The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1917-09-26
l2O,OO0,OOO TONS OF
COAL WASTED YEARLY
Steam Power Plant lnef1iciency
pet; I'inti>-AIl Now Badly Needed

New YORK. Sept. 25.-The growing
realization throughout the United
States OF the immense part III the de
velopMent Of Our full war efficiency
to be played by our coal supply ana
rs measures being taken by the GOV
eminent to increase coal production
and economic distribution makes
highly Interesting an analysis OF the
efficiency of the plants, which are 20
turn this coal into useful work, pub
iished in its monthly bulletin by the
National City Bank OF New York.
The mines of the United STATES at
present Pr0GICe about b0u,uoo. 0pO
tons of coal Il year. and every ton OF
this, and more, Is needed TO supply
power 20 the industries working I'M
der wartime pressure. II 13U,UVr,-
600 tons more coal could be added TO
our yearly supply, ii would represent
an addition of incaicuiabie value 10
the immediate striking power OF the
countly's resources would mean
that Germany would feel the weight
of our opposition just that much
sooner, and more heavily.
No such increase in production is
likely to be realized by the miners,
according to present indications. But
the experts employed by the National
City Bank to draw up its analysis es-
innate that the wastage of coal due
to the relative inefficiency of the
average present-day steam power
plant in the United States amounts
to just that figure-15g .UU0,0 900 tons
a year.
This does not mean merely that il
all steam power plants in the country
were as efficient as it is theoretically
possible to make them, the saving
would amount TO $50 100000 tons a
year. 1t means that this saving
would be effected if ali the steam
power plants were as efficient and
economical in coal as the best of
them already are and have proved
themselves to be in actual service.
Of course, all the steam power plants
never will be equally efficient, for
the very reason that every new plant,
if designed and built as it should be.
represents an advance in efficiency;
but the statement of an expert that
at least one-fourth of the coal at
present mined in the United States
represents preventable waste is none
the less impressive. 1t means not
only that one-fOurth of the coal min
ed is wasted; it means that in d time
when every industry in America is
crying for labor one-fourth of the la
Dor involved in mining, handling ad
transporting coal and shoyelig it into
freboXes is wasted, a tribute to in
efficient machinery.
The proof of this fact is presented
for the National City Bank by Prof.
Robert W. Anderson, of Stevens In
stitute of Technology, in brief ia
bic. The most efficient steam engine
Yet produced and in actual service he
finds to be the Ljungstrom turbin, |
which uses only eight pounds of
steam and 81 of a pound of coal an
hour for each horsepower, and which |
attainS 74.7 per cent. of the maxi |
mum efficiency theoretically possible |
in steam engine. The Ljungstrom |
turbine, so far IT known, has not |
-sestc -h5aen- intrA into This laJ,n=
try. but there are many big power
plants now in service in the United
States which have proved their abiIi-
~ to deliver power at the rate of
LIP 10 1.3 pounds of coal per horse
power an hour. showing in actual ser
vice an efficiency from 65.5 to 66.2
per cent. Of that theoretically posi-
bic.
But for each of these there are
thousands of smaller, older plants.
whose installation dates back to the
nineties, or Whereabouts, single-ex-
pansion engines, the best of them
fitted with automatic valves, but
some with simple slide valves, and
even without condensers, that are do
ing well if they get their coal con-
sumption down to anywhere from
2.15 up even to five or more pounds
per horsepower an hour. Any steam
engine today that burns more than
two pounds Of coal per horsepower
an hour is an inefficient engine; yet
there are probably more such engines
in this country today eating up our
coal pile tina there are delivering
power below that figure At any
rate. there are enough of them, so
that even those fractions of a pound
OF coal an hour per horsepower
mount up into millions of tons of
wasted coal a year.