Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1916-08-23
USE POWDERED fuel
INVENTION WILL SAVE RAIL
ROADS MUCH MONEY.
Locomotives to Be Equipped With Fire
Boxes Capable Of Burning PuIver-
ICED compounds-WillR Reduce
Work Of Firemen.

The expenditure for locomotive fuel
on our steam railroads amounts to
nearly 25 per cent Of the total cost Of
conducting its transportation, says
Scientific American. This enormous
item Of expenses, coupled with the
ever-increasing cost Of all material,
due to the high price Of labor, presents
problem which has engaged the at
tention of locomotive engineers for a
number of years.
Experiments made in the way of
burning solid fuel other than in CRATES
in cement kilns and metallurgical fur
naces have been successful, and pull
verified coal is now extensively used
for such purposes; but the difficulties
inseparable from the conditions under
which locomotive has to be operated
are great and it is only recently that
appliances for burning powdered fuel
in locomotive fireboxes have been prac-
tically developed.
A paper on the subject was present
ed at a meeting of the New York Rail-
road club recently, and by the courtesy
of the club we are now able to give
some particulars of this important step
in railroad fuel economy. -
In the first place, it may be stated
that any solid fuel which in dry pull
verified form has two-thirds of its con-
tents combustible will be suitable for
steam-generating purposes. There
fore, the low value coal mine and strip
pit products, such as dust, sweepings,
culm, slack and screenings, and even
Ignite and peat, are as suitable as the
larger sizes and better grades Of coal.
AS some Of the products above named
are now unstable, the great saving eff
fected by the use of the new form of
fuel will be apparent; for the total
cost to prepare pulverized coal in a
properly equipped plant will be some
thing less than 25 cents per ton. This
item will be more than offset by the
great difference in the cost of the
grades Of coal purchased for pulver-
izing as compared with those that
would be required for burning salts
factorily in CRATES.
The preparation of the fuel is not
complicated. 1t must be thoroughly
dry; that is to say, the moisture should
not exceed l per cent and ground to
fineness so that it will pass through
screen from number 100 to number 200
mesh.
The first locomotive of any consider
able size to be fitted up in the United
States or Canada (and so far as known,
in the worldly with successful appara-
tus for burning pulverized fuel in sus-
pension is ten-wheel type engine.
This engine has cylinders % inches in
diameter by 26 inches stroke. Driv-
ing wheels, 50 inches diameter. Boil
er pressure, 200 pounds. Heating sur
face, 2,649 square feet. Crate, area,
55 square feet. 1t is equipped with a
Schmidt superheater and has a trac-
tive effort of 1000 pounds. It was
converted into pulverized fuel burn
er in the early part Of 1914.
The fireman's duties will be very
light compared with his, work required
in hand firing coarser coal in the ordi-
nary CRATES. This is easily understood
when we recall that the fireman of a
heavy modern locomotive has to shovel
coal into the firebox at the rate of
about 5000 pounds an hour, or 100
pounds a minute. This laborious work
cannot be done with the care neces-
n
the result that quantities of coal are
dropped into the ashpan, the flues are
rapidly checked with SCOT and clouds
of smoke, unburnt coal and sparks are
elected from the stack, to the annoy
ance of passengers and danger to prop
erty adjacent to the railway.
The improved system will change all
this, for even when fuel contains Is
per cent Of noncombustible matter only
about 2.5 per cent is deposited in the
Stag or ash pan, and this deposit is
noncombustible. Whereas, when coal
is burned in CRATES about Is per cent
goes into the ash pan, and this rasid-
uum always contains more or less COM
bustible matter. The saving in ash
pan waste alone is an important item,
1t is stated that the use of pulver-
lied fuel effects q saving of from Is
to % per cent in coal or equivalent
heat value delivered, as compared with
the hand firing of coarse coal on
CRATES.
In conclusion it must be noted that
there Is a certain element of danger
IN the handling of pulverized coal that
does not obtain with the more ineffec-
tive coarse coal. But, with ordinary
care and the observance of certain es-
tablished rules, it is comparatively
easy to avoid trouble, as is shown by
the records of industrial plants using
pulverized fuel.
Railroads Use More Oil,