Abstract
THE necessity imposed by the demands of war to make use of any available materials in order to eke out inadequate supplies of the usual commodities is frequently the means of bringing to practical use ideas and inventions which might otherwise languish for years. An example is the introduction in the Napoleonic era of the present method of making soap in consequence of France being cut off from the usual supplies of kelp. The use of powdered fuel in aero-engines may, owing to Germany having difficulty in getting adequate supplies of petrol, be one of the results of the present hostilities; that the Germans have been working in this direction is evidenced by patents covering the use of powdered fuel. Patent literature shows that two distinct methods of operation have been envisaged. One consists in mixing the fuel with air and introducing the mixture into the combustion chamber, thus following the cycle used in petrol engines. The other adopts Diesel practice in injecting the fuel directly into the combustion chamber, though obviously with a fuel in the form of a powder some important modifications at the injection stage would be necessary.
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Powdered Fuel: Progress and Prospects. Nature 144, 774–775 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144774a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144774a0