Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1911-07-13
SUCCESS ATTAINED
IN BRIQUETT|NG
NORTH DAKOTA Ignite BY THE
GOVERNMENT EXPERI-
MENTERS

(From the Bureau of Mines, Wash
ington, D. Washington, D. c.,
July 1.-THE Bureau of Mines, thru
it's experiments at the Pittsburg test
ing station, believes that it has de-
veloped fuel supply for the western
part of the country that will be of
immense value. 1t has succeeded in
making briquets without the use of
a binding material out of Ignite
from California, Texas and North
Dakota. The difficulty heretofore
with the manufacture of briquets has
been the cost of the pitch which is
considered necessary to hold the coal
dust together.
Ignite is a poor form Of coal,
brown in color, and is found in great
abundance in several western states,
notably, North and South Dakota,
Montana and Texas. Its use has been
greatly restricted because of its tend
ency to slack or turn to dust shortly
after it is mined and brought to the
surface. Because of the great a
mount of moisture it contained, be-
tween 80 and 40 pc rcent, the Ignite
has been difficult to burn under boil
ers or in stoves. There is said to be
10000 square miles of territory
underlain by Ignite and millions of
acres belong to the government. The
Bureau of Mines, sometime ago, con-
Quoted a series of experiments at the
pumping plant of the reclamation SER
vice, at Williston, North Dakota, and
succeeded in developing furnace
that would burn the Ignite satisfact-
orily. But this did not solve the
problem of the transportation OF the
Ignite. The bureau therefore sent
to Germany, where the briquettlng
of Ignite is much farther advanced,
and obtained from that country
powerful briquetting machine. The
experiments have gone far enough
to indicate that Ignite can be satis-
factorily briquetted at a cost that
makes the manufacture of briquets
commercially possible.
The results of the experiments are
contained in bulletin "Briquetting
Tests of Lignite," just issued by the
Bureau of Mines. The author,
Charles L. Wright, says, "The results
of the briquetting investigations con-
Quoted by the. government are ex-
pected to prove of considerable value,
not only to the government itself as
the owner of extensive Ignite tep"s-
it's an dthe largest single purchaser
of fuel, but also to the people in the
regions where Ignite is found. The
problem of fuel supply in those re-
gions is of peculiar interest, for many
of the Ignite deposits are situated
long distances from fields of high
grade coal. The problem assumes
still larger proportions when one
realizes that the development of man.
ufacturing industries in thoseregions
depends upon the ability to obtain
cheap an Unsatisfactory fuel.'
Mr.. Wright gives the approximate
cost of briquets, loaded on cars, from
a briquet plant located at the mines,
as $2.51 in Texas; 1888 in North
Dakota; and in California as $5.24.
This applies to briquetting run-of-
mine Ignite to improve it's heat value
and weather resisting properties rath-
er than to briquetting slack or waste
coal. 1t is believed it will be possi-
BILE to make briquets from the waste
coal which will reduce the cost ma
terially.
Copies of this bulletin No. 4 may
be obtained by those Interested by
writing to the Director of the bu-
reau of Mines, Washington, D. g.
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