April 20, 1901.]
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
带夜
engineers and shipbuilders were turning their | irrespective of price, and he (Mr. Lambert) attention to the possibilities of that kind of fuel know personally that extremely large qusatities becoming profitable, and for shipowners to con- could be wasted by ineficient burners and sider whether it was not an economy to use it unskilful manipulation of the regulating devices. if not in preference to, at least in conjunction That should be borne in mind before accepting with cost on vessels trading eastward.
ostensibly accurate Agures. Looking at the matter from a purely scientific point of view," Mr. Lambert continued, certain trials which have been made seem to point to a material saving in the consumption, and that
greater saving when applied to ships in the same
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Liquid fuel was by no means a new sugges tion. It was quite a generatio : ago since it was known it was possible to use liquid fuel instead of coal for the propulsion of ships, but
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oil is first wholly
(2). Furnaces in which or partly gasifed.
(3). Furnaces into which the oil is sprayed. The first was the oldest form of burning oil, and was illustrated by the diagrams which had been prepared. The latest example: burning coming under the head of this class was the arrangement on board the Russian steamship Mossel.
there had hitherto been two drawbacks. First | if any thing like that can be saved it must be a /«. "Through the courtesy of the owners of The the want of suitable appliances for injecting | advantageous manner, from the fact that the give a descemeransang it as she is now TEDDİNG
there had been no regular supply of fuel, then
the oil into the furnaces was so serious as to make it impossible to use it on board ships. As regards the first objection, it was fast dia. appearing, now t that the new oil fields had proved so extensive, and that large storage tanks of four and five thousand tons capacity had been erected at all stopping stations from Port Said to Japan.
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Shell Transport and Trading Company, Ltd.," Mr. Lambert on to say "I am enabled to
smount of fuel saved means additional freight. but I am sorry not to be able to illustrate it on With liquid fuel there would be no fire tools to the board. In the fossel the fuel is stored in repair, or firebass or floor-plates to renew, and the ballast tanks, and in the cross bunkers for- the absence of smoke or dust enables the ship toward of the `stokehold. There is no service be kept cleaner. In mentioning the absence of tank, properly speaking, the oil being drawn smoke I have no doubt but that many will have from the ballast tanks or cross bunker by means noticed from some of the oil burning steamers of a small Worthington pump driven (in the visiting our port that at times there is quite first instance) by steam from the donkey boiler. The second objection, however, was not disap- the reverse of absence of smoke, but that is The donkey boiler is fired with coal. - After pearing so quickly, although great improvement often caused in raising steam before the bridges leaving the tanks the oil passes through a Biter: was being made in the apparatus for injecting and brickwork in the furnace have become heat two filters are provided, but only one is in use the oil into the furnaces, still there was room ed. To insure a perfect combustion it is at a time, the other being in reserve for use in for a greater improvement in this respect as the necessary to have the brickwork incandescent the event of the first becoining blocked. These best burners of to-day were only slight modifica-When the fires are burning as they should and filters are small upright cylinders about 3 feet tions of a burner used in 1874. That perfect combustion is taking place there shou'd 6 inches by 6 inches, and take up hardly any seemed to have been of the simplest pattern of be an absence of smoke and the brickwork should space. the sprayer class of burners and the foundation assume a white heat. If there is smoke there of all recent ones.
cannot be a complete combustion, which can readily be seen from an ordinary petroleum lamp.'
Before going into the details of the different kinds of injectors Mr. Lambert pointed out the advantages of the use of liquid fuel could the ideal Mr. Lambert then went on to consider the of perfection be obtained, but which he con mode of carrying or stowing the fuel on board sidered had not yet been reached, still, they were ships, and the dangers in connection therewith. on the way to that result with the ex- He said "It is only but a few years since the periments and practical results that some of carrying of petroleum in bulk was resorted to, our interested engineers and shipbuilders were and at that time it was considered most im from time to time obtaining Allowing that a practicable, and highly dangerons, and high complete combustion was obtained and which wages and other considerations offered to was quite possible, that the flame was so dis- engineers to sail in these ships, and I re- tributed that no injurious effects were trans-member myself at the time very exaggerated mitted to the plates of the boiler, and that the fuel was carried in well-constructed tanks so that any leakage was out of the question, then he thought the following would be some of the advantages as used on steamships.
(1). No lost heat, no smoke or soot. (2). No ashes or clinkers, and consequently no fires to clean, with the accompanying loss of heat find drop in the steam pressure the steam pressure being maintained at one point through- out the voyage.
