
 has been able to produce for some 
 thirty years, is still more crude in a 
 great many mechanical features than 
 was the steam engine of a century ago. 
 It is still very heavy. In nearly all of 
 the devices only one impulse is received 
 by the fly wheel for every two revolu- 
 tions, so that the fly wheels are heavy. 
 The regulation, as a rule, is accom- 
 plished by simply dropping out a certain 
 proportion of the impulses, instead of 
 varying their strength, and the neces- 
 sity for the ignition of the charge in a 
 minute fraction of a second has led, 
 until very recently, to extreme uncer- 
 tainty in the matter of ignition and also 
 in the question of perfection of com- 
 bustion. The last is not so marked a 
 feature, because, even with poor com- 
 bustion, the gas engine is an exceeding- 
 ly economical prime mover, but the 
 mechanical difficulties still stand in the 
 way of the accession of the gas engine 
 to the proper field in which it belongs ; 
 that is, the universal factor for the pro- 
 duction and transmission and subdivi- 
 sion of power in industrial works. 
 
 ' ' At the risk of being considered 
 rather superficial in skimming over this 
 subject, I will take one step into the 
 future and say that while gas engines 
 have hitherto been almost entirely run 
 with illuminating gas, yet already con- 
 siderable has been done in the way of 
 supplying gas engines with producer 
 gas from special producers built for that 
 purpose. There has also come upon 
 the field I will just mention it the in- 
 candescent gas burner that is, it has 
 just begun to attract wide attention as 
 being an established fact. These two 
 
 coupled together first, that the gas 
 engine can be run much more economi- 
 cally upon producer gas, not illuminat- 
 ing gas, than it can upon illuminating 
 gas, and, second, that there is a means 
 attained of producing illumination by a 
 non -luminous gas, lead us to the sur- 
 mise that the near future will see the 
 distribution of energy all energy 
 which is derived from coal in the form 
 of a non -luminous, cheaply produced 
 fuel gas, that this gas will be relied on 
 entirely for power, for lighting, where 
 gas lighting at all is permissible ; and 
 where it is not, where the electric light 
 is needed, that electric light will be pro- 
 duced through the medium of gas en- 
 gines, and that this same gas will be 
 used for all sorts of fuel and heating 
 purposes domestic heating and cook- 
 ing and industrial heating of all sorts. 
 
 ' ' I have tried to make as brief a 
 statement as I could of the gas-engine 
 problem as it appears to me to-day, not 
 on the basis of the condition of the gas 
 engine itself, but as a statement of its 
 possibilities, the demands which are 
 going to be made upon it in the near 
 future, and what the near future may 
 bring forth in the way of a powerful 
 auxiliary to aid in the adoption of the 
 gas engine as the universal prime 
 mover." 
 
 Prof. Wm. S. Aldrich said : " Some 
 of the chief difficulties to the extended 
 introduction of the gas engine have been 
 gradually removed by the improve- 
 ments in methods and apparatus for the 
 manufacture of producer gas on a small, 
 yet economical, scale. In this, as in 
 other branches of engineering, the law 
 of supply and demand operates to mut- 
 ual advantage, and isolated gas-engine 
 plants are rapidly coming to the front. 
 On the other hand, for the distribution 
 of power from a central plant to greater 
 or less distances, gas offers peculiar ad- 
 vantages. There are practically no 
 losses in distributing the gas in pipe 
 lines, except leakages, which can affect 
 the economy of the distribution. Losses 
 of pressure and temperature changes do 
 not in the least affect the economy ol 
 the gas engine at the end of the line. 
 Therefore, the distribution of power by 
 
488 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 A GASOLINE TRACTION ENGINE. BUILT BY THE VAN DUZEN GAS AND GASOLINE ENGINE CO., 
 
 CINCINNATI, OHIO, U. S. A. 
 
 gas, and its utilization by gas engines, 
 scattered over a widely extended area, 
 may come to be a rival of some of the 
 other methods. And the facility of 
 storage and use of gas for heating are 
 additional advantages. 
 
