But increase in compression ratio is only one of the possibilities of improved gasolene economy. Although super-charged engines have been in use in the aircraft industry for a number of years, little has been done in super-charging the automotive engine, except for special purposes, A great deal of research has been done and is being done on super-charging in the automotive industry and there is a good chance that the future may see this development extensively followed. Investigations in laboratories indicate that under certain conditions supercharging will result in substantial fuel savings,
rom the same fuel consumption, i in haec increases in horsepower-hours Batis sumption, and in some With ten or twelve-octane number improvement in the fuel, it was possible almost to double the horsepower of an eight-cylinder engine by super-charging. Besides this large increase in power, the engine, super-charged, used fewer pounds of gasolene per brake horsepower-hour in the higher range of engine speeds than it did un super-charged.
Improved gasolene mileage, coupled with performance at least as great as that of today, is largely dependent upon the future development of anti-knock fuels. But the prospects for such improvement are bright. It has been amply demonstrated in the research laboratory that the automotive engine is fully capable of utilizing the best fuels the oil refiner can make available, and some amazing progress has been made by the petroleum industry in the development of super-fuels. While gasolene of 95 and 100 octane catings are not yet available at roadside service stations, such fuels are in wide use in the aircraft industry and gasolines above 100 octane faumber are under investigation in the labora-ory.
A corresponding gradual increase in the efficiency of the automotive engine likewise may be expected,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.