Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-17
HOW TO SAVE FUEL
DEVICE SAID TO MAKE EASY THE
USE OF SOFT COAL.
Inventors Growing Prolific in Plans to
Circumvent the Fuel
Shortage.

From the New York Herald.
dissolve one-haf teaspoonful in glass
Of water and apply the fluid by sprinkling y
1t reads like a PHYSICIANS prescription,
but it isn't. 1t is the directions for using
a patent preparation which, Its manufac-
turers say, will greatly relieve the coal stu
alton if it does not solve it altogether. The
preparation is called "Coaine.' 1t was first
prepared and patented by a plumber In
Amsterdam avenue last February, and is
now being used in several large furnaces in
New York and by many small consumers.
Those who have tested 1t say it does prac-
ticaly all that its manufacturer says 1t
will do.
This preparation resembles black, oily
sand 1t is dissolved in water and sprlnkled
on soft or hard coal before it Is placed In
the furnace 1t is said to contain certain
elements which are required to make per-
feet combustion. and thereby prevents
smoke, cnders and dust and consumes all
the vitality In the coal. If the statements
of the manufacturer and those who have
tested 1t be true, it does away with the
smoke nuisance from soft coal
Prevents "Caking'' of Soft Coal.
But what interests the people more partic-
ularly just now is the declaration of the
manufacturer that it prevents caking Of
soft coal in the furnace and renders it avail
able for apartment houses. All over the
city large apartment houses are damp and
chilly and the hot water supply has been
cut off, not because there is no coal in the
boiler room in the basement, but because
small size soft coal cannot be burned In the
hard coal furnace. 1t "cakes" and the fire
shoulders and goes out. There is no forced
draught and other appliances such as are
furnaces
turing esta blishments and the soft coal
Is well nigh useless.
With coaline 1t is said that pea, buck
wheat or any size or condition of soft coal
will burn evenly without caking, that it
lasts longer and produces no black smoke.
1t is now being used in the St Paul build
ing, by the Colwell Lead Company, in the
John ]. Radley foundry and in several large
apartment houses, where it is said to work
successfully. 1t IS sold by grocers, and is
being placed on the market In large quanti-
ties Several persons were called upon yes
terday who have used it in their cook stoves
and all said 1T had given great satisfaction.
One woman said:
Saves Three Tons in Ten.
when a small package of the stuff was
first given to me by one of my neighbors
and 1 was told to dissolve 1t and sprinkle
my coal l thought 1t was a joke, but
tried 1t and 1t made one pail of coal go Is
fdr as TWO ordinarily, ana II produced laI
better heat at that"
At the St. Paul building three tons of
coal said to be saved out of ten tons
each day by the proper use of the prepara-
ton.
package sufficient for a quarter of a ton
of coal Is sold for 10 cents. A package
containing enough for a ton costs 30 cents.
1t can be used as well with hard coal S
soft, but manufacturers say it Is especially
serviceable just now in using with soft coal.
nc 1aly 1a f0 hJ1r II
soft coal. good or bad. in large furnaces,
and prevents smoke. besides making the
coal go much further. If the coal strike
continues and there Is coal of any ae-
scription to be had the patent preparation
will be of no use in relieving the distress OF
the people.
Looking to Manufacture of Briquette.
Within the last week the attention of
group of retail coal dealers and capitalists
has been turned toward the establishment
of plant In this country for the manufac-
ture of briquette, fuel made in Germany
both from peat and from the slack waste
of soft coal mines. For ten years or more
the manufacture of brquette fuel has been
an important industry in Europe. There
are at least ten plants in Germany, which
turn out upward of 100000 tons of briquette
annually. Brquette is in reality artificial
coal In Germany Ignite. or carbonlZed
peat, is found in large quantities.
This substance, which is a vegetable coal
of more recent formation than anthracite or
btuminous, is crushed and moistened with
water until it is of the consistency of NOR
tar. then passed through the machine,
which by compression under heat develops
the bitumen in the material and renders
the mass so plastic that it molds easily into
smooth, glistening bricks of a brownish
color. The material burns readily, gives
out a strong heat and is smokeiess.
plo~o ~ TooJ Clool~
While deposits of peat not plentiful
in this part of the United States it is con-
tended that there are mountains of slack
in the coal regions of Pennsylvania which
might be converted into good fuel by the
German method and at cost to the con-
sumner not exceeding that of the best grades
of bitumnus coal.
There is talk of taking several car loads
of slack from the Pennsylvania mines to
Germany to test it in the plants established
there.