INDUSTRIAL ALCOHOL Denatured alcohol may be dis tilled from the various products of the farm, such as corn, potatoes, beets, sugar cane, and other starch and sugar-bearing grains or plants. It is simply the ordinary grain alco hol of commerce made unfit for use as a beverage. Prior to January 1, 1907, the tax of $2.07 on a gallon of 94 per cent alcohol precluded its use as a fuel for lighting, heating, and cooking. The regulations issued by the U. S. Internal Revenue Depart ment provide a formula for denatur ing grain or ethyl alcohol, so that it may now be freely sold in drug, hardware, and general stores through out the United States for industrial purposes.
In Germany each year about 78, 000,000 gallons of alcohol are produced from potatoes alone—about SO per cent of the entire alcohol production of the empire. The Germans are frugal and economical; their ap proval of this wonderful fuel dem onstrates its practical value for household uses. Special denatured alcohol is used in the manufacture of hundreds of articles, such as cel luloid, imitation leather, jewelry, watches, lacquers, pastes, varnishes, shoe polish, bronze, transparent soap, etc. But its greatest consumption will ultimately come from its use in lamps, cooking and heating stoves, and other household' utilities. Appli ances have been perfected for some time that give great satisfaction. Master minds, however, are working on this great problem, and improved devices are daily being placed on the market.
Lighting.—One of the most im portant uses for denatured alcohol is found in the lighting field. Its supe riority over kerosene and gasoline is self-evident. It gives a cool, clear, white light of unusual brilliancy, con sumes but a very small percentage of oxygen, is safe, gives off no odor or soot, and necessitates but little care. The wick never burns nor does it require trimming. The cost to op erate a household denatured alcohol lamp which, as certified by the elec trical testing laboratories, yields 45 candle power of light, and con sumes 1 gallon of alcohol in 381 hours, would be only cents per hour if alcohol cost 50 cents per gal Ion. This price is a fair one through
out the United States, though it will doubtless be lowered as the consump tion increases and new methods of manufacture are developed.
Alcohol lamps are constructed on the Bunsen burner principal, through which thd alcohol is vaporized, only 1 part of alcohol to g0 parts of air being thus consumed. The incandes cent mantle, used on alcohol lamps, transforms this light from the gas generated by the Bunsen burners into a beautiful white light not un like daylight. Lamps are now of fered for sale throughout this coun try in various styles—student and ta ble lamps, hand lamps, also inverted lights of as high as 300 candle power. These inverted lights are constructed to withstand wind, rain, and storm, and can be used for all outdoor as well as indoor purposes.
Stoves.—Cooking stoves (one, two, and three burners) are now in satis factory use. For summer cooking, in place of gas ranges or oil stoves, they present many advantages. There is absolutely no odor or smoke, the heat is concentrated at exactly the point desired, the flame is very hot, and it gives very little radiant heat; any thing that can be cooked by boiling, steaming, stewing, simmering, and frying can be cooked on an alcohol stove with the ordinary utensils found in a kitchen. Roasting and broiling can be done by the aid of special utensils for the purpose. The small portable ovens used on gas stoves may also be used on alcohol stoves. Ovens for bread making and roasting are promised shortly — in fact, a complete alcohol range. One experiment shows that 1 gallon of al cohol, costing 50 cents, was sufficient to cook 36 meals for two people dur ing 13 consecutive days at a cost of less than 4 cents a day. The best re sults in burning coal averaged 8 cents a day. The higher cost of coal is found in the waste of heat between meals when the stove is unused, yet burning coal. The low cost of alco hol comes from the fact that the in stant the cooking stops the cost stops.