88

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

July 12, 1918.

CONTRACTS OPEN FOR COAL ANO COKE.

For Contracts Advertised in this issue received too late
for inclusion in this column, see Leader and Last
White pages.

Abstracts of Contracts Open.

Bantry, July 23.—50 or 60 tons best house coal. Tenders
to the board room, Workhouse, Bantry.

Blairgowrie, July 15.—200 tons Bowhill splints for
the County Council. Forms from the road surveyor,
Blairgowrie.

Cheltenham, July 20.—Household coal (12 months) for
schools. Forms from the secretary, Education Dept.,
Municipal offices, Cheltenham.

Coatbridge, July 20.—Coal, nuts, peas and coke for the
Old Monkland School Board. Tenders to the clerk, Muni-
cipal Buildings.

Downpatrick, July 19.—Coal (12 months) for the Down
District Asylum, Downpatrick. Estimated quantity 1,700
tons. Forms from the clerk.

Fleetwood, July 15.—2,000 tons moderately rough slack.
Forms from the U.D. Council offices.

Hailsham, July 17.—50 tons house coal and 50 tons
steam coal. Particulars from the workhouse master.

Lancaster, July 16.—For supply of slack or nuts
(screened or washed) for period of 6, 9, or 12 months for
the Electricity Committee. Tenders to the town clerk.

Manchester, July 15.—Steam coal for the Waterworks
Committee. Forms from the secretary, Waterworks Com-
mittee, Town Hall.

Nottingham.—Coal and coke for council schools. Par-
ticulars from J. Bramley, Shire Hall.

Plymouth, July 24.—100 tons best house coal for the
St. Germans Union. Particulars from the clerk, 4, Buck-
land-terrace, Plymouth.

The date given is the latest upon which tenders can
be received.

THE FREIGHT MARKET.

Business in the outward chartering market this week
has been of very small dimensions. On the north-east
coast it has been confined, up to the time of writing,
to three fixtures, two for Scandinavian ports at 200 kr.
to Gothenburg, and 210 kr. to Warberg, and the third
for London at 17s. Just now business appears to be
almost absolutely strangled from a variety of difficulties,
such as the great congestion of loading turns, the scarcity
of fuel, and the shortage of neutral tonnage. This latter
difficulty is not as pronounced in the case of Norway
and Sweden as it is .for other destination. Mediter-
tanean chartering is much impeded by the marked
difference of opinion that has sprung up between the ex-
porters and neutral shipowners as to what rates of freight
should be, the latter demanding, in some instances, nearly
twice what the former are willing to concede. There is,
indeed, a “ bear ” effort of some magnitude being made
by the shippers; it is doubtful whether in the present con-
dition of things it will be at all successful. At South
Wales business done has been wholly confined to fixtures
for French Atlantic ports at scheduled rates. Neutral
chartering is held in check by lack of tonnage and scarcity
of available coal.

Homewards, River Plate rates are firm at 225s. to the
United Kingdom, and 250s. to French Atlantic from the
lower ports. Virginia coal freights are steady at 80s.
to the Plate and 84s. to Brazil, but licences are being
Issued very sparingly. There is a keen pressure for
general cargo steamers at the Northern Range. On net
form 225s. can be obtained for the United Kingdom, 240s.
for French Atlantic, and 360s. for West Italy. From
Gulf to Italy the rate is about 390s. At the Far East
the demand for considerably exceeds the supply of ton-
nage, and high rates continue to rule. At the Mediter-
ranean and Bay ports chartering of tonnage to convey
ore, phosphates and pit props to Allied ports and pyrites
to the Southern United States is fairly active. Bordeaux
to Bristol Channel has been arranged at 18s., and 20s.
is now offered for Bayonne loading.

Tyne to Gothenburg, 1,900, 200 kr.; London, 4,000,
17s.; and Warberg, 1,200, 210 kr.

Cardiff to Bordeaux, 3,500, 69s., neutral; Caen, 1,200
and 1,500, 46s. 6d., neutral; 700, 48s., neutral; Honfleur,
500, 32s. 6d., inclusive of war risks, Allied; 500, 32s. 9d.,
inclusive of war risks, Allied; Rouen, 1,200 and 1,300,
48s. 9d., neutral; 2,700, 47s. 9d., neutral; and St. Malo,
1,000, 21s., Allied; and 800 and 850, 22s., Allied.

Swansea to Caen, 500, 600, 700, 900 and 950, 48s.,
neutral; Cherbourg, 200, 73s. 9d., sail, neutral; Rouen,
1,500, 48s. 9d., neutral; Trouville, 700, 48s., neutral;
St. Malo, 470 and 500, 45s.> neutral; Havre, 870 and 900,
47s. 3d., neutral; and Dieppe, 700, 48s. 9d., neutral.

Port Talbot to Trouville, 600 and 700, 48s., neutral.

Later.—The following additional fixtures have been
arranged:—

Tyne to Gefle, 2,400, 225 kr.; and Gothenburg, 2,600,
205 kr.

Cardiff to Nantes, 2,500, 61s. 6d., neutral; and Rouen,
1,100, 48s. 9d., neutral.

Swansea to Rouen, 2,300, 48s. 9d., neutral; and Hon-
fleur, 800, 48s., neutral.

