Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1918-04-19


OF the country how to perform the
same trick. He does this by means of
devices which, through electrical pre-
cipftatiOn, not only reclaim vast
wealth from the smoke, dust and
dunes Of smelters and other plants,
but at the same time redeem thou
sands of acres OF nearby land AS a
matter OF fact, the curb Which he has
pr upon the smoke and dustsnuisance
Ibis original aim-now actually bids
faiI to be, Ia some directions, the pri-
mary reason for the running of certain
nj Our Industries. The smoke wizard
elso has accomplished these remark
s6ie things Is ar. Frederick G. Cot
srell, CHIEF metallurgist of the bureau
az mines
Doctor CottrelPs experiments began
several years ago when. as member
Of the staff of the University of Cal
ff0rnia, he was called upon to solve
Che problem Of helping smeiter locat-
Ell on San Francisco bay. The waste
gases and vapors from this smelter, re-
sulting from the sulphuric acid part
SRg process used in treating gold and
silver bullion, were declared nuis-
eAce by neighboring farmers and
seemed likely TO provoke costly liti-
gAtiea and possibly lead to shut
dow n Of the plant.
Ahe gases discharged into the air
amounted to substantially 5000 cubic
gaRf nj. ~ inttta and haid Il, e,tsY,ot, c;o,,
an important proportion of sulphuric
acid in the form of fine mist. The
corrosive action of the sulphuric acid
was shown throughout the entire zone
gwept broadcast by the shifting winds.
and both the agriculturists and the
people generally had ample reason for
complaint. The smelter was profit
able one and the management was
anxious to find some way to abate a
nuisance that was both a menace to
health and hurtful to vegetation.
Laboratory Meets Industry.
Doctor Cottrelfs preliminary work
brought up some puzzling situations.
Up to certain stage matters went
OF the inyestigational tests, but be-
yond this was the question of meeting
the practical situation presented by n
large commercial smelter. A big part
Of Doctor Cottrell's achievement Law
in spanning the gap between the la
boratory and the Industrial plant and
I'm finding ways TO control the enorm-
0as pressures of the necessary cleo
trio current, mounting up to 100000
volts.
The problem was solved, however.
and so we'll was the PRECIPITATION in
stalled at this smelter designed that
st has been doing Its work satisfactor-
tiy ever since. Further, by mere
chance Doctor Cottrell attacked at
that plant what is commonly admitted
10 be the most difficult of all problems
of smoke or fume abatement, viz. the
precipitation of acid mist.
The good results obtained in this
FIRST instance soon became widely
known and new line of application
was opened few years later when the
great copper smelter at Balaklala. Cal.
was threatened with fume litigation
BY the United States forestry service.
~Fume," or fine particles In the form
Of smoke. and sulphur dioxide gas,
Invisible to the eye, given off from the
stacks of the smelter, had swept the
neighboring country bare of vegetation
for miles, and 1t was a case Of either
shutdown or a suppression of these
destructive discharges.
a full-sized plant of the Cottfeii
type was, accordingly, Installed. The
volume OF the gases treated averaged