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

a condition that II can never
mined.
The worst OF this is tina. i. Is.
dead loss. a bad wheat or corn ,far
can be replaced the Year following
Ii takes thousands of years L. grow
coal, and that which We now a..re
is like a great savings bank Of bottled
up power TO be used in the tut.r,
ESrry check We cash reduces the
amount of the deposit and ;h,~.
none coming in. At the sam, time
We are burning more and more GOA
We now consume five tons per head.
and waste more han three. The pro-
portion of increase IS rapid. and
should il continue our coal uiN ..
all gone within a few centuries
It is even worse with gas and PEI
troleum. The loss in natural gas is
more thar a billion cubic feet every
day. 1t equals $4,000 barrels 81
petroleum.. or enough TO light every
city we have of more than 100000
population. Its heat value is about
the same as a million bushels Of
coal, and this loss goes on day alter
day, year in and year ont. There
is one We'll in Kentucky from VIII h
a stream Of gas poured forth fer
twenty years. throwing out into the
air fuel which at present prices
would be worth three million dollars
The loss from petroleum N leakaee
and waste is also enormous.
Briquettes From the slack.
DIR. Holmes tells me that the day
VIII some time come when We VII
turn our coal dust and slack into
briquettes. or coal bricks. which WI
furnish as great. or even grieater,
heating power than the coal itself
Such b~riQuettes rave been made and
.-AJ - ~,-+
ing a greater efficiency than the same
grade of lump coal from which they
were made. The cost of -c-
turing at present, however. is about
81 per ton, and they cannot com
pete with the lump coal from the
mines.
1t is different in the Ignite fields Of
the West. where the b~riQuetted coal
has a far greater heating value than
the coal itself, and where 1t can DO
pressed up for shipment.
There are briquetting plants al the
anthracite mines which are working
over the waste at an exceedingly
great profit. They are washing the
cu1m grains and pressing them into
bricks, and they are ever d~ragsInG
the Goa grains and slack out OF the
SusQuehanna river and putting them
on the market. Ninety-six thousand
tons Of such coal were taken from
the water last Year, and altogether
about four million tons Of anthracite
have been redeemed from the waste.
This coal. at the retail prices which
now prevail in Washington, would he
worth something like thirty million
dollars, although it would hardly sell
for one-fOurth that at the mines.
Some of our great naval vessels are
now using b~riQuettes. They can carry
more Of this fuel in a smaller com
pass; and it has less smoke and a
greater power-prOducing value. The
Government has briduetting machines
in its experiment stations at Pitts
burgh and Denver, and it may be
hat the cost of making these bricks
of coal will be much less in the future
1t is also testing peat in briquettes
and is taking advantage Of the ma
chimes of France. Germany. Belgium
and England, where briquetteS are
commonly used on the railroads ami
Tor domestic heating as we'll.
Testing Government Coal
During my stay in the bureau of
mines / was taken to the laboratory
in the top Of the building where the
scientists We're at work testing the
heat and power values OF coal sent
in from all parts of the country. They
80 diioI ihS tht Gill pies ''H' o"
by bidders for the Government con-
tracts and finding out just no" muCh
moisture and ash and heat OF power
each contained.
At the present time about forty Of
the public buildings here IN Wash
ington and 800 other buildings be
longing to the Government scattered
over n country are supplied Win
coal on such tests. II is the same
with the Panama Railroad and our
navy yards. All the fuel is bought
direct through competitive bids and
Ii must be UP to the specifications
A premium is paid for any decrease
in the amount OF ash below the stand
ard and deductions are made ~nen
the ash exceeds the standard by more
than = per cent.
n samples of coal when they come