The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1918-02-10

heat or power that coal has. This is
found by placing a thimbleful of coal
inside a metal cylinder charged with
oxygen. The cylinder is then dropped
into tin pan of water where the coal
is exploded by means of electricity, The
explosion is greater or less as the coal
is rich or poor, and it's quality is known
by the rise in temperature of the water,
Immediately after the explosion The
difference in the number of degrees be-
fore and after give the figures which de-
itermine the heating valSe If you would
get the most out of your coal you must
know what you buy.
AS it is. few people realize the enor-
nous waste that Is going on In burn
Ing coal. We are letting millions of
dollars a day fly up the chimney and
are losing billions in the coal gases
and smoke we waste every year. We
have begun to save some of these losses
BY the new ovens which have been re-
Gently introduced for the making of
coke You will find these at our largest
steel plants They are rapidly in
creasing in number, and the amount
saved BY them Is already in the neigh
borhood of $50, 100000 per year. saw
one at birmingham, Ala, which saved
1900 tons of coal every month by
getting nine pounds more coke out of
a ton of coal than was done in the old
fashioned way. l saw some at Gary
which turned four-fifths of the coal into
coke. and out of the balance made 10O,-
100000 cubic feet OF gas every "a hours, In
addition, they produced vast quantities
of ammonia sulphate and benzoi and the
by-products which come from coal tar
and take the places of the drugs and
dyestuffs which we bought from Ger
many up until the outbreak of this war.
The Germans have been selling us some
thing like $40, 900 worth of coal tar
dives per annum They have made them
,, out of materials that we have allowed to
float away ON the air. They have sold
US millions of dollars worth of drugs
that came from the waste smoke and
gasses uf coal, and have annually made
from the same source something like
&c. 100000 gallons of benzol, which is equal
to the best gasoline sold in America.
We are now making many Of the drugs
and most of the dyestuffs we formerly
imported from Germany and it Is only a
question of time when we shall have such
stuff for export ourselves
In order to appreciate the losses that
| go up in smoke, one has only TO see the
| old coke ovens side by side with those
| OF today The old ovens were shaped
| somewhat like and old-fashioned bee
/ NM
ovens. They were great boxes OF brick
built up from the ground, with door
at the side and hole in the top. The
coal was poured in, the fire started and
| the oven closed. The coal continued to
burn until all the gases and smoke had
\ passed off into the air and finally
was left only the pure carbon or coke
which is used for the smelling Of steel
These beehive ovens are often situated al
| the mines. The new by-product ovens are
at the steel plants where the coke is con-
sumed. The beehive oven was cheap
! The by-product oven costs 100000 Oh
more, but it pays for itself many times
over. For every 100 tons OF coal it CON
sumes it produces rs tons of COKE which
! is more than could have been gotter
| from the old beehive ovens, and in add
ton 1900 gallons of tar, 2S00 pounds o.
sulphate of ammonia and about 10000
cubic feet of Illuminating gas. It is est
mated that the tar and ammonia alone
4 will pay for the cost of maintenance anC
operation of the plant as well as the in