[Gasification] Bisschop part 2

[Michael Redler]

Jeff,
   
  "...while the specific fuel consumption was high at 150 cubic feet of 
gas per horsepower hour (three times that of the Otto and Langen), the very 
small power rating still allowed a low operating cost."
   
  I'm struggling a little with this. Couldn't you just have a smaller (1/3) Otto or Langen engine?
   
  I'm not trying to be sarcastic when I say that I'm missing something here. Can you please elaborate?
   
  Mike
  

Jeff Davis <jeff0124 at velocity.net> wrote:
  Dear List,

More info about the Bisschop engine.

from “Internal Fire”
by Lyle Cummins

The most successful non-compression gas engine ever built was a “rough and 
ready” creation by the Parisian, Alexis de Bisschop. This small, 
single-acting motor cost little to buy and gave reliable service. The 
Bisschop engine arrived on the market three years after the Otto and Langen 
engine had all but driven off other non-compression makes. Nevertheless, it 
survived and proliferated because it supplied a need at the lower end of the 
power spectrum. The more popular models were of one-third horsepower or less, 
and while the specific fuel consumption was high at 150 cubic feet of gas per 
horsepower hour (three times that of the Otto and Langen), the very small 
power rating still allowed a low operating cost. A 
“one-manpower” (one-twelfth horsepower) engine consumed only eleven to twelve 
cubic feet of gas per hour. With illuminating gas selling at an average rate 
of $2.50 per 1,000 cubic feet in the major cities, the fuel cost per hour ran 
less than four cents. An engine of this size sold in Paris for about $110 in 
1878.


To be continued,

Jeff