The times., 1901-03-17

blast or smelter furnaces. but as nearly
all energy comes from coal, its use must
be economiZed, and the greatest ecOnO-
my will come from pulverizing coal and
using it in the shape OF n fine powder. In
ventiOns have been made trying TO de-
liver this powder into the fire-box as fast
as made. for it is as explosive gun
powder, and as dangerous TO store or
handle. If this can be done, there viii
be a saving Of coal due to perfect and
smokeless combustion. as the admission
of air can be entirely regulated. the same
blast which throws in the powder furnish
ing oxygen. Some investigators have cs-
timated that the saving OF coal will DO
as great as 20 per cent. This means &c.,
000O00 tons of coal annually.
BituminOus coal will then be as smoke
less as anthracite, and can be burned I'm
locomotives. Cities will be free from tho
nuisance of wasted coal. which we call
SCOT. This process will be the best kind
of mechanical stocking. and viii prevent
the necessity of opening the doors of fire.
boxes. The boiler-rooms Of steamships
will no longer be floating hells.' and the
firing of large locomotives viii become
easy.
neering Is to determine whether It will be
found more economical to transform the
energy of coal at the mines into electric
current and send it by wire TO cities and
other places where 1t is wanted. or TO
carry the coal by rail and water. as we
now do, to such places, and convert it
there by the steam or gas engine.
In favor of the first method it can be
said that hills of refuse coal now repre-
senting locked-up capital can be burned,
and the cost of transportation and han
ding be saved. Electric energy can now
transport power IN high voltage econoui-
cally between coal mines and most large
cities
The second method has the advantage
of not depending on one single source of
supply. that may break down, but in hav-
ing the energy stored in coal pockets near
by the place of use; where it can be ap-
piled to separate units of power with no
fear of failure.
1t seems probable that a combination
of the two systems will produce the best
results. Where power can be sent electri-
cally from the mines for less cost than
the coal can be transported, that method
win be used
To prevent stoppage of works. the sep
arate motors and store Of COAL to be
used in eases of emergency, will still be
needed, just as has been described as nec-
essary to the commercial success of wave
motors.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING.
Any attempt by the writer of this arti-
Gle to trace the progress of electricity
would be but a vain repetition, after the
admirable manner in which the subject
has been treated in 4 former paper of this
series by Prof. Elihu Thomson.
We can only once more emphasize the
fact that it is by the union of four sep
arate classes of minds-scientific discov-
erers, inventors, engineers, and capitalists
that this vast new industry has been
created. which gives direct employment
to thousands, and. as Bacon said three
hundred years ago. has endowed the hui
man race with new powers
siETALLURGY AND MINING.
All the processes of metallurgy and min
ing employ statical. hydraulic, mechani-
cal, and electrical engineering. Coal,
without railways and canals, would be
of little use, unless electrical engineering
came 10 it's aid.
1t was estimated by the late Lord Arm
strong that of the 50.0e0,000 10 10000
coo tons of coal annually produced in the
world, one-third is used for steam produce
tion, one-third in metallurgical processes,
and one-third for domestic consumption.
This last item seems large. It is the most
important manufacturing industry in the
world, as may be seen by comparing the
cOalless condition of the eighteenth GEN.
tury with the coal-using condition of the
nineteenth century.
Next in importance comes the produce
ton of iron and steel Steel, on account
of it's great cost and brittleness. was
only used for tools and special purposes
until past the middle of the last century.
This has been all changed by the inven-
tion of his steel by Bessemer in 1861, and
open-hearth steel in the furnace of Sic
mems, perfected some twenty years since
by Gilchrist & Thomas
The United States have taken the lead
in steel manufacture. In 1873 Great Bri-
tain made three times as much steel as
the United States. Now the United States
makes twice as much as Great Britain or
40 per cent of all the steel made in the
world
Mr. Carnegie has explained the reason
why, in epigrammatic phrase: Three
pounds of steel billets can be sold for
two cents"
This stimulates rail and water traffic
and other industries. as he tells US one
pound of steel requires two pounds of ore.
one and one-third pounds of coal, and
one-third of a pound of limestone.
1t is not surprising, therefore, that the
States bordering on the Lakes have
created a traffic of 25OoO,OOO tons yearly
through the Sault Ste. Marie Canal, while
the Suez. which supplies the wants of
half the population of the world, has only
1905 coo or less than the tonnage of the
little Harlem River at New York.
INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING.
This leads us to our last topic. for
which too little room has been left. In
dustrial engineering covers statical, hy-
drauIic. mechanical, and electrical en-
sineering. and adds new branch which
we NAV call chemical engineering. This
is pre-eminentIy child OF the nineteenth
century. and is the conversion of one
thing into another by a knowledge OF
their chemical constituents
When Dalton first applied mathematics
"a chemistry and made it quantitative. he
gave the key which led to the discoveries
of Cavendish. Gay-Lussac, Berzelius.
I.iebig. and others. This new knowledge
was not locked up. but at once given To
the world and made use of. Its first ap-
pIication on a large scale was made by
Napoleon in encouraging the manufacture
of sugar from beets