In the steam burner, the oil enters through B, the valve G giving it a whirling motion. The steam goes round the cone A. F is the air cone, the amount of air being adjusted by the openings D by means of a perforated strap E. In the air jet burner the oil enters at A. The previously heated air enters at the branches B and C, and as the air passes C it meets the oil as it passes the control valve operated by E.
But it is on land, as well as on sea, that we find fuel oil rapidly making headway, for, as far back as 1889, hundreds of the Russian locomotives went over to the burning of a petroleum residue. This was the first practical application of fuel oil for railway haulage. To-day, nearly 50,000,000 barrels of fuel oil are consumed annually by the various railroads in the United States, and, according to the official figures I have of the total mileage of fuel oil for the past twelve months, the United States oil-burning locomotives did journeys aggregating over 145,000,000 miles. Mr. Hall, of the American International Railway Fuel Association, is responsible for the statement that, owing to the fact that the steaming capacity of the engines is materially increased, a locomotive running on fuel oil can haul a load of considerably greater tonnage and at a much increased speed than would be possible with a coal-fired engine. Many Continental railways use fuel oil rather than coal; the Roumanian and Austrian State Railways, the Western Railway of France, the Paris and Orleans Railway, being a few of the principal.
So far as England is concerned, the use of fuel oil has not made great headway, for the reason that, while on the one hand, the majority of our great railway systems pass through the coal-producing fields, there has, on the other hand, until recently been an absence of organization for the supply of fuel oil. The Great Eastern Railway many years ago successfully ran oil-fired locomotives.
It is evident that oil fuel will be increasingly used in the future for locomotive purposes, and at the time of writing—December, 1919—the L. and N.W. Railway are carrying out experiments on express engines, with a view to being able to some extent to discard coal.
In our industrial life of to-day there are a vast number of instances where fuel oil is rapidly displacing coal: the oil-fired furnace has been brought to a stage of perfection, and is being extensively and increasingly employed both in this country and abroad in regard to metallurgical and industrial processes. Without going into detail respecting the numerous spheres in which the new fuel finds profitable employment it is safe to say that these are being extended every year.
OIL FUEL FOR MARINE PURPOSES
Arrangement of heaters, filters and pumps for burning oil fuel for marine purposes. The installation is that of the Wallsend-Howden pressure system.
A wealth of inventive effort has been bestowed in the perfection of the burners employed to consume fuel oil. Leaving aside for the moment the principles governing the use of oil in the internal combustion engines of the Diesel or semi-Diesel type, fuel oil used for the production of power is introduced into the furnace in the form of a spray, this being accomplished by atomizing the oil in its passage through a specially designed burner. Of these burners, there are numerous makes upon the market, each of which possesses its own characteristics and advantages. The one feature common to all fuel oil burners is the arrangement for atomizing the oil fuel into a fine spray, so that each particle of fuel shall receive sufficient oxygen to ensure its complete combustion. Theoretically, it requires about 14 lb. of air to effect the combustion of 1 lb. of oil, and on the thorough combustion of the fuel oil depends the efficiency of the furnace. There are three distinct methods by which the atomization is brought about, and each of these means possesses its advantages and limitations. By one method, the fuel oil is atomized by the use of steam; by the second method, compressed air is used; while a third system—that of applying pressure to the oil supply itself—is sometimes adopted. Steam is the method usually employed for stationary boilers and locomotives, for it is the simplest to manipulate, and does not call for the employment of auxiliary apparatus in the shape of air compressors or oil pumps, but most industrial oil furnaces work on compressed air, which gives exceptionally good results. There is no doubt that, with the use of compressed air, say admitted at a pressure of 80 lb., a saving in fuel oil is shown over using steam at similar pressure, but the cost of the compressing plant, which must be taken into consideration, is sufficient to wipe out the greater part of this advantage.
