These faults are due to carelessness and improper inspection of the engine.
So far as the fuel supply of the engine is concerned, the causes of stoppage will vary if street-gas or producer-gas be employed. In the former case the difficulty may be occasioned by the improper operation of the meter, by the formation of a water-pocket in the piping, by the binding of an anti-pulsator valve, by the derangement of a pressure-regulator, or by a sudden change in the gas pressure when no pressure-regulator is employed. If producer-gas be used, stoppages may be occasioned by a sudden change in the quality, quantity, or temperature of the gas. These defects will be examined in detail in the chapter on Gas-Producers.
CHAPTER X
PRODUCER-GAS ENGINES
Thus far only street-gas or illuminating-gas engines have been discussed. If the engine employed be small—10 to 15 horse-power, for instance—street-gas is a fuel, the richness, purity and facility of employment of which offsets its comparatively high cost. But the constantly increasing necessity of generating power cheaply has led to the employment of special gases which are easily and cheaply generated. Such are the following:
- Blast-furnace gases,
- Coke-oven gases,
- Fuel-gas proper,
- Mond gas,
- Mixed gas,
- Water-gas,
- Wood-gas.
The practical advantages resulting from the utilization of these gases in generating power were hardly known until within the last few years. The many uses to which these gases have been applied in Europe since 1900 have definitely proved the industrial value of producer-gas engines in general.
The steps which have led to this gradually increasing use of producer-gas have been learnedly discussed and commented upon in the instructive works and publications