June 7, 1918. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 1145 COMPRESSED AIR CENTRIFUGAL PUMP. The “ Huwood ” portable compressed air turbine- driven centrifugal pump shown in the illustration has been designed for handling small quantities of water up to 90 gals, per minute up to heads of 80 ft., and comprises a single-stage centrifugal pump coupled direct to a compressed-air driven turbine, both mounted on a cast-iron bedplate, the over-all dimen- sions being 24 in. long by 12 in. wide by 12 in. high, and the weight about 2| cwt. The small weight and size enable the set to be readily- moved, and the compressed air drive, which is safe and simple, makes it specially suitable for collieries, shipyards, etc. The turbine is of very simple construction, having no delicate valves, etc., in its construction, which consists primarily of two rotors, with stepped teeth, mounted in ball bearings, to obviate wear and repairs. The only valve is that for the air inlet, which is connected to the f in. hose pipe. The turbine works satisfactorily at any air pressure “Huwood” Aik-Deiven Centrifugal Pump. between 50 and 100 lb. per sq. in., and develops up to 5 h.p. The speed is automatically adjusted to that required for the head and quantity. The pump is a single stage Sulzer centrifugal pump, and is connected to the turbine driving shaft by a flexible coupling of the rubber pin type. Run at a speed of about 3,020 revolutions per minute, the pump will deliver 95 gals, at 74 ft. head (approximately7 24 tons per hour), or 50 gals, against a head of 80 ft., power consumption being 3J,- and 2-3 horse-power respectively. For lower speeds delivery and power are correspondingly smaller—e.g., 65 gals, at 21 ft. head (0-95 horse-power), or 50 gals, at 24 ft. head (0-85 horse-power). The maximum suction lift is 20 ft. for deliveries up to 50 gals., and 18 ft. for 65 to 95 gals, per minute. The suction and delivery nozzles are about 2| in. ‘inside diameter. The set is put on the market by Messrs. Hugh Wood and Com- pany Limited, Newcastle-on-Tyne. ELECTRIC POWER SUPPLY. The Committee appointed by the Board of Trade to consider the question of electric power supply have issued their report in a White Paper (Cd. 9062). The recommendations include one setring up a body of Electricity Commissioners to take over the existing powers of the Board of Trade, the Local Government Board, the Local Government Board for Ireland and the Scottish Office relating to the supply of electricity, and to whom large additional powers should be given for regulating and encouraging the generation and distribution of electricity. It is also recommended that these Commissioners should (subject to an appeal to Parliament in certain cases) have general control over the generation and distribution of electricity in the United Kingdom; that the existing system under which electricity is separately generated for small areas should be abolished; that the Commissioners should, after local enquiries, divide the United Kingdom into districts where a District Electricity Board should be set up which should purchase all generating stations of authorised distributors and be responsible for the future generation of electricity in their district; that existing electrical undertakers should, if they so desire, retain their power of dis- tributing electricity within their local areas, but should purchase electricity in bulk from the Boards or their lessees, due provisions being made for con- trolling the profits of distributors so as to ensure a cheap supply; that District Electricity Boards should make no divisible profits, and should be financed by funds raised with Government assistance, except where it is shown to be desirable and practicable to finance them locally. The report says it has been proved that a municipal or local government area is unnecessary, and is rarely the most economical area of electrical supply. The Com- mittee are unanimous that the present state of affairs is contrary to the national interest, wasteful of fuel resources, deprives industries of the advantage which a well-devised system of generation and distribution of electricity would give, and thereby handicaps them in competition with other countries. The provision and utilisation of cheap power is one of the best methods for enabling increased wages to be earned, while its more extended use, assuming it to be pro- duced cheaply, assists the manufacturer to meet increasing cost of labour. There are now about 600 bodies generating electricity for public purposes, apart from the large number of manufacturers, collieries, and others generating their own power. The Com- mittee have no doubt that these separate stations can be reduced to a relatively small number in the course of time, and that the country will greatly benefit thereby. It may be laid down as an axiom that, in order to ensure a cheap supply of electric power for all consumers in industrial districts, all should unite in taking their supply from a common system. After the war the question of generating plant and mains throughout the country will require immediate atten- tion, especially as the greater number of stations are now working without spare plant. There is also an accumulation of new business requiring a supply but not yet connected to the distributing mains, while the rapid development of electrical furnaces is over-taxing some existing stations. Unless on the termination of the war there is the necessary organisation ready and prepared for developments on right lines, there will be a perpetuation of present disadvantageous con- ditions. The evil will grow until it is beyond remedy. Thus the matter is urgent, and it may well be that our industrial future depends greatly upon a wise and far-seeing decision at this time. The Committee have been impressed by the evidence brought forward in regard to the North-East Coast system. The costs of the electricity delivered over this wide area bear out in practice the contention as to the advantages to be gained by centralisation of the control of generation and main transmission over large areas. In certain small areas where the load is very concentrated, costs are low, but the object to be kept in view is not merely to have ex- ceptionally low costs in one or two small and specially favoured spots, but rather to have the same or lower costs available over wide indus- trial areas. The general consensus of the evidence was that the need for the creation of one central authority to regulate generation and distribution of electricity in Great Britain and Ireland is urgent, and that in the national interest steps should imme- diately be taken to establish it. The Committee suggest that the Commis- sioners should be responsible to Parlia- ment through the President of the Board of Trade; that they should in the first instance be five in number. Three of these should be appointed on the terms that they should not hold office beyond the age of 65; that they should have substantial salaries, not less than £3,000 per annum, and that their whole time should be given to the service. They should also have adequate pensions. The ordinary Treasury scale of pensions does not appear to be suitable. The other two Commissioners might be appointed for a short term of years, and neither the age limit of 65 nor the right to a pension need apply to them. Engineering qualifications and business experience of the highest order should be represented in the personnel of the Commission. The whole expenses of the Commissioners might be re- covered from the electricity undertakings by a charge levied upon them pro rata to revenue. THE AMERICAN COAL TRADE. The outlook for next winter’s coal is a poor one (says the Coal Age, May 4). Statistics have been compiled to show that record tonnages of anthracite are being produced, but the consumer is anxious to know what has become of the coal. He cannot burn statistics, though he is being furnished with statistics to burn. The dealer is reluctant to accept any more orders, for he is already at his wits’ end to know- how he is to make deliveries from the meagre stocks in his yard. Business in the steam sizes of anthracite is quiet, though here and there a little contract activity in these grades is reported. When the railroads begin to buy soft coal, and when the difficulty of procuring bituminous coal becomes more evident, it is believed there will again be interest in the steam sizes. Bituminous miners will never be able to work in full capacity under existing conditions. More engines and more cars are needed. The fact that this has been known for some time makes it all the more regrettable that a remedy has not been applied before now. Right at this time, when every bitu- minous mine in the country should be working at full blast, operators from a number of districts are reporting that their men are disgusted with working only one or two days a week, and are leaving for other parts and other jobs. The question of the price to be paid for railroad fuel is still unsettled, and this, too, is having an ad- verse effect on production. Lack of ships at tide ■water, where thousands of cars are tied up, and the tardiness of manufacturers, despite high demurrage rates, to unload cars on their sidings, furnish addi- tional reasons for railroad congestion and car shortage. The Government has already recognised that a radical readjustment of transportation facilities is necessary to the speed-up programme of war industries. The situation in Boston drifts without material change, and railroad fuel conditions are somewhat mixed. New York dealers are frantic because they cannot supply the demand. Philadelphian reports state that anthracite deliveries continue light, and that rail deliveries are held back. All the other centres supply similar stories. While slightly better car supplies for the Connells- ville region are reported, the coke situation in genera] continues decidedly unsatisfactory. The general judg- ment is that April as a whole has shown no improve- ment over March. There are scarcely any market transactions. The set prices remain : Furnace coke, 6 dols.; 72-hour selected foundry, 7 dols.; crushed, over 1 in., 7'30 dols. per net ton at ovens. A Press agency report says in the negotiations now proceeding between Germany and Holland one of the great points of difference is the price of coal. The Germans are now demanding per truck twice the amount agreed upon in the previous contract. THE COAL DEPOSITS OF CHINA? By Yang-Tseu-Kia. The latest geological surveys of the Chinese coal regions have shown that the deposits belong to a later period—the stephano-permian; that is to say, they form an extension of the European series. Their importance and situation are taken in the following order : — Pe-Tchi-Li.—The Kai-Ping coal field, now being mined on a small scale by modern methods, possesses deposits about 30 miles long by 2 miles wide, rest- ing on metamorphic coal, a bright burning species containing volatile products. Chan-Si, Chen-Si, and Zo-Nan.