 " It seemed doubtful for a long time 
 whether gas engines could be made and 
 economically managed in large units ; 
 but their present use up to 3Oo-horse 
 power and the contemplated manufact- 
 ure of gas engines of 500 horse-power 
 and upwards, leave no room for serious 
 doubting. But it is open to discussion 
 whether there is the same inherent gain 
 in economy in the use of large gas en- 
 gines as in the case of steam engines. 
 Of course, on the general principles of 
 power production, large units are more 
 economical per horse-power than small 
 units. Nevertheless, there is scarcely 
 an argument advanced for the use of 
 large steam engines that can be simi- 
 larly advanced in the case of gas en- 
 gines. 
 
 "In the matter of arrangement of 
 gas-engine cylinders, there is undoubted 
 
 preference manifested for the vertical 
 type, and in pairs, with cranks at 180 
 degrees apart. Four-cylinder or qua- 
 druplex gas engines are being seriously 
 considered, to gain an additional ad- 
 vantage along the same lines as the 
 two-cylinder, or duplex type, namely, 
 a greater number of explosions per 
 revolution, and, consequently, an in- 
 creased opportunity to control the sup- 
 ply and explosions according to the 
 load. 
 
 ' ' As rotating or rotary gas engines 
 have been suggested, it may be well to 
 note some of the advantages arising 
 from using the explosions of the gas in 
 much the same manner as the Pelton 
 wheel utilizes the steadily applied im- 
 pact of the water. The losses due to 
 connecting rod mechanisms are elimi- 
 nated ; the highest speed may be ob- 
 tained and controlled especially to be 
 desired in direct connection to dynamos; 
 multiple discharge jets (or explosion 
 pockets) may be arranged, as in the 
 Pelton wheel ; the force of the explosion 
 may be most directly utilized in a tan- 
 
GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 489 
 
 gential manner ; the internal friction 
 will be reduced to a minimum ; the best 
 opportunities will be presented for reg- 
 ulating against the rapidly varying 
 loads of electrical supply service ; and, 
 probably, a greatly increased economy 
 will result in the use of gas. 
 
 1 ' In matter of speed regulation, gas 
 engines have had an unenviable reputa- 
 
 given speed, at which load there is the 
 least expenditure of gas per horse-power 
 per hour. In this way it is possible to 
 establish a very satisfactory basis for 
 rating gas engines, that is, by their 
 most economical performance. If gas 
 engines could be tested and the curves 
 of performance plotted, the whole gas- 
 engine business would at once be placed 
 
 FRONT VIEW OF THE VAN DUZEN GASOLINE 
 TRACTION ENGINE. 
 
 tion, more due to the inherent difficulties 
 of control than to any lack of inventive 
 ability along this line. Always single- 
 acting, frequently run at low speeds, 
 and sometimes with rapidly varying 
 loads, it is not difficult to understand 
 that during one or more strokes the 
 supply of gas may be entirely omitted, 
 and the unusually heavy fly wheel drawn 
 upon to meet the periodic variations in 
 the supply of energy. 
 
 " Respecting the conditions of maxi- 
 mum economy in the use of gas, it has 
 been found that there is a certain best 
 load, for any given engine running at a 
 
 on as satisfactory and substantial a basis 
 as is now the case with turbines. The 
 establishment of such a gas-engine test- 
 ing plant is urgently needed. It would 
 go far towards giving much needed ad- 
 ditional encouragement to well-directed 
 efforts in the development of the gas 
 engine, as well as serve to forestall fruit- 
 less attempts in the same line." 
 
 Mr. W. Lawrence Wildy, represen- 
 tative of Messrs. Richard Hornsby & 
 Sons, of Grantham, England, builders 
 of the Hornsby- Akroyd oil engine, 
 said : " Most of you know, doubtless, 
 that the producer is an ordinary cylin- 
 
490 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 
 LOCOMOTIVE CRANE, WORKED BY A ROOTS OIL ENGINE. BUILT BY CLARKE'S CRANK 
 AND FORGE CO., LTD., LINCOLN, ENGLAND. 
 
