Evening star., 1898-10-26
REFUSE OF A BIG CITY.
prescription of san Franciscoss
Great IncineratInc Plant

An interesting account Of how San
FRANCISCO disposed of its garbage is rivep
by the Scientific American. of which tho
Following is an abstract. The inciuerafiu,y
plant is owned by a corporation. which oh
talned the privilege by agreeing TO ma,
the city 200 in cash and . per rent of
the gross receipts for the first fifteen wears
ana per cent of the gross receipts
Tor The remaining 35 years of its con-
tract A block of ground was bought In tho
southern portion Of the city. ana upou it
was erected the largest garbage incinarator
i'm the world.
The main buildings copsis, of ,,,.,, ,.,.
trallhg houses. with the chimney l,,.,-s.,
IneE form together three sides of a su,i,ra
10 le2t long by ~ feet wide ana t,,a
stories IN helEht. There are lG large cells
IN each incinrrating house making y els
IN all. with Il grate area of a6 SQUARE 80
each. dSgrCEatlng :.u12 square e,.t of
crates. Each cell has q maximum aapa.f+,-
oI dDout ~ tons per - hours. These cells
are thc largest IN use. the nearest ANNA. -,
10 tnen in size being those of IN, d,strIlc.
tors used IN England. the largest ono az
Mhlch mas >" square feet Of graf. ar.a
lhere are four crematory furnaces ror tho
Cremation of smoke and gases: these can
also be used to meet any eNtr,,,r i.,,s -,
ueilNerS u refuse. The chimney IS ~, feet
high. vita concrete foundation ~ f,..t
square by 3 leet thick. From the ton OF
=.rINI
brlck Il feet square, ard steps back 10 :.
leet are II feet aish. Tho trunk l. ~ Zoe;
square by 10 feet high with walls = faaf
thlck from the top OF the trunk 10 ~. ,ur
or the house. The walls are built ,.i-rllI,r
20 feet high. making the chimney ~ fsai
from its base The huc is lined with ar.-
brick 30 feet high, and topped with a cast-
IRON cap of special design.
A rag cleaning and bottle cleaning r,lap+
mas also been erected. the former capable
OF cleaning @9o pounds of rags an hour and
tne latter can wash several thousand ho--
ues per day furnace mas been erected
Ior the melting OF solder from th, riu cans
ana Is now in operation. Tin balin.y works
are also in operation where the tin is bslar
ana shipped to foundries and rqsd. 20
WINDOW weights. The inclined rosSNays
platforms, offices and buildings cover an
area of 100 by 2oo feet. The total invest
ment OF the company has been abo,i.
Slo.Vn. The maximum capacitv of .hc
furnaces and auXiliaries is 7Uo tons per d:,.-
but the entire output of the garbage ami
refuse of San Francisco has not vel
reached that figure. The scavaneer wagons
commence arriving At daylight. and ,I,. 1a-
hNerles are practically over by I o'clock I'm
the afternoon. The works are surrounded
by high board fence. At the entrance is
the office of the company, and through This
entrance the wagons drive IN Inclined
Ioadways 10 the top Of the two incinegst-
ing houses, whese the contents of fha
wagoIs aIe dumped down inclined -hutes.
On either side Of these chutes the uirk.,rs
take their places ard pick cut e.very.hjng
OF commercial value, such as tin cans boz
Ties, rags. boxes. and even old bread which
Is sold to the Chinese chicken gardens AT
the foot of these chutes are the mouths of
the hOppers where the garbage and refuse
enter. The cells themselves are plain rec
tangular furnaces with arched crowns set
at an angle; the hoppers slope upward at
the rear OF the CRATES at an angle
of about - degrees, terminating In their
Upper ends in charging door.
On each side of these hoppers are flues
opening into main fiue.
The products of combustion from the
cells pass by means OF the main nue 20
the crematory furnaces and thence to the
chimney. After one charge of the garbage
'and refuse is burned in a cell enough of it
is left in the shape of embers and live Goals
to ignite the next charge coming down.
In this way the Hres never go out. and tho
embers from one cell can always be utiliZcrs
to assist the burning I'm another cell. a
charge consists of about three tons and
can be thoroughly incinerated. according
to the character of the material, in from
two and one-haif to four hours. The re-
siduum from this burning consists Of ash
and clinker, both of commercial value. Tire
former proving an excellent base for q
fertilizer. while the latter, ground UP and
mixed with 10 per cent of lime, makes a
very excellent mortar; or mixed with con-
crete and clay in proper proportions. can
be made into an ornamental brick of any
color desired.
After the works had been in operation
for a few months 1t was found that the
entire output OF the city could be burned
in the daytime. the furnaces being charged
at night and regulated TO burn till morn
ing. This made big cut i'm the pay roll.
The incineratOr at San Francisco is the
only one in the United States burning gar
bage and refuse without other fuel than
the material itself. No artificial fuel of
any kind can be used here: there is no
place for il. All the other cities in the
United States incinerating garbage ana
refuse have to use either coal, coke, wood,
oil gas. Several of the English systems
claim to burn without fuel. but in all Of
them 1t has been found necessary to use
more or less fuel for the purpose of forc-
ing a draught by means of a fan, which
is not in use in the San Francisco works.
Since the work commenced in November
the fires have never been eXtinguished: no
repair; have been needed, but constant i'm
provements are being made by the COM
psny in labor-saving apparatus and in in
creasing the commercial value of The
residuum. The works were built originally
on low-lying ground covered at certain
seasons of the year with water TO depth
of from to 3lz feet. The company has
been using its ashes and clnker up TO his
time to fill in its own land and contiguous
blocks and it has found that for the pur-
pose of filling the residuum has no
superior: but the company is now about
to erect fertilizing works. using its ashes
as a base. and IL is also considering the
advisability of erecting works for the con-
verting OF the clinker into bricks and