Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/245

 Putting Alcohol to Work on the Farm

The stuff that destroys brawn and brain prom- ises to be the inexhaustible fuel of the future

��PROMISING to be on land what our great fleet of new steel ships will be to England on the seas, the Ford farm tractor shown in the accompanying illustra- tion has been presented to the British

��cendency of machinery over manual labor. Besides the light weight and cheapness of the Ford tractor, its main characteristic is its ability to burn alcohol and kerosene with the same ease as gasoline. The supply

��Drivinqaxle

���The tractor which is run by alcohol. The motor is exactly similar to that used on the Ford automobile, except that it is larger and heavier. Kerosene can also be used as fuel

��government for use in raising England's crops during the coming season, even before a single one has been sold in this country. Shortly after America's entrance into the war, Mr. Ford cabled the complete specifi- cations to the British government and offered to build the parts for a thousand such tractors in a new plant in Cork, Ireland. Although this raised a storm of protest on the part of British agricultural machinery makers who were afraid that America would obtain a firm foothold in the British market, the plan is proceeding rapidly. It is expected that the simplicity and cheapness of the Ford Agrimotor will make it possible for this year's crop in England to be harvested more expedi- tiously than ever before, because of the as-

��of alcohol is as limitless and inexhaustible as the air and water, while the supply of gasoline and kerosene is growing smaller and smaller every year with no natural process of replacement that scientists can discover. Thus it may be that the havoc which alcohol has wrought in the past may be offset by the good it will accomplish when utilized as a fuel not only for farm tractors but for all forms of vehicles with internal-combustion engines. When that day dawns breweries will still be making alcohol but not for drink, and there will be motor cars in numbers beyond present belief. The motor used on the tractor is exactly similar to that used on the present Ford passenger automobile, except that it is considerably larger and heavier.

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