 drical vessel lined with fire brick, and 
 more or less intricate in shape, accord- 
 ing to the inventor's idea of what his 
 patent is, and with certain cooling sur- 
 faces, or heating surfaces, or conducting 
 surfaces, or something ; but you will 
 find 150,000 patents in the patent 
 journal, doubtless, and they have all 
 got something about them. But the 
 simplest producer I have ever used was 
 a column of fuel about 10 feet high. 
 The fuel we used was coke the coke 
 which after distillation of the gaseous 
 product was a residue which went to 
 make the cost of the production of gas 
 a mere cipher to the corporation running 
 that gas concern. In Leeds, where I 
 had my experience principally, the gas 
 which was distributed through the 
 houses cost nothing in the holder it 
 was all profit. I have seen the figures, 
 and I have gone into it with the chair- 
 man of the Gas Committee of the Leeds 
 Corporation, and it is a fact that it was 
 a decimal short of nothing in the holder. 
 " The by-products from making the 
 bituminous gas were so valuable at that 
 
 time, that they paid all the expense, in- 
 terest and depreciation of plant, and the 
 gas in the holder cost nothing but dis- 
 tribution and collection of accounts. 
 We were using enormous quantities of 
 gas for welding steel tubes. We make 
 tubes of varying diameters from 20 
 inches to 60 inches, and these varied 
 in thickness from W to ^, and we 
 welded these with the ordinary coal gas, 
 and our gas bill ran from ^6006 to 
 ^7000 a year. I got hold of this 
 water-gas process, as it was used in 
 Germany at the time, and I saw that it 
 afforded a very good heating medium, 
 very cheaply produced, and we went in 
 for a plant there. The plant was a mag- 
 nificent success, so far as we were con- 
 cerned. It reduced our gas bill fiom 
 between ^6000 and 7000 to just 
 over ^1000 a year fuel, interest, de- 
 preciation, labour, distribution every- 
 thing concerned came just over ^1000 
 a year, or something under one-sixth of 
 what we paid before. The gas cost us 
 on an average about three pence half- 
 penny per 1000 cubic feet. We made 
 
GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 491 
 
 only water gas, but we got no by-prod- 
 ucts, and it therefore cost us something 
 in the holder. In the water-gas busi- 
 ness there are no by-products. 
 
 "In the oil engine we have a machine 
 which works with the ordinary petroleum 
 of commerce, that is, any of the lighting 
 oils which are in the market. It will 
 also work with the heavier oils up to the 
 specific gravity of .9, and it will work 
 with an oil having a flash point of any- 
 thing that the ordinary oils have, and 
 up to 320 Fahr. is a pretty strong oil. 
 The process through which this oil goes 
 to produce its power is as follows : The 
 engine is provided at the back of the 
 cylinder with a small cylindrical cham- 
 ber, which we call the vapourizer. On 
 to this vapourizer is fixed a valve cham- 
 ber, which really holds two valves, and 
 which are the governour valves of the . 
 engine; the one opens inward to the 
 vapourizer, the other opens by the ac- 
 tion of the governour outward, and, 
 through a small pipe, conveys any oil 
 which is not required, back into the 
 tank from which the pump has drawn 
 
 it. The rest of the construction of the 
 engine, so far as its communicating the 
 power imparted to it is concerned, is 
 almost identical with the gas engine a 
 trunk piston and connecting rod, and 
 crank shank ; on the crank shaft a pair 
 of skew wheels, the skew wheels driving 
 a shaft almost identical again with the 
 gas engine which shaft communicates 
 motion, first, to the governours, and 
 then to two valves, one for the air inlet, 
 and the other for the exhaust ; the air 
 inlet cam, at the same time, operates a 
 small pump, from ^ to i % inches in 
 diameter, according to the power of the 
 engine to be developed, and this pump 
 has a stroke which can be adjusted by 
 the regulation of the screw that is, the 
 oil pump so that the amount of oil 
 which is injected into the vapourizer is 
 exactly in proportion to the power the 
 engine requires. Suppose you are 
 running the engine at half power, you 
 run the pump at half stroke ; if you 
 are running the engine at full power, you 
 run the pump at full stroke, that is, it 
 you know you are going to do so. But 
 
 A CROSSLEY OTTO GAS ENGINE AND AIR COMPRESSOR COMBINED. 
 
