RY GUARDIAN AND JOURNAL OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADES. Vol. CVII. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1914. No. 2771. Power Production in the United Kingdom.* A Review of the Present Position of Mechanical Power Production for Factories and the like. By EDWARD C. HILLER, M.Inst C.E., M.LMech.E. In this country the utilisation of the natural sources of energy on a large scale dates from about the middle of the eighteenth century, when the improvements in the steam engine made by Newcomen, Smeaton and Watt, placed at the service of industry for the first time a practical producer of mechanical energy from coal. Since that period developments have proceeded rapidly, and in all departments of the modern social organism the utilisation of the natural sources of energy is found more or less developed. In many industries, handworking has been replaced by power-driven factories ; transport of all kinds is now carried on by power-driven appliances such as steam boats, loco- motives, motor cars and motor wagons. In every direction the endeavour of man to obtain an easier way of living is finding a more or less partial solution in the adoption of the utilisation of some natural source of energy. This question broadly may be looked at much as the performance of a single engine is considered. In the United Kingdom the principal source of mechanical energy lies in the coal; and the total efficiency of the combined machine as regards the coal which is utilised, if the industries of the United Kingdom were under one management. The industrial kingdom, however, is under a multiplicity of individual managements, and their shortcomings only become evident under the pressure of competition or by the advice and informa- tion given by consultants, insurance companies and other power doctors. The latest and newest in power production is not immediately brought before the notice of power users, but the realisation of their inefficiency is slow and often indirect; consequently, progress in economy and efficiency of power production is irregular and often delayed. This review is intended to cover the field of mechanical power production on land for the driving of factories and works. It includes :—Fixed motive power for factories, mines, and the like; fixed boilers, steam engines, steam turbines, and the like ; fixed gas engines and oil engines ; it does not include any close considera- tion of railway locomotives, motor cars or steamboats. In the fixed boilers are included those at power stations developing electricity and the like. Electricity is considered not as a motive power but, for the present purpose, as a means of transmitting motive power. An examination of the figures would indicate that the amount of coal produced which was retained and con- sumed both for industrial and domestic purposes in the United Kindom in 1873 was at the rate of 3’5 tons, and in 1911, 4’08 tons, per head of the population. The increase in the rate of consumption per head of the population would indicate broadly that these figures are in agreement with common experience, which is that there is a gradual tendency to use more and more the energy derived, directly or indirectly, from coal, in carrying out the industries and the ordinary occupations of the people of this country. On fig. 2 is shown an estimate for the years 1903 and 1911 of the approximate sub-division of the uses to which the coal consumed in the United Kingdom is applied. The figures, such as those for railways, coasting steamers, and gasworks, are taken from the direct official returns, but the subdivision of the other figures is mainly estimated. Railways.—In 1903 the coal consumed on the railways of the United Kingdom was at the rate of 13 million tons, and in 1911, 12’8 million tons, showing a slight apparent decrease, although the railways are obviously being used in carrying an increasing population with a corresponding increase of movement of industrial goods and necessaries of life. These figures indicate broadly that such transport, on the whole, was being done more MILLION TONS 280 260 240 220' 200 130 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 MILLION TONS 280 260 240 220 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 Fig 1 ____ n 1880 1890 456789 123456789 1 1900 1910 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2345678 9 11 Showing by full line the annual Output of Coal in the United Kingdom, dotted Export from ,, COASTING. STEAMERS 2 OTHER 1903 MILLIONS OF TONS RAILWAYS .13 .. '0 61 fe) -kff) POITEROJg) BRICK. GLASS. LQHOL WORKS 5 MINERALS w FACTORIES 53 MINES IRON & STEEL INDUSTRIES GAS WORKS 15 DOMESTIC 32 and the power which is given out by the whole power equipment of the country might be considered from the point of view of efficiency just as in one single factory an efficiency factor might be determined by the coal given into the boiler house, and the energy which is given out at the engine crank shaft. Similar questions as those which apply to a single engine may be applied to the whole of the power of the United Kingdom. How does it develop its power ? How much power is developed and with what efficiency ? What are the relative results of the different kinds of power producers as regards economy, efficiency and reliability ? A further step might be taken by comparing the efficiency of this particular machine with that of other power plants on a large scale such as the power production of the United States of America, France, or Germany. A critical comparison of the results obtained in different ways might be useful in indicating in which directions improvements are to be expected. A similar comparison of the rational basis of the various differences which are to be observed in power plant in different countries ought also to be helpful. Again, in different parts of the United Kingdom, the state of development of power-producing machinery varies considerably. A comparison of this kind might lead to serviceable action * From a paper read before the Manchester Association of Engineers, January 24, 1914. Coal, the Origin of Mechanical Power. In the United Kingdom the principal source of mechanical power is coal. Some combustible oil is produced, but the total quantity of this is small. A considerable amount of oil is imported, but there would not appear to be any detailed information as to the quantity of this which is used for power production, and it is not proposed to give any close estimate in this present consideration of the total power produced by oil engines and petrol engines. Fig. 1 shows the amount of the coal produced in the United Kingdom and also the amount exported for the years referred to. The home consumption is represented by the distance between the top full line and the lower dotted line. In the earliest year shown,1873, the home consumption was about 113 million tons; in the latest year shown, 1911, it was about 185 million tons, an increase of over 60 per cent. The dotted export line, however, shows a tendency to still more rapid increase, the figures being about 16 million tons for the earliest year, 1873, and for the last year, 1911, 87 million tons, which is between five and six times that of the earlier year. In fact, this particular part of the coal consumption is growing so rapidly that, as was recently stated by a leading authority, the great developments in new collieries seem likely to do little more than keep pace with the increase in exports. TOTAL 167 MILLION TONS 18 ' 1911 MILLIONS OF TONS RAILWAYS 12-3 FACTORIES 607 MINES 20 5 IRON & 1 STEEL 1 INDUSTRIES j | 32-1 57 GAS WORKS 15-4 DOMESTIC 343 < COASTING OTHER metals & , MINERALS 11 , POTTERIES. BRICK.CLASS & CHEMICAL WORKS 5-7 TOTAL 185 MILLION TONS Fig. 2.—Approximate Sub-division of the uses to which the Coal Consumed in the United Kingdom is applied. economically in 1911 than in 1903, so far as fuel consumption is concerned, by the railways. This economy in fuel may not, however, be due to improved methods of directly utilising the energy so much as to economies of administration which the railways have introduced, such as the dropping of unnecessary trains, and as far as possible travelling with full trains. The figures suggest that, in one way and another, considerable economies have been possible with existing methods of working with ordinary steam locomotives. Factories, Mines, Iron and Steel Industries and the like.—Probably the greater part of that under the headings of factories and of mines is used for power, and also a large proportion of that under the heading of iron and steel industries; the remainder of the fuel being utilised mainly for the production of heat for manufac- turing processes and other objects. In this connection it is to be observed that whatever the future of steam in power production is likely to be, its use for heating and manufacturing processes is continuously expanding at the present time, and there is no sign of the obsolescence of steam as a form of commercial energy.