But the objection is stated, and it is a serious one: the weight of fuel is not the only thing to be considered. The steam engine uses coal, the producer requires English anthracite, which is dearer; the gas motor uses a great deal of water and a great deal of oil, which cost money; and gas motors are dear, while gas producers and their adjuncts cost a tidy bit of money, and wear out pretty fast. Is not steam, after all, more economical in the long run? Besides, producers are bulky and take up a great deal of space; the weight of fuel is only one element in a complicated problem.
In order to study the grounds of this objection, M. Witz has instituted a comparison between the actual cost of large steam engines and that of gas motors of similar size.
Take a good Galloway or multitubular boiler; for 75 horse power effective the heating surface must be at least 74 square feet. Using good Cardiff coal, with 4 per cent. of ash, and a heating power of 15,660 Fahr. units; the steam raised will be 8 to 9 pounds per pound of coal, so that 9,400 to 10,577 Fahr. units are utilized in raising steam, or 68 to 76 per cent., which is an excellent result. Take an engine of 16 inch cylinder diameter, 40 inch stroke, and 66 revolutions, etc.; it will use 22.4 pounds of steam per horse power effective, which represents 2.47 to 2.8 pounds of coal under the boiler. These 10 pounds of steam carry 11,752 Fahr. units of heat, and produce work equal to 75 horse, or 1,143 Fahr. units of heat; which corresponds to an efficiency of 9.7 per cent. In a gas motor, on the other hand, we find the materials employed, as per the above data, to contain 8,958 Fahr. units of heat, and to make gaseous fuel in which 6,343 units are available; a return of 70.6 per cent, in the producer. The motor receives these 6,343, and converts 1,143 of them into work; an efficiency of 18 per cent. In order to be equivalent from the heat point of view, a steam engine ought to produce a horse power effective per 9.72 pounds of steam at 5 atmospheres; but no such steam engine exists.
M. Witz goes on with comparative estimates. For a Corliss engine and boiler, with chimney, etc., complete, and putting these up, he allows £1,280; for a Simplex gas motor and Dowson producer complete, including putting up, he allows £1,290, which he explains to be average actual prices; but these prices do not cover cost of transport, and M. Witz does not go into cost of masonry for buildings, apart from foundations, etc., for the apparatus and machinery.
As to water, the gas motor takes 215 cubic feet per horse power effective. A condensing steam engine uses five times as much.
The lubricating oil used at Rouen was a mixture of Russian oil at 430 fr. per ton, and Ferry and Heduit F.H. oil at 900 fr.; the average was 650 fr. per ton, or 2.8d. per pound. Wanner grease, at 6.4d. per pound, was used for the moving parts. A steam engine requires less oil for the cylinder, but the same quantity for the moving parts.
The attendance on the gas motor is too much for one man, not enough to occupy two; reckon it at 4s. 9½d. a day.
These elements enable us to calculate the daily cost of the gas motor, of 75 actual horse power, in comparison with a steam engine of the same size.
Steam Engine.
s. d.
Upkeep, interest and sinking fund at 15 per
cent, on £1,292 = £193.8 = per day. 12 11
Cardiff coal, 2.643 pounds per actual horse
power per hour; 2.643 × 10 × 75 = in 10
hours 1,982 pounds coal at 22s. a ton. 19 5½
Oil, 3.36 pounds per day at 2.8d. per pound. 0 9½
Grease, 0.67 pound at 6.4d. 0 4½
Wages. 4 9½
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£1 18 4