Propane to Power Railway Coach Air Conditioning Compressors.--C. G. CALLOW. (G~$, Vol. XIV, No. 2.) With the goal of eliminating from locomotive power, the power necessary for driving air conditioning equipment, thereby resulting in the possibility of a greater number of cars being handled at higher speed, the engineers of the Waukesha Motor Co. developed a mechanical compression system known as the Waukesha Ice-Engine. The unit designed is independently powered with a fully automatic internal combustion engine using propane as fuel, is compact, reliable, quiet, economical, and renders service regardless of car location, train movement or stand-by service. Some of the advantages of this fuel are: one hundred pounds of propane is the equivalent of IO,OOO lbs. of ice for air conditioning and a standard three-tank supply is enough for a run from Chicago to the Pacific Coast, and it has an octane rating of I25, permitting compression ratios as high as Io to I. The fuel is delivered to the engine as a dry gas, which reduces crankcase dilution and carbon deposits to a minimum. In developing this system the rules of the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Bureau of Explosives, and the Fire Underwriters Laboratories were adhered to. Having developed this independently powered air conditioning unit, the service was then extended to the use of the internal combustion engine for supplying a constant source of electrical energy to passenger cars without imposing any power load on the locomotive. This operates on the same approved propane fuel system. If a car is equipped with both the ice-engine and the engine generator units, both may be operated from a single fuel system, or each independently, as desired. In addition to these services the fuel is also being extensively used on some railway systems for cooking in dining, buffet, and snack car service as well as for refrigeration in dining and club cars.
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