Norwich Bulletin Newspaper, December 23, 1916, Page 15

B Trying for Can Gasoline Be De- fined—Two Bureaus of the Government Are Trying for a Standardi- zation of Gasoline—The Problem. Declal Correspondence WASHyNATAQN. OTORISTS everyw 1 complaining. “The grade of f -gasoline that we are buying nowaday$ for our automo- " they say, “acts queerly in our ngines, What's the matter? We're »aying more for gasoline today than we ever pald before and we are get- ‘Ing a poorer product. How is that?* Two bureaus of the government are usy answering these questions and nany more like them, and trying to :ffect a remedy. The remedy, however, which s proposed—a federal stand- wrdization of gasoline—will not alto- fether quell the automohilists® com- Wil ¢ 10 have trouble, for s ’ld-fashioned engine was built to con- sume a light fuel oil. And the gasoline of today, as well as the gasoline of ‘he future, is not a light ofl. In fact, £ Sontains a large amount of the heavy sils. The new automobile models, in the {ace of the decreasing world supply of pure gasoline, are constructed to meet the situation and use heavier oils. The poor little model of a few 7ears ago, built before this condition | was generally recognized, must sputtcr slong, hissing and choking itself to eath. . Here s the situation as the bureau >f mines sees it: The demand for asoline the world over has steadily ncreased, due primarily to the in- creased use of the automobile. This sutomobile industry, remember, has ad a phenomenal growth; the mush- VAN H. MANNING, Director of bureau of mines. vom, springing up overnight, can hardly ‘e compared with ft. * * % “On January 1, 1916, says Director 7an H. Manning of this bureau, “there vere two and a quarter million auto- hobiles in use in the United States, %t 1s estimated by automobile manu- Bcturers that there will be in excess if three and a quarter million in use 1y January, 1917, and by January, 1918, here will be in excess of four and me-half milllon automobiles in use. these figures are in addition to the ncreased use of motor trucks, farm ractors, stationary gasoline engines, aotor boats, ete.” ‘What has been the result of this in- R UKAANG creased use of the automobile? The answer Is ouvious—a steadily increas- ing demand for gasoline. But what is the effect of this inoreased demand for gasolirc” \n attempt on the part of . :uake up for the decline of oline—rich crude oil in the largest source of supply—by lling a grade of gasoline which contains more of the heavy oils than formerly. Hence the automobilists’ complaint. ‘And now the point is reached where this varlable quality—gasoline—which first seems one thing and then turns out to be another, must he stamdard- ized, so that a basis may be provided for the consumer to know what he is getting when he spends his money. Dr. S. W. Stratton, the director of the bureau of standards, has appointed a committee, composed of the heads of the bureau’s laboratories, to determine if standardization be possible. Can gasoline be defined, he asks. If so, ke orders, go ahead and do it. And s0 the expirimentagwork is about to begin, with what Msults the future will dis close. The prgblem is not an easy one to handle. ¥Gasoline, being a distilled product, 18 not regulated offhand. It is indeed a question whether a stand- ard range can be established. Where to draw the line marked gasoline, and where to begin the line marked kero- sene or any of the other oils which the crude material gives up in the distilla- tion process, must be settled by care- ful experimentation. = * * The trade name, gasoline, covers a group of mixed oils; the scientific name, gasoline, must apply to an ofl with precise qualities. In establishing this scientific status the bureau of standards will test samples of different grades of gasoline in the laboratory for their chemical composition, density, flash point or boiling point, and in en- §ines for actual service condition. Aft- er these scientific tests the quality of gasoline will not be a vague character- istic; it will be a definite determina- tion, and upon it the final standardiza- tion will be based. How to make effective this standard, once it is-established, will be the next step. Secretary Redfleld has this mat- ter under consideration. The Retail Merchants’ Association of ‘Washington, D. C., which began thjs campaign for purity in gasoline, has stirred up an important matter. The facts concerning this most desirable fuel oil are coming before the public in greater quantity than ever before. The bureau of mines has done a vast amount of research in regard to the petroleum industry which will be of the utmost importance in any govern- ment action®to be undertaken on the subject. Mr. Manning, in an address before st’anda;rdizafi CaUDN Foiilus. .a sv A GASCOLINE DISTILLERY. 4 ' SHOOTING AN OIL WELL. the association on Octgber. 