Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1908-03-06
GOOD REMEDIES FOR
SMOKE NUISANCE
BURNING OF COAL WITHOUT
SMOKE IN BOILER PLANTS.
Preliminary Report Sent Out BY
the Government. Prepared By D.
T. Rdnddll-Gopies of Bulletin
No. 1874 May Be Had For the
ASking-COOd Suggestions.

might be we'll for those OF our citi-
zens who are interested to send to
George Otis Smith, director of the
Department of the Interior United
States geological survey, Washington,
d. g., for copy of Bulletin No. 1884
series @, fuels, 8, on "The Burning
of Coal Without Smoke in Boiler
Plants In preliminary report by
d. Z. Randall, many valuable sug-
gestions are offered. It would be of
value for every imam behind the
shovel' in WATERFOWL to send for q
copy of this bulletin, the same being
tree for the asking. At some of the
plants in this city. employees are tax
ing pride in holding the volume of
smoke down to the minimum, as near
as possible. 1t is right and each
should try to Guido the other in the
matter of trying to remedy the smoke
nuisance in this city just as much as
who are Interested, The Leader pub
fishes below few excerpts from the
bulletin which offer much good advice
and should be carefully read and then
requests should follow for copies of
the bulletin.
The following are reasons why fur
naces sometimes smoke:
/. The furnaces and the CRATES are
not properly designed to burn the coal
available. There is almost no equip
ment on the market that will handle
equally we'll all the fuels found in the
United States.
2. There is lack Vt sufficient
draft.
| 3. The firemen are unskilled.
4. There is not enough combustion
space.
5. Wood, paper and other refuse
are burned.
6. The load is changed quickly.
7. Excessive overloads are main
tanned.
Coal can be burned smok elessly,
the same as gas. gasoline, or kerosene
oil, if the equipment is properly de-
signed and adjusted. Each of these
fuels will give off smoke if conditions
are not favorable. All the authorities
on the subject Of combustion and
smoke prevention agree upon the fol-
lowing conditions as requirements for
smokeless furnace:
l. The coai should be supplied to
the furnace in snail quantities at fire.
quent intervals. The more nearly
the feed approaches a continuous and
uniform supply the better the results.
2. The air supply should be slightly
in excess of the theoretical amount
required and be admitted principally
through the. fuel bed, with an auxili-
ary supply admitted at the front or
rear of the furnace to burn gases
from the coal.
8. The temperature in the furnace
should be sufficiently high to ignite
the gases given off from the fuel bed.
4. There should be friedrich COM
bustion chamber Of sufficient dimen-
sion and so designed as to cause the
thorough mixture OF the gases and air,
permitting complete combustion be-
fore the mixture reaches the boiler
surfaces.
Difficulties are often encountered
with is stokers. One of the greatest
troubles IS the tendency of the fire
men to poke the fires unnecessarily
instead Of using or adjusting the at
tachments provided for feeding and
handling the coal. In, many plants
where it is possible they will shovel
green cual into the stokers, instead of
feeding 1t through the hopper, and
then take bar and stir up the fresh
coal with the coke and ashes, causing
smoke and wasting the coal.
1t is not an uncommon experience
thai on inspection the boiler tubes are
found to be covered with scale on one
side and SCOT on the other. One
plant with nearly 1900 horsepower
had SCOT hanging from the surfaces of
the tubes, and on inquiry it developed
that these tubes had not been cleaned
for period Of four months, no clean
ing having been done since the new
master mechanic had taken charge.
Being principally the result of an
imperfect air supply, smoke can be
prevented by providing for sufficient
air and for its mixture with the gases
in the furnace.
Well-designed furnaces may smoke
to a greater or less degree, depending
on the methods of the firemen, the
kind or size of the coal, and the rate
at which the coal is burned. They
may be expected to give smokeless
combustion when burning suitable
coal, except under the following un-
favorable conditions:
/. When fires are built. The fur
mace not being heated to the required
temperature, the gases cool below
their ignition punt and escape un-
burned.
2. When so much coal is burned ON
the CRATE that it is impossible to sup
ply sufficient air without frequent polk
ing. This condition usually results
in 40 large q yOl1lme Ot paS from the