Oil burner (engine)

The term is usually applied to a locomotive or ship engine that burns oil to heat water, to produce the steam which drives the pistons, or turbines, from which the power is derived.

[2][3] On 21 April 1868, the steam yacht Henrietta made a voyage down the river Clyde powered by an oil fired boiler designed and patented by a Mr Donald of George Miller & Co.[2][4] Donald's design used a jet of dry steam to spray oil into a furnace lined with fireproof bricks.

[4] During the late 19th century numerous burner designs were patented using combinations of steam, compressed air and injection pumps to spray oil into boiler furnaces.

[3][6] During the 1870s, the Imperial Russian Navy converted the ships of the Caspian fleet to oil burners starting with the Khivenets in 1874.

[6] Oil burners designed by Thomas Urquhart were fitted to the locomotives of the Gryazi-Tsaritsyn railway in southern Russia.

[13] American usage of oil burning steam locomotives peaked in 1945 when they were responsible for around 20% of all the fuel consumed (measured by energy content) during rail freight operations.

[14] After WW2, both oil and coal burning steam locomotives were replaced by more efficient diesel engines and had been almost entirely phased out of service by 1960.