4, stated the content of these re: hes briefly. “According to the geological surve: he said, “our future supply of petro- leum is only sufiicient to last us from twenty-seven to thirty years at the present rate of consumption. This does not take into consideration any in- creasing demand as the years go by. In order to supply the fuel for future automobiles it will be necessary o make better use of our crude oil pro- duction in the future than we have in the past. “In discussing the various problems involved we must bear in mind that Wwhile the demand is steadily increas- ing the production of crude oil, which is the raw source of gasoline, is re- maining approximately stationary, if it has not been declining in the past year. “A year ago gasolene was selling at 11 cents a gallon and was a drug on the market, due to the tremendous pro: duction of crude produced by the Cush- ing fleld in Oklahoma. This produc- tion, however, has declined from over 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day to less than 60,000 barrels per day. The Cushing crude contains from 25 to 30 per cent gasoline.” The Cushing field, to which Mr. Man- ning referred, has been the’ greatest on . source of ol in the United States. It is situated in Oklahomd, in what is known tospetroleum technologists as the great mid-continent field. It is said that at least 3,500 separate wells have been drilled in the Cushing field alone. Dwelling for a moment on_ statistics, 1t might be interesting to state that the United States furnishes 66 per cent of the world’s supply of gasoline and that its crude oil contains the highest gaso- line content. Mexico supplies 8 per cent and Russia 16 per cent; these countries contribute the largest portion of foreign oils, but in both cases the gasoline content is low. Besides the mid-continent field, the United States has nine other major flelds. These are designated as the Ap- palachian, Lima-Indiana, Illinois, north 'exas, northwest Louisiana, Gulf and Colorado-Wyoming-California fields. In 1915, when the latest fizures were complled, these fields produced 281,000,- 000 barrels of crude oil out of the 425,- 000,000 barrels produced by the entire world. How to get the greatest amount of gasoline from this supply is the aim. Refiners have partially met this demand by introducinz three new ele- ments into the manufacture of gasoline. These are the increased use of crack- ing stills; the increase of the ‘“end oint” in regular distillation, and the ncreased development of ' so-called casing head gasoline. All of these methods incorporate more heavier oils in the product than formerly. * * * The process of the distillation of gas- oline has & number of technical points, which need explanation if the layman fs to understand the subject. Mr. Man- ning undertook this work of explana- tion in his recent address. “The end point is a term used in dis- tillation of gasoline” he said, fand is usually considered to be the tem- perature at which 95 per cent of the gasoline will distill off if distilled in a proper flask at the proper rate. The end point is important because it is a measure of the readiness of the gaso- line to vaporize, which is necessary and desirable information to have in selecting suitable fuel for gasoline en- gines. “The refiners have increased the end point of the gasoline of today, ang by the use of heavier oils for gasoline have been #ble to increuse the per- centage of gasoline obtainable from a given amount of crude oil. “Refiners are co-operating along an- other line to the same end, namely, to increase the amount of gasoline and at the same time to keep the price down to a reasonable basis, by means of gracking kerogenes and heavier oils, thereby converfing a certain proportion of the crude oil which was not for- A GASOLINE DISTILLING PLANT. merly utilized for that purpose into gasoltne. : “Last year there was produced by cracking processes approximately 2,- 000,000 barrels of gasoline. This year it fs estimated that there will be pro- duced more than 5,000,000 barrels of gasoline by cracking processes. This is all the more striking when it is con- sidered that these 5,000,000 barrels will be made from oils which in the past did not enter into the making of gasoline, and indicates the possibilities of the present production of crude oil to sup- ply the future requirements of the automobile. “For automobile engineers have fore- seen the difficulty that the old-fash- ioneq engines would have with these heavier fuels and have improved their engines and carburetors; and the re- finers, takifig advantage of the work of the automobile engineers, have gone ahead with their plans for increasing the use of the heavier oils in gasoline. * * * “Recently,” Mr. Manning continued, “owing to the remarkable development of the casing head gasoline industry— that is, obtaining gasoline from nat- ural gas—there has been obtained a product called blended gasoline, The casing head gasoline as derived from natural gas is too volatile to be used directly. It is therefore mixed with oil just a little lighter than kerosene but heavier than gasoline. It Is an im- portant addition to our fuel oil re- sources, the production amounting to approximately 5 per cent of the total production of gasoline this year.” The addition of