The record-union., 1893-05-13

|
fire bars, which require little skilled at
| tention. Without such improvements
care is essential to prevent the escape of
bad odors, and in Holt table has been
painted on the wall of each furnace to
show the exact time when each furnace
must be examined. The capacity of each
cell is about six tons of refuse of the kind
mentioned in twenty-four hours; where
swill is burned the capacity is probably a
little less. The ashes are used in making
mortar.
FRYER's DESIGN.
The type of destructor designed by AL
fred Fryer, of which nearly 800 cells are
now in use, differs from that Just de-
scribed in that the refuse is dried beforeit
reaches the flames. Each furnace con-
| slstS of a number of cells feet long,
feed wide and 81 feet high. The bottom
is inclined more than in the w Whiley fur
mace and consists of a CRATE five feet long
and hearth of fire brick four ieet long.
On one side of the furnace the upper end
OF the hearth is prolonged with a sleeper
slope under an opening for the admission
of the refuse from above and on the other
side there is passage through which the
products of combustion pass down to the
main ttue, a wall in the middle of the fur
mace dividing the feed hole from the
opening into the tlue.
i a somewhat larger opening, fitted with
| cover, Is provided over the middle of
one or more furnaces. through which in
| tected bedding, condemned meat and
similar bulky matter can be dropped into
the hottest part of the fire. The cells and
hues are lined with fire-brick and the
whole mass tied together with iron rods
Four cells built back to back form a rec
| tangular mass about IA feet wide, II feet
| high and "a feet long. A road is generally
! built, by means of which the refuse is
carried to a platform about three feet
| above the Instructors,
A SUCCESSFUL ENGLISH CREMAToR.
While in operation the feed openings in
| the top are kept filled with refuse which
slides forward Oh the sloping hearth and
is partly dried by the heat from the burn
ing mass farther down. 1t is occasionally
raked forward until it reaches the fire
CRATE, when everything combustible is
burned to a hard clinker, which is with
drawn from time to time through the
| furnace doors. Recently the City Engi-
neer of Liverpool, H. Percy Boulnois,
has introduced a number of improve
ments in the method of feeding the re-
| fuse into the furnaces, but as they have
no effect on the efficacy of the cremation,
they need not be described now.
UTILIZING THE GASES.
The hot gases are frequently passed
under boiler and generate steam to op-
crate the small engines needed about tie
! works. The chimney has to be quite
high in order to create the necessary
draught, from 120 to lSO feet being the
usual hight in England. The clinker is
removed about every two hours. 1t is
lifted from the fire bars, raised above the
burning cinders with suitable tools, and
raked out of the furnace with the other
thoroughly burned refuse The fire is
then spread evenly over the CRATE and
dry refuse raked forward from the back
until there is a thickness of about four
| inches over the CRATE. At intervals of
about twenty minutes another thin layer
is raked forward until clinker is formed,
which must be removed.
OPPOSITION.
The opposition which the Fryer de-
| structor met was very great. Many of
the earlier furnaces undoubtedly had
numerous defects, but these were as
nothing compared with the offense and
injury to health which are SO successfully
obviated by the rapid destruction of tons
of Objectionable matter which must, in
some way or other, be dealt with"
Formerly the vapors given off in the dry
ing and first stages of burning were
perceptible and the cause of just COM
plant, but means of preventing them
from escaping to the open air have been
discovered. These consist in driving air
and steam through the furnace, thereby
increasing the combustion, in conducting
the gases over troughs filled with water,
|
fire, the last method being the most sue
cessful.
CREMATING THE FUMES.
1t is generally accomplished by means
of a 'fume cremator," first designed by
Charles Jones of Ealing. 1t is merely an
arched furnace lined with fire. brick and
provided with number of ribs project
ing from the top, which defect the gases
from the main furnace on to a fire. The
device has proved very successful. In
this connection it may be of interest to
note that the Borough Chemist of Brad
ford passed the gases from the flue of a
Fryer cremator over a quantity OF alco-
hol, which absorbed certain portions
of the vapor so that the diluted mass was
not unlike Scotch whisky in taste and
smell.
Y OTHER STYLES OF WORKS.
There are a number of these furnaces
which present other points of interest
than their successful operation. At Lei
cester. plant consisting of six cells and
p fume cremator gives Off enough gases
to heat tubular boiler furnishing steam
to fourteen horsepower engine, which
drives mill to crush the clinker. The
works are only about fifteen feet from
schoolhouse and a mum ber of dwellings
are near at hand, but no complaints are
said to have been made. The chimney is
100 feet high. and the buildings are of
substantial character.
At Ealing, the solid matter in the sew
age is collected in the bottom of tanks
and then mixed with ashes. After the
mixture has stood for about twelve days
it is dry enough to be burned in the fur
naces, and in this way the sewage and
garbage questions are solved together.
The heat from the furnaces and fume
cremator is utilized under boiler which
supplies steam for an engine driving the
machinery of the sewage disposal works,
various pumps and mill for grinding
the clinker. This latter is employed in
making the foundations OF roads, Tor
mortar and for artificial paving slabs.
SoUTHAMPToN'S INTERESTING PLANT.
The most interesting plant for dispos-
ing of refuse in England is undou btedly
that at Southampton. The ashes and
garbage are burned in a Fryer destructor
and the heat given off by their combus-
ton generates steam for the air COM
pressors used in the sewage pumping
works. There are six cells in all, ar
ranged back to back. The products of
combustion pass through a 30-horse
power boiler II feet long and 81 feet in
diameter, or l2-horse power boiler, as
may be desired, and then up chimney
leo feet high and feet in diameter.
AIR coMPREssoRs.
The air compressors keep up pressure
OF seventy to eighty pounds per square
inch during the day and about thirty
pounds on Sundays and during the night.
The compressed air is conducted through
q five-inch pipe about a mile long to the
tanks where the sewage is purified by
chemicals. About ten tons of solids col
} lect every twenty-four hours in the bot