The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-21
BUREAU OF MINES
 DOING MUCH FOR
 MINERAL INDUSTRY
Millions of Dollars Saved and Useless Waste Are Turned Into Coal
 Tar Products

Washington, December 20. -(Spe- cial. )-What the United States bureau of mines is doing to aid in the de- velopment of mineral industries in this country by suggesting new and bet ter methods of manufacture, by stop ping the waste of valuable mineral re- sources and by suggesting uses for material thought to be of no par ticular value, is detailed by the di- rector Van II. Manning, in the an- nual report of the bureau for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1915, issued to- day.
 The report is a series of chapters of big industrial achievements by Amer ican manufacturers, of millions of dol lars saved, of heretofore useless waste material turned into profitable indus- try, of new industries being created to manufacture what has formerly been imported and of the consequent grow ing industrial independence of the United States
 The beginning of the European war and the shutting off of certain man. ufactured imports is said to have spurred this government agency to re- newed and more determined efforts in behalf Of the people, and the results are shown in number of industries that have been aided.
 COAL TAR PRODUCTS When the exportation of coal tar products by Germany was stopped by the war, and manufacturers who use dyes and those who make explosives could not obtain the necessary ingre- d1ents, the bureau called attention to the fact that there was in this country great abundance of raw material and that S75,000,0 000 of these products were being wasted each year through the use Of the behive coke oven instead of the by-product oven. It urged a cau- tious building up of the industry and the result has been the construction of additional byproduct coke ovens that have added to the yearly output several million gallons of benzol need l ed in chemical manufactures. The bureau at the same time gave to the country process devised by one of its chemists. pr. w. F. Ritt- man, for the manufacture from petrol cum of benzol and toIuol used in the manufacture of dyes and high explo- sives This process has since been demonstrated on a commercial scale l It's importance to this country lies in the fact that it gives the United States an important source of material use-
 
 something it did not have before. Dr. Rittman also devised a process which will enable refiners to increase the output of gasoline from crude petrol cum 200 per cent or even more, the patent right to this process to be dedi- cated to the public to prevent monop- oily.
 The bureau has developed that the losses to the oil and natural gas in- dustry in a years time through care less and reckless exploitation. amounts to $50,000.000 and has devised and demonstrated practical process for drilling wells by which the waste of gas and the invasion of water may be stopped, thus saving in single state natural gas worth more than $15,- 000000.
 UTILIZING OIL SHALES
 Looking into the future, the bureau is investigating the vast deposits of the so-called oil shades of Utah and Colorado, believing that the oil supply will come from them and at no distant period. These shales, S is said, rival as sources of petroleum the oil shades of Scotland and New South Wales which have been profitably exploited in spite of the con- tnued competition of oil from other sources.
 The studying of the combustion of coal by experts of the bureau has led to certain information that calls for new designs for furnaces which will prove more economical. The investigations have disclosed that in many manufac- turing plants, the space In the furnace where the coal is burned is not of suf- ficient size and that efficient and econ omical burning of the coal is imposs- ble. This information is to be given to the manufacturers of boilers, so that the designs may be altered to suit the new conditions.
 The experts of the bureau has been en- deavorin gto develop the use of what is known as the gas-producer, which burns a much lower grade of coal than the steam boiler and produces power, it is Aaid, at less expense than other methods. Hhey deplore the tendency in this coun- tryS toward the almost exclusive use of high grade coal and point to the ruthless waste and neglect of low grade fuels, which is in sharp contrast to the stua- ton in Europe. It is the expectation of these experts to live to see the railroads of the country operated by electricity obtaining their power from gigantic gas producer power plants located at the mines.
 TlSe bureau learned that while the United States was either wasting or neg lecting the use white china clays in the south, this country was importing each year more than $10.000000 or china and porcelain and in addition a quarter of a million tons of china clay which was ranufactured here into various forms of white ware. The bureau has already mo-
 ified the industry that the clay deposits bf the south are, as a rule, as good as