New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-01-30
USING WASTE PRODUCTS.
SEVERAL NOTABLE EXPERIMENTS IN
ECONOMY.
SPARKS. FOR FUEI-TIIE BY-PRODUCTS OF TIE
COKE AND SODA INDUSTRIES ELECTRICITY
FROM GARBAGE REDUCING TIE
C1JLM PILES.

There have been times when. IN certain lines |
r manufacturing. the profits were so large that |
trNing wastes of one sort or another were toll |
Grated This is true even yet. to a certain ex-
tent But competition has so reduced the re- |
wards of such industries are not monopolies |
that pecunary success is generally achieved |
nowadays only by resorting to careful and in
genious economies. In fact. there arc branches |
of business in which the principal and only os- |
tensible article OF manufacture merely pays Tor |
its own making and the profit or there be any |
Is derived only from secondary or Incidental |
products Of the industry. Even where this Is not |
the case it is one OF the great aims OF the whole
sale producer to turn to account everything or |
the slightest value which is obtained by his |
processes.
The Ncw-York New-Haven and Hartford
Railroad Company is not engaged in manu-
featuring nor has IL any trouble in earning
decent dividend. But It's use OF sparks for fuel
announced a few months ago. serves to illustrate
the tendency just referred to. In the front part
Of its steam locomotives there is an accumu-
lation of half burned coal which has hitherto
been wasted Experiments made during the
last year show that such cinders can be used
under stationary boilers without admixture with
new fuel and with special change in the sys-
tenn OF combustion. except that jet OF steam Is
required to provide forced draught At three
separate points where the Consolidated Com
pany controls electrical plants. on its Nantasket
branch. in Berlin near Hartford and in STAN
ford Conn. what are called sparks are now
used to run the steam engines which supply
power for the dynamos Careful tests show that
the new kind of fuel costs less than half as
much as the old The only expense involved it
may be safely assumed. is that OF collecting
and transporting the supply from roundhouses
along the line.
USING UP THE "CULM."
Another notable movement for the utilization
of waste products which has been in progress
for several years deals with the great cum
piles which have accumulated beside American
and European coal mines There are two ways
Of burning this dust The older plan. which Is
still followed on the other side Of the Atlantic
to considerable extent. is to mix the stuff
with pitch some other glutinous substance.
mould it into hriquettc Cor little bricks and
bake them The other plan is to feed the dust
into a furnace in small. almost steady stream
by means If an air jet This, too. IS a foreign
idea. but attempts have been made 10 work out
the principle in this country also.
Around good many Of the stamp mills where
high-grade gold ore has been worked by the
einalgamation process in the past the refuse, or
"tailings" have been allowed to collect in large
Quantities. These contain small proportion of
precious metal that was not extracted by the
first treatment. Within the last few years,
since the so-called cyanide process has shown
its suitability for treating low grade ones, it
has also been applied advantageously to some
Of those "tailings." Another mctallurgical In
novation which has attracted much attention in
Alabama although it originated in England) Is
the so-called basic process" for purifying iron
ores that cannot be treated by the Bessemer
0usip IN no ive NJ
phorus in the Southern iron, the latter could not
(when first discovere1) be employed advan-
tageously in the arts. The basic process not
only removes the Objectionable impurty and
produces a good quality Of metal. but it yields
by product" phosphate mineral that can
be sold for fcrtilizing purposes.
In the old days. when Illuminating gas was
made from coal. there was left residue Of
almost pure carbon, known coke, and little
tar and some ammonia. The coke Sold if
possible. for fuel. and steps were taken to save
the other products also. nasmuch they had
a commercial value. OF late years the business
Of making coke expressly for use in connection
with the iron industry. has developed TO great
proportions; but. for reasons which need not be
rcced here. ii good deal Of a monopoly
for time At first therefore, the gas tar and
ammonia were neglected. In fact, a style Of
used in producing coke which made it
PFC ducts Latterly. however a coke oven
has come into service and it permits the manu-
facturer to save the hitherto wasted gas tar
this direction is the adoption OF means to save
fofp lx--r rnfln cfc tha 1