LESSONS of
THE ROAD
The First Few Rides With a Kero- sene Burner,
By C. S. L.
It is safe to say that not a few opera- tors of steam carriages who use gasoline burners have had experience with fire, showing how dangerous gasoline is, espe- cially to beginners. Because of this dan- ger and the going out of the pilot light after running 10 or 1g miles I decided to change over to a kerosene burner. Naturally one feels a little nervous at first for fear something will go wrong. The pilot light should be lighted with a gaso- line torch, and when the pilot light tube is of a cherry red the main fre should be turned on for two or three seconds, then the valve should be closed. Repeat three or four times; then open the needle valve full, but previous to this pump up the auxiliary tank until the gauge reads §0 pounds, then pump the oil until the gauge reads 120 pounds. Do not allow the pressure to get below 100 pounds, for it is necessary to keep the air cushion, When the steam gets to 270 pounds the burner regulator shuts off the main fire, Once started the fuel pump on the engine takes care of the pressure.
The old system on my carriage was the air system, The first few times I was out T had to stop frequently to pump up the auxiliary tank by hand,as the gauge would ead as low as 60 pounds in a short time. I took out a needle valve on the main pipe line between the supply tank and the pump. The pipe entered the centre of the
- supply tank and then ran down to the
bottom inside. I found that when the
THE HORSELESS AGE
Vol. 15, No. a
Surv Ice at Lynn, Mass.
tank was full the pressure would stay up. but when the oil got below the centre it did not siphon well and I had to stop every three or four miles to pump up by hand. I remedied the trouble by connect- ing the pipe to the bottom of the tank. The two gatizes in the line to the nozzle should be cleaned before each trip, a mat- ter of a few minutes only. The cleaning steam of the pilot light should oecasional- ly be turned lightly so as to keep the hole in the end of the tube open. I find it works best to leave it open about half a turn so that the flame can be regulated. As I started to return home from one trip the pitot light was out. I stopped at a house about ten minutes, and soon after I started quite an explosion occurred in the burner, when the burner regulator opened and let the raw oil in, Flames shot out of the stack, so I stopped, shut off the oil, and ran about half a mile to
get beyond the houses before 1 attempted to straighten matters.
T took out the pilot tube and found it filled with dirt. As the hole in the end of the tube is about one hundredth (01) of an inch in diameter it takes very fittle to stop it up. If the main fire: has been shut off a while and the needle valve is closed it is best to turn on the oil as when starting, also to see if the main coil on either side of the pilot tube is of a cherry red color. I pumped the pilot light tank to 40 pounds. I can go a third farther on a gallon of kerosene, and I do not haye the fear of fire that I did with the tubular gasoline burner. The great dan- ger lies in a burner that can be flooded.
When I had the by-pass regulator set to 135 pounds the burner had a loud whis- tle which was annoying. The maker rec- ommended to put a dozen screws inside. T put some in one side, but I doubt it
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