(3). The boiler tubes are always free from soot, and clean, and therefore always in the best condition for transmitting the heat from gases passing through them to the water of the boiler. (4). The admision of air to the furnaces being under complete control, and the furnaces fuel being burat in fine particles in close con- tact with the oxygen of the air, only a very small excess of air above that actually necessary for the complete combustion of the fuel is required. With coal, in order to ensure us possible, a very much larger excess of air is required. (ga
Another advantage derived from the use of liquid fuel on steamers was that trimming was altogether dispensed with, and that in heavy weather a steady head of steam could be maintained and in hot and close weather a steady head of steam could also be maintained, as the oil did not require a draught, as is the case" with coal. With regard to the very material gain in the deadweight carrying caps city, and which must be a very great advantage of liquid fuel, an example was given in the case of a steamer with a consumption of say 20 tons of coal per day. A run from Colombo to Aden would require a stock of at least 250 tons of cos! on board, but as many merchant steamers do not call at all cosling ports, a common practice
to coal at Suez Canal direct for bingapore, r'may 23 days' steaming. A steamer therefore had to take a minimum of 500 tons of coal. It was stated that with liquid fuel the same steamer would have an ample supply with 900 tons, and she would therefore be able to carry at least 200 than under existing circum- of larger consumption the
be
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The oil can be turned into each filter by means of branch pipes and valves, that block in one filter does not entail the smallest delay or stoppage. After leaving the filter the oil passes through a heater, warmed by the live steam going through to the pump, where it is raised to about 185 degrees F. in temperature. From the heater it passes through the pump. and thence to the burners.
The Mossel has two a
single ended boilers, three furnaces to each, and three burners to ench furnace. The burners are arranged in a triangle in the centre of each furnace door, and about 6in. apart. The burners are Korting's patent, are about 6in. long, and the orifice of the nosale is so small that the end of a good sized pin would hardly enter. The burners are all set parallel to each other. and to the central line of the furnace. There is a cock on the pipes supplying the oil to the furnaces, and besides, each burner has its independent cock. Thus the burners of any furnace can be worked as a group of three, and opened or extinguished simultaneously, or they can be worked as single burners, and one, two, or three be lighted or extinguished as TO- quired. This is of great advantage in getting up steam, as the heat can be applied gently at first, and increased as the furnace gets warmed up. It is obvious that three small burners, each of which can itself be regulated within certain limits, admit of a far more delicate adjustment of the heat than one large burner, as is used in other systems. The arrangement also is of great advantage when little steam is wanted, as when the steamer may have to proceed slowly, in a river, or in thick weather, one or two burners in each furnace can be turned off, as re- quired, thus saving fuel and steam. Besides regulation by the cooks, the amount of oil coming through the burners can be increased or reduced at will by pumping faster or slower.
yarns about the first ships carrying bulk oll through the Canal, how anxiously, all on board had to watch the temperature in the tanks whilst in the Red Sea, and the continual dread of the oil reaching such a temperature that they might be blown up at any moment. Now there is almost a con- tinual stream of oil steamers coming through the Red Sea and the day of high wages and other inducements to men to sail in them has vanished. With ordinary care oil steamers are as safe as other ships and all accidentsare general- ly caused by carelessness. With the carrying of liquid fuel there is much less danger. There is a difference of course in the kinds of oil used. Besides tar and other refuse from gasworks, there are three kinds of liquid fuel. Firstly, refined petroleum, which is scarcely used at all. and that was the kind with which there was, per- haps, the most danger, but the price of refined petroleum does not allow of its use. Then we have the c ude petroleum, just as it comes out of the earth, which would be dangerous: because it contains all the napthas, benzines and so on, very light and highly inflammable: but, the custom in hot countries where the oil is usually found is to expose the crude oil in open tanks and let the sun evaporate the lighter On the Mossel they usually pump at from 25 carbons, so that the resultants can be used with | to 30lbs pressure. Each burner passes through safety. Some walls or springs in Borneo, I] a hole in the furnace door but very slightly believe, were found to contain so little petro- larger than itself, and the burners leam that it did not pay to refine it, and that has lighted by introducing a fame through this been used as liquid fuel and is of such a high as soon as they are turned on. The spray of flash point as not to be at all dangerous. Crude heated oil catches at once. petroleum varles considerably. They might get it as low as 30 or 40 degrees, or it might go up to 400 or 300 degrees. As regards the third kind (Astatki) exclusively used on the Caspian Sea, it is of a heavy treacly description and not at all dangerous."
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Regarding the tanks themselves Mr. Lambert thought there should be no dificulty in wall con- structed ships having tight tanks, and not even leaky firet, as ships constructed to carry oll in bulk have their tanks tasted to more pret then bollers were subjected to 50 Fires had taken place, but in all caused by faulty construction and
Regarding the
been adopted for Lambert said
(1)
wing thres
quid
could divided
into which the oil is run unt without gasifying or spray-
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Behind the furnace door there is which opens by means of a screw side of the furnace door. The to the extent of about 6 inches, and structed that it fits tight when e closes the hole through which passes, so that when the burners. and the boilers" allowed to cool, cold air is com furnaces cool
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