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Laboratory and road tests showed methanol to be an effective octane booster. Adding 10% methanol to unleaded gasoline raised the Road octane 2-3 numbers. However, significant deterioration in driveability tests occurred because of methanol's “leaning” effect. The water sensitivity of methanol/gasoline requires a separate fuel distribution system. Fuel storage in a vehicle must be protected from water absorption. Corrosion and degradation problems occur in the vehicle fuel system where methanol/gasoline mixtures contact lead, magnesium, aluminum, and some plastics. Methanol burned more efficiently under lean conditions than gasoline. However, the cold start problems require a separate starting fuel. Methanol is not a useful fuel additive for existing unmodified cars. Methanol could be used effectively in special vehicles designed to handle the corrosion, water absorption, and vaporization characteristics.

Blends of up to 20% methanol in gasoline were evaluated in both engine dynamometer and controlled vehicle tests, and in a 50,000 mile road test. Performance comparisons between methanol blends and base gasolines were made in vehicle driveability and vapor lock tendency, engine deposits and wear, fuel economy, exhaust emissions, compatibility with fuel system materials, and phase stability of the blends. Vapor lock tests in six 1974 cars strongly suggested that the vapor lock tendency of methanol blends is greater than would be predicted for gasolines having the same volatility characteristics. Cold start and warm-up driveability of two 1974 cars at 70°F depreciated as methanol concentration increased in base fuels of three volatility levels. These driveability data were found to correlate well, at a given methanol concentration, with fuel volatility characteristics described by means of a new fuel vaporization pressure technique.

The various methods employed to measure detonation or fuel knock in an internal-combustion engine, such as the listening indicator, temperature and bouncing-pin, are discussed and the reasons all but the last cannot be employed to give satisfactory indications of the detonation tendencies of fuels are given. The bouncing-pin method, which is a combination of the indicator developed by the author and the apparatus designed by Dr. H. C. Dickinson at the Bureau of Standards, is illustrated and described. In this method the evolution of gas from an electrolytic cell containing sulphuric acid and distilled water measures the bouncing-pin fluctuations in a given period of time. The accuracy of this method of comparison is brought out in a table. The qualities that a standard fuel must possess are explained and the objections to a special gasoline are pointed out.

This paper reports on the thermal testing of METOP (METerological OPerational satellite) Payload Module Engineering Model, conducted in May/June 2001 at ESTEC’s Large Space Simulator (LSS). The paper describes the logic for the selection of the test configuration, the test phases and the performed test sequences. The test results are presented and the correlation results between predicted and measured temperatures are discussed.

The author states that the objects of the paper are to define and trace the development of the various processes of carburetion, and to offer such suggestions along these lines as may assist the investigator in developing motorboats, automobiles and self-contained unit motor cars for railway purposes. The surface carburetor is mentioned chiefly as of historic interest. In considering the jet carbureter the author discusses the proportion of gas desired, the effect of the varying inertia of the air and the liquid gasoline and the breaking up of the combustible needed. Following sections review the devices for using kerosene, such as gasoline jet carbureters to which heat is applied, devices of the fixed gas type, the introduction of combustible directly into the cylinder, forcing combustible directly upon a hot surface in the cylinder and devices which raise the combustible to the boiling point.

MEXICO achieved second place among the petroleum-producing nations of the world in 1918. This position will not soon be relinquished, judging from the study made by the author of the two general regions from which petroleum has thus far come. The Petroleum Commission of the Mexican Government has issued statistics covering the production by years since the industry started. It is confidently hoped that future production will continue, as indicated, to stop the gap, constantly increasing and critical, between production and consumption in the United States. A section of the paper is devoted to the export trade, especially with this country, which furnishes the nearest great market.

This paper provides a brief review of some of the more significant features of the new Massey-Ferguson MF 60 Backhoe Loader. The machine incorporates a new “load sensing” hydraulic system and a low noise cab. These features together with the basis for its structural design are reviewed.