Charcoal Burner

David, these devices were a crude way of producing a flamable gas capable of powering (?) an internal combustion engine. I understand they were a small vertical chamber containing burning charcoal into which I think water was dripped. Not sure if this was part of the reaction to produce the gas or to control the burning of the charcoal to produce the gas. The burner part was connected to a sort of gas tight bag that stored the gas. This bag [on the car roof] was then connected onto the carby of the motor and I presume controlled by the normal carby butterfly valve.
I can just recall my grandparents with one just after the war when petrol was still scarce but was too young to understand how it worked.
The gas produced was referred to as water gas but this doesn't sound too scientific to me and I'm not sure of the how hydrocarbons are produced by burning charcoal and adding water. Possibly the slow fire produced enough heat to liberate combustible gases at a rate greater than could be consumed by the burning charcoal and collecting it in a bag enable the car motor to use it.
Good luck with your search

Ken

It's called producer gas, check out this site

http://members.tripod.com/~highforest/woodgas/woodfired.html

Yes it was a gas producer, unlike me

Many thanks to:

Ken for his reply

Notso for the terrific Link

And to Marilyn for not producing gas!

There is a Dodge Coronet at the Road Transport Hall of Fame in Alice Springs that has a charcoal burner attached. It was built by Kurt Johannsen a few years ago. Kurt was the chap who invented self-tracking road trains, amongst other things. He built a "better charcoal burner" than those going around at the time, getting much better mile per log than the usual burners. If you want a great read, "Son of the Red Centre" is a good place to start.

Andrew

David,

One of the Kilns that produced the charcoal still exists in excellent condition at Gembrook, Vic. There is information about the process there.

Try a Google search of Kurth Kiln.

There is also a group known as "Friends of Kurth Kiln" who maintain the grounds and the cottages.

Cheers,

Jim.

I remember being taught about these things in high school chemistry.
I understand that because of their simplicity, filtering of the gas was not one of their priorities, and the charcoal soot carried thru to the engine shortened its life somewhat.
Not sure that they would be welcomed on the streets these days, despite fuel costs, as they belched out lots of smoke, I'm told.
Gerry

Mr Howard would not like it as he would miss out on revenue

David.
How much detial do you want? The brief story is that wood is a hydrocarbon, if you look very closely at a burning log you will see that the wood is not burning but the flame is coming from a gas about 10 mm away from the wood. That gas is very similar to petrol vapor, what the gas producer does is heat the wood without igniting the gas then pipe the gas to the motor. If you want more detial I can help. Eric.