, which he saw it doing.
He had found out that by means of the oil forming carbon constantly in
the furnace, the hydrogen of the steam was burned, and that it was a
fallacy to suppose that an equal quantity of heat was used in raising
steam, at a pressure of, say, 120 lb. to the square inch, as the
hydrogen was capable of developing when properly burned. There were,
however, conditions under which alone that combustion could take
place--one being that the heat of the chamber must be 3,700 deg., and that
carbon must be constantly formed.
Mr. Gumpel said with regard to the general application of electricity to
the propulsion of vessels as well as to railway trains, he believed that
many of those present would live to see electricity applied to that
purpose, because there were so many minds now applied to the problem,
that before long he had no doubt we should see coal burned in batteries,
as it was now burned in steam boilers. The utmost they could do, then,
would be about 50 per cent.
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