these three methods explains the low grade of the fuel which dealers are nmow supplying and also explains some of the difficulties which people are having with their au- tomobile engines and carburetors. Looking to the future, scientists have been busy trying to devise plans for perpetuating the supply of gasoline. As Mr. Manning has sald, the supply bids fair to last out only thirty years more. Between now and a time thirty years distant, many ways will proba- bly be devised for producing new fuel supplies. Already the bureau has its eves fixed upon the oil shales in Colo- rado and Utah as a substitute source for a certaln amount of gasoline Field investigations of these oil-pro- @ucing shales are being carried on at present by the geological survey to And out their exact distribution, rich- ness and quantity. The bureau of mines js at work testing methods for the_utilization of the rock. The result of the investigation so far shows that these shale areas do constitute a la- tent petroleum supply, the gasoline estimated in billions of barrels. The survey reports that shales of no great- er ofl content have long been mined and distilled in Scotland. It has also been suggested that ben- zol might be used as a substitute for gasoline, in case the price of the latter product reaches prohibitive heights. Scientists have reason to believe that Germany is now using benzol exclu- sively for her motors. Indeed, auto- mobile owners of Europe have used it generally for some time. ® . Benzol is a by-product recovered in the manufacture of coke, and the United Stateas in 1915 produced about 14,000,000 gallons of“it. At present it is consumed in this country in the manu- facture of explosives, dves and chemi- cals, and it is not thought that it will be converted into a fuel for automo- bile engines, as the American car is not adjusted properly for its consumption. Furthermore, it sells for 20 cents a gallon; a price which almost equals that of gasoline at the present time. The bureau of mines has compiled a vast amount of information on this subject, which will be invaluable to the bureau of standards in its latest at- tempt at a standardization of gasoline, The information is also at the disposal of the general public. The bureau will shortly issue a set of specifications for the general supply committee of the government, which Mr. Manning says will be of interest td all users of gaso- line. The bureau also will soon pub= lish the results of its recent investiga- tion bearing on the quality of gaso- line sold in the open. market. Mr. Manning emphasizes that the bu- reau, in all of its efforts {o co-operate in the movement for a standardized gasoline, wishes to keep before the public the fact that no specifications should be drawn up which would ex- clude certain materials now being used satisfactorily in the distaillation for this would ' restrict the supply and automatically increase the price. Also, it is desirable that as much of the crude supply of the country should be utilized as is possiple. Mr. W. A. Williams, chlef gasoline technologist of the government, say: that the United States has been using the choice portion of her great ol sup- ply and practically selling the rest, which constitutees a greater percent- age, for a mere pittance to get it out of the way. “It is like eating the choice meat of a fowl and throwing the remainder away,” says Mr. ‘Willlams. “Such ex- travagance in regard to our oil supply should be remedied.” content of which can be conservatively hirty years is a very short timel National Research Council for Preparedness Has Been Appointed Organization of Men of International Repute Appointed by the Presi- dent to Assist in Putting This Country in a State of Preparedness—a Not- able List of Names— Their Work. beclal Correspondence ‘WASHINGTON, D. C., O quietly that it has hardly been noticed, an organization has been D formed which will revolutionize American preparedness and pro- uction. During the past summer the Ameri- an Academy of Sciences—an organiza- lon established soon after the close of he civil war for the promotion of pure stence—moved primarily by the condi- lon of national helplessness and by a EAR ADMIRAL DAVID W. TAYLOR, U. B, N, patriotic desire to remedy it—undertook the formation of a national research council, whose purpose is to assist in putting this country in a state of pre- paredness by the co-ordination and co- operation of all its scientific men and organizations. * * * 2 This suggestion met the approval of President Wilson, who last June re- quested the following men, with titles involving'an extended alphabet in cap- itals, to act upon the committee: George E. Hale, John J. Carty, L. H. Baeke- land, Michael L -Pupin, Edward G. Conklin, John M. Coulter, Gano Dunn, Simon Flexner, W. W. Keen, A. A. Michelson, Robert A. Milliken, Arthur A. Noyes, E. C. Pickering, T. W. Rith- ards, C. 