Guest
Related film: This recently-discovered, silent, WWII era German film shows various trucks which were modified so that they burned coal / anthracite, peat or wood to produce hydrogen and methane which could be burned instead of diesel fuel. The film shows the technical and (im)practical side of this type of operation, with coal for instance burning at 1200 degrees and producing a large amount of slag waste product. At 4:40, the film shows different types of gas generator powered trucks, including Imbert, Gustloff and Wisco wood chip, coal and peat burning models. The title card at 4:20 brags that “the development of generators is progressing in many ways“. At 4:53, a title card proclaims that wood should not have a moisture content above 25%. At 5:38, wood is chipped so that it can be used as a fuel source. At 5:47, the generator is fed, with charcoal placed at the bottom. At 7:06 after everything is sealed up, charcoal is poured into the generator shaft, the shut-off flap is opened and the fan is switched on. At 8:09, a switch is flipped and then the wood is lit using batting and newspapers. At 9:00, “Testing the gas for good combustibility.“ At 9:15 the gas engine is engaged. At 10:33, more wood is added to “refuel“. At 12:30, storage of wood chips on the roof of a bus is shown, and at 12:30 post-trip maintenance steps, rinsing the cooler, settling container, and centrifugal cleaner, etc. At 14:50 the starter fan, gas pumps and air-fuel mixer are cleaned on occasion. Here's the background on this fascinating film: during World War II, Germany faced a severe fuel shortage due to the Allied bombing of oil refineries and the disruption of oil imports. To address this shortage, the German government implemented a number of measures, including the use of alternative steam trucks were used to some extent, but they were not widely adopted due to their inefficiency and high maintenance costs. Instead, the German government focused on developing and promoting the use of wood gas as a fuel gas generators were used to convert wood into a gas that could be used as fuel for vehicles. These generators were relatively simple to construct and operate, and they could be powered by a variety of wood sources, including sawdust, wood chips, and even wood , the wood gas generators also had some limitations. They were not very efficient, and they produced a lot of pollution. Additionally, the wood gas generators required large amounts of wood, which was in short supply due to the , while the use of alternative fuels was an important part of Germany's efforts to address the fuel shortage during World War II, it was not sufficient to fully alleviate the problem. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example like: “01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.“ This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit
