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He filled up his time at every department of the trade, learning besides type-setting and proof-correcting to take the gas-engine to pieces and to clean it, to help to make ready "formes" on the machine, to mix inks, to clean rollers and to work at press, either as inker or puller.
Its peculiar blue flame struck him as singular in the extreme. It had, moreover, the property of burning a very long time without being replenished. A wick immersed in it was never consumed or even charred, though the heat produced was intense. "If I can't set up some kind of apparatus to distil that into gas-engine fuel, I'm no engineer, that's all," said Stern to himself.
I felt this so strongly that, for some time after the introduction of the gas-engine, I was very cautious in recommending those who consulted me to adopt it. I was afraid that the wear and tear would be excessive.
It reminds one of Farragut commanding a war ship, at the age of eleven. In 1826, at the age of twenty-three, he went to England to introduce a flame or gas-engine which he had invented. He remained there for eleven years, and then a fortunate chance won him for the United States.
In figs. 1 and 2 we gave drawings of two gas engines, which are typical examples of modern practice. Huge strides have been made in recent years in gas-engine work, as regards both workmanship and efficiency, so that to-day we have in the gas engine a machine whose mechanical efficiency compares favourably with that of any other power generator, and whose thermal efficiency is very much greater.
Zora regarded him curiously. "Why should you be happier if I took care of your money?" "I shouldn't spend it. I might meet a man who wanted to sell me a gas-engine." "But you needn't buy it." "These fellows are so persuasive, you see. At Rotterdam last year, a man made me buy a second-hand dentist's chair." "Are you a dentist?" asked Zora. "Lord, no!
The next thing was to get Chance started on the road to the Concho. He rolled down his sleeves and strolled to the doorway. A Mexican sat smoking and watching the road. Sundown stepped past him and began to tinker with the gas-engine. Chance stood watching him. Presently the gas-engine started with a cough and splutter.
Even amid the contrivances by which, in recent times, the other forces of nature have been subdued to the uses of man, there are only a few which rival the gas-engine in practical importance. With regard to the steam-engine itself, it is remarkable how little that is new has really been invented since the time of Watt and Woulfe.
Holland's boat, built in 1877, was the first to use a gas-engine as a propulsive medium, but it was not until the final adoption of the gas-engine for surface work, followed later by the internal-combustion gasoline-engine and the use of electric storage-battery for subsurface work, as well as the invention of the periscope and various other devices, that the submarine was developed to a present state of effectiveness, which sees it crossing the Atlantic from Germany, operating off our shores and returning to Germany without being obliged to put into port; which, also, sees it capable of navigating under water at a speed of from seven to nine knots, with torpedoes ready for use in the tubes and guns of effective caliber mounted on deck.
The first gas-engine which came into practical use was Lenoir's, invented about 1866, in which the mixture of gas and air drawn in for part of the stroke at atmospheric pressure was inflamed by the spark from an induction coil. This required a couple of cells of a strong Bunsen battery, was apt to miss fire, and used about 90 cubic feet of gas per horse power.
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