'E. Skinner, C. R. Van_Hise, Victor C. Vaughan, Willlam C. Welch and W. R. Whitney, from civil life, and Admiral D. W. Taylor, Gen. William Crozier, Surgeon General Gorgas, Dr. W. H. Holmes, Van H. Manning, Charles H. Maryin, Lieut. Col. George O. Squier, 8. W. Stratton and Dr. Charles D. Walcott, from the govern- ment offices. This brings into co-operation for-scl- entific purposes representatives of the great centers of scientific investigation of the country; but it is their effort, acting through committees and sub- committees, to bring all persons and organizations into a union of action for American efficiency. These busy men are taking this big burden without pay or other compensa- tion direct or indirect, other than that satisfaction which comes from service well rendered to one’s country, * s oxx At the organization meeting Dr. Hale, the astronomer, was chosen chairman, and subsequently five com- mittees were appointed. One can read- 1ly appreciate the benefit to the coun- try at large In- having committees headed by such men as prof. A. A. Noyes, Dr. Simon Flexner and Prof. M. T. Bogart to deal with such live sub- jects as the nitric acld supply, pre- ventive medicine and synthetic and or- ganio chemistry, but it does not stop even at that, for those committees (theorists, do you call them?) will act in co-operation with the committee of physicians _and surgeons, with the American Chemical Company and simi- iar bodies. The organizing committee has recom- mended (1) the preparation of a na- tional inventory for research; (2) sug- gestion of certain important research problems for solution; (3) the promo- tion of close co-operation; (4) co- DR. S. W. STRATTON. operation and_support of educatiomal institutions; (5) co-operation with re- search foundations; (6) encouragement in co-operating laboratories of re- search, designed to strengthen the na- tional ‘defense and to make the coun- try independent of foreign sources of supply in event of war. These men are not mere theorists, and their plans are not dreams. They are the philosophers,.if one pleases 50 to call them, who not by magic, but by reason and thought attain the big things of history and nature which people must learn before the United States will be an efficient nation. They are men Of the class which made possible the marvelous prepara- tion of Germany for a war which it may lose, and for commerclal and in- dustrial successes tmequaled by any country which has not learned from the men who labor and think in co- operation for the common good. Tof. George F. Hale, the chairman, is one of the foremost astronomers of the world and is the director of the Mount Wilson observatory, California. Dr. John J. Carty, chief engineer for the American Telephone Company, found the phantom wire, designed the trans- continental telephone lines, and is now girdling the world with wireless tele- phone systems. Dr. L. H. Baekeland, born in Belgium, a chemist of high attainment, is an ad- vocate of a fixation plant for nitrogen. Prof. John M. Coulter of Princeton is a zoologist. Prof. Edward G. Conklin of the University of Chicago is eminent as a botanist. Gano Dunn is the head of a great civil engineering firm. Dr. Simon_ Flexner, pathologist, bac- teriologist, has by his research saved more lives for humanity than have been lost in the bloodiest battle of Eu- rope. Dr. Willlam H. Holmes, anthro- pologist, geologist, artist, philosopher, is at the head of the National Museum. Dr. W. W. Keen of Philadelphia is one of the foremost surgeons of the coun- try, a specialist on brain operationsf he is the president of the American Philosophical Soclety. Prof. A. A. Michelson of the Univer- sity of Chicago is one of the leading physicists of the country.” Prof. Robert A. Milliken of the same university is the well known experimental physicist. Massachusetts Institute of Technology is represented by Prof. Arthur A. Noyes, Harvard sends Prof. E. C. Pick- ering, the astronomer, and Prof. Theo- dore W. Richerds, the chemist; Colum- bia, Prof. Michael Pupin, the physicist. C. B. Skinner of Pittsburgh th director of the laboratory of the Wes inghouse company. Dr. C. R. Van Hise, the geologist, is president of the Uni- yersity of Wisconsin, and Dr. V. C. Vaughan, student of bacteriology and physiological chemistry, comes_from Ann Arbor. Dr. William R. Welch, president of the Johns Hopkins Medi- cal School, president of the Academy of Science, 15 one of the world authori- ties on pathology, and Dr. W. R. Whit- ney, a chemist, is the head of the lab- orafory of the general school. * * % Gen. Gorgas, surgeon general, U. 8. A, brings the co-operation of the entire medical service of the army. Gen. Crozler will have the aid of the metal- lurgists; Col. Squier is a specialist in radio-telegraphy, and is at the head of the army aeroplane service. Admiral Taylor, chief naval constructor, is one of the first mathematicians, and prob- ably the foremost authority on ship designing and the effect of wave mo- tions, 'he director of the bureau of mines, Mr. Van H. Manning; chief of the weather bureau; Charles F. vin, director of the bureau of stande ards, and Dr. Cherles D. Walcott, geolo- Eist, secretary of the Smithsonian In- stitution, complete the list. This