File:An 8-horse-power gasoline logging locomotive, Scientific American, May 23, 1906, page 412.jpg

English: Gasoline mining locomotive entering a gallery, Scientific American, May 23, 1906, page 412.

GASOLINE LOCOMOTIVES;
BY OUR BERLIN CORRESPONDENT.
Locomotives driven by gasoline motors possess a number of special advantages which particularly adapt them for use on temporary forest and field railways, and mining railways. They are also useful as drill engines, in which connection they even prove preferable to electrical locomotives, dispensing as they do with the necessity of a special power station and current conducting lines. Steam operation is on the other hand quite impracticable in mines, and in the case of forest railways gives rise to the danger of fire, especially in dry weather, owing to the sparks flying about.

The construction of motor locomotives for benzine, alcohol, and gasoline operation has been developed by the Deutz Gasoline Motor Works, of Cologne, Deutz, Germany, to whose courtesy we are indebted for the accompanying photographs representing some typical plants. The general arrangement of these motor locomotives is as follows: A horizontal motor is mounted on a frame resting by means of springs on the running axles, the power of which motor is transmitted to these axles through the intermediary of gearing situated at the side or rear of the motor. In the case of mining and field railway locomotives, the fuel reservoir is inserted in the cooling water reservoir, both being located above the motor. In drill engines and motor cars for the operation of tramways, the water reservoir rests on the frame, while the fuel reservoir is situated above the motor, as in the case of mining and field railway locomotives. The various parts of the engine are protected against dust by means of a sheet-metal casing. Ignition is effected by a magneto 'operated by the engine. The power is transmitted to the running axles by means of a chain and sprocket wheel thrown in and out of gear by friction clutches. According to the conditions of the case, the locomotives are designed with one, two, or more transmissions in the driving gear, admitting of both forward and backward running at the speed produced by the latter. Single transmission locomotives are mainly used in mining plants, where only small gradients are generally to be dealt with at moderate speeds (about 3.75 miles per hour). For any higher speed on horizontal tracks or for the hauling of. trains over steeper gradients, the locomotive is fitted with a driving gear having two or more transmissions. The maximum speed of these locomotives is reduced either by using greater ratios of transmission or by acting on the governor. In order not to vitiate the air, the exhaust gases of mining locomotives are entirely condensed. These engines are designed for any outputs intermediary between 6 and 60 horse-power.

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