CORRESPONDENCE

CORRESPONDENCE

Gasoline vs. Steam as a Power

TO THE EDITOR— I note in the issue of your magazine under date of July 3 that at the ninth annual convention of the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs, held in the city of Albany on June 20 and 21, that Chief Kenlon says, "I am in favor of motor apparatus, in at least so far as the part that it takes in eliminating the horses." This statement, coining from a man of Chief Kenlon’s standing, is sufficient guarantee that the horse is a means of the past in the moving of fire apparatus. I have also read an account of the convention in The Chief, on Saturday, June 29, in which Chief Kenlon is quoted as saying "that the power for throwing streams should continue to be steam," expressing the opinion that steam was more reliable and could generate greater power than gasoline. This is where a considerable difference of opinion exists. No one who has witnessed gasoline when turned loose has ever doubted its power of destruction any more than they have doubted the steam boiler's ability to do damage in like manner. I believe what Chief Kenlon means is that the steam driven pump is more reliable than the gasoline driven pump. Let us look deeper into this matter, The gasoline motor has all the flexibility of the steam engine, and has the advantage over the steam engine of being able to start on the instant and come to full speed immediately, while with the steam engine the cylinders have to be warmed up, which in turn has to depend on the steam boiler for steam, it depending on a sufficient supply of suitable water and fuel. The gasoline engine needs only the necessary supply of gasoline. The water used for cooling purposes is carried in the radiator and used over and over again, For example, let us take a steam engine of the first size, which has a capacity of 900 gallons at 125 pounds pressure. The rating of this engine is 90 h.p. Engines of this type will deliver a horsepower on 45 pounds of steam per horsepower hour. This will require the boiler to deliver 154 b.h.p. to the engine, and it is very doubtful if the boiler is capable of delivering this amount of steam for more than twenty minutes’ time, which is about the length of time tests of steamers are run. The conclusion to he deducted from the above is that the steam driven pump is as flexible as the gasoline, with the advantage in favor of the gasoline pump on account of being able to get to work quicker than the steam driven pump. However, after both engines get to work the advantage is again with the gasoline pump, as all it needs is gasoline, which is supplied automatically, while the steam driven pump is depending on the boiler for steam, it in turn having to depend on the skill of the stoker and engineer for fuel and water. The ideal piece of fire apparatus is the one in which the motor operates both. That is, it moves the piece of apparatus to the fire and then operates the pump.