are, 20 — Friday, Saly 28, 1969 - North Shore News New internal combustion motor runs without oxygen INTERNAL COMBUSTION engines can be made to run in the absence of air with a special chem- ical fuel, By JOEN MICHELL Contributing Writer Such engines could be of major importance: in ‘mine rescue opera- tions and firefighting, where a reduction-in oxygen may. cause underground motor vehicles and chainsaws to stop. . Researchers at York University, Toronto, have shown that a readily available, oxygen-containing chemical fuel will drive simple engines of. the chain-saw variety under ‘conditions where conven- tional fuels fail because of lack of oxygea in the air supply. The need for fuel that would work without air in an internal combustion engine -was identified by chemistry professor Huw Prit- chard when he read a news report on a fire in Toronto. The firefighters had been unable to effect a rescue when their chain- saws stopped while cutting holes through a roof, because a lack of oxygen was caused by the fire low. Ron Eveson, senior mines sescue - officer of the Ministry of Labor of Ontario, Sudbury, considers the development of an air-free engine to have great potential. “Diesel engine vehicles and machines are used extensively in underground operations, but they are useless when a fire breaks out,” says Eveson. For example, if there is a fire running along a conveyor belt, the firefighters have to cut the belt with a chainsaw. But chainsaw Options offered From page 19 move the Cutlass Calais Interna- tional Series into the upper eche- Ions of acceleration performance. The Cutlass Calais SL model has a new silver or dark gray lower ac- cent color for 1989.: Other new standard items are an illuminated visor vanity mirror for the passen- ger side, a soft-feel sport steering’ wheel, 14-inch Goodrich Touring T/A ‘tires, uplevel wheel covers and four-way adjustable driver’s seat. The bold Cutlass Calais Interna- tional Series is fortified with new ground effects stylings, monochromatic paint, tri-color emblems, and high-performance 16-inch wheels and tires. Inside, the cockpit is enhanced with a standard Driver Information System and leather covers for the delta-shaped steering wheel, the redesigned: gear shift handle, and the parking brake handle. ¥ . OICBC AND YOUR LOCAL POLICE. motors stop when the amount of oxygen in the air drops from its normal proportion of 21 per cent to below 17 per cent. *‘We use a diesel-engine- Operated foam machine to smother underground fires, but it is im- possible to use the machine in an oxygen-deficient atmospbere,’’ Eveson says. Experiments by graduate student Peter Clothier showed that an ox- would function like diesel fuel even when inert nitrogen gas is used in- Stead of air (thus depriving the engine of oxygen in the air). Clothier tried Professor Prit- chard’s idea on a lawn mower engine, odjusting the air intake so he could : witch the engine from air to nitrogen gas. Using DTBP in- stead of. gasoline, the engine con- tinued to run, although slower when the air was cut off and nitrogen used instead. “When running on DTBP and nitrogen, the internal temperature of the motor reached about 350°C, which was hot enough to cause the DTBP to explode like diesel fue!,”” Dr. Pritchard explained. Dr. Pritchard predicts that a _ diesel engine could be built that would run on ethylene oxide, a readily available Oxygen containing boitled gas. In that case, the engine could even operate under water, since it would not need to take in any gas from outside, either for oxygen or to aerate a liquid fuel. The engine could be sealed except for the ex- haust. In the meantime, DTBP looks like a good bet. It is stable and can be stored for twenty years without detezioration. So far, engine manufacturers have shown no interest in develop- ing motors specifically for air-free use. The market would be very small, even though many mine op- erators and fire departments might like to have such engines available. 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