Solene

Many a Wartime flyer lost his life because incendiary bullets set his gasoline tank afire. Many a peacetime flyer perishes in a crash from which he would have emerged with nothing but bruises had not his fuel burst into flame. A new fuel designed to stop such tragedies was demonstrated this week at New York University's Daniel Guggenheim School of Aeronautics by its inventor, a towering, beefy, Prussian-born chemist named Adolph Prussin. The fuel, called "Solene," is gasoline which has been turned into a solid.

Hard-bitten Round-the-World Flyer Clyde Pangborn fired tracer bullets into a pile of Solene, which looks like greasy brown sugar. The flaming missiles snuffed out. Big Mr. Prussin then thrust a burning torch within three (inches of the pile. The stuff did not catch fire until he touched the torch to it, and then only reluctantly, like a stick of damp wood.

The fuel was used to power a small, 3-h.p. test engine of one cylinder, running at 1,200 r.p.m. Heat conveyed from the exhaust vaporizes the Solene and it is then drawn directly into the combustion chamber. There is no carburetor. The exhaust is almost entirely clear, indicating nearly complete combustion. Although they have no test data to prove it, Solene's sponsors think it will mean fuel economy and increased flying range for airplanes. A wick lamp filled with it burned seven times as long as with kerosene;

Chemist Prussin has been tinkering with fuels for 16 years. Five years ago he went to the Guggenheim School with a solid fuel that ran a test engine--but the engine stopped after a few minutes. Nevertheless the Guggenheim officials were interested, and six months ago gave him facilities for further research. Now all he needs to make Solene is a big kettle, twelve minutes, two solidifying agents which he has decided to keep secret for a while.

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