South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-04-14
j. S. TAKES SURVEY
OF SMOKE PLAGUE
Preliminary Study Shows That
Problem Cannot be Easily
Remedied.

WASHINGTON, April Ia The
smoke evil" IN the manufacturing
and business centers OF tus large
cities OF the country "a a problem
shat " engaging the attention of the
experts Of the Federal Bureau OF
Mines, L was learned today
1T IS a problem that can not be
easily solved said bureau officials,
following appeals from municipal
authorities IN Akron and Springfield,
o.. Salt Lake City, New Orleans and
other large Industrial towns for ad-
vice IN lighting smoke"
Smoke. " these experts say. the
unsightly and offensive resultant Of
improper combustion. continues Us
ravages against the health and prop
erty 20 the American people regard
less OF the ups and downs Of the in
dustrial barometer"
They point out that no city in
which a considerable quantity Of BIZ
luminous coal is burned IL free from
smoke The cities OF the East, they
say. have avoided this problem by
general use Of the smaller sizes Of
anthracite.
For this reason" they add, at
ls not surprising that the greatest
Improvement ga the methods Of
burning b,tuminous coal has been
made in the Central and Western
States
Must Use Soft Coal
Attention was called 20 the fact
that stoves. ranges. house-heating
boilers. hot-air furnaces and the like
are Intended for the use OF anthra-
cite coal or coke. Whenever hi
luminous coal IS burned in such fur
uaces all the principles OF combus-
lion are violated and smoke results. f."
the experts say. The larger cities of
'tne eastern states. which consume
practically all the available supply
~ the smaller sizes Of anti r2Cite
coal for power and heating purposes
now find II necessary TO supplement
this fuel with a considerable tonnage
of bituminous coal
Except the water power gener-
ated by water falls. the larger rart Of
the heat and power used fin the
United States IS obtained from the
burning Of coal. It is evident. then.
that for the most part this country
must depend on IT'S bituminous coal
for manufacturing. railroad and
power plant purposes. This means
that we must improve our usual
methods Of burning bituminous coal
or continue TO suffer from the lack
OF economy and the smoke result
ing from imperfect combusUon."
Efforts Of English.
According TO the governments eX-
perts the smoke problem is nearly as
old as civilization itself. for coal
was mined I'm Great Britain about
the tenth century. In 1906 Edward l..
issued a proclamation prohibiting
the burning OF coal I'm the city of
London because of the "sulferous
smoke and SAVIOUR Of the firing" In
164s the people OF London petition
ed parliament 10 prevent the impor-
tation OF coal into the city. Begin
ming about 1850, when steam was
applied to industrial purposes. coal
began to be used more extensively,
and consequently smoke became
, more abundant. In 1919 the govern
ment appointed a house Of COM
mons committee 10 inquire into the
matter. and there were other inves-
legations IN other years
I'm the United States the problem.
OF course. did not develop so early(
but as cities Of COnsidera BILE size de-
veloped here the problem was also
felt. and has been the subject Of in
vesdeations. finally becoming Of
such Importance that extensive in
vestigations were made IN Pitts
burg. Chicago and salt Lake CITY"
The experts point out that
''smokeIess combustion requires the
maintenance of uniform and pro-
per supply Of fuel and air under
conditions Of suitable temperature
mixing and volume Of combustion
space" The one word uniformity e"
they saw. embraces most OF the ideas
for smokeIess combustion
& taIe-bearer carries that which