organization, so beneficent in its conception, was created because these men saw a sad condition. They knew that this coumtry has been so prodigal of its natural resources and ungcientific in their development, that a reform had to come. They saw that Germany may be going down, but not without impressing upon the civilized world the splendor of the mobilization of its industrial resources to sustain her military power. It is not yet fully known to how great an extent this has been accomplished through the co-ordination of the ef- forts of her scientists—the men who investigated and experimenteq in the great industrial laboratories until they showed to producers of their nation the best way to turh out their products. Cut off by blockade from the mar- kets of the world, the Teutons have made the most of their own natu- ral resources; and their scientists, whom other nations—the United States am tham—in their ignorance have treated tkrantly, if not with con- tempt, have devised ways to meet the demants of the trying times. The man- ufacture of powder and explosives for this war réquires nitrates in almost un- limited quantities, and in its small area of farming lands Germany must have nitrates for the intensive farming dou- bly necessary now to produce food for her armies and her people. * * * While the United States has been sending great part of the coal con- sumed in steel making up in smoke, Germany has by the adoption of by- product ovens been eonserving all the gases and utilizing them for heating and lighting and for the manufacture of coal-tar products, dyes, benzol and nitrates. This, however, did not give nitrates enough for the war supply, even though the whole production was used for powder, leaving no_ nitrates for the land; that is why her 1915 crops were so light. The alarming situation was put up to her industrial scientists, and they were ordered to find nitrates or a sub- stitute. They knew there was plenty of nitrogen in the atmosphere—‘free as air’; ahd these practical German students' of the laboratory found a way of_extracting it. Fixation plants were erected under their direction, and successfully oper- ated. That is why the German crops of 1916 are plentiful, and why the am- munition makers have all the nitrates they need. Benzol is necessary in making high explosives such as nitro taluol and its, variants. Through the use of by- product ovens it has been supplied In abundance as the allies have learned to their cost on many battlefieids. Motor trucks have played their part in this the greatest conflict the world has known. Whence has Germany ob- tained her supply of gasoline? None can come from its colonies; none_can come from this country. Now the Rus- sian advance has cut off the supply from.Gallcian fields; and still the mo- tors are running. While the exact method by which benzol has beegamade to take the place of gasoline idot positively known, benzol is what they are using. Thus we have the illuminating con- trast, Germany taking nitrates out of the air, America letting benzol waste itself in the atmosphere, when the price of gasoline'is going up and the supply of oil-producing gasoline is going down. * * % But automobiles are not run upon gasoline alone; they must have tires, ‘which in llhll country and the lands of the allies are made of rubber. Ger- many has no means of procuring the raw article from abroad or at home. Where do they get their supplies? The Deutschland did not carry very many and many tons are used up in a ® The belief among well informed men in this country is that among the many surprises in the scientific world, to be made known when the war is over, will be the story of synthetic rubber. Ne- cessity may be the mother of inven- tion, but the German chemist-engin- eers have proved themselves to be ex- cellent foster mothers. The United States wants 800-ton sub- marines; but it cannot get them be- cause American builders do not know how to make heavy ofl-burning en- CHARLES R. VAN HIS gines ‘to drive them; but all nations have learned that the German engin- eers have solved the problem. Germany needs copper for cartridge cases, big and little; it is known that she has stripped the roofs of houses, palaces and cathedrals to obtain the metal, to her now more precious than all the gold which has found its way from the coffers of Europe to the melt- ing pots of the United States assay offices. * * % How the German industrial sclentists have done it no one here knows, but somehow they have found a way of eking out the limited amount of cop- per that the country has. German machine guns have not remained stlent. The enormous orders recently given by the allies to the United States copper companies show how great that metal is_in demand by belligerents. (- When the end of the war comes— what? Another contest will be on—one in which, since the prize will be money, the United States will be a .contestant. It will be for commercial supremacy; the best prepared country will have the biggest chance, and all nations that have not learned the one lesson of preparedness will fail.