FIG. 4.
TABLE.—100 kilogs. Soda Lye containing 20 parts Water with a corresponding boiling point of 220 deg. Cent. absorb Steam as follows:
+----------------------------------+--------------+---------------+
|Final pressure in condenser. | | |
+----------------------------------+Pressure in |Corresponding |
| 0 | ½ atm. | 1 atm. | 1½ atm.|steam boiler. | temperature. |
+----------------------------------+--------------+---------------+
|80 kil.|125 kil.|200 kil.|350 kil.| 2 atm. | 136.0 deg. C. |
|65 " | 88 " |130 " |190 " | 3 " | 143.0 " |
|51 " | 70 " | 98 " |125 " | 4 " | 153.3 " |
|41 " | 58 " | 80 " |100 " | 5 " | 160.0 " |
|34 " | 48 " | 66 " | 80 " | 6 " | 166.5 " |
|27 " | 40 " | 55 " | 70 " | 7 " | 172.1 " |
|22½ " | 33 " | 47 " | 60 " | 8 " | 177.4 " |
|19 " | 28 " | 41 " | 52 " | 9 " | 182.0 " |
|16 " | 24 " | 35 " | 46 " | 10 " | 186.0 " |
|12 " | 18 " | 28 " | 35 " | 12 " | 193.7 " |
| 9 " | 14 " | 22 " | 33 " | 15 " | 200.0 " |
| 2 " | 8 " | 12 " | 21 " | 20 " | 215.0 " |
+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------------+---------------+
Not the least important part of the process with regard to its economy is the boiling down of the soda lye in order to bring it back to the degree of concentration which is required at the beginning of the process. This is done in fixed boilers at a station from which the engines start on their daily service, and to which they return for the purpose of being refilled with concentrated soda lye. It is clear that a closed soda vessel has produced as much steam when the process is over as it has absorbed, and the quantity of coal required for the evaporation of water in concentrating the soda lye can therefore be directly compared with that required in an ordinary engine for the production of an equal quantity of steam. The boiling down of the soda lye requires, according to its degree of concentration, more coal than the evaporation of water does under equal circumstances, and disregarding certain advantages which the new engine offers in the economy of the use of steam, a greater consumption of coal must be expected. But even at the small installation for the Aix la Chapelle-Burtscheid tramway with only two boilers of four square meters heating surface each, made of cast iron 20 mm. thick, 1 kilog. of coal converts 6 kilogs. of water contained in the soda lye into steam, while in an ordinary locomotive engine of most modern construction the effect produced is not greater than 1 in 10. There can be no doubt that better results could be obtained if the installation were larger, the construction of the boilers more scientific, and their material copper instead of cast iron; but even without such improvements the cost of boiling down the soda lye might be greatly lessened by the use of cheaper fuel than that which is used in locomotive engines, and by the saving in stokers' wages, since stokers would not be required to accompany the engines.
FIG. 5
FIG. 6
Apart from these considerations, the Honigmann engines have the great advantage that neither smoke nor steam is ejected from them, and that they work noiselessly. The cost of the caustic soda does not form an important item in the economy of the process, as no decrease of the original quantities had been ascertained after a service of four months duration. Besides the passenger engine already referred to, which was tested by Herr Heusinger von Waldegg[4] in March, 1884, and which since then does regular service on the Stolberg-Wurselen Railway, there are on the Aix la Chapelle-Julich railway two engines of 45,000 kilogs. weight in regular use, which are intended for the service on the St. Gothard Railway. Their construction is illustrated in Figs. 7 and 9, and other data are given in a report by the chief engineer of the Aix la Chapelle-Julich Railway, Herr Pulzner, which runs as follows:
Wurselen, Dec. 23, 1884.