The moonshine thread got me thinking. Remember the old WWII spy movies
where the French resistance was driving around in old Citrons with a cooker
on the back bumper. They threw some wood in and it produced something that
the car could run on.

How the heck did that work?

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

In article 5otdg.10348$Ce1.9822@dukeread01,
"Glenn Ashmore" wrote:

The moonshine thread got me thinking. Remember the old WWII spy movies
where the French resistance was driving around in old Citrons with a cooker
on the back bumper. They threw some wood in and it produced something that
the car could run on.

How the heck did that work?

I'd guess it was a (more or less) portable methanol "factory". But do be
aware that's exactly what my input is: A guess.

--
Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd for more info

On Thu, 25 May 2006 22:05:54 -0400, "Glenn Ashmore"
wrote:

The moonshine thread got me thinking. Remember the old WWII spy movies
where the French resistance was driving around in old Citrons with a cooker
on the back bumper. They threw some wood in and it produced something that
the car could run on.

How the heck did that work?

Google gasogen. The engine runs on the smoke (well not fully burned
fuel in the smoke) from the barely smoldering burning of the wood.

Glenn Ashmore wrote:
Remember the old WWII spy movies
where the French resistance was driving around in old Citrons with a cooker
on the back bumper. They threw some wood in and it produced something that
the car could run on.

How the heck did that work?

Producer gas.


http://www.green-trust.org/woodgas.htm

Kevin Gallimore

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Glenn Ashmore wrote:

The moonshine thread got me thinking. Remember the old WWII spy movies
where the French resistance was driving around in old Citrons with a cooker
on the back bumper. They threw some wood in and it produced something that
the car could run on.

How the heck did that work?

Not eggsackly an answer, but...

I remember from my childhood seeing pictures of French buses during WWII
with big sausage like gas bags on their tops stretching the length of
their roofs. The bags held low pressure methane produced from manure.
The bus engines ran on that gas.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
"Life is like a sewer -- what you get out of it depends on what you put
into it."

Gazogene

Keven got it. It's wood gas. It's the same process as
charcoal-making. When making wood gas, charcoal is the by-product.
When making charcoal, wood gas is the by-product. The key to using
wood gas as an automotive fuel seems to be to filter it properly. I
would be afraid that I might tear up my engine, because of imperfect
filtering.

The engine was running on carbon monoxide, product of partial
combustion of wood.

i

On Thu, 25 May 2006 22:05:54 -0400, Glenn Ashmore wrote:
The moonshine thread got me thinking. Remember the old WWII spy movies
where the French resistance was driving around in old Citrons with a cooker
on the back bumper. They threw some wood in and it produced something that
the car could run on.

How the heck did that work?

On Thu, 25 May 2006 22:40:01 -0400, the renowned Jeff Wisnia
wrote:

Glenn Ashmore wrote:

The moonshine thread got me thinking. Remember the old WWII spy movies
where the French resistance was driving around in old Citrons with a cooker
on the back bumper. They threw some wood in and it produced something that
the car could run on.

How the heck did that work?

Not eggsackly an answer, but...

I remember from my childhood seeing pictures of French buses during WWII
with big sausage like gas bags on their tops stretching the length of
their roofs. The bags held low pressure methane produced from manure.
The bus engines ran on that gas.

Jeff

I saw buses like that only about 15 years ago in Eastern Europe.
Northern Romania (Moldavia), I think. Big rubber(?) bags on top of the
bus, presumably filled with low-pressure natural gas.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

Don't know about you, but I run FROM it.
JR
Dweller in the cellar

Jeff Wisnia wrote:
The bags held low pressure methane produced from manure.
The bus engines ran on that gas.

Jeff



--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth
If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes
Doubt yourself, and the real world will eat you alive
The world doesn't revolve around you, it revolves around me
No skeletons in the closet; just decomposing corpses
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dependence is Vulnerability:
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Open the Pod Bay Doors please, Hal"
"I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.."

Don Bruder writes:

I'd guess it was a (more or less) portable methanol "factory". But do be
aware that's exactly what my input is: A guess.

The principle is pyrolysis, not fermentation.

On Thu, 25 May 2006 22:40:01 -0400, Jeff Wisnia
wrote:


Not eggsackly an answer, but...

I remember from my childhood seeing pictures of French buses during WWII
with big sausage like gas bags on their tops stretching the length of
their roofs. The bags held low pressure methane produced from manure.
The bus engines ran on that gas.

Jeff

How long is a French bus? I didn't think French politicians were
that tall...

On Thu, 25 May 2006 22:05:54 -0400, "Glenn Ashmore"
wrote:

The moonshine thread got me thinking. Remember the old WWII spy movies
where the French resistance was driving around in old Citrons with a cooker
on the back bumper. They threw some wood in and it produced something that
the car could run on.

How the heck did that work?


google "wood gas", which is still in use in many places to day.

Survivalists know a fair amount about the technology...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas

http://www.windward.org/notes/notes63/wal63_b.htm

http://journeytoforever.org/at_woodfire.html

Need more?

Gunner


"The importance of morality is that people behave themselves even if
nobody's watching. There are not enough cops and laws to replace
personal morality as a means to produce a civilized society. Indeed,
the police and criminal justice system are the last desperate line of
defense for a civilized society. Unfortunately, too many of us see
police, laws and the criminal justice system as society's first line
of defense." --Walter Williams

In article 5otdg.10348$Ce1.9822@dukeread01,
"Glenn Ashmore" wrote:

The moonshine thread got me thinking. Remember the old WWII spy movies
where the French resistance was driving around in old Citrons with a cooker
on the back bumper. They threw some wood in and it produced something that
the car could run on.