—The provinces of Chan-Si and Chen-Si contain an enormous deposit partly covered by loess, a yellow earth, or by sand- stone superposed on the carboniferous strata. The first deposit is found to the west of Pekin. It trends diagonally from north-east to south-west and extends into the next province to the south, running in the direction of Tatoufou (Ho-Nan). This field, which is of the permo-triassic period, is noted for its coal of exceptional purity and high calorific value. It, however, suffers from one disadvantage in being in an out-of-the-way situation, off the track of rail- ways and other means of communication. The chief group of seams of this deposit has a total thickness of over 30 feet,, and extends over an area 75 miles long by 16 miles wide. Particular mention is merited by the enormous coal field of Chan-si, which has the same geological formation as the preceding one. This lies more to the south, and covers an area 430 miles long by 25 miles wide, and if worked under proper mining conditions it would suffice the whole world with coal for 2,000 years. This immense field is bounded by the Ho-nan gneiss on the west and by Tai-Hang-Shan fault on the east. Anthracite has also been mined for centuries in the south of Lo-Ping and the Ho-Chouan-Haien. Lou-Gan-Fou is another modern industrial centre for- coal and iron, and it forms with those already mentioned a total area of 36,870 square kilometres having a cubical content of approximately 630 thousand million tons. The deposit reaches as far as the basin of Ho-Nan, where small and detached off- shoots are found that offer mining facilities. To the west of the Ho-Nan, and also in Chen-Si, there exists an extensive deposit of bituminous coal quite equal in extent, if not larger than, those already mentioned. The anthracites of Chan-Si in- crease in value the nearer they lie to the iron mines of Tai-Yuen, Nan-Taouen, and Lo-Ping. This iron ore is partially of hematite formation, and is found almost everywhere above the coal, or a little below it, in Tai-Yuen, Po-Chan, a province of Chan-Toung. Lastly, the deposits, covering some 12,000 sq. ft., in Chan Toung are worthy of notice, as mining opera- tions are about to be started in this district. At present it is not possible to estimate precisely the extent of the coal deposits in the southern provinces ; however, they appeal- to be quite equal to those in the north, which, taken together, represent a super- ficial area of over 650,000 square kilometres. * Revue de Chimie Industrielle. Winter Coal Rationing.—Sir Guy Calthrop, the Goal- Controller, at a conference of Scottish civic authorities at Glasgow on Tuesday, said that two important reasons for the rationing of domestic coal were that 75,000 of the best coal-getters in the country had been taken into the Army, and increased demands were made upon Britain byethe Allies for coal. Italy did not produce a ton, and France’s supply had been seriously affected by the recent German push. They had to ration this winter the whole of England, Scotland, and Wales, while the coal supply of Ireland was to be cut down by a quarter. There should be economy in every house. Coal in Peru.—The Government of Peru is taking steps to develop the coal lands of the country, and has recently contracted a loan of £300,000 for the extension of the Central Railway of Peru from its present southern ter- minus at Huancayo to the coal field of Jatunhuasi, on the eastern side of the Andes, a distance of 46 miles. The construction of the extension will probably be under- taken by .the engineering division of the Peruvian Corpora- tion, which operates the Central Railway of Peru. It is expected (says the Times Trade Supplement) that con- tracts for materials will be controlled by the Department of Public Works of the Peruvian Government. The coal fields of Jatunhuasi are on the main ridge of the Andes, 11,000 ft. to 15,000 ft. above the level of the sea. It is calculated that there are 50 million tons in sight, going down 2,000 ft. The coal is of firm quality, averaging 12 per cent, of ash, and cokes very well. The construction of this railway is important owing to the need of coke for mining operations in other parts of the country. The analyses of coal from the Jatunhuasi mines do not indicate a high grade fuel coal, but the quality would be expected to improve in deeper workings. Large Gas Engines in Colliery Power Station. — A 5,000 kw. gas-electric station utilising gas from 120 new coke ovens has been installed at the Zollverein pit (Catern- berg). The amount and quality of gas available, viz., 5,700 cu. m. per hour, with calorific value 4,000 calories, yields 6,000 kw., using gas engine sets consuming 3,800 calories per kw. hour, whereas only 3,600 kw. could be obtained by using the gas to heat boilers serving steam turbine plant. The lay-out of the station reduces con- structional and operating expenses to a minimum. Pipes, cables, compressed air and lubricating oil tanks are in the basement. The circulating pumps, ignition accumulators, transformers and switchgear are in an annexe. Long pipe liners are eliminated. Tar and sulphur are removed from the gas by the Lux dry process, and the material used is regenerated periodically. Three double-acting 4-stroke twin tandem engines are installed for the 3,000 kw. sets. Cylinder diam., 1,150 mm., stroke 1,300 mm., maximum continuous output 4,500 h.p. at 94 r.p.m. The valves are arranged on an improved system reducing the risk of breakages. The governor controls the gas and air sup- plies and deals satisfactorily with the sudden load varia- tions of 60 to 70 per cent, encountered during winding.