Semi-weekly herald., 1913-01-06
TO COMBAT sMokL NUI-
SANCE IN CITIES

atlng its own power plant smokeless-
ly ~ city that il attempting to
combat the nuisance the United States
bureau of mines is out with the state
ment that the smoke of cities can be
largely reduced and perhaps entirely
prevented. The power plant is con-
nected with the experiment station of
the bureau at Pttsburg, Pa, and it
has been conducted without objection
able smoke for more than two years.
The bureaus report, made public
today, destroys the popular cotton
that smoke may be lessened by the
use of so-cailed smoke consumer
some special device, which il placed
in the stack or in the smoke passages,
VIII in some way consume tht smoke.
). b. Flagg, engineer in charge o
that although such method may not
the smoke Investigators declares
be an fmpossibiity, it is impractical,
smoke, he says is caused by the
flames from the coal coming into
| contact with the cool surface of boil
er. AS an illustration-piace sau-
Ger in the flame of candle and the
bottom of the saucer W.: De covered
w..t smoke. Holt, the saucer lust
above the flame and tcse will re
lio smoke. Coal can he burned
smckelessly, Engineer Flagy insists,
ii you give the ,oal the proper
chance to burn That is Al. there is
| to il.
The bureau of mines is charged with
conducting tests to increase the eff
cheney with which the fuels pur-
chased by the government are used
and incidentally it 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 prob
lem.
1t was discovered by Engineer
f'lagg that no two cities in the coun-
try were attacking 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
in some municipalities that could on
ly serve to make the citizens fight
them; he found in other cities, laws
that could not be possibly enforced
As result of his investigation, he de-
clares that the most progress can be
made in cities by the authorities in
sisting that in all new buildings fur
naces shall be installed that are alb
solutely smokeless. In his report he
quotes number of the different
smoke ordinances, explains where they
are good and bad, and builds up a
series of ordinances that might prove
of value to municipalities of various
| sizes.
Mr.. Flagg says: ut is quite GER
tain that the greatest advances in
smoke abatement in our cities have
come in the past and must come in
the future, through the organized
effort Of the city smoke inspection
departments, supplemented by the ac-
tive cooperation of citizens. A strong
public sentiment in favor of smoke
abatement is almost an absolute nee
essity, if satisfactory results are to
be accomplished. The time may come
when public sentiment against per-
mitting the escape of dense smoke
will be so strong that every plant
owner or operator will feel obliged
to prevent such escape of smoke, re-
| gardless of the existence of an ordi-
nance or of his own personal feeling
or inclinations. This condition does
not prevail today in any city in the
United States. Just as soon as each
individual realizes that it is not only
his duty, but that it will work to his
| own benefit to cooperate in that
which will result in the most good
to all, just so soon will the necessity
for smoke ordinance disappear. In
the meantime, however, or until the
present methods of burning bitumi-
nous coal are radically changed, such
a necessity will exist in those locali-
ties where large quantities of such
coal are consumed.
Under present conditions it 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 can not be
properly cleaned or operated; hence
they are forced, or additional capac-
ity is crowded in, and smoke produc-
ing conditions result. 1t is therefore
important that the situation of the
boiled plant and the providing of ade-
ouate space for it should receive con-
sideration no less than the proper de-
sign Of furnaces. Obviously, to ac-
complish these ends, persistent and
systematic as well as scientifically
correct methods must be adopted. In
other words, organization is neces-
sary, and the ordinance should specify
not only how the work is to be or
panized, but also the necessary quail
ftcaks>~, - <hoe1 ,,bo 49, a. L. -