Bruce & List,
I sent the original message about the charcoal issue to my Dad (John
Rothfuss, who some of you may have met at Maxton last fall.) and got this as
a reply. I knew he was a steam engine buff, and member of the Michigan
Steam Threshers Association, but I never figured he'd be so in touch with
this weird stuff. I vaguely recall hearing about Granddad testing the flash
point of oil, but that was long ago. "Geezers" are always full of surprises.
Enjoy,
Chuck Rothfuss
LSR #510
Here's his response:
>Like FastmetalBDF@aol.com said:
>
>> >Stranger than Fiction : During World War II ( The Big One ) there
>were
>> >actually cars in European
>> >countries, and Japan, too, that ran on CHARCOAL !!! They had a curious
>> >looking
>> >burner and tank, for the gas fumes generated, mounted in the trunk area ,
>and
>> >they
>> >proved that necessity is the mother of invention ........ and got around
>the
>> >petrol shortage
>
>Actually it's not so strange. Internal combustion engines will run on any
>combustible vapor but it's even easier with the simpler engines of
>yesteryear. The principle is to create incomplete combustion of solid fuel
>which generates vast quantities of carbon monoxide. Have you ever smothered
>your barbeque grill enough that a brown cloud of smoke gathers inside the
>cover only to burst into a ball of flame when you open the lid? That's the
>stuff they call "producer gas". If you develop a system where this
>incomplete combustion is continuous, scrub the resulting carbon monoxide to
>remove particles and feed it into an internal combustion engine you can run
>the engine.
>
>The modern gas producer may be divided into three elements: The generator in
>which the fuel is burned, the scrubbing or cleaning element in which
>impurities are removed, and a cooler or radiator to cool the resulting
>gasses. Of course you also need a carburetor or mixer to combine the
>producer gas with air to create a combustible mixture.
>
>Producer gas driven cars didn't run too well and carboned up quite rapidly
>but for the small amount of travel the Europeans did during the war, it was
>often sufficient. The producer gas was essentially very low octane fuel so
>power was limited. If you'd really like to learn more about this, Lindsay's
>Technical Books has the book, "Producer Gas for Motor Vehicles", by John D.
>& Martin G. Cash, 1943, in a 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 paperback, 194 pages for $12.95.
>It is #21877 in their catalog. Lindsay's address is PO Box 538, Bradley IL
>60915. Web address: http://www.lindsaybks.com They have the book
>listed on the web. http://www.lindsaybks.com/bks/producer/index.html
>
>Many years ago municipal gas companies would generate producer gas for gas
>lights, stoves, etc. The gas was highly poisonous but such things were
>considered inconsequential back then and the lawyers hadn't gotten around to
>protecting us against ourselves. Up until the end of WWII Michigan
>Consolidated Gas Company supplemented their supply of natural gas in winter
>with producer gas. Theirs was generated from oil. Huge vertical
>furnaces that looked like blast furnaces and sounded like a 747 taking off
>were fired up to nearly white hot. The lid was then closed and oil injected
>into the interior. The oil immediately combusted but with the lack of
>oxygen in the closed furnace only carbon monoxide was produced. This was
>pumped off to add to the natural gas supply. Within about five minutes the
>furnace had cooled sufficiently that it had to be re-heated for about a
>minute. That was the longest, noisiest minute I ever heard. I always
>appreciated leaving that part of the gas works and going over to the much
>quieter lab so Dad could test the latest shipment of oil to arrive.
>
>Dad
>
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