This article is reprinted from the November 26, 1892 issue of
Scientific American.
It has generally been supposed that gas engine were necessarily
limited to 30 horse power and under, and that where larger engines
are required they must necessarily be made by compounding smaller
ones. Our engraving, however, shows a large gas engine made by H.
W. Caldwell & Son Company, Chicago, Ill., and used in the large
grain elevator of Taylor Brothers, at Cooper’s Point, Camden,
N.J.
This engine is rated at 100 horse power. It is operated by
carbureted air, consisting of a mixture of common air and gasoline
vapor. This provides a fuel which is not only invariable in
quality, but is quite inexpensive. In large quantities the gasoline
costs six cents per gallon in large cities, and as this engine is
operated by one gallon of 74 gravity gasoline per horse in ten
hours, it will be seen that the cost of fuel is very light compared
with the power yielded. As the engine is working at present it is
developing 62 horse power actual. The cylinder has a bore of 16
inches and the stroke is 24 inches. The crank shaft has a speed of
150 revolutions per minute. The gasoline is drawn directly from a
tank considerably lower than the engine, and its vapor is mingled
with the air without any special carbureting device. The governor
limits the number of charges admitted to the cylinder by
controlling an air gate over one of a pair of air tubes shown at
the rear of the engine. The air gate has two ports and allows air
to be drawn through either tube according to the action of the
governor.
In one tube there is a nozzle leading upward from a reservoir
containing less than a pint of gasoline, and when the port above
this tube is opened, the engine takes in an explosive charge. The
charges are ignited by an incandescent tube encased in a large tube
lined with asbestos.
Heretofore, one objection to large gas engines has been the use
of tube timers. In this engine they are entirely dispensed with.
Another objection to large gas engines has been the difficulty in
starting. In some cases, small auxiliary engines have been used for
this purpose. All this is obviated in this engine by the use of a
novel self-starter, which consists of a hand pump used for forcing
the charge into the cylinder and a detonator for exploding the
charge after it has been introduced. This device gives the engine
its first impulse, after which it continues to operate steadily
with its automatic gear.
As this engine requires no fireman or skilled engineer, and as
it uses cheap fuel which leaves no residue, it is apparent that
this engine has great advantages over the steam engine. The credit
of the invention of this engine is due to Mr. James A. Charter, who
has long been known in the gas engine business.