49 2 
 
 CASSIE&'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 A CROSSLEY OTTO PORTABLE GAS ENGINE. 
 
 if you are running the engine at full 
 power, and throw oft half the machines, 
 the governour will do that, but the effect 
 will not be so perfect as if you, know- 
 ing what you want, reduce it yourself. 
 The exhaust valve has a double cam, 
 very similar to that of the gas engine, by 
 which a portion of the compression can 
 be released when starting the engine. 
 Now, in operating the engine you be- 
 gin by heating the vapourizer with a 
 lamp an ordinary paraffin lamp with a 
 circular wick to which a small fan is 
 attached, producing, for the time being, 
 a little petroleum forge. It takes from 
 five to ten minutes to heat that vapour- 
 izer. The only process is to fill the 
 lamp and turn the fan handle. As soon 
 as it is hot enough, you can turn your 
 fly wheel, and your engine goes off at 
 full cock ; it is ready immediately, and 
 it goes off at full power then and there, 
 governing itself. The continual com- 
 bustion of the oil in the vapourizer re- 
 stores to the vapourizer the heat which 
 has been extracted by the vapourization 
 of the oil and the heating of the air 
 
 necessary to produce the subsequent 
 explosion. 
 
 ' ' These engines have been running 
 continuously for two months, day and 
 night, without stopping, without any 
 hitch whatever, and the higher the 
 work that is taken out of the engine, up 
 to full power, the better the engine 
 works. At very low powers the engine 
 will want a little nursing, perhaps, but 
 at full power she will work right along. 
 We start our engine at 5.30 in the 
 morning, and the men come in at six 
 o'clock, and she is never looked at 
 again, except when the man goes in 
 at dinner time and oils her, and at half- 
 past five, when he goes to stop her, 
 and there is no outside flame, no ex- 
 posed red heat or dangerous flame ot 
 any sort about the engine." 
 
 Asked what he meant by nursing, 
 Mr. Wildy said that if the engine had 
 to run light for five or six hours, which 
 probably no sane man would do under 
 ordinary circumstances, it is possible 
 that he may want to put a little 
 brake onto the engine or some- 
 
GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 493 
 
 thing of that sort to put a little work 
 on her. 
 
 Asked if there was any residuum in 
 the cylinder, he said: "None what- 
 ever. We have run for two months 
 and there was not as much as you could 
 wipe off with your hand. 
 
 ' ' The consumption runs about seven- 
 eighths of a pint of American daylight or 
 water- white per horse-power on all sizes 
 of engines. It runs a little lower, but 
 only a little lower, on the larger engines 
 than on the smaller ones. The very small 
 ones will run on a pint. There is greater 
 loss owing to the friction of the engine 
 itself. I am giving you the brake horse- 
 power, not indicated horse-power. We 
 sell the engine on the power which the 
 purchaser is going to get off the fly 
 
 " The pressures in the oil engine are 
 rather lower than in gas engines. In 
 the Scotch gas I have had as much as 
 210 pounds initial pressure in the gas 
 engine. The consequence is that the 
 terminal pressure is so high that the ex- 
 haust becomes noisy." 
 
 The following discussion was con- 
 tributed by Mr. Paul Winand, superin- 
 
 A VAN DUZEN PORTABLE GASOLINE ENGINE, SAW AND PUMP COMBINED. 
 
 wheel. He doesn't care what the power 
 is in the cylinder. A 16 horse-power 
 engine uses just .8 of a pint. 
 
 " In Russia they are adopting these 
 engines and we cannot keep pace with 
 them. With us in England it is a mat- 
 ter of consideration, because the oil 
 which I understand you give about 7 
 cents a gallon for, costs us about 6 
 pence half-penny a gallon. They are 
 doing wonderfully well with the engines 
 over there. Every class of power-user 
 is adopting them, to the rejection of all 
 steam engines, up to 50 or 60 horse- 
 power. They are in the hands of 
 stablemen, gardeners, coachmen, all 
 sorts of people, who, after they are 
 once instructed, know what to do. 
 
 tendent of the Otto Gas Engine Works, 
 Philadelphia, U. S. A. :- 
 
 ' ' Concerning gas lighting by incan- 
 descent burners, I know by actual ex- 
 periment that the temperature obtained 
 from producer gas is not sufficient for 
 the purpose. On account of the large 
 percentage of inert gases which it 
 necessarily contains, it is not even 
 economical to enrich it for lighting pur- 
 poses. However, by reason of the 
 cheapness of the power obtained from 
 this gas, electric lighting is generally 
 the best possible way of providing 
 light in such an installation. Pure 
 water gas, though it can well be used 
 in incandescent burners, is more ex- 
 pensive per heat unit, and, on the 
 
494 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 whole, cannot compete with producer 
 gas. 
 
