Omaha daily bee., 1903-05-10
CAST-OFFS OF A BIG CITY
Things Which are Thrown Into the Rubbish
Pile Only to Rise Again.
WASTE DOES NOT GO TO WASTE


from one another, opposed to one another.
in a superlative degree. For the cake OF
soaps is pure, sweet smelling. an agent
hat makes for cleanliness; the bucket OF
garbage is impure and foul. And hence It
is almost impossible to believe that out
Of garbage soap is made.
But this wonderful transformation is ac-
complished by the American Product COM
pany, the garbage foundry Of Philadelphia.
Here, last year, 1888 tons Of garbage
we're converted and the product is now
travelling about the world in the shape OF
soap, oil, fuel and fertilizer. 1t is inter-
esting to visit the converting plant, inter-
ing to see Tefuted there the maxim that a
silk purse may not be made out OF a
sow's ear. The buildings are on the river,
and the garbage is brought to them on
scows. From the dock out to the scows a
line OF conveyors extends. The conVeyors
are steel troughs. Blades are attached to
them at right angles. The garbage is
thrown upon the troughs, and, by an end
less chain process, it is carried quickly
forward to the boilers, or digesters.
Cooking the Garbage.
These are vertical steel cylinders, 5hx14
feet In size, that stand In rows, upright.
Each cylinder has a capacity Of ten tons,
and into each, by means Of q sliding door
arrangement, the garbage falls from the
conveyors. Before a digester Is charged
water to a depth Of three or four feet Is
admitted into 1t. Then, after the garbage
has been put In, the machine Is smut up
and a cooking begins that lasts for eight
hours. AS the cooking progresses the tenn
perature increases. The boiler pressure Is
from ninety to 100 pounds.
The cooked garbage has an appearance
very different from the green. Its door is
now gone and It has taken on a uniform
brown hue. 1t passes into receiving tanks
14h feet long, 1914 feet wide and I feet
deep. The tanks have bottoms that slope
to the center, and at the center there IL
an opening, through which the garbage Is
discharged upon presses.
The presses stand side by side and are
worked by means Of huge screws. In them
the garbage is placed and they give TO II a
pressure of 100 pounds to the square inch.
This powerful treatment squeezes out OF 1t
all its oil. The oil is caught in traps. or
tanks. underneath. The solid matter passes
upon cars to a drying room. The driers
are horizontal steel cylinders, and in these
the tankage-for the solid garbage now has
that name-is stirred by means OF revolving
cylinders while It dries. At the end OF this
process 1t runs forth automatically upon
conveyors to the screens.
The screens are rotary, and the screened
tankaRe. a tobacco-colored, coarse powder,
is bagged and sold as fertilizer. 1t makes
an excellent fertilizer, and on the market
It fetches a good price. The tailings from
the screens-the stuff, that is to say, that
is too coarse to pass through the perfora-
tions-is made into fuel. These tailings
supply part of the power that runs the
plant.
~ Nn-.l1 NAoN Nhn nRoeanA aEtF0nf dur
ing the pressing process falls into tanks.
Here. by cooling, the grease and water sep
arate. and the grease-a black substance
of the thickness Of molasses-is taken out
and barrelled. The water remaining is
pumped into altering tanks, and now more
grease is obtained from II by swimming.
still. however. there is a substance OF value
in this water, and evaporation extracts It.
This final substance is called stick" and
it is mixed with tankage. The mixture gives
a fertilizer of a much better quality than
the ordinary tankage.
Made into soap In Germany.
The transformation into soap of the black
grease drawn from the garbage does not
take place in America, but in Germany,
The grease is shipped to Germany, and
there IL is changed into soap and other
marketable products. America, in the per
feet utilization Of wastes, is behind Ger
many. So far as America goes, however
In this work its methods are as sanitary
and as economical as those Of any country
in the world.
But garbage is only one portion Of the
waste of Philadelphia. Another, and
great portion. is the waste from thu
slaughter houses. Take. for example. the
case of a 1,2O0-pound steers. This anima
80 80 THA aaua.N-A,.
300 pounds used to be thrown away. Nov
all of It is used. The horns are cut OF
close to the head, and of their pith glue 4
made. while they themselves, taking. al
they do, a high polish. make an e~xcellen
substitute for the tortoise she'll. Their tip
make mouth pieces for tobacco pipes. Til
bones, polished, look like ivory, and serv
for the handles Of knives and tooth brushes
The bone scraps become fertilizer. Tn
, hoofs become glue end ~gelatine.
The hide, Of course, becomes leather. Tn
, hair Is converted into felt for hats, Will
: the hair Of the tail becomes the costl
, commodity kL OWL as "curled hair" Tn
blood makes a finishing substance that
applied 10 leather, and the fat become
oIeomargarine. butterine and glycerine.
Z How Rags Are Born Again.
The rags OF the city-sll the old clothes
n shirts, stockings, pantaloons and what nc
that are annually thrown ~away-these rae
Q become shoddy. After, by devious way
they have come to the shoddy dealer the
J; are laid out upon great tables, and wome
sort them, dividing them into grades, az
; cording to the percentage OF pure wool Thu
r thew contain. After their separation I'M
n uniform grades the rags are cut up and p'
into machines with big. comb-like teeth thi
shred them, reconverting them into n
original wool that they were made iron
This wool. after being thoroughly washe
is like new wool from a Sleeps back, on
It has shorter hairs in tilt has short,
u staple-and, furthermore. II lacks e~lasticit!
Ia 1t is less strong. Shoddy is never ne
re wool, but II figures, all the same, In clot
p manufacturing to a large percentage. The
IL are many shoddy mills In the world. LAR
fortunes are invested in the shoddy bus
ness.
A great waste converter Is the dun
" boss. There are a number OF dump boss
in the neighborhood Of League islam
: These men live in dumping grounds. Al
the owners OF the grounds pay them SmI
salaries for seeing to II that refuse
dumped upon the land TO the best a
vantage-for seeing to II that the land
leveled by the dumpage as 1t should
! The dump bosses make the greater pa