The Position and Development of the Gas Engine

Abstract

The gas engine as developed during the early years of the present century reached its zenith about the year 1914; after the post-war boom of 1918–20 production gradually declined, in the face of its rivals, the compression-ignition engine, and the national grid. In steel works, however, gas engines running on blast furnace gas continued to be a useful source of power and some of these installations reached very large sizes.

The paper, after an historical introduction, provides some useful comparative data of the performance of gas engines and other prime movers, and traces the development of the dual fuel engine (in which oil fuel adds to the power developed by the gas fuel) and refers in particular to some valuable experiments carried out in the works of the Birmingham Tame and Rea Drainage Board. Eventually a type of engine was arrived at in which, by suitable atomizer design, and by modifying the cylinder head and governing gear, the proportion of oil fuel to gas fuel could be varied over a wide range whilst the engine was running on load. The dual fuel engine should go far to reinstate the gas engine as a natural type of prime mover in this country, where rich coal resources exist. In the U.S.A., some important work has been done by the Nordberg Company on a large 3,000 h.p. unit at Coolidge, Arizona, where the engine uses a very rich natural gas for six months in the year, and oil fuel for the remainder of the time.

Finally the author outlines possible directions of development for the dual fuel engine, and suggests two main types employing high-pressure and low-pressure injection respectively. He also points out that in the future, some improvement in gas producers will be necessary, and makes a plea for further development of the bituminous gas producer, in order that its present disadvantages may be overcome.