 " It is generally thought that by in- 
 creasing the number of impulses, the 
 gas engine can be greatly improved as 
 far as regularity of motion is concerned. 
 This is only an argument of relative 
 value, however, as the question resolves 
 itself to this : 
 
 ' ' Whatever the number of impulses 
 may be, there must be fly wheels of 
 sufficient momentum to produce the 
 desired degree of regularity. Now, is 
 it cheaper, more economical and gener- 
 ally preferable to have a simple engine 
 with a large amount of momentum, or a 
 more complicated one with smaller fly 
 wheels? The same regularity can be 
 obtained in all cases, and it has not 
 been proved that a simple engine of 
 sufficiently high speed is not the more 
 preferable solution. Considerable ex- 
 perience in this line has shown to me 
 that it would be decidedly wrong to 
 complicate the construction in order to 
 get more than one impulse for each rev- 
 olution. I should wish to emphasize 
 the point made relative to the use of 
 fuel gas for industrial heating purposes 
 concurrently with its use for power. 
 The advantages of gaseous fuel when 
 applied not only on a large scale, as for 
 metallurgical operations, but in smaller 
 apparatus of various kinds, are being 
 gradually recognized. 
 
 ' ' A set of engines at Danbury, Conn. , 
 were built by the Otto Gas Engine 
 Works with the provision that they 
 could be operated indiscriminately by 
 producer gas or by illuminating gas. 
 The latter gas having about six times 
 the heating value of the former, it will 
 be easily understood that a compromise 
 had to be resorted to in the construc- 
 tion, the result being that the engines 
 do not give the best possible efficiency 
 in either case. Engines built solely 
 for producer gas would give better 
 results. 
 
 " Since steam is used in the Danbury 
 plant for various purposes, it was quite 
 natural to employ a small steam engine 
 for starting the gas engines. The large 
 engines built now by us are provided 
 with a self-starting device which renders 
 
 the use of auxiliary power unnecessary 
 and greatly enhances the convenience 
 of operating the plant. 
 
 " The efficiency of a plant depends 
 on the choice of the units of power, and 
 perhaps a better result could be obtained 
 in this case, if the units were differently 
 selected. It should also be borne in 
 mind that the producer used is large, 
 and would be capable of furnishing gas 
 for a greater amount of power, especi- 
 ally if the load factor was more favour- 
 able as it would be, for instance, in the 
 operation of a mill or of a water-works, 
 and I might well state here that gas 
 power is being used extensively in 
 Europe for the last named purposes. 
 
 ' ' Up to this date it has been custom- 
 ary to use a steam boiler in connection 
 with the producer. This is not a 
 necessity, however, and we operate in 
 our works a producer plant without 
 boiler. The necessary amount of water 
 vapour which passes with the air through 
 the producer is generated at atmos- 
 pheric pressure by means of the waste 
 heat of the gas as it leaves the producer. 
 There is thus no additional fuel used for 
 producing steam, and, besides, the 
 operation of the apparatus is rendered 
 almost automatic. 
 
 " Despite statements to the contrary, 
 oil engines have been manufactured in 
 the United States for several years, and 
 considerable effort has been made for 
 their introduction. We ourselves are 
 fully prepared to begin their manufact- 
 ure if a sufficient demand should arise. 
 But in view of the fact that gasoline en- 
 gines are so much preferable in most 
 every respect, it is not surprising that 
 the demand for oil engines should be so 
 small. Gasoline engines have all the 
 advantages of gas engines, and in 
 some of those built in the United States 
 to-day the provisions for safety are so 
 absolute that the insurance companies 
 have no objection to their use. Besides 
 the objectionable smell which seems in- 
 separable from the oil engine, there is 
 the objection of its not being ready for 
 starting at a moment's notice. Oil en- 
 gines are naturally wasteful when run- 
 ning at partial and variable load. This 
 is due to the fact that the proper de- 
 
GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 495 
 
 THE DAIMLER GASOLINE MOTOR CARRIAGE WHICH WON THE FIRST PRIZE IN 
 THE PARIS ROAD CONTEST. 
 
 gree of temperature is not maintained 
 at the different loads which occur in 
 practice. When a continuous external 
 flame is used for maintaining this tem- 
 perature the fuel consumed in this 
 flame decreases the efficiency at reduced 
 loads. 
 
