Naphthalene locomotive

At the beginning of the twentieth century, steam locomotives continued to dominate the railways but alternatives were being considered.

The Schneider establishment consisted of two distinct areas that were connected to each other by a rail link running through a tunnel.

It was equipped with an automobile-derived internal combustion engine with four cylinders, a displacement of 12.3 L (750 in3) and a maximum power of 50 kW (67 hp).

The trials took place in April 1913 on a two-kilometre link between the Harfleur workshops and the Le Hoc range.

In regular use within the Schneider plant, the locomotive met expectations for traction but its maintenance proved to be very difficult.

A similar, but narrow-gauge, locomotive of 150 kW (200 hp) was built for a railway company in southern Algeria but it appears to have been scrapped after only a few years.

Wilson, of Birmingham Corporation Gas Works, using naphthalene fuel in a 10 hp (7.5 kW) motor boat engine.

A 1997 patent of Luis Cisneros Zazueta [1] claims: "The invention can be used for all type of four-cycle gasoline engines operating under the Jammes Otto thermodynamic cycle, which comprise a carburetor or a fuel injection system, the number of cylinders being unimportant.