Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1910-01-26
WASTE OF FUEL
BY LOCOMOTIVES
NEW MEANS OF ECONOMY BEING
CLOSELY WATCHED BY
RAILROADS.
THRILLING WAYS IN WHICH VRSL
QUANTITIES OF ENERGY
ARE LOST.

The man who buys his railroad
ticket in the station. waits an hour OF
SO during this remarkable era OF de-
laws. then steps on the warm and
comfortable car and reads In MS
newspaper about the immense amount
of coal consumed by the railroads
every year, has very slight idea OF
the manner in which the fuel is used
and the many ways in which 1T Is
wasted by the railroads before they
are able to place it in position to
bring them motive power.
The utilization of fuel in locomo-
tive is one of the greatest questions
before the railroads of today and IL
is attracting more investigation and
new fuel saving devices than any
other department of great railway
system To find some way in which
the elasticity of the steam can be
used, to prevent and postpone con
densation as long as possible, to get
every pound of steam out OF the coal
used is the ambition of the motive
power official today.
There are many ways in which
locomotive wastes it's fuel. In fact
there are so many ways that the
waste is about as prominent a feat-
ure as the strength. Every railroad
is constantly making tests to deter
mine the main source of the waste
and some of the computations are IN
teresting to the novice who only
knows the railroad by the time card
Very few people stop to think
that every time locomotive whistles
it is wasting power, that every ex-
haust from the smokestack is pouring
out millions of heated cinders and
sparks, that the little leaks always
apparent over the modern engine con-
tribute to the mammoth losses, that
the starting of fires, the moving OF
the locomotive to the train, the back
ing of trains in or out of station or
siding, the popping off OF the safety
valve, the heating of the boiler while
the engine is standing still, the In
complete combustion of gases, the
heat and gases going out through the
stack, the stopping of trains at cross
ings-that all these things cost the
railroads fortune.
The simple question of stopping at
railroad crossings and whistling before
going ahead means a mint of money
and a mine of coal year. This is
one reason that so many railroads
over the country are installing inter
locking stations at their railroad
crossings.
The loss of heat by the losing Of
hot cinders both through the stack
and down through the CRATES is
question that will occupy the minds
of many inventive geniuses before
many years. 1t is estimated that over
eight million tons of coal can be
wasted by a locomotive through this
source. This is also a matter that
will make the railroads pay more at
tention to the daily work of the fire
man. The skill in managing the fire
in the frebox means about as much
to the railroad along fuel lines as
any other argument.
Some locomotive firemen are able
to take certain amount of coal at a
coaling station and make it do the
work and save the road a ton of coal
on the run. The next fireman will
shovel ton more than his predeces-
sor and still he will not be able to
give his engineer the steam. The dis
tributing of coal over the fire, the e,,-
pert use of the shovel and the man
agement of the fire is a most i'm
portant item in the steaming of an
engine. Of course, the skill of an
engineer in the use of his steam con-
tributes heavily.
The greatest loss is always given to
the firing up, switching, and the
leakage losses of a locomotive. This
series is followed by the loss of
heated gases discharged through the
stack. Then the loss of cinders and
sparks through the smokestack. These
are followed in order by loss through
radiation, leakage of steam and
water; required to evaporate mois-
ture contained by the coal: loss
through the unconsumed coal fuel in
the ash; and the loss through in
complete combustion of gases.
1t is with intense interest that the
railroad officials over the country are
watching the tests made by the new
compound locomotives, also the smoke
oox superheater and other like appli
ances for the more economical use OF
fuel