 ' ' The oil engine described by ;Mr. 
 Wildy was exhibited at the World's 
 Fair. In this engine the ignition of the 
 charge depends on the temperature 
 of the chamber, which is left uncooled 
 at the rear. The temperature of this 
 chamber, and consequently the time of 
 
 GAS ENGINE, BUILT BY MESSRS. ROBEY & CO., LTD., LINCOLN, ENGLAND. 
 
49<5 
 
 CASSIER'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 ignition vary with the load, and this 
 circumstance produces an additional 
 variation of the efficiency with the load. 
 
 " Oil engines are naturally somewhat 
 more complicated, more expensive, and 
 less convenient than gasoline engines, 
 and unless there be a marked difference 
 in the prices of the two fuels, the latter 
 would seem preferable in most cases." 
 
 Concerning oil engines generally, 
 and particularly the already-mentioned 
 Hornsby-Akroyd engine, built in Eng- 
 land by Messrs. Richard Hornsby & 
 Sons, of Grantham, and in America by 
 the De La Vergne Refrigerating Ma- 
 chine Co., of New York, Mr. Geo. 
 Richmond has sent us the following : 
 
 ' ' The term oil engine is not infre- 
 quently used, in a very loose manner, 
 to describe a variety of engines in con- 
 nection with which oil is used as a fuel. 
 Steam engines in which steam is 
 generated by liquid fuel are sometimes 
 called oil engines. Gas engines, for 
 which the gas is prepared on the spot 
 
 by carburetting oil with naphtha or 
 gasoline, are also improperly called oil 
 engines. The term is properly re- 
 stricted to an engine using a heavy oil 
 from which gas cannot be made without 
 the application of heat. 
 
 " As a thermal machine, the oil en- 
 gine stands about on a par with the gas 
 engine, and both are in this respect 
 very much superior to the steam en- 
 gine. The gas engine, however, is 
 more costly to run when illuminating 
 gas is used, for the reason that the gas 
 companies charge a very much higher 
 price per thermal unit in the form of 
 gas than the coal merchant does for the 
 same amount in the form of coal. The 
 oil engine is cheaper than the gas en- 
 gine in running for the reason that the 
 cost per thermal unit in the form of oil 
 is very much less than the cost of the 
 same in illuminating gas. 
 
 " The oil engine really dates as far 
 back as the gas engine, but while the 
 latter rapidly reached a practical and 
 
 THE HORNSBY-AKROYD OIL ENGINE, BUILT BY MESSRS. R. HORNSBY & SONS, LTD., GRANTHAM, 
 ENGLAND, AND THE DE LA VERGNE REFRIGERATING MACHINE CO., NEW YORK. 
 
GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 497 
 
 economic position, the former has not 
 been put into an acceptable shape until 
 quite recently. While an American 
 can claim the honour of producing the 
 first practical oil engine, its develop- 
 ment was left to Europeans. Brayton, in 
 1872, patented and constructed at 
 Exeter, in the United States, an engine 
 using a heavy oil. A careful trial of a 
 5 horse-power, American Brayton pe- 
 troleum engine was made at Glasgow by 
 Mr. Dugald Clerk in 1878. The mean 
 pressure was 30.2 pounds per square 
 inch, diameter of cylinder 8 inches, 
 length of stroke 12 inches. The engine 
 made 201 revolutions per minute, and 
 the consumption of petroleum was 2.16 
 pounds per indicated horse- power per 
 hour. Much of the total power devel- 
 oped was absorbed in driving the air and 
 petroleum pumps, or, in other words, 
 there was a good deal of friction. Dur- 
 ing the trial the engine indicated 9.5 
 horse-power in the motor cylinder. Of 
 this the pump absorbed 4. i horse- 
 power ; therefore, the available horse- 
 power was only 5.4. Only 6 per cent, 
 of the total heat generated was utilized. 
 ' ' The oil engine of the present day 
 will convert into work 20 per cent, of 
 the heat, and use somewhat less than 
 one pound of oil per indicated horse- 
 power. The chief practical objections 
 to the gas and oil engines is the neces- 
 sity of igniting the charge. The in- 
 genious arrangement of Otto for trans- 
 porting a flame into the body of the 
 cylinder was in its day considered a 
 triumph of mechanical skill. The dry 
 heat to which the valve was subjected 
 caused rapid deterioration and required 
 frequent attention. This was followed 
 by what is known as tube ignition, in 
 which a tube is maintained at a red heat 
 by a gas jet. The tube, like an incan- 
 descent lamp, has a life-time of a certain 
 number of hours, and is certain to split, 
 sometimes sooner, sometimes later. The 
 third mode of ignition is the electric 
 spark, for which a battery and spark 
 coil must be kept in good running 
 order. This, however, gives less trouble 
 than the contact points themselves 
 within the cylinder, which are liable to 
 become covered with incrustation. 
 
