Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1907-07-26
PATENT FUEL
FOR ECONOMY
Scarcity Of Coal Makes
Such Invention A
Necessity

WASHINGTON, July 26.-Vice
Consul A. S. Phillips of Cardiff fur
nishes the following particulars of a
new method of producing patent fuel
| from coal:
The manufacture of patent fuel is an
| important industry in South Wales,
| especially at the leading seaport towns
Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, etc.
Large quantities are exported every
week from these ports, and the demand
for this product is greatly on the in
crease. Therefore any improvement in
its manufacture creates a wide inter-
est The old method of making the
fuel into briquettes was the blending
of fine particles of small coal with
about to 10 per cent of pitch under
steam heat and subjecting it to great
compression. This has been the mode
of manufacture since the inception Of
the industry in Wales. but now a revo-
luton In the manufacture is at hand.
and the future Of the trade seems to
be very encouraging.
Patent rights for the new method
have been secured in every country
producing coal and manufacturing
briquettes. The basis of the new man
ufacture is a combination plant, which
admits of the use of tar instead of
pitch. with heat supplied largely by
means of furnace gases instead OF
steam. The price of tar is about $3.50
per ton against pitch at $3.50 per ton,
while only per cent Of tar is used
against 9 per cent II pitch. The use
OF pitch involves great labor in hand
ling, being a solid when not under
manufacture. while tar, being always
liquid, can be pumped or piped practi-
cally automatically all the way from
the gas works to the point Of manufac-
ture in the fuel works.
important Economies.
AS tar runs thinner than pitch, 1t
coats practically every particle of coal,
the mixing arrangements being as
nearly perfect as possible; this at
fords binder quite unequaled for the
purpose. The less quantity of the
binder and consequent greater COM
preston the less chance of expansion
in the briQuette under the climatic
conditions to which this class of fuel
is always subject.
An important gain of the new pro-
cess will be the distillation of tar from
various oils. In the case of bitumi-
nous and semibituminous cdals the
heating process takes sufficient of the
gases away TO render the fuel practi-
cally smokeless. Arrangements are be-
ing made to erect very large works
at Cardiff, and also in the various coal
producing districts. The new product
has been supplied on trial for some
time to several heat-consuming con-
Germs with enimently satisfactory re-
suits.
AS a railroad fuel, especially for
running express trains, 1t is considered
by far the best of all fuels now on
the market, taking efficiency and econ
omy into account. 1t is claimed that
the new fuel is superior to that made
by the old method from every point of
sideration-emitting less smoke.
being less brittle, and. block for block,
showing greater tensile strength. Plac-
! ing it on the same level in the matter
of quality, the gain in manufacture,
altogether apart from the utilization Of
by-products, the new fuel can be made
at SO cents per ton cheaper than fuel
made under the old conditions.