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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (April 2, 1916)
11 GASOLINE PRIGES TO OOOP IH YEAR Government Expert Analyzes Sources of Supply and Market Conditions. FURTHER RISES FORESEEN Fluctuation in Cost Will tnd Witli Cheaper Fuel, ' Manufactured From Crude Oil by Xew-Found Method. Cheer up, motorists! Gasoline prices will soon start on the downward scale, according' tp Doctor Rittman, the Government expert, who eight months ago, discovered a new method of getting- gasoline from crude oil. In a recent address before the Engi neers Club, of Dayton, O., Doctor Ritt man said: "Expenditures of gasoline are greater today than ever before. One thing that has knocked the bottom out of the gasoline market is falling off of Oklahoma crude oil. Less than a year ago Cushing field produced 300.000 barrels of crude oil, which analyzed from 25 per cent t,o 30 per cent of gaso line. In other words, 180,000 barrels per day. Now that source of supply has fallen off until It Is below one third that amount. "That means that despite this discov ery, which was brought out eight months ago, and is represented today by expenditures exceeding $8,000,000. and Is now being installed In 10 additional plants, with 20 more wanting It, but we simply cannot take care of them Jt means that despite this progress we cannot cope with the problem, and Jt will be some time before our curve catches up with the demand curve. o Tvro Crude Oils Same. ' N"o two crude oils are the same. As a matter of fact, two wells in the same oil field are different, and' one will contain more gasoline than the other. The average gasoline content of petro leums in America is below 12 per cent. By breaking processes we can bring that up to 60 per cent. In other words, five times what it was. "The term gasoline means nothing. It Is a commercial term which originally meant those constituents which in nat ural distillation boiled off below 150 degrees centigrade. That temperature has been successively raised until It is now about 173, and is going progres sively higher. That means that where a Pennsylvania oil 10 years ago pro duced, say 10 per cent of gasoline and that same oil If anything has de terlotated; that is, they are digging deeper in the bowels of the earth that came grade today is producing 25 per cent. "The heat containing oils, exempli fied by the Oklahoma oils, are also very variable for gasoline production. . . . Some of the oils as found in Texas, In the Hemble field, which has been opened up recently and Is producing. 100,000 barrels per day, contains virtually no gasoline, but contains kerosene to the extent of about 70 per cent. Califor nia oils and Mexican oils contain vir tually no gasoline. The average con tained in California oils for about 100. 000,000 gallons produced per annum is about "Vj per font. But we can pro duce gasoline from these oils by the 'cracking process.' Solution la Anticipated. "Now, then, can 'we look forward to the solution of this problem by ma terials such as alcohol and other com bustibles,. That is- not probable for a long time to come. Purely as a mat ter of cost, alcohol does not become a factor as a motor fuel until gasoline passes 40 cents per gallon. "If you figure the number of acres required for raising the corn and po tatoes to furnish alcohol for the in ternal combustion engines, you will find that we would use a good big part of the United States to do it. "There are today 2,500,000 automo biles, or say, 2.250,000. Figuring con servatively, estimated 25 horsepower each, we have the figures 60,000.000 horsepower. The combined horsepower of all the steam motives In America is less than 50 per cent of that. "We do not ordinarily realize that you figure 500 gallons per machine per annum. There is considerably more than 1,000,000.000 gallons right there. Then, our rough estimate is that for other purposes. Including export, we use 50 per cent as much as we do for the internal combustion engines. Electricity Use Suggested. "Another solution that is suggested is the use of electricity. But electricity as a means of carrying forward our automobiles is not the thing at pres ent, purely as a matter of cost. So we must wipe out alcohol and other com bustibles. "The mechanical engineer has done splendid things in hi3 line; namely, to construct engines to use heavier fuels. The chemical engineer method of solv ing it would be in making gasoline put of these kerosene, gas oils and other materials. Now how far is this a re ality today? I will answer by saying that it Is much more of a reality than ny of us realize. This very day there re 300.000 automobiles in the country that run on 'cracked gasoline' gaso line made frpm other materials, such as kerosene, gas oil, etc. "Now, how much gasoline can we hope to get by this method? On those Eastern crudes we should get from 70 to 80 per cent of the crude oil. On crude such as the Mexican, we should get 40 to 50 per cent. So you see we can hope to solve this gasoline prob lem by various 'cracking processes.' I do not wish to limit myself to the Bu reau of Mines processes. I am trying to speak broadly. There are hundreds of men working on this problem, hun dreds of intelligent men, and that means only one thing that there Is going to be a variety of solutions and processes. Lower Prices Foreseen. "Now then, a plant that would turn out 1000 barrels of gasoline a day would make just enough to take car of 20,000 