Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-24

boilers, or of chimneys, to perform their
work The fires have to be urged to their
utmost capacity to keep up the requisfte
O great waste of coal, the custom be-
ing to put on as much fuel as the
furnace will hold. and then rake it out from
below when insufficiently, or not thoroughly,
burned, to make room for a fresh supply
above; the result being that the outer air gets
an amount of dense smoke that annoys the
public; while the proprietor of the establish
ment. paws for q large amount of fuel of
which he gets no benefit The same result
occurs from heedlessness of engineers and
flremen who, from Incidence or ignorance,
completely fill their furnaces with coal at
certain periods, and pay nofuTther attention
to their fires until the time comes to give
the furnace fresh charge of fuel; all chin-
neys where such practices obtain emit dense
smoke.
Continuing, the committee says: ''We
are of the opinion that the suppression of
smoke as nuisance is within the power of
those who own the stationary boilers and of
the men who have charge of Shem; and the
former have no right to subject their i'm
mediate neighbors or the public to the
damage to health and property caused by
their own inattention. They should act in
unison and exert their employees to do their
manifest duty"
Railway and Steamboat Offenders.
In speaking of the investigations regard
ing the suppression of smoke on railways
and steamboats,, the report states:
Every ting and nearly every locomotive
engine observed was belching forth great
volumes of intensely black smoke: the eX,
ceptions being on the Illinois Central
suburban trains. On inquiry it was found
that this company uses bituminous coal; put
the nuisance was, in their case, much less
than on other locomotives, owing to careful
firing. A number of tugs have steam jets In
their snoke-stacks which help to some eX-
tent; that careful firing is the best remedy
was demonstrated on the trips made. The
same tugs were very offensive before and
after the trips. The difficulties to be over
come on tugs and locomotives are greater
than in the case of stationary boilers.
One member of the committee took trip
on engine No. 90 of the Wisconsin Central
Railway from Chicago to Harlem: He was
accompanied by the inventor of the smoke
consuming device with which the engine
was fitted. He reported as follows:
The trip from Chicago to Harlem and re
turn was made without any visible smoke
issuing from the stack of the engine, except
once, when, upon the suggestion OF your eX-
aminer, the valves leading to the consumer
were closed whereupon dense volumes OF
black smoke instantly issued from the
stack,.to be just as quickly dispelled by
again opening the steam valves. Obser-
day. 0 and van another % tHp was vas made as
a passenger, unknown to anybody, to see if
the device would show equally good results,
and it was found to work just as perfectly
as when the writer rode on the engine.
There seems to be no excuse for so much
black smoke from locomotive engines in the
city of Chicago while there is such simple,
and efficient device within the
reach of all, and it would seem that the
adoption of this cannot be urged any too
especially as a considerable saving
of fuel is said to be effected by its use. The
same device is suited to tug furnaces.