Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1916-07-21
USE POWDERED FUEL
INVENTION WILL SAVE RAIL
ROADS MUCH MONEY.
Locomotives to Be Equipped With Fire
Boxes Capable of Burning PuIver-
ICED ompounds-WiII Reduce
Work of Firemen.

Ihe expenditure lOT lOCOulOIlNe 1uel
on our steam railroads amounts to
nearly % 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 a dry pull
verified form has two-thirdS of it's 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 unsuitable, 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 per cent and ground to a
tineness so that it will pass through a
screen from number 100 to number POO
mesh.
The first locomotive of any consider
| 0hIn Civn t0 40 fittnl in, ha mi oil
States or Canada (and so far as known,
In the wOrld) with successful appara-
tuS for burning pulveriZed fuel in sUs-
pension is a ten-wheel type engine.
This engine has cylinders % inches in
diameter by 2G inches stroke. Driv-
ing wheels, 50 inches diameter. Boil
err pressure, 200 pounds. Heating sur
face, 2,649 square feet. Crate, area,
50 square feet 1t is equipped with a
Schmidt superheater and has trac.
tive effort of $1,000 pounds. 1t was
converted into a 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 tireboX at the rate of
about 5000 pounds an hour, or 100
pounds minute. This labOriOus work
cannot be done with the care neces,
sary to secure good combustion, with
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 al
this, for even when fuel contains Il
per cent of noncOmbustible matter only
about % per cent is deposited in the
Stag or ash pan, and this deposit is
noncombustible. Whereas, when Goa
is burned in CRATES about Is per cent
goes into the ash pan, and this resid
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 puIver
lied fuel effects a saving of from Il
to 25 per cent in coal or equivalent
heat value delivered, as compared witt
the hand firing Of coarse coal OF
CRATES.
In conclusion it must be noted thai
there is q certain element of danger
in the handling of pulverized coal tha
does not obtain with the more ineffec
tive coarse coal. But, with ordinar!
care and the observance of certain es
tablished rules, 1t Is comparatively
easy to avoid trouble, as is shown b!
the records Of industrial plants usinl
pulverized fuel
Railroads IIca Mare oil