Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-07-16
TT COSTS TOO MUCH.
Erastus Wiman's Fuel SAVER Proves to be
n FniIure-1f VIII Do Where There IL
NJ. Ca NnnI t. ur~l

Erustus Wtmun's ruet ouver rrOves 10 DO
FaiIure-It VIII Do Where There il
No Gas and Coal IL High.
Natural gas won't be knocked out as local
fuel for manufacturers, just yet for while. A
person who has interested himselfi in the inven-
tion of Mr.. Erastus Wiman, which has been
announced as a saving on natural gas as fuel.
reports that a test of nearly two months, at
the Vesuvius Iron Works, of Moorhead Bros
& Co., at Sharpsburg, proves it to be failure.
He says heating furnace was remodeled for
the trial and when all was ready for work 1t
was discovered that the idea was only slight
deviation from previous expedient to burn in
ferior coal or slack. At the rear of the top Of
Sne was cn an as fnrcsd n rse
mace by means of a current of cold air through
a small pipe Each made the required heat for
a distance a little more than half way from the
end where it entered, but was almost entireiylo
before the other end was reached, and the re-
suit was that while the iron was properly heat
ed for rolling at one end of the furnace, that at
cent of what was required. He says that every
possible effort was made to overcome the diff
Guilty. but to no purpose, the furnace being torn
down and rebuilt five times without effecting
the object
The invention was then tried in the pudding
department, where, SO far as making uniform
heat was concerned, the result was much more
satisfactory; but the loss in effectiveness OF
fuel was greater than in either coal or gas In
the accomplishment of the same result. Two
pudding furnaces were each supplied with z
500 pounds of metal for five heats. The fur
mace supplied with the Wiman appliance was
in charge of George House and the one
using gas was worked by George Zimmerman
When the t days work of hve heats was
finished the was difference of IS pounds In
favor of tht urnace using gas.
The objet ons alleged were several. In the
first place re artificial bottom necessary in
any puddlHlg furnace must be renewed after
every days work with not less than 40 pounus
of scrap iron, the cost of which may be put at
5O cents, whereas in furnaces using coal or gas
a bottom sometimes lasts two weeks and even
longer. Then the fix of 500 pounds for hve
heats. estimated cost 81 so, would require at
least 100 pounds more, besides the loss OF iron
in the pudding process.
The experiment at the pudding furnace did
the end of the scale year,, when il was aban-
doned and gas connection resumed.
During the entire time the process was wit
messed by at least one-half of the iron manu-
manager of the pudding department of the
Warren, o., mill, where it is used in the pud-
ding department, watched it closely.
The heat from the Wiman patent process can
be properly supplied to pudding furnace
little more than four feet square. but In the
modern heating furnaces, which are nearly all
more than IA feet in length. interior measure
ment. the invention "is nowhere"
The experiment at the Vesuvius works is
said to have cost over So 900.
A DISPATCH reporter called at the Ale
gheny Office of Moorhead Bros. q Co. ..yester-
day. The Superintendent there confirmed the
report that the process had been abandoned.
But he said that it was not on account Of the
reason that they have found 1t to be more ex-
pensive than either coal or gas. He thought
it could be used successfully in mills where
there is no natural gas and coal is dear.