there and shovel coal all the time, but human nature will assert itself presently and you feel like putting in four or five shovelsful and then sitting down.

These conditions have all to be met, that is, the superintendents of motive power have to meet them, and we firemen are required to fire these engines, and from the size of them these daysnineteen by twenty-four, twenty-six and twenty-eight, etc.-steam has to be made to fill the cylinders and we have to get that fire in there by human means. I have never seen and I don't expect I ever will see an automatic stoker that will put this coal on the white spots; the fireman must put it there, and he will put it there just exactly as you say for awhile, but he will get tired after awhile, and will commence putting in four or five shovelsful. The thing that we are trying to get at is a device that is going to keep the steam up the full length of the division and have the fireman able to walk home when he gets to the end. (Applause and laughter).

THE PRESIDENT: I think that this discussion has been valuable in showing that there is no antagonism between theory and practice when both the theory and practice are perfectly understood. Mr. Shepherd has indicated the value of an even fire; an even fire may be a thin fire. Some experiments along this line recently made at Purdue show that if the fire is as thin as three inches the full power of the locomotive can be developed and the whole process will go on satisfactorily.

MR. M. H. WICKHORST: Mr. President, this is a subject of the very greatest importance. Many of the railroad companies, the large systems, spend anywhere from a million to five million dollars a year for coal, and outside of the problem of the management of the men, I don't know a more important problem that the railways can deal with, and for that reason it does seem extremely unfortunate that the subject has to be curtailed the way it has been today. The amount of money involved being so great, it is certain that the subject deserves considerable attention from railroad officials, and considerable economy might perhaps be effected in some cases, but that economy depends upon the interest that can be obtained from the men who have to do the work of handling the engine and shoveling the coal, and I think Mr. Shepherd's lecture seems to show pretty clearly that railroads can afford to give some attention to educating their engineers and especially their firemen in the principles involved in the subject of combustion.

But what I want to speak about more particularly is the use of chemical apparatus for the purpose of actual, practical study of locomotives and locomotive fire-boxes. We have had for a year or so past a gas apparatus for the purpose of analyzing the front end or smoke box gases while the locomotive is on the road, making half a dozen, say six or eight or

ten analyses during the trip. There is a pipe extending into the smoke-box, and running right back into the car, and by means of a pump we suck the gases back and make the analysis.

As to what we have obtained, or have learned, for instance-not learned, but you might say, perhaps, we have proved definitely what we thought we knew.

I want to speak on the subject of narrow against wide fire-boxes. My study of the subject by means of the analyses of gases shows it is possible that with practically any grate surface that is being used on locomotives, you can get perfect combustion; that is, if the firing is given sufficient attention, it is possible to get perfect combustion with any kind of grates that we have; that is, your firebox can be made a perfect combustion apparatus. The effect of a wide grate is of course to produce a large opening, which in turn makes a less draft necessary.

Now, as to the great importance that has been given to the statement that oxygen must touch, Mr. Bement read a paper here about a year and a half ago in which he brought out the same thing. He explained that mixture is necessary; in other words, oxygen must touch. Now, what is the best way to accomplish that in actual service? The thing to be done in practice, it seems to me, is to shake the grates very frequently. I believe it is the ordinary practice to run perhaps thirty or forty miles without shaking the grates. What I say is to shake the grates every ten minutes; that is, not heavily, don't shake all the coal through, but shake them lightly to keep everything free and open.

MR. W. H. STOCKS (C., R. I. & P. Ry.): I would like to ask Mr. Fenn if in his practical experience with a light fire, he got the results that he got otherwise?

MR. FENN: Yes, there was no trouble to keep steam as long as I could stand the work of holding a light fire.

MR. STOCKS: Then Mr Shepherd's demonstrations here can be followed out; it is simply a question of the endurance of the man, as I understand it.

MR. FENN: Yes. Here is a point which is raised by the gentleman before Mr. Stocks, the shaking the grates every ten minutes. You will find in doing that that you will lose four-fifths of your coal. MR. STOCKS: Why?

MR. FENN Why? I can't make a technical definition of it, but it increases the number of holes through the fire, and it seems to me and my experience has been that the clinkers form faster by shaking the grates frequently than they do when shaken only to break up the clinkers that naturally form in the ordinary combustion.

MR. STOCKS: That was due to the quality of the coal.

MR. FENN: Yes.

MR. C. B. AULT: I would like to ask at about what temperature the oxygen

should be when it meets the other gases, or if it should be cold to give the best results.

MR. SHEPHERD: I have not made any tests upon this point myself, but I simply quote from a very noted German chemist in giving the burning temperature of carbon, the point at which carbon unites with oxygen, being a little above 900 degrees, hydrogen about 1,200 degrees and hydrocarbons at from about 940 to 1,230 degrees.

As to whether or not the temperature in the firebox is above those temperatures I might say it is; that in the combustion process, for example, in the process of uniting carbon and oxygen, heat is given out. That is the characteristic of the building-up process. There are possibly exceptions, but if I were going to characterize the two processes, the building-up process and the tearing down process, I would say that in the tearing-down process heat is used, whereas in the building up process heat is evolved. I will say further, I think we are not troubled as much in the locomotive practice with the low temperature, so far as the ignition is concerned, as we are with poor mixing of the hydrocarbons with the oxygen. And I might say further in explanation of a point that seems to have been made, that I am not here to discuss any particular kind of firing; that was not my point. I intended simply to discuss the principles involved in the processes of burning.

MR. MANCHESTER: I would like to ask a question. Are we gaining anything by baffling the movement of the gases out of the firebox? If the oxygen is not there, any amount of baffling is not going to give us any greater amount of heat out of the gases, isn't that right?

MR. SHEPHERD: I will say this, if it were not for the hydro-carbon gases being evolved from coal, brick arches, etc.,

would be a detriment, in my opinion, for the reason that with an arch it necessarily requires a greater draft to pull the same amount of gases through a firebox, for the simple reason you have to move them farther, and they don't move themselves, regardless of how light they may be, you have to pull them. It costs you a little more to pull the air through the firebox, if the arch is there. Now, when the gases are being pulled up and encircle the end of the arch, they are hot, intensely hot, they expand, their velocity increases and they dart around among each other, and it no doubt results in a better mixture. I would say that I would defend the brick arch, only for this reason, that it serves as a good mixer, it mixes these hydrocarbons and oxygen that otherwise might not be mixed.

MR. AULT: What I had reference to in my question was, is it better to have the air heated before it is brought onto the fire than to let it come in cold, that is, do you get better combustion?

MR. SHEPHERD: I understand what you mean now. I will answer that in this way. Do you remember in the burning of the hydrogen in the experiments that the hydrogen at the bottom of the bottle was cold, but when the match was brought up to the mouth heating the gases at that point, the explosion occurred, due, of course, to the quick burning throughout. It would have made no difference had the mixture in the bottle been as cold as the north pole, it would have eventually burned; it could not help it, because the heat that was produced in the burning of the first part heated up the next, and that the next; therefore if the mixture be complete in a fire-box, it will heat quickly enough throughout if sufficiently heated at one point, and no loss of fuel will occur.

E

OVERY day develops new news in the

Texas oil fields, says the International Railway Journal. Motive power men are everywhere deeply interested in its use as fuel, so are manufacturers, near and far. Even preparations are being made to export this product. The following details condense the main facts of interest concerning this wonderful field. Since the bringing in of the Lucas well on January 10 of this year the Beaumont oil field has furnished more novel and spectacular sights than any oil field on earth. The world will ultimately have to accept the fact that the greatest oil field on earth is here, and that it is destined to work a revolution in

the industrial arts. The influence of this new and vast storehouse of fuel is to play a most important part in the world's commerce and industries during the present century.

During the early days of the development of the Beaumont field the news that a "gusher" had come in set the people wild. A general rush was made for the livery stables, and within ten minutes every available rig in town would be on the road to Spindle Top Heights, including nearly all of the private vehicles. Those who could not get carriages or buggies went horseback (if they could secure horses), and as much of the town's population as could secure means

of town.

All this is changed now, and the bringing in of a new well is attended with no more excitement than the completion of a brick building. This is not due to any waning of interest in the field, but to the fact that gushers are now brought in on proved territory with much more certainty than a farmer may plant a crop and reap a harvest. Up to the end of October, eighty-five spouting wells had been brought in on Spindle Top. Each of these wells has been spouted at least once, and some of them many times, and the novelty has worn off.

Before the Beaumont oil field shall stand before the people as it really is, some changes must come about. First, paradoxical as it may seem, even the most conservative statements made about the field have done it harm. The producing capacity of a Beaumont gusher is so far in excess of anything previously known in this country that a most conservative statement of what a well will do is looked upon as an exaggeration by most men, who have not seen one of these wells spout. Yet it has been demonstrated by actual tests that there are wells in this field which will flow 100,000 barrels of oil within twenty-four hours, but when one of the Standard Oil Co's. most experienced representatives went to his superiors with a story of that kind he was believed to have gone wild along with the rest of Beaumont's population. But it now appears that he was in his right mind, his statement having been verified by tests.

Since the excitement of the boom days passed away and the newspapers outside of Texas have ceased to print from one to three columns daily about the Beaumont oil field, people of other states have, no doubt, wondered why it is being done here. The following resume of the developments is in no particular overdrawn:

Since January 10, 195 wells have been begun in this immediate locality. Eightyfive of these wells are now producers, twenty-seven have been abandoned and eighty-three are uncompleted.

Twenty-two miles of eight-inch pipe, sixty-two miles of six-inch, twentyeight miles of five-inch and seventeen miles of four-inch pipe line have been

line.

Tanks having a combined storage capacity of 1,500,000 barrels have been constructed, and tankage to the amount of 1,147,000 barrels is now under construction, which will give the field a storage capacity of 2,647,000 barrels when the tanks now under way shall have been completed.

The total shipments to date, according to the best information obtainable, is 1,200,000 barrels, and 800,000 barrels of oil is now held by the storage tanks of the various companies.

Three hundred and fifty tank cars, not including those of the Union Tank Line and the Waters-Pierce Oil Co., are now being used for the transportation of Beaumont oil.

Since the beginning of development in this field the number of men employed in the drilling of wells, the laying of pipe lines and the construction of tanks has averaged not less than 600. The average wages paid these men is $3.00 per day, many of them receiving as much as $250 per month. Thus it appears that more than $400,000 for labor alone has been paid out in the development of this fieid.

The pipe used in the drilling of the wells would, if placed end to end, extend for a distance of ninety miles. It cost not less than $600,000, and the pipe used in laying 129 miles of pipe line cost not less than $1,000,000.

In the construction of the derricks in this field 1,200,000 feet of lumber was used, the derricks costing, for labor and material, $20,000.

Santa Fe Oil Burners.

The sectional drawings of oil burning apparatus published herewith are reproduced from the Railroad Gazette and were furnished to that publication by Mr. T. Paxton, Master Mechanic of the G. C. & S. F. Ry.

The largest illustration shows the general arrangement of apparatus, but the arrangement of brick arches vary in different locomotives. In this drawing only two arches are shown, one against the flue sheet and the other under the door In some of the engines a third arch is placed across the box near the center and higher.

The drawings of two of the oil burners, the "Lundholm" and the "Booth," give an idea of the method of introducing the