Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1899-08-17

IlaJ would nO( De aNalLapie II puEuSd
by ordinary methods. Mr.. Mason
mentions two places where this device
has been in practical use nearly a
year one a large cloth mandatory
and the other Berlin hotel, the lat
ter using two boilers for heating,
driving an engine dynamo, elevator
etc, and because of the wide interest
which attaches to this subject and its
prospective Importance in abating the
smoke nuisance in cities and bringing
into use vast quantities of material
now practically worthless, a doscrip-
ton of what he found at these es-
Establishments will be of value.
After visiting the Berlin hotel Mi,
Mason thus describes the smoke-con-
suming apparatus:
The two boilers are Of the ordinary
tiue pattern, placed side by side and
their furnaces separated by dividing
wall so that one can be thrown out
of use or turned on, as occasion may
require. The furnaces are about ten
by four feet in area and the smoke
passes by suhterranean tlues to a stack
chimney standing in a central court
Ind rising above the roof of the build
ing. Near the furnaces is located
an ordinary fan blower, driven by an
electrical motor of one-half-horse
power, the speed of which is easily
controlled and which drives the air
through 6-inch pipe into a hollow
iron chamber about ten inches deep,
which forms the front section of the
hearth of the furnaces. Into this air
chamber is fitted one end of the hollow
CRATE bars, which are about two and
backward the length of the furnace,
and are supported by ordinary bear
ings at the farther end. These hol-
low CRATE bars are round on the bot.
tom, but at the top are heXagonal, pre-.
senting three faces, each pierced with
holes about two inches apart and be-
ginning with a caliber of one-eighth OF
an inch, which increases slightly
througout the length of the bar, to
eQualize the discharge or air from the
gradually decreasing pressure with
in. The hollow CRATE bars are laid
about six inches apart, and there is
placed between each pair three solid
triangular bars, which assist in sus-
tanning the weight of the burning fuel.
The air being forced by the fan blower
into the hollow chamber, is there
heated from the fire on its upper sur
face, then passes into the hollow CRATE
bars and is injected upward in three
rows Of jets, one vertical and two in
clined to right and left, so that the
entire under surface of the burning
mass resting on the crate is fed CON
stantly by jets of fresh-heated air,
which generate from the most ordi-
nary grades Of fuel an intense white
| heat. which can be perfectly con-
| rolled by regulating the speed of the
tan blower and produce a combustion
so natural and perfect that the smoke
is entirely consumed"
The fuel in use at the time of Mr.
| Masons visit was what is known as
| "coaksgries,' or coke dust. the fine
slack that comes from screening gas
| coke, the scrapings of retortS, etc,
which has hitherto been regarded as
worthless except for ballasting roads
and footpaths The fire was white
| intense and evenly distributed but
when the current of air was stopped II
| dropped to a reddish tinge and began
| to smoke.
But the most noticeable feature was
the great saving in cost Of fuel. The
owner Of the Berlin hostelry stated
deliberately in a certificate APPROX
ing the apparatus that 1t had reduced
| by three-fourths his outlay for fuel and
had completely eliminated the smoke
and SCOT, which formerly, when the
| best Silesian lump coal was used
| blackened the walls and floor OF the
| hotel court and formed nuisance OF
which his guests frequently com
| planned" At the cloth works, through
| the using of cheaper grade OF fuel
tan before the Cornelius device was
| PET in, there had been a saving in coal
of $26.1S a week and an entire sup
preston Of the former smoke and SCOT
| nuisance. Besides lHGSe Instances,
exhaustive tests Of the new apparatus
| have been made by the directing en-
gineer of large tubular boiler works
at Dusseldorf, who commends the
Cornelius furnace in most convincing
terms, especially pointing out that this
system Of construction will bring into
use for fuel not only the vast product
of coke dust from the Westphalian
coal and iron district, which hitherto
has been used for road making and
| ballast for railway tracks, but also
the immense brown coal and peat de-
posts Of Germany. This, in many
manufacturing districts OF Germany
| will revolutionize the whole economy
of heating for steam and other pur-
poses, and German economists already
are counting upon the sudden advan-
tage this new method will give to GER
tain Of their industries, which now
have to use expensive coal brought
| from long distances.