Scientific American Supplement, No. 455, September 20, 1884Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 455, September 20, 1884
Various
Science -- Periodicals
Comparing naphtha refuse and anthracite, the former has a theoretical
evaporative power of 16.2 lb. of water per lb. of fuel, and the latter of
12.2 lb., at a pressure of 8 atm. or 120 lb. per square inch; hence
petroleum has, weight for weight, 33 per cent. higher evaporative value
than anthracite. Now in locomotive practice a mean evaporation of from 7
lb. to 7½ lb. of water per lb. of anthracite is about what is generally
obtained, thus giving about 60 per cent. efficiency, while 40 per cent. of
the heating power is unavoidably lost. But with petroleum an evaporation
of 12.25 lb. is practically obtained, giving 12.25/16.2 = 75 per cent.
efficiency. Thus in the first place petroleum is theoretically 33 per
cent. superior to anthracite in evaporative power; and secondly, its
useful effect is 25 per cent. greater, being 75 percent. instead of 60
percent.; while, thirdly, weight for weight, the practical evaporative
value of petroleum must be reckoned as at least from (12.25 - 7.50)/7.50 =
63 per cent. to (12.25 - 7.00)/7.00 = 75 per cent. higher than that of
anthracite.
_Spray injector._--Steam not superheated, being the most convenient for
injecting the spray of liquid fuel into the furnace, it remains to be
proved how far superheated steam or compressed air is really superior to
ordinary saturated steam, taken from the highest point inside the boiler
by a special internal pipe. In using several systems of spray injectors
for locomotives, the author invariably noticed the impossibility of
preventing leakage of tubes, accumulation of soot, and inequality of
heating of the fire box. The work of a locomotive boiler is very different
from that of a marine or stationary boiler, owing to the frequent changes
of gradient on the line, and the frequent stoppages at stations. These
conditions render firing with petroleum very difficult; and were it not
for the part played by properly arranged brickwork inside the fire box,
the spray jet alone would be quite inadequate. Hitherto the efforts of
engineers have been mainly directed toward arriving at the best kind of
"spray injector," for so minutely subdividing a jet of petroleum into a
fine spray, by the aid of steam or compressed air, as to render it
inflammable and of easy ignition. For this object nearly all the known
spray injectors have very long and narrow orifices for petroleum as well
as for steam; the width of the orifices does not exceed from ½ mm. to 2
mm. or 0.02 in. to 0.08 in., and in many instances is capable of
adjustment. With such narrow orifices it is clear that any small solid
particles which may find their way into the spray injector along with the
petroleum will foul the nozzle and check the fire. Hence in many of the
steamboats on the Caspian Sea, although a single spray injector suffices
for one furnace, two are used, in order that when one gets fouled the
other may still work; but, of course, the fouled orifices require
incessant cleaning out.
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