The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-07-16

Kitchen Waste and miscellaneous
MISUNDERSTANDING Plant Described
The perplexing problem of the collection
and disposal OF refuse and waste in the
city of Washington is being solved in what
appears to be satisfactory manner Gar
bage, ashes, dead animals, night soil, and
miscellaneous waste, such as paper. dirt,
fragments of wood, etc, will be in the
future promptly collected and removed
without expense to the householder. In
other words. the collection and disposal of
these several forms of refuse has now be-
come the care of the municipality.
The supervision of the service was re-
Gently removed from the Health Depart
ment to that of street cleaning, to which
1t is intimately related. The refuse swept
from the streets does not differ materially
from that accommodating in back yards, and
the methods of collection and removal are
similar. Accordingly, it was thought best
by the Commissioners few months ago
to relieve the overcrowded Health De-
partment and transfer the supervision of
garbage collection and removal to the
jurisdiction of Warner Stutler, Superia-
tendent OF Street and Alley Cleaning.
The District Appropriations bill for the
current fiscal year carries an item for the
removal of garbage and another for ashes
and miscellaneous refuse. With the funds
thus placed at their disposal the Commits
sioners were able to enter into contracts
with parties for the execution of the work.
For the collection and disposal of garbage
and dead animals a contract has been
made with NJ. II. Chamberlain, of Detroit
for five years from December /, 1900. For
the collection and disposal Of ashes, night
soil, and miscellaneous waste contract
has been entered into with r. V. Rusk, of
this city, for five years from August /,
1900. In the interim the collection and
disposal OF garbage is being carried on as
formerly by Joshua n. Warfield, the refuse
being carried down the river in boats and
spread upon the surface Of farm owned
by the contractor in Prince George Coun-
ty, Md.
The Garbage Reducing Plant.
The method by which garbage and dead
animals will be collected and disposed
OF after December / was recently Ge-
scribed to Times reporter by the con-
tractor, Mr. Chamberlain. He has secured
by lease site for his reduction plant at
some distance from the city, but adjacent
TO one of the railroads. On this site pre-
parations have been made for the erection
OF the necessary buildings, and the appa-
ratus is in process OF construction in De-
troit.
AS described by Mr. Chamberlain. the
garbage will be collected in caissons spe-
ciaIly mounted for the purpose. The cais-
son consists Of an oblong metal box rest
ing upon n wagon frame. from which it
can be removed and another put in its
place. 1t has metal lids ON each side to
enable the collectors to put garbage IN
on either side of the wagon. Garbage is
collected from house to house and einptied
from the cans into the caisson. When the
latter is full it is carted away to the
station and lifted from the wagon to a
fiat car. without being dumped or in any
manner disturbed. Another caisson, which
has been thoroughly cleaned by steam at
the factory, is placed upon the wagon
and the collection continues. The cars
loaded with caissons are conveyed to the
plant and there unloaded, freshly cleaned
receptacle taking their place.
The factory or reducing plant, as de-
scribed by Mr.. Chamberlain, will be
building of 100 by so feet, and two stories
high. site has been obtained upon an
side is nearly on level with the railroad
and the lower story on the other is open
in the opposite direction, giving the plant
the general appearance of Pennsylvania
bank barn. Here the caissons will be
conveyed by an overhead. trolley into the
upper story or receiving floor of the build
ing. Thence, as required, the refuse will
be fed through openings in the floor into
the reducing steamers below.
ThA I'D
iron receptacle, consisting of one cylinder
within another, with space of two or
three inches between. Inside Of the inner
cylinder will be a dasher, and into this is
introduced the garbage, which is mutiiated
ground, and squeezed by the rapidly moving
dasher. Steam will be let into the space
between the two cylinders and the mass
within the inner one will be thoroughly
cooked and distilled.
Residuum of Grease and Fertilizer.
The steam from the seething mass with
in the machinery. which would otherwise
disseminate odors in all directions, will be
forced by fan into a condensing cham
Der, and the drainage from this chamber
will fow out into stream which runs
past the site of the plant AS soon as the
mass within the cylinder is thoroughly
"digested' the steam will dry the resi-
dunn, which. it is said, will have the gen.
eral appearance of coffee grounds. When
dry the process will require that it be
removed to another receptacle called the
separator. Here the mass will be treated
with. naphtha which will be introduced in
considerable quantity at the top of the
separator. Passing downward through the
mass the naphtha will reach the bottom
when it will come in contact with pipes
heated by steam by which it will be
vaporized and rise again to the top of the
separator, where it will be condensed again
by coming in contact with cold water
pipes.
By this process the grease contained In
the mass will be separated, will rise to
the top of the tank. and will be drawn of
through a glass pipe. When the glass pipe
shows clear the operator will know that the
grease is extracted and the separation
complete. The residumn will then be re-
moved dried, ground, and placed in bar
rels. II is called ''tankage," and is use
full as an ingredient of fertilizer. The
grease extracted from the garbage will be
put in barrels and will become a CONNER
cial product for various purposes.
Wants Every Ounce of Garbage.
From the above description it will be
seen. as Mr.. Chamberlain stated, that the
efficient and thorough removal of garbage
will be an object to the contractor The
more his men collect the larger the amount
brought to the factory, and the more pro-
fitable will be the output. Mr.. Chamber
lain explained to The Times reporter that
he was in the business for the purpose of
making money. and to this end he would
want every ounce of garbage in the city of
Washinpton There will be no motive -