Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1896 — A New Fuel. [ARTICLE]

A New Fuel.

M. Paul d’Humy, a French naval officer, has originated a process for the solidification of petroleum fen: fuel purposes. From an account in the Progressive Age it appears that heavycommon oil has been converted into a solid block, as hard as coal, burning slowly, giving off an intense heat, and showing no signs of melting—a ton of such fuel representing thirty tons of coal, and occupying a space of but three cubic feet, as against the large space required for coal. M. d’Humy recently exhibited samples of the article and experimented with them. Among the samples were several of the solidified fuel and of low grade oils, and in addition to these there were samples of the same fuel in dry powder and paste, the petroleum powder and paste mixed together and forming a hard homogeneous mass, with a great specific gravity, and, when burnj£g. giving off a flame three times its own volume and a remarkable heat. Tests to determine the production of smoke or smell failed to indicate the presence of either of these.