Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-18
NOT A WHIFF OF SMOKE
AT THE NEARLY COMPLETED
UNION STATIoN-MAYBE.
Geological Survey Makes a Near
Promise About Briquette Expert
ments-More Power, Too.

Smokeless locomotives for the new union
station are one of the. things practically
promised by the geological survey by the
time the station gets into working order.
The fuel testing department of the survey
has been working on the problem along
with other lines of fuel work, and 1t Is be-
lieved that coal briquettes will turn the
trick Many factories and power houses
in the big cities have willingly or otherwise
installed smoke consumers, but the rail-
roads which are responsible for so much
of the smoke nuisance in city life have
been heretofore beyond the reach Of this
improvement
Recently, however, the locomotives on the
stretch from the Long Bridge to the Penn
sylvana station have been trying briquettes
and coke and other forms of smokeless fuel
with great success and the air in that
neighborhood is as clear when briquettes
are under the boilers, as though there were
no railroad tracks in the neighborhood.
These tests are to be continued in CO.
operation with the government fuel testing
plant at Norfolk, Va, and various rail-
roads and If the results verify what has
been done before this big move forward
Will be hailed with great acclaim by those
pioneers in the crusade for purer air.
Recent tests indicate that fuel made
from slack coal pressed into briquettes not
only burns almost without smoke but also
eVapOrateS more steam and produces more
power under the same boilers than does the
same amount of coal. These briquettes are
made by taking the waste or slack coal
from mines and mixing 1t with sufficient
tar so that the coal will hold together, the
whole being pressed into blocks or cakes
by machinery.
The Missouri Pacific railroad, the Rock
Island, the Illinois Central, the Burlington
and other railroads have been testing these
briQuettes for some time with excellent re-
suits. In two tests out of st. Louis the
Missouri Pacific officials reported that
brlquettes are satisfactory fuel for loco
motives in the service of this road The
mechanical engineer of this road under
whose supervision these tests were MADE
expressed the opinion that the advantages
gained in burning briquettes were more
than sufficient to cover the cost of their
manufacture.
No Smoke and More Speed.
While this official would like to see these
briquettes used throughout his system for
fuel it would be undoubtedly gratifying to
the jewellers in cities if the railroads would
carry sufficient of these briquettes to use
only when the locomotives approached the
cities. 1t is also suggested that these bril-
quotes be used on fast passenger trains
where high speed is necessary, in express
service and in any difficult work such as
climbing hills. where the greatest efficiency
Is demanded from coal.
The successful development of the coal
briquetting industry of the United States
depends upon a number of conditions that
are expected to work out well in future
tests. The condition which has more than
any other prevented the development of
such industry is the low price of btu
minous COAL and especially the small diff
ference between the price of the lump coal
and that of the slack or fine coal.