 5-3 
 
 " The two systems of tube and electric 
 ignition have each their advocates who 
 claim great things for them. The fact 
 that there are innumerable patents for 
 improving them would seem to indicate 
 that the difficulties sought to be over- 
 come are not entirely imaginary, of 
 
 FIG. 3. 
 HORNSBY-AKROYD ENGINE DIAGRAMS. 
 
 + Indicates pure air. o Indicates oil. o Indicates 
 products of combustion. 
 
 which fact no one is better aware than 
 the user of a gas engine. It is worth 
 while recalling the fact that Beau de 
 Rochas, who described, even if he did 
 not use, the four cycle, now known 
 under the name of Otto, recommends 
 that the compression should be carried 
 to a point at which the explosion would 
 be automatic. 
 
 " In the Hornsby-Akroyd engine we 
 have the first example of a perfectly 
 successful carrying out of this idea. The 
 automatic explosion is not, in itself, diffi- 
 cult to realize. The real difficulty is in 
 securing this explosion exactly at the 
 moment required. The introduction of 
 valve-motion for timing the explosion 
 
49 8 
 
 CASSSZX'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 A PORTABLE HORNSBY-AKROYD OIL ENGINE. 
 
 would naturally suggest itself, but it 
 must be borne in mind that such valves 
 would be subjected to a temperature 
 considerably above red heat. The 
 manner in which this explosion is ob- 
 tained in the Hornsby-Akroyd engine 
 is illustrated in Figs, i, 2 and 3, on the 
 preceding page. The cylinder, it will be 
 seen, is provided with an extension, 
 communicating with the cylinder by a 
 relatively narrow neck. This extension 
 is unjacketed, and forms a retort in 
 which the oil is vapourized. Nothing 
 but oil in the liquid form is injected 
 into the retort, and only air is drawn 
 into the cylinder. The operation, 
 which is perfectly clear from the cuts, is 
 as follows : 
 
 ' ' On the outer stroke of the piston, air 
 is drawn into the cylinder, and oil is in- 
 jected into the red hot retort. At the 
 end of the stroke we have, therefore, 
 in the retort, oil vapour, which is not 
 explosive, and, in the cylinder, pure air, 
 which is not explosive ; nor is there 
 sufficient leakage from the one to the 
 other to make either of the charges ex- 
 plosive. On the return stroke of the 
 piston, the air is forced from the cylin- 
 der through the communicating neck 
 
 into the retort. For a time the mix- 
 ture of oil, vapour and air is too rich for 
 explosion, but, as the piston progresses, 
 sufficient air is forced in to make the 
 mixture explosive. 
 
 "Fig. 2 shows the mixing process, and 
 Fig. 3, by the conventional marking, 
 indicates that the explosion has taken 
 place, and the cylinder and retort are 
 filled with burned gases. This auto- 
 matic explosion is found to take place 
 exactly as the piston is making the re- 
 turn stroke. 
 
 " It will be noticed that the ignition 
 takes place within the retort, the piston 
 being protected by a layer of pure air. 
 It is not claimed, of course, that these 
 diagrams are exact representations ol 
 what actually takes place within the 
 cylinder ; nevertheless, their substan- 
 tial correctness seems to be indicated by 
 the fact that the piston rings do not be- 
 come clogged with tarry substance, as 
 is usually the case with this class of 
 engine. This surplus air should ensure 
 complete combustion, and that it is ac- 
 complished is evident from careful 
 analysis that have been made. 
 
