The record-union., 1893-05-13


of incineration; but there are many peo-
pie in the city who doubt the efficiency
or practicabiiity OF garbage burning fur
naces. To show that garbage cremation
Is not an untried experiment, the Record
has made an examination of a mass of re-
ports, letters and articles i'll engineering
and medical journals of the subject, and
gives III the following notes an account OF
the present knowledge of this important
matter.
a HUNDRED FURNACES.
1t will be seen that there are now nearly
one hundred furnaces which are burning
garbage daily with entire satisfaction to
the cities in which they are used, which
cannot be said of any other manner of
disposing of the matter. When hogs are
fed on swiil they are pretty sure to be-
come afflicted with trichinosis, as has
been shown by the Massachusetts State
dumped at sea, the neighboring beaches
are frequently ornamented with decayed
fruit, ancient vegetables and deceased
animals, until the residents rise in their
wrath and force the authorities having
the dumping in charge to use more care.
The Improvement lasts but short time,
however, and then the shores again re-
sumo their foul condition.
ABOUT THAT DUMP"
A method of disposing of the refuse of
towns which finds much favor i'll this
country is to dump it on low land or be-
hind bulkheads along water front, New
y ork using about Il per cent of the total
quantity i'll that city for this purpose.
Many other cities use all their ashes and
street sweepIngs for filling, but dispose
OF the swil in some other manner. In
England such practice is strongly con-
demned, unless all organic matter, such
moved, since the land thus formed is
fairly certain to cause diseases of some
sort if built upon. On this question the
English Public Health Amendment Act
of 1890 reads as follows: at shall not be
lawful to erect new building on any
ground which has been filled up with
any matter impregnated with focal ami
NAL or vegetable matter, or upon which
any such matter has been deposited, un-
less and until such matter shall have
been properly removed by excavation or
otherwise, or shall have been rendered or
have become innocuous. Every person
who does or causes or willfully permits
to be done any act in contravention of
this section shall for every such offense
be liable to penalty not exceeding 95
and daily penalty not exceeding forty
shillings." Such legislation is in advance
of anything in this country. 1t indicates
English sanitarians concerning the ma
ture Of land formed by dumped refuse,
and shows how carefully every particle
of animal or vegetable matter should be
kept out of the material used for such
filling.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE ABROAD.
In order to give anything like COM
prehensive statement of the present status
OF garbage cremation, description of a
number of English furnaces will be nee
essary, and, as the character of the refuse
in English and American cities differs
somewhat, some knowledge of the char
acter of this refuse is essential. In Lon
don it is composed of about 53 per cent. of
ashes. % per cent. of cinders, IA per cent
OF animal and vegetable refuse, and per
cent. of broken glass, old metal and rags.
In Manchester, England, where dry
closets are used, about 64 per cent. of the
waste domestic matter consists of ashes
and eXcreta, 30 per cent. of street sweep
ings and cinders, ! per cent. of dead ami
mails, tsh and vegetable wastes, old
metals and pottery. These are collected
from the houses, and about one-quarter
as much matter comes from slaughter
houses and markets, practically all Or
ganic.
IN NEW YORK.
In New York about 62 per cent. of the
refuse is ashes, L per cent. swill, "a per
cent. street sweepings, and per cent. ice
and snow. Numerous other towns could
be cited to show the difference betw cen
the refuse of one place and that of another,
but enough has been given to show that,
while the material Is made up of the same
parts everywhere, the proportion OF these
parts to the whole quantity varies con-
siderably. This variation makes a care
ful investigation of the character of the
r.eafrr .tf
fore planning the details of the furnaces.
Some early advocates of cremation neg
lected this important matter, and conse-
quenuy met with failure when their plans
were carried out. 1t is only natural that
this difference should exist, because
lere coal is cheap a larger proportion of
clnders and unburned fuel is to be ex-
pected. This is not always the case, the
most cinders in Glasgow, for instance.
occurring in the ashes from the poorer
classes. In summer the quantity of veg
etable refuse is larger and there are less
ashes and cinders. In England nearly all
refuse is burned in cities operating Gre
mators, while in this country only the
swill is cremated, as a rule, point of
considerable importance.
THE FIRST ATTEMPT.
Probably the first attempt to burn
refuse in a closed furnace was made at
Paddington, Eng, in 1870, by a firm OF
contractors. The experiment was a fail
ure on account of lack of draught for the
fires, which is one of the most fruitful
sources OF annoyance against which a
contractor has TO contend. Seven years
later two successful furnaces were de-
signed, one by II. Whitley, of the Health
Department of Manchester, and the other
by Alfred Fryer, of the firm of ManIove,
Alliott IL Fryer. Both types of furnace
have proved adequate for the purposes
for which they were designed.
THE DEsTRUCTORs IN USE AT MAN
CHESTER.
As a type of Whiley's ''destructor," the
furnaces used at Water street, Man
chester, may be used. There are twelve
OF them, arranged in blocks Of four each.
covered over with au iron roof and
reached by an inclined road, which leads
to platform level with their top. The
material burned consists of ashes. from
which the finest parts and the cinders
have been separated, the former to be
used in the pals of the dry closets used
in this city and the latter to be burned
under ordinary boilers. Each of the cells
is eight and one-half feet long, four and
one-Quarter feet wide and six and one
quarter feet high. The bottom slopes up
from the furnace door and consists of five
feet of fire bars and three feet of hearth
Beyond the hearth is the bridge wall,
two feet high, over which the products OF
combustion pass into descending fiue
leading to the central flue and the chim-
ney.
HOW IT IS MADE.
The furnace is made much higher than
most types, in order to keep the arch
from burning out. The refuse is dumped
into the middle of the furnace in the hot
test part of the fire without any attempt
at previous drying. In the most recent
Instructors built at Manchester the refuse