The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-09-19

running its trains from New York to
Stamford by electric power. The
great steel plant at Gary, Ind. has gas
engines which are developing over
100, 600 horsepower. They are ope-
rated by the gases which would
ordinarily go 10 waste. They come
from the furnaces, and The fuel costs
nothing. IT Will be SO with every large
plant Of the future.
Gas For Our Navy.
They are putting gas engines on
the great ships Of the world, and they
will be eventually used by the navies
of the future. Prof. Fernald says
that the United States Will probably
distance the other nations in this re-
gard. He advises that our ~gunboats
be run by gas Instead of steam, say
ing that the gas will make no smoke,
and hat it can be made in the pro-
Queer, which has no chimney and
needs none. He says the coming war
vessel Will be a swift, smokeless.
nOiSe1eSs craft lying low in the water,
the entire deck. being given over to
the work of the guns. At night there
viii be nothing to show the presence
Of the ship to the enemy.
Gas engines are now being used on
some Of the big ocean liners. and it
is said that thes steamships of the
Great Lakes are about to adopt them.
One of the big freighters there has
plans for a 2,609-horsepower gas en-
CINE of the marine type. the idea be
ing that its use will save q great
deal of coal. AS TO the ocean liners.
some of them consume as much as
10, 900 tons of ~high-grade coal on a
round trip. With a gas engine this
could be cut 10 5000, with a saving
Of hundreds of dollars a day.
The Passing of the Smoke.
The gas producer experiments show,
So | am told at the bureau of mines,
that smoke can be practically OBJ
liberated from our large manufacture
ing cities. AS it is now the most Of
the smoke comes from the railroads
and factories. 1t is estimated that
COO tons of SCOT a day are dropped
into Chicago by the locomotives and
that 40 per cent of all the smoke Of
tkat city comes from the railroads.
With gas producing plants the i'm
mense switch yards there could be
operated by electricity and the same
force could be supplied to the fac
tories. The saving to the buildings
would be enormous. Chicago is said
to be damaged to the extent Of $50
100000 a year by it's smoke, and
Cleveland loses $4,000, 600 from the
same source. 1t is estimated that
the total losses entaiIed by coal smoke
upon the merchandise, buildings and
vegeta BILE life in the United States
every yea foots up more han $780,
600, 900. and the doctors say that this
coal smoke causes a great loss of life.
According to Uncle Sans latest
figures, 10000 of mis- men. women
and children annually die of CON
sumption; it is said that with the
absence Of smoke and the use Of
proper hygienic conditions three
49, - 500
vented.
Half Our Coal Wasted.
The chief work of the bureau Of
mines has So far been devoted to
stopping the waste. / have already
written Of the wonders accomplished
in saving the lives Of tine miners
and increasing their safety While be-
low ground. The work is now be-
ing rapidly extended to saving our ma
terial The story of the gas
producer has shown You something Of
what may be done with the coal above
ground. There is an enormous waste
in the mining. some Of which may
also be stopped. Indeed all the coal
taken out measures only one-half Of
what might be mined Fully so per
cent is lost by improper handling or
is left in the mines. and his loss
amounts to about 81, 0G0. 900 for every
working day Of the year. 1t is enough
to build q structure as large and fine
as our Library of Congress in every
one OF our cities Of more than co.
600 bitants. The library cost
$1,000. 900. We could put up forty
such buildings each year out of the
waste coal left in the mines. Tn two
Years we could more thar paw for
the Panama Canal. and in less than
a decade could lay aside a ca pitaI
equal to that of the United States
steel trust and half a dozen Of our
big railroad systems.
The gross waste in the extraction
and treatment Of our minerals in
1907 was more than $500. o6s. 600. and
Of the 100000. 600 tons Of coal which
we annually take on of the earth
We leave another 400 000 nm IN c,cb