In 1906, anticipating passage of the "free alcohol" bill, Henry Ford was quoted in many news stories praising the benefits of alcohol as an alternative fuel to gasoline. In this article Ford describes the benefits his tests have shown to horsepower, and says a "dynamo" was used to measure horsepower, not just a brake. I thought it an interesting "back to the future" story.
More than half the U.S. population reside on farms at this time:
Thanks Rob, I don't know if you ever followed some of the earlier threads on alcohol fuel, but I have always said it was politics at the end of the day that hand braked the use of ethanol back then and not the crazy idea of 'some' that the period engines would not run on it.
Interesting article.
For an interview with Henry Ford some years later on more recent experiments, go to this Forum post. Part way down is a link to the interview.
Tom,
Thank you for the link.
Kerry,
This article written a month later demonstrates that Henry Ford knew about by-product from Ethanol, and that he felt it would help break big business control of the oil industry (sound familiar?).