The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-02-08

| thus the coal dripping constantly FROM
the hopper is carried inside and the fue3
is dropped into the flames. The feeding
IS as regular as clockwork and as con-
slant as time. Not instant of the
day passes without definite portion of
fresh fuel failing into the superheated
pit.
II the feed pipe were left stationary at
any one point in the feed box 1t would
speedily fill too much at that point This
is where the husky fireman and his as
slstant earn their salaries. From time to
time they make trips along the row of
IA boxes and swing the feed pipes back
and forth over the boxes. Thus they
keep the fuel equally distributed over the
whole surface of the CRATES. Batteries
of IA double boilers are in the row and
all can be used to generate steam al
though but about half arc in service at
any one time.
Down below the fire boxes in a vault
of it's own Is the gearing used to clean
away the ashes. These drop out of the
fire boxes automatically unless clinkers
accumulate, something rare with the fuel
used and the excessive heat generated
Then the fireman can make use of lever
attachment, break up the clinlSers and
dump them on the traveller, which hauis
the refuse out Of the way. This traveller
is belt rugged over rollers operated by
machinery exactly as grain belts are op
Grated in elevators. At the southern end
of the vault the matter is picked up in
buckets and carried to the cars on the
track above. There 1t is dumped into the
cars and hauled away. So it will be seen
that in actual labor the fireman and help
er have soft thing of it.
The coal used is stuff which coal mines
throw away. He who has been to the
coal fields has seen great piles of black
and gray matter resting al the mouth and
about the entrance to the mines. Some
of these piles are burning constantly,
slowly smoldering, unregarded and scorn-
ell of man. This is the stuff used to run
the West side system of elevated roads, 1t
is washed so that the clay and other non
combustibles are washed away. The re-
suit is a lot of carbon. of low percentage,
to be sure, but it will burn and in the
furnace where it is consumed produces
no smoke.
This fuel is by long odds the cheapest
that could be procured. When 1t is re-
membered that the item of fuel is the
item of expense, it can be seen how this
expense has been minimized. In addition
to this huge economizers are placed near
the batteries. The water sent to the
boilers is sent through coils which have
been heated by the hot air from the fur
mace in the escape of gases to the outer
atmosphere. Not drop of cold water
finds its way into a boiler, so that ex-
pense of vaporizing it is greatly reduced.
Chief Engineer Cornelius says that the
use of these economizers cuts the fuel
item down 10 per cent.
One advantage of the system Is that
the furnaces throw off almost no smoke.
This is true without the use of a forced
draught. Still in case of emergency en-
gines are in place by means of which
forced draught can be applied to any or
all of the furnaces The system is SIM
pie in detail. not complicated by intrica-
cies in the machinery or appliances, with
the one exception of the double set of
cogs for the CRATE traveller. 1t works cas-
lily at all times. The device means the re-
duction of labor from a force of 40 or 50
men to two and reduction of expense
much greater in addition, because of,
cheap fuel and economy in the generation
of steam.-Chicago Chronicle.