Bisbee daily review., 1907-09-05
GAS ENGINE IS A BIG SAVER
 OF GOAL
Government Opens Eyes of Coal Users to the Great Waste of Fuel in Generating Steam for Engines.

The United States Government 1 through the TechnOlOgic branch If 1 the Geological Survey now in opera. i tiOR at the Jamestown Exposition 8 1 fuel testing plant of more than 1000 ! horse power, the object being to teach the people of the country how to burn coal. That they do not know is eyi- denCed from the insignificant amount of power obtained from the coal used in the ordinary steam boilers. A house wife taking a barrel of flour and getting one biscuit from it is do. ing almost as well from an economic standpoint as the average consumer of coal is with his fuel.
 In order to stop this tremendous waste, which threatens, if kept Ip. to exhaust the coal fields of the country within short period of time. the g5y- ernment has equipped this great plaut with boilers, engines and testing ap- paratus of the latest deesigu, and has assigned a IumDcr ol the Lesl LI own fuel experts of he United Stl-cs tJ conduct the tests.
 The plant is a continuation of the experiments at st. Louis. Mo-. which opened the eyes Df the malutlc:,lr. CTS and scientists to the ruthless Waste u- the natural resources of the cOunlry that is going on. When President Roosevelt heard of the re suits and learned the exact conditions in regard to the fuel supply of he United States. he said in one 3E his messages: We must recast our Csti- mates concerning the IneXhausti6lc natural resources Of the country. They are no longer iueXhaustible."
 The plant is now devoting itself to a thorough testing of the coaIs Of the East and South. part of Florida and other states and the lignitas uhe poorest form of cOaD of Texas and North Dakota. Mine owners are do- hating their coal by the car load and the railroads are carrying this fuel free of charge. both parties cooper ating in this most important work for the knowledge it will bring to the future.
 The tests which are proving the most interesting are those on Jha 235 horse power gas engine. Already this engine has shown it's ability to produce more than twice as much power with the same amount of coal as the steam engine.
 'AAS AlNSAAo elA NtAIN q 0cA ' HIS Ol half of the coal bills to manufacturers and others who have already installed the gas engines. The gas for this engine is being manufactured al the plant in a giant producer A still further development of intense inter- est along this line Is found in the abiI- ity to use in the gas producer coaIs of such a low grade that cannot do rfEFstg~ CT. Several of the poorest grades of bituminOus coal that heretofore have been regarded as practically of no value have shown remarkable eff ciency in the gas producer. In for mer tests, Texas lignites, the poor est known kind of coal have pro- duced more power in the gas en- than the best West Virginia coal has under the boiler of a steam engine Prof. Robert HeywOod Fernald, eng ineer in charge of the gas producer tests declares that a GOO horse power gas engine will save more than $5, GOO year in a manufacturer coal bill over an engine of similar capac- ity operated by steam. The saving each year on a G,OO0 horse power gas engine he declares to be S72,O0O.
 put III AlAt ICSlS tue SlCdlu tISlut is not slightd. Three boilers with a total -canacitN- -zan -hnrse- -nnWer- are being operated with a view to deter mining their best possible perform ance. And it is promised that the engineers of the country will not be disappointed, for already there are indications that the power of these boilers can be increased 10 per cent over what they have done in commer- cial plants. These tests, while pri- marily to show the waste of fuel in the firing of furnace boilers, have in- dicated that the boilers are capable of from ten to twenty times as much work per unit of heating surface as they do now. Two steam turbines. directly connected to dynamos on the same base, each of nearly foo horse power are to be tested in connection with these boilers.
 Perhaps the most interesting tests of the popular mind will be those tend ing to abate the smoke nuisance.
 An effort is now being made to burn bituminous coal in each of the furnaces without smoke and from present indications much will be ac- complished along this line which will be of value to those who are inter ested in the elimination of this evil of our big cities. All of the furnaces have been set in relation to the boil CTS, in the most favorable manner to secure complete combustion The furnaces have been equipped accord ing to the latest ideas of science on the abatement of smoke and now the experts are watching for the black clouds that they hope may never come.
 Another phase of the work of in terest to the people in general is| found in the making of briquettes from bituminous and anthracite coal Etiquette is the name given to fuel made up chiefly of waste coal held together by a binding material. often times pitch, the mixture being com pressed into a compact mass, of al size and shape suitable for use as al fuel Three briquetting machines are now al work at the plant. One re ceived recently from Germany is tQFI hrlquettirg Hgnites of Texas and the Northwest. 4 second machine is of English make and has been used fori some time at the St. Louis plant The third is an American make machine A considerable portion of the time1 of the briquetting plant Is being given thorough test on a battleshipe off Hampton Roads. Other tests are 10 be made on the Naval Tug PotOmGc at the Portsmouth Navy Yard and on a torpedo boat. The results already reached in briqUette investigations have shown that on boilers requiring