How the heck did that work?

Google for a poster named Alan Connor on misc.survivalism. His posts
will give you all the information you'll ever need on wood gas-- to
either enable you to live a lifetime in poverty or just be dead, one of
those.

But the Amazons who defend his digs might make the effort worthwhile --
maybe.

OK, tongue out of cheek now.

--
Bring back, Oh bring back
Oh, bring back that old continuity.
Bring back, oh, bring back
Oh, bring back Clerk Maxwell to me.

Producer gas, see:
http://www.lindsaybks.com/bks/producer/index.html

Stan

MikeMandaville wrote:
Keven got it. It's wood gas. It's the same process as
charcoal-making. When making wood gas, charcoal is the by-product.
When making charcoal, wood gas is the by-product. The key to using
wood gas as an automotive fuel seems to be to filter it properly. I
would be afraid that I might tear up my engine, because of imperfect
filtering.



I remember in an old ( 1955?)popular mechanics mag, someone had a
gasoline engine running on powdered coal, probably not very long though.

John

On Fri, 26 May 2006 14:29:02 -0400, john
wrote:



MikeMandaville wrote:
Keven got it. It's wood gas. It's the same process as
charcoal-making. When making wood gas, charcoal is the by-product.
When making charcoal, wood gas is the by-product. The key to using
wood gas as an automotive fuel seems to be to filter it properly. I
would be afraid that I might tear up my engine, because of imperfect
filtering.



I remember in an old ( 1955?)popular mechanics mag, someone had a
gasoline engine running on powdered coal, probably not very long though.

John

Which reminds me of the verious German attempts at the turn of the
19th century to develop motors that would run on gun powder.

Gunner

"If thy pride is sorely vexed when others disparage your offering, be
as lamb's wool is to cold rain and the Gore-tex of Odin's raiment
is to gull**** in the gale, for thy angst shall vex them not at
all. Yea, they shall scorn thee all the more. Rejoice in
sharing what you have to share without expectation of adoration,
knowing that sharing your treasure does not diminish your treasure
but enriches it."

- Onni 1:33

"John Husvar" wrote in message
...
In article 5otdg.10348$Ce1.9822@dukeread01,
"Glenn Ashmore" wrote:

The moonshine thread got me thinking. Remember the old WWII spy movies
where the French resistance was driving around in old Citrons with a
cooker
on the back bumper. They threw some wood in and it produced something
that
the car could run on.

How the heck did that work?

Google for a poster named Alan Connor on misc.survivalism. His posts
will give you all the information you'll ever need on wood gas-- to
either enable you to live a lifetime in poverty or just be dead, one of
those.

But the Amazons who defend his digs might make the effort worthwhile --
maybe.

I have read several articles in Mother Earth News abut how to build a wood
gas generator to run a gas engine. Maybe some rainy day I will go through
the old magazines and look it up. ( I never throw anything away that I might
need sometime in the next century or two.) IIRC correctly the biggest
problem and the most intricate part of construction was the filters.

DJ

john wrote:
MikeMandaville wrote:
Keven got it. It's wood gas. It's the same process as
charcoal-making. When making wood gas, charcoal is the by-product.
When making charcoal, wood gas is the by-product. The key to using
wood gas as an automotive fuel seems to be to filter it properly. I
would be afraid that I might tear up my engine, because of imperfect
filtering.



I remember in an old ( 1955?)popular mechanics mag, someone had a
gasoline engine running on powdered coal, probably not very long though.

I remember reading an SF story many years ago in which the guns used on
a somewhat primitive planet used powdered coal and air as the
explosive.

Leon

"Leon" wrote in message
oups.com...

john wrote:
MikeMandaville wrote:
Keven got it. It's wood gas. It's the same process as
charcoal-making. When making wood gas, charcoal is the by-product.
When making charcoal, wood gas is the by-product. The key to using
wood gas as an automotive fuel seems to be to filter it properly. I
would be afraid that I might tear up my engine, because of imperfect
filtering.



I remember in an old ( 1955?)popular mechanics mag, someone had a
gasoline engine running on powdered coal, probably not very long though.

I remember reading an SF story many years ago in which the guns used on
a somewhat primitive planet used powdered coal and air as the
explosive.

Leon

You can have an explosion from just about any flammable powder mixed with
air. Years ago when I was a kid there was still an operating old water wheel
powered mill near my grandfathers farm. This was a real operating for
money/share of product type local mill not a not a yuppie tourist thing like
they have now. It was operated by one man (the miller) and his helper. The
farmers would bring their grain there to be ground into flour or feed. There
was an explosion there one day (about 1955) when some flour dust ignited.
they figured that a bearing on one of the belt pully's sized and through
some sparks. (Everything was powered by leather belts that transfers power
from the water wheel.) This mill had been there and in operation since the
early 1800, and was never rebuilt. My grandfather and a great, great uncle
(who was around 97-98 years old at the time) said it was the fourth time
they remembered it exploding. from reading it seems that explosions at mills
grinding flour were pretty common.

I remember that some of the coal mines I used to go by in the Ky/WVa/Va
border area years ago, used to wet down the coal to keep the dust down (from
exploding) and the creeks would be black from coal dust in the run-off. That
don't happen today.