automobiles, which is only five days supply, remember a big plant, so it seems. "But merely to make up the deficit in gasoline production which has oc curred since last July in the Oklahoma field alone, we will have to build 60 of those plants instead of our present 10, and we are going to be some time catching up with it. But once these operations come to be standardized, they will no longer engage the atten tion of those of us who have worked them out and who are familiar with them. "But the people will carry it further than we have ever hoped to carry it. That is why I say that synthetic gaso line will catch up with the demand in the next six months. You can look for higher prices before lower prices, but in the course of a year or so most certainly we will have an available supply of gasoline. We will catch up with the demand." Half-BUnote Interviews. Exchange. Married men seem glad to give half otinute Interviews, for it seems to be tieif ptljr opportunity to talk. b"" and we stand ready to prove every $ statement that we make about the l roe These statements are made after constant tests for three years under every possible condition. . The prestige of this concern, as well as the personal integrity of its mem bers, is at stake both are our guaranty that these statements are simple but astonishing facts. The Reo Distillate Adapter permits the use of distillate in Reo cars under a positive guaranty: 1st More miles per gallon more miles per hour. 2d Less carbon than with the use of easoline. 3d No complications of any kind. Any car with any device will run on distillate the use of distillate is not new, but only the Reo unless others are equipped with a Reo Distillate Adapter can use distillate without having carbon trouble. -And We Can tvlake Immediate Deliveries on Reos Distillate Adai ofer The long-superheated manifold of the Reo and the vapor automatically injected into the distillate are responsible for this remarkable achievement. This marks an epoch in motoring by radically reducing the cost of opera tion. The representatives of the daily papers checked back the following test and figures this is but one of the hundreds that have been made during the last three years many of these show far greater results: 17.1 miles on 1 callon gasoline at 18V?c 20.1 miles on 1 gallon distillate at Amount save on each irallon of fuel used. . . .10c Additional mileage earned by reason of greater power of distillate when properly vaporized per gallon, 3 miles. Prices Fours $875, Sixes $1250. Factory Subject to Change Without Notice Broadway at Couch St. JMOftllW'eSt: -AkUltO COo Portland, Oregon F. W. Vogler, President C M. Menzies. Salesmanager rpJsiS -"mmm 3t3s HOOD RIVE MMW!'WtirP' , fL-y -' f.MHordMW iouZt Pi It Means Just This for instance, suppose you start from Portland with 50 cents' worth of gasoline at the present prices and drive out the Columbia Highway until you are out of gas you'll be at or near Bonneville, 45 miles. Buy 50 cents' worth of distillate at 8lfe cents per gallon and before you- run out of fuel you will have been able to go to Hood River and Back to Portland about 130 miles. CAFt MAKESHARD RUN Chalmers Plows Over Califor . nia Sierras in Winter.. SNOW AND WATER ARE MET J. Ilirscb, Pacific Coast Manager, Describes Obstacles Overcome in Record Tests of Car's Vitality in Long Run. To plow through mud which reached the hubs; to ford streams where water reached half way up the radiator, and to cut through drifts of snow from eight to 10 feet deep was the exciting recent experience of J. Hirsch, Pacific Coast manager -of the Chalmers Motor Company, who has been spending few days in Portland. The trip was made two weeks ago as a test of the new Chalmers car, and it led through the Sierras in Cali fornia, practically to the Yosemite Park boundary line. The Chalmers was the first car to reach that point in the Sierras since- last September, and the trip was a remarkable demon stration of endurance. In describing the trip last week at the offices of the II. I Keats Auto Company, M"K Hirsch said: "I have driven cars for thousands of miles, but never before have I driven one under conditions so extremely difficult as on the trip just completed. To illustrate road conditions over the route we traveled, at one place it took us five hours to go 00 feet. Many places we had to shovel -snow from the road. "On every test, however, the sturdy Chalmers came out triumphant, aud oa the return trip it carried us straight through from Bowers" cave to San Francisco in 27 hours, completing what I regard as the most difficult motor ing trip ever undertaken in, California." The next Chalmers official to visit Portland will be the president of the company, Hugh Chalmers, who, accord ing to latest advices received by Harry L. Keats, of the H. L. Keats Auto Com pany will be ir the city on April 11. Mr. Chalmers is scheduled for an ad dress before the Chamber of Commerce during: his visit in Portland. Charles B. Harris, sales manager of the H. L. Keats Auto Company, re turned last week from a trip through the Willamette, Umpqua and Rogue River valleys, where he visited the Chalmers agencies now established as well as placing others. Mr. Harris' trip took him as far south as Medford. He says business conditions are much better in the territory and that the feeling1 is decidedly optimistic. At Medford the local agent had Just sold his last car and was sending an urgent order for more. At Roseburg, where Mr. Harris