FLAME IN WATER

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4826, 25 March 1925, Page 1

FLAME IN WATER

NEW WAY OF RAISING STEAM.

DOUBLE FUEL. VALUE CLAIMED,

The invention of a new type of steam boiler by Mr Oscar Brunler, ol 48 Elgin Crescent, W., has led to the discovery that there lies in fuel, a hidden power hitherto unsuspected (says the “Daily Mail”).'

.Oil fuel is carburetter with air, anti the mixture is gently forced through a valve into a steel -container holding water. Here it is ignited, and an intensely hot flame, nearly 4000 degrees Fahrenheit, burins inside the water, converting it into steam. The mixture of air is so regulated that pure carbonic acid gas alone is generated as the product of combustion, and this, with the steam, passejs into a simple boiler on reservoir which supplies the steam engine. The boiler costs half the price of hn ordinary boiler, it is stated, and use? only half the amount of fuel for the same quantity of steam produced. FOR AGRICULTURE. By regulating the amount of air burned in the flame it is possible to produce nitric acid, and calcium nitrate has been produced on a works scale for agricultural fertilisers in this way. Most of the nitrogen trapped from the air at present is obtained with huge electric arc flames. Mr Brunler’s flame furnace has been submitted to thorough practical tests by well-known engineering firms. It has been found, as a result, of his experiments, that a given quantity of fuel gives out more heat qnits than the fuel, contains ! This points to the fact that the calorific value of fuels may be greater than that, calculated by present-day methods if they are burned and utilised in the new waj r . Further work is expected to show that we may have to revise our methods of fuel testing.