The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1899-10-26
UTILIZING BY-PRODUCTS.
TURNING WASTE MATERIAL INTO
MARKETABLE ARTICLES.

some ways by which Manufacturers Are
Enabled to Add to Their Weaith--Ac-
cidentaI Discovery of Form of Min
eral Wool--svstern Of "BriquettinR."
The question of disposal Of waste
Material is an important one for every
manufacturer and industrial com
nunity. Preservation of water sup
ply, availability of land for plant and
storage, to say nothing of the pollu-
ion of the air aud general health of
employees, largely depend upon the
solution of this problem, and it also
means much in dollars and cents
through the saving that incidentally
may be accomplished.
Coal and iron men were the first to
ind the accumulation of debris seri-
ous matter. Slack and slate could be
out TO no use. Furnaces were con
rived that burned slack, but even
;hen the difficulty was not obviated,
Tor slate and dust remained. When
coke was made, vast amount of
Oraize Zine particles) accumulated.
Riches went up in smoke until the
by-product ovens came into use and
ammonia, gas, tar and carbon were
taken out, little being left. Gas manu-
Facturers found ruinous waste till
;hey began manufacturing tarred roof
ing paper, aud even now they are not
satisfied with the economy secured.
Iron mill owners from early days
have not known until recently what
to do with fine dust and Stag, and
workers of wood in saw and planning
mills have had quantities of dust and
shavings for which there was nothing
but the furnace or torch, with danger
Of conaagration.
Pittsburg has been centre of
activity along these manufacturing
lines, and there the solution OF saving
devices has first been worked out.
Stag formerly was dumped 'out in
great hot masses to be broken up
later with the sledge and taken by
rail to be used for filling. One day
in Steubenville, Ohio, workman,
playing cold water through hose
upon redhot Stag, accidentally turned
the stream against molten metal An
explosion resulted, and when he
looked for the Stag it was not there.
Instead he saw q snowy mass that
looked and felt like asbestos. That
was the beginning of the discovery Of
one form of mineral wool. Several
iron and steel companies have i'm
proved upon the method, but the
principle remains the same. The
wool is better than hair or taubark as
non-conductor for protecting and
filling walls and floors of dwellings.
Recently it has been used there in the
manufacture of safes. Packed tightly
between the steel walls, it is i'm
pervious to the burglars tools. 1t
will break any drill known.
Railroad men find that furnace Stag,
well broken, is excellent ballast. 1t
Is also ground there and made into
tiles, fire bricks and Portland cement.
The kind of product depends on de.
mand and local needs.
The system of "briquetting" has
provided new means of economy to
both mill and mine. ''Briquetting'
has been known in Germany, France
and Wales for several years. 1t was
brought to the attention of Americans
through consular reports. Itconsists
in compressing in moulds, by simple
and powerful machinery, any pulver-
lied substance and holding it by some
amalgam or "binder," such as resin,
bitumen or oil. Through this system
and Others similar, dust and waste
fragments may be used. Among the
substances handled at a profit are
precious metal ores, tunnel dust, con-
centrates, coal, peat, Ignite, coke
braize, iron ore, hue dust, manganese
ore, iron sand, cement, sawdust, cork
dust, etc. The material is fed into
machines and comes out in cylindrical
chunks about three inches in diameter
and four inches long.
The ''briquetting" machine men
complain that times are too good for
them. Manufacturing establishments
in Pittsburg, Providence, Chicago and
Philadelphia are too busy for them to
turn out the orders under eight weeks,
and when prices are good and profits
are easily made, iron, coal and coke
men are not particular about saving
the little things. Time of reduced
prices and narrow margins drive them
back to the system of caring for scraps.
Mesaba ore, which crumbles easily,
leaves great deal of dust. Briquetted,
it can be saved for So. so ton. In the
river valleys of Western Pennsylvania
are three million or four million tons
of coal dust, more valuable than slack
or lump coal when solidified, as it is
clean, not friable in moisture and pos
sesses higher heat units. Furnace
due dust is often sixty per cent. pure,
and the value of method of saving
it is obvious. Briquetted coal is spec
tally adapted to naval uses. Sawdust,
compressed, becomes excellent fuel.
Slate, since the beginning of coal
mining, has been a source of trouble
and expense. A Monongahela River
worker announces that it can be made
into tireproof brick and moulds for
casting ingots and other manufactures
of iron and steel Drain tile and
sewer pipe of superior quality also
come Fl ON this despised stuff. Over
each bed of bituminous coal lies a
layer of slate. This the hlouldmaker
grinds as it comes from the slope or
shaft, and, mixing it with something
of the nature of cement, fires it to the
proper degree of hardness.
There is no known limit to the use