placed a new agency. a number of Inquiries for cars came in on the day that the agent received his demonstrator. Mr. Harris says it certainly looked like Chalmers Day in Roseburg on the day he was there. He will leave in a lew days to go over other Chalmers territory. CARS HAVE D UTEKEXT USES Buyers Advised to Consider What Is to Be Required of Auto. In considering the purchase of an automobile it is a good rule to figure out in advance all the prospective re quirements to be placed on the. car. Is the car to be used for business pur poses, for pleasure, for everyday trips around town, for touring or to meet different neel3? Then, the man who is about to invest in a car should consider the question of who is to drive it whether he is going to be the driver, his wife or other member of the family or a chauffeur. By putting these things down on paper and "striking an average," as it were, there ought to be no mistake in select ing the car best suited to perform the service which will be required. mmm sales lively ADVANCE IX PRICE DUE TO IX- CREASED PIIODCCXIOX COST. Portland Auto Dealers Are Advised to Anticipate Brisk Business Sweep Ins; Toward City. v The Northwest Auto Company, local distributors for the Marmon, Cole and Reo cars, had an important visitor last week in the person of H. B. Rector, Pa cific Coast representative of Nordyke & Marmon Co., makers of Marmon cars, who has just returned from a trip through the East where he went spe cially to consult with the company re garding the raise in price of the. Mar mon "34." He felt this question was of sufficient importance to make the trip East to discuss the matter and advises that the increase was an absolute necessity due to the increase in cost of raw material and the scarcity of skilled labor. It was a question of either reducing the quality of the Marmon "34" by the use of somewhat less expensive materials or increasing the list price of the car. While East Mr. Rector visited several principal agencies of the Marmon car and found that the raise in price has in no way curtailed the retail sale of the Marmon "34," which, he says, is convinc ing evidence of the great popularity of the car. He seemed particularly pleased to note-the recognition that the automo bile Industry is being given by business men of a high type such as bankers. Indications show that the automobile dealer is being looked upon with more favorable eyes and the automobile in dustry is being recognized every day as a more legitimate business, be reports. "This recognition is putting into the automobile industry a higher type of business man and the improvement in the personnel of the automobile dealer and his sales organization is imme diately noticeable," says Mr. Rector. "The automobile industry is most certainly securing its tjhare of the gen eral business improvement thVoughout the East and Judging from the condi tions now existing on the Pacific Coast, the automobile Industry out here will continue to feel the reflection of the excellent conditions now existing in the East arfd it is my opinion that the deal era in Pacific Coast cities should antici pate this business and be prepared to handle it in a manner that will tend to demand the recognition of the financial interests. "T'ie Nordyke & Marmon Co. ex pressed themselves as being more than pleased with their local representatives, the Northwest Auto Company, and are satisfied that their interests in this ter ritory are being well taken care of. "It might be encouraging to the au tomobile industry in Portland to know that Ban Francisco is already feeling the reflection of the Eastern conditions and it is a serious question with the dealers In every line to secure suf ficient cars to meet the retail demand. I feel that the present season or 1916 will even surpass the balmy dav8 ot 1911 and 1910." British control of HonRkonR is res'ilttn u In the elimination of many lare t!rmaa business houses which have had their head quarters for China trade In their colour there, A flxeit time, allowed at the begin ning ot hostilities for these concerns to liquidate all business, will soon expire. lea' Inir Teutonic commercial power but memory in the hinterland of this treat, Chinese port. Power Stability Service Economy $650 XSlK so. Motor F. O. B. PORTLAND A Simple Problem in Arithmetic Do you want to staxt out with the feeling that you can absolutely depend on the car under your hand ? ' Do you want to know that you have the power at your control to lift you over the hills and out of the roads that have no bottom ? . ; Do you want to know that the car you own has a name to maintain, that it is backed by a corporation of standing', that gives you service? Do you want to know hat you are getting all this at a price within, your means, a price that does not make your car an extravagance? Then what you want is a Chevrolet The Car of the Multitude. J. J. DeVAUX, Distributor Call for a Demonstration Fourteenth and Couch Main 6829 41 OWNERS OPERATE 1751 WHITE TRUCKS And their Choice is based on experience No White Truck has ever worn out in commercial service. Its life is indeterminate. It pays to expend a higher purchase price for a White Truck, which not only costs less for fuel and repairs, but also outlives two or three trucks of cheaper make O THE WHITE COMPANY, Cleveland PORTLAND Broadway and Oak Street Sr"" now own a total ot 41 Wltita Trucks US fr" mmmt 11 111 1 1111 11 1 1 1 "" iiii.i . -- - . i n i mi si i i.i urn i is ! ;