Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-17
THE SMOKE PROBLEM
Will Be Solved by Fuel Gas, Accord
ing to Some Authorities.
WHAT BOSTON PEOPLE ARE DOING.
The Necessary Coal Much Cheaper in the
Pittsburg District.
RESULTS OF SOME THOROUGH TESTS

To abate three-fourths of the smok
nuisance in this city would be work o
comparative ease, according to excellent
authority. That Boston should lead Pitts
burg in the manufacture and sale of fue
gas is, perhaps, not surprising, seeing thai
necessity is the mother of invention anC
taking into consideration that coal is cheaI
in this city, always has been and that
the people have inherited prodigality in the
nse of fuel There is a fuel company in the
Hub that gives fuel gas at so cents per
Thousand cubic feet to those who use it in q
small way, at 10 cents to those who use half
million feet per month and at 30 cents to
those who use million feet per month.
The latter price is but so per cent more
than small consumers here pay for the nat
ural article flowing from the ground, and
has set some people to wondering why a
company is not formed for the manufacture
of fuel gas in this city. 1t is true there are
practical men who say the enterprise would
not pay, while other practical men say it will
and propose to make the gas for their own
use, but no effort so far seems to be making
to supply the public at large.
Practicsbfi,y of Smoke Consumption.
Some people still persist that smoke con-
sumption is impracticable but they have
not succeeded in proving that it is so and
some practical people say from actual ex-
perience that they have found it practicable
so that there is hope this city NAV not be
hopelessly thrown back to the filthy con-
dition of ten years ago. 1t is claimed that
owing to the cheapness of the best gas coal
in the world lying at our doors, fuel gas can
be made in this city at cents a
thousand, but should 1t cost three
tiGes that, 'twould still be economy
to use it both in private houses and
in factories, for in the latter the cost of
removing coal ashes is IN important matter
to be considered, while ut 10 cents per !, 900
an ordinary room can be heated BY means
of improved appliances at q cost of half O
of extra servant help and destruction of
furniture when raw bituminous coal is
used.
Coal for making gas can be had here for
81 ton, and it is the best in the world for
the purpose The producer furnaces make
it out of slack, but the Pittsburg Forge and
Iron Company find it cheaper to use the run
of the mine. Gas coal costs 81 time
as much in Boston as in this city, and as
the cost Of coal is very important item in
this connection, it requires TO argument to
prove that fuel gas can be made here very
cheaply. Now as to the facts.
There are comparatively few men who
know as much about gas making, theoretic-
ally and practically, as Superintendent
Robert Young, of the Allegheny Gas
Works. 1t is in the line of his business to
know, and he has spent the greater part of |
his life in the study of gas making, and has |
learned all that is known on both |
sides of the Atlantic having |
studied the methods in vogue in Europe |
The Transportation Feature
Now, Mr.. Young states that the cost of |
producer gas plants is not great, and that |
the only drawback to the manufacture of |
fuel gas is that it is not commercially profit |
able to transport it considerable distances, |
owing to the necessity of laying very large |
pipes. For instance, he saws, there is moth
ing to prevent natural gas from being trans
ported from Western Pennsylvania to New
Y ork City, but it would not pay, and, as
fuel gas has less heating
power than the natural article, the greater
volume required needs correspondingly
larger pipes for transportation.
1t has been said that Pittsburg can be
made a smokeless city, but that when the
object is accomplished it will no longer be
a manufacturing city. On this same subject
Mr.. Josiah Bounderby says: "First of all
you see our smoke. That's meat and drink
to us. It's the healthiest thing in the world
in all respects, and particularly for the
lungs If you are one of those who wish to
consume it, differ from you. We are not
going to wear the bottoms of our boilers out
my faster than We wear 'em out now for all
the humbugging sentiment in the country"
Most people appear to think that manu-
factured fuel gas making is a new thing, and
lew, comparatively, know that the project
was taken out of the realm of speculation
BY the proprietors of the Pitts
BURG Forge and Iron Company some
llne years ago. Having satisfied
themselves that the manufacture was a sue
,ess so far as glass melting was concerned,
he .proprietors of these works decided to
erect a producer plant, and their success is
encouraging. The secretary of
he company, 7. E. Richardson, states that
hey were getting along very we'll until the
lse OF natural gas was introduced.
Why Operations Were Postponed.
This, at the time of its introduction, they
ound cheaper than that they could make
md their plant lay idle until the price of
he natural article was run up, when it was
gain put into operation, and they now
make their own gas for all the finishing de- |
of the work, but use coal in the
'uddling furnaces. 1t has been stated that
PRODUCER gas can be made for cents per
housand cubic feet Mr.. Richardson re-
used to subscribe to this statement, and did
ot seem to wish to give the exact price of |
he product further than to state
hat it was cheaper than natural
as, at present price, and cheaper than raw
oal He seemed to think, however, with
ut being very explicit on the subject, that
oal was cheaper for pudding than fuel
as, as SO large volume of the latter was
equired
Mr. Richardson said that while this gas
ould be made out Of slack alone they found
preferable to use the run of the mine
Admitting that large volume of gas is
ecessary for pudding, Mr.. Young thought l
ne objection not insurmountable, as Smith
; Co. found producer gas profitable fuel for
ne melting of steel and this also requires )
Irge volume of gas.
Experiments in Behalf of Carnegie. i
1t has been announced that the Carnegie '
ombination will try the manufacture of
iel gas and the educated men who have
cen making experiments in its behalf ,
re sanguine that the gas can be produced 4
) less cost than raw coal ana at less than S
alf what natural gas now costs. In view I
all this the question naturally suggests !
self, why cannot this gas be made for con- y
lmption in thickly settled districts b
II household use? 1t is said that s
lch large manufacturing plant Q
ust have its own gas producer plant, but
by could not one plant be made to supply =,
veral squares in thickly built sections for y
omestic consumption? There is very lit :.
e smoke emitted in the process of making, d
little that it would not give offense. a
is 10 |