The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-10-07

which super-heated steam is
pumped into the cars, effectively
thawing out the ore so that it can
be handled quickly and efficiently
and shipped to the steel mills as
the food" to keep industry hum
ming.
While the ravenous demands of
the steel mills are being satisfied,
heating engineers have also had the
problem of keeping food for the din
ner tables moving to the markets in
winter.
Tropical fruits, for instance, are
brought into this country green, and
then ripened in specially construct
ed heating rooms. Bananas are put
in rooms to ripen, with the temper
ature carefully regulated between Sc
and 70 degrees. By controlling the
temperature of the ripening rooms,
marketers can delay or hasten the
ripening process and so adjust the
supply of bananas to reach consum-
ers in a steady stream. Grapefruit
is ripened in specially-heated rooms
at temperature of rs degrees and
aforementioned lemons" are kept
at temperature of from 81 to SO
degrees until they are ready to be
sold to the public.
Despite the emphasis on heat for
food, industries and homes, the bust
ness of keeping warm has as one of
the most troublesome problems the
difficulty of keeping a nation COM
Portable during the winter, while re-
ducing fire hazards to the lowest
possible point. The extent to which
this is being accomplished can be
easily seen from the fact that while
the volume of business increased
"a per cent in the automatic heat
ing industry from 1885 to 1886, fire
losses increased only liz per cent.
Fire Losses Decrease.
According to statistics compiled
by the authoritative Heating and
Ventilating magazine, the volume of
business in the automatic heating
industry has jumped more than $50
per cent in the past five years. In
1882, it is estimated that the sale of
automatic heating equipment
amounted to only SAL, I'll, 900. By
1886 this figure had increased to
$1O8, 100000.
Meanwhile, fire losses in the Unit
ed States in 1886 totaled $3.50 ,259, 746,
according to estimates of the Ma
tional Board of Fire Underwriters,
showing a decrease of "a per cent
from the 1882 figure of $4OO, 1853, 900.
Nevertheless, there are still
enough defective chimneys and fiues
left in the country so that it is
estimated that about $4,000, 900
worth of property will go up in
smoke this coming winter, and a
similar amount will be lost because
of imperfect stoves, furnaces and
boilers.
AS scientists attack this problem,
as well as others, there is a hint
that the future might see great
changes not only in the type of heat
ers used, but in the kind of fuel, for
recent experiments point to time
when we may get all or most of our
heat from the sun.
DR.. c. G.. Abbot, head of the
Smithsonian Institution, has recent
ly developed solar heater that is
the most efficient yet produced. Uti-
izing the hot rays of the sun, re-
fected by bright metal sheet, he
has succeeded in heating a black
LIQUID called aroclor to temporal
ture at which it can be used for
turning water into steam. Experts
declare that solar rays available for
heat are at least 1000 times as
powerful as all the coal, oil and
hydro-electric power now used. Al
though the conversion of sun rays
into heat is still too costly to COM
pete with the cheaper and better
known fuels, scientists say the day
may come when these are all ex-
hausted, and when we will turn to
the sun for heat and power, and
the business of keeping warm will
literally be done with mirrors.
9 Western Newspaper Union.