From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Letter from Cities Service Oil Company regarding the stability of Koolmotor Alcohol Blend fuel.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 27a\4\ Scan116 | |
| Date | 12th May 1933 | |
| Copy of letter From: CITIES SERVICE OIL COMPANY LTD. LONDON W.C. 1 May 12th.1933 To: Messrs. Rolls Royce Ltd, DERBY Dear Sirs, Further to the interview which your Mr. Alvey kindly granted our Nottingham superintendent, Mr. J.{Mr Johnson W.M.} Southworth, yesterday, we should like to confirm that there is practically no possibility of the alcohol content in KOOLMOTOR ALCOHOL BLEND separating from the motor spirit. For your information, this is due to the fact that we are utilising completely dehydrated alcohol, the blend being further stabilised by the inclusion of an aromatic. There is thus no tendency for the alcohol to settle out even when the blend is chilled to -16/20°C. As a matter of fact, at normal temperatures, it is possible to introduce nearly one per cent of water before any separation of a small quantity of the alcohol will commence to take place. In general practice, it is, therefore interesting to note that a pint of water could be added to the tank of a motor car containing 12 gallons of Koolmotor Alcohol Blend without causing any serious trouble, whereas in the case of ordinary motor spirit such a procedure would undoubtedly result in bringing the car to a standstill through choked jets. As regards underground storage tanks, we always exercise special precautions on effecting the initial delivery, since occasionally we find a quantity of two or three gallons of water which has accumulated over a period in the bottom of a large tank, which, of course, we remove. The quantity of water which may subsequently arise through condensation is, of course, extremely minute and never sufficient to cause any signs of separation. Even were two or three gallons of water to form in this manner - which in actual practice we consider out of the question - this would not affect a quantity of, say, 500 gallons of our alcohol fuel in a large storage tank. However, our most convincing proof on this point is the fact that we have so far not encountered a single instance of separation occurring, although we have been distributing this grade to various road-side filling stations and commercial consumers for over twelve months. (Continued) | ||