PRODUCER GAS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 August 1940, Page 9

PRODUCER GAS

MELBOURNE EXPERIMENTS. Q A PROFESSOR’S EFFORTS. J "Don’t be afraid of the change!” ' That is the advice of Professor A. F. Burstall, Dean of the Faculty of En- ( gineering at Melbourne University, to ' car-owners who are contemplating a switch-over from petrol power to the gas producer plant. Professor Bur- 1 stall should know, because he has c spent three years directing experi- * merits on the charcoal gas system. The Australian Trade Commissioner 1 in New Zealand releases a talk by 1 Professor Burstall on this subject—a r l subject which is giving New Zealand ; motorists and transport operators ! more and more to think about. 1 “I have driven cars thousands of J miles on charcoal producer gas during 1 my spare time at weekends and holidays,” says Professor Burstall. “Don’t £ be afraid of the change! Once you ’ have started on your journey—after i a few minutes’ delay—it’s no more 1 trouble than driving a petrol vehicle t for the first hundred miles. Then you must fill up with charcoal and empty J the dust box. ‘ "Sometimes 1 have got myself as } black as a nigger doing this in a high ■ wind, but soon it will be done for 1 you at the garage, just as your petrol tank and radiator are filled now. "Those who use charcoal producer j gas will be helping the country by saving foreign exchange, helping themsolves by saving money on their fuel bill, because the fuel cost is only onethird that of petrol at the present time. They will continue to provide em- c ployment for the motor industry by keeping their cars on the road; be- i sides which they will still be able to f speed about the country on business s or pleasure almost as fast and as far c as they used to. "For instance no commercial trav- r eller worth his salt need be perturbed j by the petrol rationing (which, comes i into operation in Australia in Septem- < ber). If he is a country traveller he i can hitch a producer gas trailer to his t car, and if he is travelling in town or t suburbs you will soon see him with a t collapsible gas bag on the roof of his E saloon, filling up with coal gas from the town supply mains just as the c taxis did in London during the last t war. j "My advice to those who propose to j make their own jiroducers is—Don’t! tl Even if it finally appears to go well you will probably damage your engine or burn your belongings, or both. Road users must insist through their associations that proper persons in their district are made responsible for making, distributing and stocking charcoal of suitable quality. Suitable charcoal must be thoroughly burnt, uniform in size, and contain very little ash or dirt.” ]