The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1913-01-04
SMOKELESS
COAL PLANT
How the Government Has Set a Good
Example

Washington, Jan. 3.-Setting the
good example Of operating its own
power plant smokelessly in city
that is attempting to combat the nut
sance, the United States bureau of
mines is out with the statement that
the smoke of cities can be largely
reduced and perhaps entirely pre-
vented. The power plant is connect
ed with lne experiment station of
the bureau at Pittsburg, Pa, and it
has been conducted without objec-
tionable smoke for more than two
| years.
The bureaus report, made public
today, destroys the popular notion
! that smoke may be lessened by the
use Of so-called smoke consumer"
some special device which, If placed
in the stack or in the smoke passage
will in some way consume the
smoke. Samuel B. Flagg, engineer in
charge Of the smoke Investigations,
declares that although such method
may not De an impossbility it is i'm
practical. Smoke, he says, is caused
by the flames from the coal coming
into contact with the cool surfaces of
a boiler. AS an illustration, place
a saucer in the flame of a candle and
the bottom of the saucer will be coy
cred with smoke. Hold the saucer just
above the flame and there will be no
smoke. Coal can be burned smoke
lessly. Engineer Flag insists, If you
give the coal the proper chance to
burn. That is all there is to it.
The burea of mines is charged
with conducting tests to increase the
efficiency with which the fuels pur-
chased by the government are used
and incidentally 1t has found that fed
eral buildings throughout the country
are not only wasting coal, but are
adding to the smoke nuisance of the
cities. This led to taking up an in
vestigation of this troublesome pro
lem.
1t was discovered by Engineer
Flagg that no two cities in the coun-
Try were attracting the problem from
the same angle and he soon came to
the conclusion that many of them
were wrong and were wasting their
efforts. He found drastic ordinances
IL, cnp,o ,nupIcinolitia, tho, noud only
serve to make the citizens fight them
he found In other cities laws that
could not possibly be enforced. AS a
result of his investigation he declares
that the most progress can be made
in cities by the authorities insisting
that in all new buildings furnaces
shall be installed that are absolutely
smokeless. In his report he quotes
number OF the different smoke ordi-
nances, explains where they are good
and bad and builds up series of or
dinances that might prove of value
to municipalities of various sizes.
Mr.. Flagg says: 1T is quite ce:-
tain that the greatest advances in
smoke abatement in our cities have
come in the past and must come in
the future throughth organized eff
fort OF the city smoke inspection de-
partments, supplemented by the &C
tive cooperation OF citizens. A strong
public sentiment in favor of smoke
abatement Is almost an absolute ne
cessiry, II satisfactory results are to
be accomplished. The time may
come when public sentiment against
permitting the escape of dense smoke
will be so strong that every plant
owner or operator will feel obliged to
prevent such escape of smoke, regard
less OF the existence OF an ordinance
or Of his own personal feeling or
inclinations. This condition does not
prevail today in any city in the Uni.
ted States.
Under present conditions II is too
often the case that buildings are so
designed as to leave insufficient room
for the proper equipment. Boilers
are SO placed that they cannot be
properly cleaned or operated; hence
they are forced or additional capacity
Is crowded in, and smoke producing
conditions result. II Is therefore i'm.
portant that the situation OF the boil.
er plant and the providing of ade-
quate space for II should receive con
sideration no less than the proper
design OF furnaces. Obviously, to
accomplish these ends, persistent and