p. 10 | MASUT-A NEW FUEL by T. A. W.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 13, 1898

MASUT—A NEW FUEL.

By T. A. W.

In the future we may be importing masut instead of exporting coal. Masut is a by-product in the distillation of raw petroleum. It is also manufactured from a cheap brown coal found in Saxony. There has been until recently great trouble in finding a furnace suitable for burning it. It is now blown by steam into a special furnace, on the principle of the Lucigen light, and used without difficulty. It is forty or fifty per cent. cheaper than coal, and is twenty per cent. better as a heat raiser. Steam can be got up quicker and kept at a higher pressure and more work be done by the machinery. From a naval point of view these are vitally important facts. No sign of a ship under full steam will be shown in the sky, for masut is a smokeless fuel. Russia and Italy are using it in their navies, and Germany has lately made some valuable experiments. At Kiel, Wilhelmshaven, and Danzig, are tanks from which it can be pumped into ships. Its specific gravity being so much less than that of coal, a ship’s buoyancy is greatly increased when the bunkers are filled with it. Heavier armor or cargoes can be carried. The heating capacity being greater, the ship can travel faster or further. It is yet to be learned what improvements the Germans have introduced into their furnaces, and what are the disadvantages of masut.—T. A. W. World.