The San Francisco call., 1909-04-25
SMOKE PLAGUE IN
CITIES CONQUERED
Federal Experts Declare Prob
lem Is Solved After Long
Experiments
Investigation Indicates Era OF
Freedom From SCOT Has
at Last DaWned

WASHINGTON, April 24-The smoke
plague of American cities has been con-
Quered by science, according to the
statement of federal experts who have
been studying the problem for a number
of years. They not only make the as
sertion that smoke prevention is posi-
bic, but stand ready to prove it by
actual demonstration to any one suf-
ficiently interested, and are proving it
every daJ at the United States geo
logical survey experiment station at
Ptttsburg, Pa. In that smoky city the
plant is being operated absolutely with
out smoke, and the experts are burning
coal considered refuse by the trade
costing, delivered at the station, SS
cents a ton.
Some may say that this can only be
done at an experiment station, and not
at commercially operated plant" said
ii. M. Wilson, chief engineer, techno-
| logic branch. United States geological
survey. But the investigation conduct
ed py the government leads to differ
ent belief. Employees of the survey Wis
lted industrial establishments in the
larger cities of Illinois, Indiana, Ken
tueky. Maryland, Michigan. Missouri.
New York. Ohio and Pennsylvania and
/
Grated without smoke and with gain
in economy, for smoke these days
means waste
The investigation indicates that the
ciean, comfortable American city with
q normal amount of sunshine is not far
on. Smokeless cities only await a
| quickened public conscience to the fact
that this nuisance means uncleanIiness.
poverty, wretchedness, disease and
death. The public has only to realize
tnat smoke in the cities costs in mer-
| chandise, in stores and warehouses.
more than $500, 900, 900 a year. This
loss In money is based on the state
ment or the Chicago smoke inspector
lnat MS city suffers a loss each year
| of $5o,o0o,0O0. More than third of
the people of this country live in the
| great and moderate sized cities"
Inc geological survey has been en-
oeavorlng for several years by expert
ments TO increase the efficiency with
Whlch the fuels OF the country are be-
ing used and this led 10 study of
the smoke problem, for smoke is waste
due TO imperfect combustion. The
statement is now made that in so per
cent OF the industrial plants of the
united States more than 10 per cent
OF the coal bill can be saved each year
oy the smokeless burning of coal. and
per cent in the other plants. This
Would amount TO several million dol
lars
The experts who had immediate
charge of this investigation were D. T.
randall and H w Weeks. engineers
OF the technologic branch of the sur
Vey' and they have just made their
| report, which will soon be issued by
the geological survey as a bulletin.
randall makes the statement that not
only can bituminouS Goals high in VIOLA
tile matter be burned without smoke
put also that large plants carrying
loads that fiuctuate widely where boil
ers over banked fires must be put into
service quickly and fires forced to ca
paelty can be operated without produc-
ing smoke that is objectionable Pan
dali maintains that it is not necessarv
20 use any one certain patented furnace
20 OBTAIN smokeless conditions. On the
| other hand, he declares that there are
many types of furnaces and stokers
tnat burn coal without smoke.
credit is to be given to anv one
klhd Oh apparatus only in so far as the
manufacturers require that it shall he
/ so set under the boilers that the nr;n-
ciples of combustion are respected,,
says Randall "A good stolxer or fIr-
mace poorly set is of less yalue than
a poor stoker or furnace well set. Good
lhslaHatlon is necessary for smoke
prevention"
And here is the secret of all SNAKE
less burning of coal. Randall saws.
Stokers or furnaces must be set SO
that the combustion is complete before
the gases strike the heating furnace
/ OF the boiler When partly burned
\ gases at a temperature of saw . 5Oo
degrees Fahrenheit strike the ti,bes of
boiler at say $50 degrees Fahren-
| heit combustion is necessarily hin
dered and may be entirely arrested.
The length of time required for the
gases TO pass from the coal to the
heating surface probably ayerap pes
considerably less than second a fact
which shows that the gases and air
must be intimately mixed when large
volumes of gas are distilled, as at times
| of hand firing. or the gas must be dis
titled uniformly, as in q mechanical
stoker"
satisfactory results can be obtained
In plants where the furnaces are fired
1 by hand. Although hand fired fur
naces can be operated without objec-
| tionable smoke, says Randall "fhe
hrema is so variable a factor that the
ultimate solution Of the problem de-
pends upon the mechanical stoker-in
other words. the personal element must
/ be eliminated. The small plant is no
longer dependent on hand fired fur
naces, as certain types of mechnical
stokers can be installed under a guar
/
OF labor for the fireman.
None OF the problems of combus-
ton has received more experimental
treatment than the burning of coal in
hand fire furnaces. Hundreds of de-
vices for smokeless combustion have
been patented, but almost without ex-
ception they have proved failures
! This record may be explained by the
/ fact that many of the patentees have
been unfamiliar with all the Difficult
! ties to be overcome, or have begun
at the wrong end Numerous patents
cover such processes as causing the
waste gases to re-enter the furance,
and schemes for collecting and burning
the SCOT are legion. So many manu-
facturers who have been looking for
some cheap addition to a poorly con-
structed furnace to make 1t smoke
! less have experienced inevitable fall
ure that the work of educating the
public to rid cities of smoke nuisance
has been hard. long and only partly
successful"
DRUNKARDS' PORTRAITS
-.