THE Modern Gas - Engine AND THE Gas-Producer BY A. M. LEVIN, M. E. Consulting Engineer, Member American Society of Mechanical Engineers FIRST EDITION FIRST THOUSAND LIBRARY NEW YORK JOHN WILEY SONS LONDON CHAPMAN HALL, LIMITED 1910 Coi RIGHT I Q J m A. M. JLEVIN Klectrotypea a i l rintetl by l uliHtben PfintinK Co. New York XJ, S. At PREFACE THE importance of effecting the greatest possible improve ment in the economy with which the national fuel-resources are utilized will be apparent when it is considered that under existing conditions, and with the demands increasing at the rate they have since active coal-mining first became an established industry, the present estimated coal-reserve, about 2,000 billion tons, will have been absorbed before the end of the next century. The yearly consumption is now 500,000,000 tons and it is increasing at the rate of doubling itself every ten years. Of - the total amount mined, so far, due to exacting require ments with regard to the quality of the marketable fuel, and due to wasteful methods of mining it, there has been left in the ground, inaccessible for future use, or wasted as unmarketable product, an amount even greater than that actually rendered useful. The portion of the fuel consumed for industrial purposes, for generating power, or for metallurgical use, which is by far, the greater portion of the fuel actually rendered useful, has, according to modern standards, been utilized particularly inefficiently but a tendency toward a strict reform in this respect is afoot, and the problem at present is how to utilize, not only the energy in the good grades of fuel to the greatest possible extent, but also to find new ways for an effectiveutilization of inferior grades hitherto wasted. The gas-engine is looked upon as a means for effecting reform in the one respect as well as in the other, and, although the final development of the engine has probably not as yet been seen, its theory indicates at present how far an increased economy may be hoped for, just as the steam-engine theory, in the days of Watt, indicated the final limit for efficiency of the steam-engine cycle, toward which the actual performance of the engine has gradually, by steps, approached closer. iii IV PRKFACK In the earlier stages of its development, the gas-engine was employed principally because of the convenience with which it could be installed for generating, economically, from high-priced fuels, limited demands for power and its increasing employment on similar grounds is still insured. Any economy derived under these conditions is clue to the decided economy of the engine, or due to the low cost of its installation, not to any economy with regard to the cost of the fuels consumed. Of late years, however, a rapid and fortunate transformation with respect to the available gas-engine fuels has been effected, in that the retorted coal gas and other less available fuels have been replaced by inexpensive fuels, such as producer-gas, carbureted water gas, crude oil, etc. and blast-furnace gas and coke-oven gas have become available industrial fuels. Under these conditions, and particularly since the development of the engine into its modern types, the economy of the gas-engine has been proven, in practice as in theory, to exceed, by far, any the steam-engine could well be expected to give under the present temperature range of its cycle. As aconsequence of its rapid development and growing im portance, some speculation has been indulged in as to the possi bility of the gas-engine ever supplanting the old prime mover, in the face of the inconsistencies and difficulties the former often exhibits. As to this question, it may be reassuring to assume that history will repeat itself, in that, when new forces for deriving a cheapened supply of work have been discovered, new fields for demand have been opened, which, finally, have put an even greater demand on the old as well as the new force for an increased output...