 4 ' At the De La Vergne Refrigerating 
 Machine Company's Works, at New 
 
GAS AND OIL ENGINES. 
 
 499 
 
 York, a Hornsby-Akroyd oil engine is 
 running some wood working machinery 
 for the pattern shop, and it is interest- 
 ing to watch the promptness with which 
 the governour adjusts the quantity of 
 
 oil to the varying power which is 
 taken off. The power will range from 
 the full capacity of the engine to 
 nothing, half-a-dozen times within ten 
 minutes." 
 
 A 30 H.-P. ENGINE, 
 
 BUILT BY THE NEW ERA IRON WORKS, DAYTON, OHIO U. S. A., 
 RUNNING ON NATURAL GAS. 
 
THE RECORDING GAUGE FOR STEAM PRESSURE. 
 
 By Charles A. Hague. 
 
 
 
 'OR many years the 
 writer has been deeply 
 interested from a pro- 
 fessional standpoint in 
 the subject forming the 
 title of this article. 
 And, the argument is 
 at least plausible, that 
 if the steam engine in- 
 dicator, revealing a 
 diagram of the forces 
 within the cylinder, is 
 so necessary to the de- 
 signing and operating 
 of steam machinery ; if 
 the knowledge ob- 
 tained from the indi- 
 cator card has been so 
 potent in bringing the steam engine 
 successively and successfully through 
 its many stages up to its present prac- 
 tical perfection, why should we not be 
 equally well informed as to the con- 
 ditions and operation of pressures within 
 various kinds of vessels and pipes de- 
 voted to the useful employment of all 
 sorts of fluids and gases ? 
 
 The fact really is, that it is absolutely 
 necessary to be well informed as to the 
 continuance, regularity and correctness 
 for the purpose, of pressures where 
 pressures are used. The steam engine 
 is a more or less complicated machine, 
 operated by a fluid, and often operating 
 upon a fluid, the cause and effect of the 
 energy used, so to speak, being subject 
 to, and dependent upon, pressure. 
 Could there be any folly greater, when 
 searching and striving for economy in 
 operation, than to remain voluntarily 
 ignorant and in the dark, as to what 
 has been, what is, and what probably 
 will be? 
 
 Regularity, that key-stone to the 
 arch, is just as easy of acquirement, and 
 much more satisfactory to live with, 
 
 500 
 
 than the uncertainty and irregularity 
 too often prevailing in the management 
 of organized effort involved in the uses 
 of pressure and power. The tendency 
 of the times in steam power is towards 
 higher and higher pressures, higher 
 ratios of expansion in engines, and con- 
 sequently towards more expensive and 
 complicated machinery. The study of 
 the boiler designer to-day is to meet 
 the demands for safety, high pressure 
 and economical service ; and in propor- 
 tion to the mechanical details involved, 
 the boiler engineer's task is as arduous 
 at least as that of the engine designer. 
 
 Aside from the question of fuel econ- 
 omy, the wear and strain upon the 
 boiler by widely varying pressures 
 within short spaces of time, even under 
 the old regime of 70 pounds and under, 
 was a great deal more serious than most 
 people comprehended ; and to-day, 
 with the load up to 150 and 200 pounds 
 per square inch, the steadiness of the 
 pull upon the metal is enhanced im- 
 measurably in importance. 
 
 The modern, internally-fired boiler, 
 with its heavy shell, its thickness calcu- 
 lated upon the relation between the 
 elastic and ultimate tensile strength, 
 and the load pressure to be used, is not 
 proportionately as strong as its older 
 and thinner-shelled brother. Materials 
 decrease in -strength value, as the thick- 
 ness increases ; they do not so readily 
 resile, and the liability to permanent 
 distortion of section is greater. It is a 
 very reasonable theory that in cylin- 
 drical vessels, when the pressure per 
 square inch approaches the tensile 
 strength limit, adding to the thickness 
 will not increase the strength of the 
 vessel. 
 
 Reference to figures will aid the mind 
 in grasping and appreciating the sort 
 of experience a boiler plate goes through, 
 


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