New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-07-11
LIGHT FROM SHOREDTTCH.
tTREET DUST AS A SOURCE OF ELEC-
TRIO ENERGY-MUNICIPAL SCIENCE
IN DARKEST LONDON-TRAM-
WAYS FOR PROFIT.

are interested in Summing" 1t has been trans
formed during recent years by the condemnation
tf broad areas where the death-rate was very
high and where sanitary reform was imprac-
tcable without the destruction of the old houses,
shops and rookeries. 1t is neither so unhealthy
nor so unsightly as It a good many years
ago. when Father Jay with a laudable ambition
Of opening mission church in the blacklist and
most hopeless corner Of Darkest London, settled
In Shoreditch but 1t is still squald and dreary
locality, where a visitor from the West End Is
overwhelmed with sense Of the pathos Of pow
erty and the wretchedness of humanity. Yet
out Of all this darkness and misery shines the
light Of progressive municipal administration.
Lord Kelvin is a Scotchman, and not In the
tabit Of paying idle compliments. He has rem
dered his tribute Of praise to humble Shoreditch
during week when everybody else was ringing
the changes upon the glories Of the empire and
the Victorian era. AS the most eminent man Of
science in the United Kingdom he has opened
in Shoreditch an electric lighting station. which
is designed for utilizing street dust and refuse in
the production of cheap power. and he has de-
clared that the vestry ought to be proud Of
what it has done in setting an example destined
to be followed by municipal authorities through
cut the kingdom.
This experiment Of disposng Of dust refuse at
profit. by burning 1t and raising steam with
ihich electric machinery might be driven. he re-
Iarded as the small beginning Of what would be
\ much greater thing. Corporations" he re-
c.arked, ARE waking up to the possible
prospect Of using electricity for the transmits
sion Of power and 1t is almost certain that in
Shoreditch, which possesses the centre OF gravity
of the cabinet making industry, electric motors
will be substituted for gas engines. and much OF
the work will be done by energy obtained from
dust and transmitted by electricity
NOT GOLD DUST BUT VALUABLE.
The disposal Of street refuse has been one OF
the most troublesome questions with which mu-
nicipal authorities have had to deal. In Birming-
ham, Glasgow and other cities. where local ad-
minisration is most efficient there are fertilizng
products when the revolving riddles. separators
and sifters have done their work; but these have
not had sufficient commercial value to render
the sewage farm a source Of profit There have
been in every town crematOry furnaces burning
furiously, with chimneys high enough to make
a strong draft; and experts have not suspected
that power was going to waste and that street
dust while not gold dust, might have value OF
its own Well managed the sewage farm or
Birmingham has been. 1t has been conducted at
financial loss: and while Glasgow has avoided
Nuch of the expense involved in the disposal OF
street sweepngs and has found a market in the
heavy Scotch farming soil for its fertilizing ma
terial it has not been able to show a margin OF
profit from this branch Of municipal administra-
ton 1t has been reserved for this East End
parish Of Shoreditch to make the closest study
Of economy in the destruction Of street dust The
refuse is dried and burned. and with the power
generated from the steam the streets and houses
of the district may be lighted and the factory
wheels turned.
The new dust crematories, which have been
opened this week with an address by Lord kel-
win, have chimneys $50 feet high and I feet in
diameter, and there three electrically oper-
ated fans There are twelve destructor cells
Zach with CRATE area OF % square feet. and
each heating a series of six water-tube boilers
Between eight and twelve tons Of street refuse
can be burned in the course OF twentyfour
Yours and an ingenious system OF heat storage
has been introduced by which power that is not
wanted by day Is made available at night. An
electrical plant Of three generators. working at
LOO volts, and three lOw-tensiOn dynamos at
165 volts. Is operated by power obtained from
burning the street dust. This will be enlarged
when the new system has been satisfactorily
tested, and the district will be provided with
cheap electric light. II there be dust enough to
burn there will be cheap power ALSO
ECONOMY AND PROGRESS
The economy Of the new system seems to be
plain The vestry will save two shillings a ton in
the disposal of refuse and 1t is prepared to sup
ply electric light at twopence unit during the
hours Of daylight. and at sixpence and fourpence
at night The vestry has received orders from
two syndicates which exhaust the capacity Of its