Rock Island Argus., 1919-10-31
BURN COKE.
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.
Especial Correspondent of The Argus)

Washington. D. c.. Oct. 2s-Burn coke in
your furnace.
This is a suggestion from the bureau of
mines which is here given publicity for the
first time, but which from will be
dinned into the ears of the American public.
The purely personal and selfish reasons why
you should burn coke instead of coal are that
you will have cleaner house, you will not
have to clean your fues, and if your neighbors
viii also use coke, you will enjoy the rare
advantage Of breathing smokeless air.
The more altruistic reasons why you should
burn coke are that 80 per cent is added to
the value Of every ton OF coal which is prop
erIy coked, and all by-products extracted, in
stead of the coal being burned raw.
The United States is wasting millions every
year by burning coal raw. Nitrogen that
need for fertilizer is going up our fues. and
so are coal tar, light oil, and gas, which should
be extracted and used for their proper pur-
poses. AS one scientist put it, there is no
more excuse for US to burn our fuel raw than
there is for us to carve raw beefsteak off
the rump of living COW, as the Australian
bushman does. Both practices are wasteful
and barbarous.
So far as the individual householder is con-
cerned, it cannot be claimed that coke offers
him better fuel than anthracite coal. An
thracite is almost as clean and smokeless, and
it is little easier to use, not requiring quite
as much skill and care. But anthracite is now
obtainable in only small part of the United
States, and the supply of it is constantly
dwindling.
Between coke and bituminous coal there
be no comparison. About the same amount
of fuel value may be obtained in coke for The
same money; but it will be cheaper in the
long run by reason OF the fact that it eliTni-
mates much cleaning of fiues. furnaces and
houses. Besides this it is the only real solu-
ton of the smoke problem. Residence dis
tricts will never be free from smoke until coke
is substituted for bituminous coal as a house
hold fuel.
Coke may now be obtained by the house
EOIdar in ba eofO OT
the Ohio river and east of the Mississippi. and
in many Industrial cities outside of that area
1t be burned in practically all ordinary
household furnaces In some very small fur
races it is difficult to burn. It requires slight
ly different handling from that required by
coal, but is not any more trouble to use, if
much. Those who wish detailed instruc-
tions on how to burn coke can obtain them in
printed form by addressing the bureau of
mines, department Of the interior, Washington,
d. C.
From the viewpoint of national economy
and efficiency, the burning of coal raw is q
wholesale waste which no civilized nation can
afford. ton of coal is worth about 81 as
such. If this same ton of coal is put through
a modern by-products coke oven. it produces
about two-thirds of a ton Of coke, worth $5
5000 cubic feet of gas worth $5, three gallons
of motor oil worth rs cents, nine gallons of
tar worth 25 cents and 25 pounds of ammonium
sulphate worth dollar and a quarter. Thus
the ton of coal, properly treated, is worth
:
fuel.
If the burning of coke in both factory and
household, and the resultant saving of coal by
products became general our fuel should be
uting the fuel would be practically paid for
by its by-products. However, there is no use
in expecting the general use of coke to make
fuel cheaper for a while, because the pro-
ducers Of coke will be able to charge, and will
charge as much or nearly as much for coke
as it would cost the consumer to buy coal.
The saving, as usual, will not go into the pock-
TT of the ultimate consumer. He, as usual, /
will have to content himself with incidental |
advantages, such as cleaner fuel, less smoky !
atmosphere, and the glow of patriotic pride
which all feel, of course, when we do some /
thing to promote national efficiency and con-
servation
Even so. there is no doubt about the ad-
vantages of using coke as fuel, both to the in
1ividual and to the nation. Nothing stands in
The way OF its use, over good part of the
country, except that conservatism and devotion t
% habit, which block progress in so many di-
-ections. There are quite number OF house
holds scattered about the country which now
burn coke instead of coal and most of them
would not think Of going back to the dirtier
uel. There are good many people who have
rfed COKE but have not succeeded with it be-
cause they did not know how to it. and /
most of these have decided that it is no good +
But the vast majority Of people never thought
" trying coke in their furnaces. and perhaps
most of them never heard Of using it.
Coke used in households some years
lgo. more generally than it is now. "Gas /
lOuse coke" was then something OF a drug
N the market. because the gas manufacturers
lad no use for their coke. It could be OBJ
aimed more cheaply than could coal. But the L
,as makers later discovered a new method
which enabled them to their own coke. so
hat one source of supply was greatly dmin-
shed and the price went up. II
Just before the war the bureau of mines
made investigation which showed that coke
vas gaining slightly in popularity as a house
'old fuel. Il