The evening times., 1896-03-20
Most Gratifying Results Of the
Garbage Burning Plant.
oREMAToRY els oDoRLEss
Made of Brick. Steel and Iron. the
Building Stands at the Foot OF South
Capito Street-visited by Thou
sands OF People. Daily-How the
Work Is Done.

-
ton, on slight scale. and now other
methods OF disposal have beer done away
with, and all the garbage collected I'D
the District is incincraaed, This averages
about fifty tons u day, which is less than
half the full capacity OF the plant.
The Commissioners, the health officer
and u numLcr of citfzens,have visited the
plant, and after tours OF inspection de-
cided that it is in every way model one.
Health OFFICER woodward announced his
belief that it was rbe most perfect gar
Gage crcmatory in this country, and he
thought in the world.
3. P. Bailey. manager for the company,
accompanied Times reporter through the
crehlatory today and explained the details
Of the system. The building itself is made
entirely Of brick, steel and iron. The only
woodwork visible are the doors and win
dows. 1t stands clear at the foot OF South
Capitol street. on the banks of the Eastern
Branch, and is almost on a level with the
water. Yesterday the tide rose high enough
to entirely submerge the yard, but this is IN
| infrequent occurrence.
THE BIG STACK.
The charred remains OF the old reduction
plant loom up from the concreted yard OF the
creniatory, and the brick chinineys and
snokestack that belonged to II are still
standing. They Will be cleared away. how
ever, as soon as the plant itself is actually
completed.
The Brown crematory consists of two inn
mense furnaces, running out from either
| side of q large stack. This stack is a
feature of the plant. 1t is an anchored
stack, that is. one having no guy wires, but
| fastened securely TO it's base. II is made
| of solid steel, and has a clear height OF one
hundred and eighteen feet. A steel ladder
runs up one side to the top. In the center
| OF the brick ba Sc is a stack fire into which
the odors, ga sses and smoke from the fur
1aces. should there he any, are driven and
consumed before they can possibly reach the
| outer air.
Each of the two furnaces will burn fifty
tons in ten hours, ma king the capacity one
hundred tons. In cases OF necessity. how
ever. the plant could dispose of one hundred
and twenty tons in that time. The fur
| naces are models in their way At the end
! Of each. farthest from the stack, is a COM
| bustion chamber which contains the soft
coal fire. In each furnace are four piles of
| garbage, poured In through the four hop
| pers OIL the top. These piles rest on CRATE
| bars. and over them, clear to the other end,
| the flame is driven.
Then Ii goes down and passes back to the
combustion chamber through an under
meath channel and is forced by the natural
draught through n yet lower channel out
into the stack. There the flame, gas and
smoke are purified by the stack fire before
| they reach the outer air. Although soft
coal is burned, there IL never the slightest
suspicion OF smoke seen coming out leaving
the top of the stack Sometimes there is
barely pcrceptibIe n faint vapor.
ALONG THE FURNACE TOPS.
driveway, paved with bricks set on
edge, leads from the street into the crema-
tory and runs along the top OF the furnaces.
Little wheelways ruuoht on each side OF the
hoppers, and on these the cart Is backed
until the bed is directly over the hopper.
The heavy sliding top is pulled out, the con-
tents of the cart are dumped into the fur
mace, and the top is closed. 1t takes SO little
time to accomplish this that the odors bave
hardly time To escape.
At the present rate OF collection only
one furnace is fired at a time, SO that
they are enabled to- dump into the cold
furnace while the other one is burning.
Should any oCor escape, the regenerative
system with which the plant Is supplied
quickly gathers it up and shoves it into the
combustion chambers of either furnace.
This regcnerative system, as il is called.
Is an exhaust fan and q system of big
pipes, by which the air in the building can
be exhausted In four minutes. The air
taken from the building Is not thrown
out without publication, however, but is
forced into the combustion chamber and
furnishes the oxygen needed in burning the
garbage. 1t is thoroughly purified before
It is sent through the stack into the outer
world. This keeps the building perfectly
sanitary and supplies the necessary oxy-
gen to make an noxidizing flame.
This flame will not melt the metal bars
over which 1t passes and on which the
garbage rests These CRATES are made of
semi-steel, a process patented by Mr.. g.
H. Brown the inventor OF the plant and
are entirely unique.
The furnaces are supplied with water
jackets, running their full lengths, and
through which 5000 gallons of water are
constantly circulating. These lengthen the
life of such furnaces by about seven years.
The burning wearing out of furnace is
due largely TO the effect of expansion and
contraction as they heat and cool off, and
the water jackets prevent this. When the
furnace is in full blast the water becomes
heated. and when the fires are allowed
to go out 1t takes lone time for the
water TO cool This prevents the furnace
from cooling too rapidly and cracking
ASHES ARE VALUABLE.
The ashes are taken out into big room,
with a concreted floor. and run through
screen. This separates Che coarser mate
.ial from the finer ash. and the two kinds
are sorted in piles. AS soon as the plant
is in thorough operation this will be filled
IN bags and shipped away each day as
fast as it Is burned. When the furnace is |
going at full blast 1t will yield about four
tons OF ashes a day.
These ashes are very valuable IS phos- |
phate, and Mr.. Brown, the inventor esti |
mates their worth at $40 a ton. Mr.. Bailey
submitted a sample to Chemist Hird of the
health department few days ago. and his |
analysis so far has shown 1t to contain
1895 per cent. bone phosphate. 1t is |
largely made up of ammonia and potash, |
TOO. but the actual quantities of these sub
stances has not yet been shown.
Mr.. Brown estimates that the sale of the
ashes will defray the expenses OF actually |
running the plant. The entire plant cost !
$4,000.
'.It is the most expensive building in this
said Mr.. Bailey, smiling. |
All disgusting features are eliminated !
from the crematory. Everything is clean
and odorless. Yesterday at lunch time |
number OF visitors were looking through |