The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-03-07
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
FREDERIC j. HASKIN, Director,
Washington, D. c.


holder heaveS a sigh OF rellef In Inc
fond delusion that he need worry no
more about coal if he has a ton or two
on hand until next fall
The bureau of mines and the fuel
administration rudely shatter this
dream of peace The time to begin
thinking about next winters coal, they
say, is this spring For every citizen
who has a cellar or any other place
where he can store a supply of coal,
it is the part of patriotism and also of
prudence to buy coal soon as pos
sible. Send in your order for as much
coal as you will need next winter, or
as much as you can store, to be filled
as soon as the dealer is able. In this
way you can assure yourself of an
adequate supply, and do a service to
the country at large. The people who
have to buy coal in small quantities,
because they have no place to store
large ones, will keep the delivery SER
vice busy next winter.
AS soon as you can let the fire die
in the furnace or the stove, give your
heating plant a thoro overhauling; it
will pay. Ii the furnace needs a new
CRATE, or if the furnace door is leaky
tit, you are probably wasting more in
heat than the repair would cost. See,
too, that all your pipes and hot air
ducts are covered with heat insula-
ton.
The doors and windows of your
house have a great deal to do with
the cost of heating it. If you can af-
ford a storm door and double win
dov-S, you will find it much easier to
keep the house warm next winter. If
these Improvements are too expensive,
yo can save a great deal OF heat by
a judicious use of weather strips. If
you rent, bring these things to the
n of nOint
that it will pay him to make his prem
| ises easy to keep warm.
| Many persons who rail about the
| waste of coal are themselves uncon-
| scious MASTERS. The fact is exemph-
| fled by an incident which Director
| Van H. Manning of the bureau of
| mines told on himself not long ago.
| He had been making special study
| o. coal conservation, and had issued
| thru his publicity department much
valuable information on the subject
| In the evening he sat down in the
| cheerful req glow of an open crate in
his residence, and pleasantly medi-
tated upon the good work he was
| doing. 1t suddenly dawned upon him
that this coal-burning crate, of which
| lie was particularly fond, was a fine
representative of the kind of heating
| appliances he was trying to abolish.
! For most of the heat from an open
crate goes up the chimney; it is the
| most wasteful coal burner In the
world.
&C uess the old CRATE will have to
| CO., said the director ruefully.
| In figuring up what it cost you to
| heat your house last winter you might
| also figure in how many different
ways you wasted coal. Faulty fur
| naceS and stoves, open CRATES. un1n-
sulated pipes. badly constructed doors
and windows, and careless firing are
items that make the difference be-
tween plenty of coal and famine. The
| bureau of mines issues pamphlet on
firing the furnace which will tell you
| no. to make little coal go a long
| way.
| The advice to overhaul the plant is
| offered to the industrial coal user even
| more empha tically than to the house
hold consumer. There are a great many
| factories in this country which waste
| coal by reason of Anticipated or faulty
| furnace construction. The bureau OF
mines has been fighting this evil for
long time. In its experimental plant
in Pittsburg it has studied the COM
bustion of coal in an especially con-
structed freboX which ena bles the
scientists to control and measure
every factor in the problem. They
have worked out the types of fur
! naceS that are best suited to every
variety of coal mined in the United
| States. These have been brought &c
the ATTENTION OIL manufacturers oil
such equipment The bureau will also
give advice to any concern which is
about to install a plant. 1t lays spe-
cial stress upon the Importance of in
sta1ling in every factory the kind OF
| a furnace that will burn the Goa.
| nearest at hand. Many American
manufa cturerS have to ship their Goa
long distances because their furnaces
are not suited to supplies produced
near to their plants.
| How to get the most energy out OF
a ton of coal is a. problem that has
long been solved in this country. MOI
only has the bureau of mines worked
it out in great detail, but there are
plenty of engineers in the country
who are thoroly posted on the sub.
ject. But coal has been cheap in the
past, and the business office has no
considered it worth while to listen t.
the efficiency expert. The bureau o.
mines points out that this policy viii
no longer pay, and is not patriotic
Every manufacturer is urged to max,
his plant as economical of fuel al
possible. 1t is the fragrant waster
that have made necessary heatless anS
voorhees, days.
Another element in the coal situa.
ton which the bureau of mines has
been trying to get before the public
is the fact that owing to careless min
ing the quality of the COAL and hence
: us IGel value, has iallen far below
| tho pre-War standard. While the Goa
operators are being generally giver
credit for greatly increased produc
, ton OF coal, and the blame for short
; age laid wholly upon transportation
\ the experts of the bureau assert thai
: in actual fuel value we have melted
a loss" which we must make up b,
careful and efficient use of fuel
The bureau has beer making an
alyses of some of this wartime Goa
and has repeatedly found that it con
tains a greatly increased quantity G,
, waste, due to careless preparation a
the mine. In a number of cases. Goa
which contained only 6 to s per cen
l of ash before the war now contains
from IL to Is per cent of ash TIL,
scientists say it is not at all improb
able that an average of per cen
: L. - IL. <l>l -