The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-09

an analytical and consulting chemist.
He is a member of the Paris academy,
but has lived in st. Paul a number
of years. He calls the fuel briquette
of Ignite.
They are in the shape of bricks, Ak
2X6 inches in size. Each one weighs
from sixteen to eighteen ounces, and
they are as black as coal, too. The
fuel is easy to handle, and leaves no
defacing marks on hands or clothes.
When Fireman Hunter started the
blaze in the furnace of ''old 80" his
favorite engine, with the new fuel, he
did so in a contemptuous way. He
looked at the big pile of soft coal which
doomed up on the tender behind him as
if wondering how soon he would have
to use it. The blaze in the furnace
grew bright and the water in the boiler
began to boil.
Hunter opened the furnace door from
time to time, but there seemed to be
no need of replenishing the fuel. 1t
burned with a bright, fierce blaze and
seemed to be sending out plenty of
heat. Soon the hand on the dial on
the steam register began to move slow
ly around. 1t soon registered 100
pounds.
Then Engineer Gould, one of the old
est employees of the road, came over
the sideboard. He gazed contemptu-
ously, too, at the little heap of black
briquettes, heaped up in the back of
the cab. There were only half dozen
bagfuls in all. He opened the throttle
and the engine went merrily on the
switches, picking up the loaded freight
cars.
Chief Engineer Foque, of the 500
road, DR.. Schimper and q number of
newspaper men boarded the engine and
the trip started.
When the train came to the heavy
n i1Icf af nIn11
in the furnace was burning merriIy.
At the foot of the hill the fireman
dashed in a quantity of briquetteS. The
furnace door was not opened again
till the top of the ascent, three miles
distant, was reached. The train was
carried along at the rate of twelve
miles an hour, and the steam in the
boiler was constantly increasing with
out any work on the part of the fire
man. But little smoke came out of the
stack and the engine seemed to be do
ing the work with as little fuss as pos
Sible.
Surprises the Engineer.
Chief Engineer Foque examined the
fire from time to time with looks of
surprise on his face. Fireman Hunter
sat on the sideboard of the engine with
a broad grin on his face. The new fuel
meant only half as hard work for him
and he was joyful over the prospect.
Engineer Gould said nothing, but
when the trial trips were finished he
placed one of the briquettes carefully
away, saying he wanted it as SOU
venir.
DIR. Schimper, of course, knows more
about the fuel than any one. He says
it is prepared from Ignite by a chem
icaI process which is known only to
himself.
Process Is a Secret.
''This is the first time,' said he, chat
the fuel has been used to produce mo-
tive power. Its success is, of course,
a great qualification to me. l can't
say how the fuel is prepared. I will
say this, however. 1 do with my chem
ical process for Ignite in a short time
what nature would do in $500 or 5000
years. I hasten the process of nature,
that's all. 1 have been studying Ignite
for the last ten years. nearly achieved
success three years ago, but it is only
recently that I have been fully pre-
pared to make a public demonstra tom
of my invention.
"a company, of which Ex-senator
Washburne is at the head, will estab
lish works at Bismarck, n. D. We viii
soon be able to turn out any quantity
of the briqUettes at the rate of $1.25
ton. This is much less than the
cheapest soft coal can be bought for,
and the work of the briquettes is much
more effective
For instance, 1000 pounds of soft
coal will carry the load we had today
a distance of fifteen miles We esti-
mate that 1000 pounds of the briqu-
cites will carry the same load thirty
five miles. Then with the soft coal the
fireman has to be opening the furnace
every ten minutes and sloveling in the