The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-08-17

Washington, d. c., Aug. 17-Wide
use of the natural peat deposits IN
this continent as a substitute for
or a supplement to coal and fuel
oil is possible as a result OF the
development of the deposits in Min
uesota, and the perfection of ma
chimes to make the raw peat good
heat producing material. 1t is estl-
mated that there are 20,00o,0e0
acres of neat bearing land in this
country, and 30,000,00o acres in
Canada. On the land in the United
States there are thirteen billion
ions of peat, with more than half
Of the supply centered in Mime
sofa.
One of the difficulties which has
always stood in the way Of using
this material as commercial fuel
has been getting the moisture out
of it so that it would be approx
nate1y as good as coal, Machines
are now in operation which go far
toward accomplishing this end,
H. w. Richardson, meteorological
and official weather foFeeaster for
the region around Duluth, Mimi,
ton for a number Of years, and be-
iieyes that it's use as fuel is en-
I.tirely practical because of the low
cost that improved methods of cut
ting and drying make possible. A
long series of tests has been made,
and while it was found that Jumps
of coal were better than Jumps OF
peat as fuel, due to the amount of
moisture retained by the lump of
peat, crushed and at6mized peat
was found to be about equal to
crushed coal in the units of heat
produced.
Crushing coal before feeding it
INTO the fires of factories has been
found to be effieaeious and econofn-
ical, resulting in economy in thu
amount of fuel needed for the pro-
duetien of any particular amount
Of heat energy, and an additional
saving in that the coal could be fe1
into furnaces exactly as required,
an imDossibility with lump coal.
Atomized coal or peat is fed into
the furnaces after being mixed with
air, the mixture being feated or
waited into the fires without sub
stantial pressure to form the feed
ing stream of air. Crushing coal for
fuel purposes is a growing industry,
one concern in Minneapolis alone
crushing and distributing over 500
tons of coal daily for nearby fac
tories. Similar crushing plants are
being started at Duluth and its
neighboring city, Superior, Wis.
Must Use Machines.
In turning to the American peat
supply for fuel, it was realized that
the use Of laborers for digging AMI
drying peat was out of the ques-
ton, as it would make the cost of
production SO high that the pro-
duct could not be marketed. Peat
dug mechanically and dried by arti-
fetal heat or chemicals was out OF
the question also, it was found, as
the margin of profit between pro-
ducing cost and marketing price
must necessarily be small. Ma
chimes were perfected, therefore,
and are in use and declared to be
successful and practical, which will
dig up line peat, pulveriZe it anu
Jay it out in fiat strips for drying,
all in one operation. These ma
The peat fuel at a cost less than
81 a ton, and a great market is
open to this fuel at the low price
how possible.
Peat is nothing more than de-
composed or partly decomposed
vegetable matter occurring where
still, but not stagnant, water has
been in the past The peat occurs
also underneath still standing wat
eF. The depth of the peat depos-
IT'S will range from five to ninety
feet, that nearest the top beisg
lighter and less decomposed than
the lower layers.
In its natural state peat contains
as high as ninety per cent of moist
uFe, and the problem of making the
substance commercially valuable as
fuel is to eliminate as much as
possible of this moisture. AFti-
fetal heat has been used success
fully, the peat being put through
a kind of baking process, but this
is too expensive to make the fin
ished product an economical fuel.