The north east coast market is almost idle, loading turns
being full up and collieries hesitating to take on addi-
tional tonnage until the new allocation arrangement as
to coal export has been thoroughly considered and deemed
workable. For the Spanish Mediterranean merchants are
only offering 275s. for Barcelona, as against 450s. asked
by owners, a difference of opinion which renders prospects
of chartering hopeless.

The formation of joint industrial councils on the lines
of the Whitley Report is steadily progressing. Newly-
formed councils concerned with the heavy chemical trade,
cable-making and electrical power and supply will hold
their first meetings this month.

The Highways Committee of the London County Council
report that, as regards the Government regulations re-
quiring a reduction of 15 per cent, in the consumption
of coal, methods adopted for coal economy at the Green-
wich generating, station by the partial substitution of
locally produced coke have secured compliance with the
Government requirements without reduction of the tram-
way services. One of the methods adopted is the double-
feed hopper system of burning coal and coke in super-
posed layers, described in the Colliery Guardian, May 17,
1918, p. 1007. Other important electric tramway and
lighting authorities have also adopted this system.

ABSTRACTS OF PATEHT SPECIFICATIONS
RECENTLY ACCEPTED.

115669. Burners for Miners' Safety Lamps. E. A.
Hailwood, “ The Towers/’ Laneside, Churwell, near
Leeds.—This invention relates to improvements in burners
for miners’ safety lamps, the object being to arrange and
construct a burner fitting mainly of cast metal, the wick
hole and wick raiser apertures being kept true and smooth
by being first formed in stamped or machined parts, around
which the body piece is cast so as to form one solid and
complete unit. During the process of manufacture of the
finished article, provision is made for carrying an ig-
niting pin and for ventilation, and also for a pricker wire
aperture in the wick tube. In the usual type of burner
leakage of fuel gases from the lamp vessel is apt to take
place towards the flame, and if such leakage is at un-
desirable parts in relation to the flame, a jumpy flame
results, whereas by constructing the burner solid, as
described in this specification, it is possible to confine
leakage and direct it where required, and at the same
time to economise the cost of manufacture. (Five claims.)

115752. Signalling Apparatus for Use in Collieries.
C. H. Bolton, Oak Cottage, Bold, St. Helens Junction,
Lancashire.—This invention relates to the prevention of
accidents in mines, collieries, hoists and other places
which result from the engineman inadvertently starting
the winding in the wrong direction, and the object of the
invention is to provide a signal apparatus which if
located facing or in full view of the engineman, will give
him a warning whether or not the reversing lever or gear
of the winding engine has been set into such a position
as to cause the engines when started to move in the right
or wrong direction. According to Patent Specification
No. 18198 of 1915, this was effected by the provision of
a pair of movable signal devices exhibiting respectively
a prohibitory and an all-right signal, and movable shutters
were so arranged in front thereof as to enable only one
of the said signals to be exhibited at a time, the said
movable signal devices and shutters being respectively
so connected to the reversing lever of the engine and to
the automatic index that shows the position of the cage
that when there is disconformity between the position
of the reversing lever and the direction in which the
engines should be started, a prohibitory signal is given,
or when there is no such disconformity an all-right signal
is displayed. A green signal was displayed when the cage
was travelling in an up or down direction, but just before
the cage completed its up or down journey the signal
was automatically changed to red, and remained red until
the reversing lever was moved, whereupon the signal was
changed to green again. According to the present improve-
ment or modification, an all-right signal is displayed when
the cage begins to travel in the right direction up or
down, but from that point onwards the danger signal
begins to be displayed and to automatically increase and
the all-right signal to automatically diminish, until finally
the signal becomes wholly prohibitory. Thus the danger
signal augments in size and visibility as the cage
approaches the zone where over-winding would lead to
disaster, and remains prohibitory when the sage reaches
the end of the wind, until the reversing lever is set in
position to start the engines in the reverse direction.
The invention is characterised by the provision of two
sets of fixed signals, one set for use in connection with
the ascent of the cage, and the other for use in connection
with the descent thereof, and by the provision of movable
shutters arranged in front of the said signals, said shutters
being so worked respectively in connection with the dial
indicator which shows the position of the cage, and in
connection with the reversing lever of the engine, that
only an all-right signal can be displayed when the cage
begins to travel in the right direction up or down, while
from that point onwards the danger signal begins to
automatically appear and thereafter to increase in size
and visibility as the cage approaches the zone where over-
winding would lead to disaster. In an alternative the two
sets of signals are so arranged as to be movable, in which
case only one shutter is required. (Six claims.)

115773. Air Compressor. L. L. Foster, 4618, York-road,
Govans, Baltimore, and J. H. Ruehmling, 26, Fuller-place,
Brooklyn, New York.—This invention relates to an im-
proved air compressor, and has as its primary object to
provide a device of this character wherein each charge
of air drawn in will be initially compressed and then
subsequently recompressed before being discharged by the
device. The invention has as a further object to provide
a compressor employing primary compression chambers
for initially compressing the air as it is drawn into the
device, and also employing secondary compression chambers
for then subsequently compressing the air and discharging
the compressed air from the device. A still further object
of the invention is to provide a compressor wherein a
single sleeve valve will be employed to control the intake
and discharge of air into and from both the primary -and
secondary compression chambers. And the invention has
as a further object to provide a compressor of the above
described character which will be double acting, so that
a charge of compressed air will be discharged from the
device at each stroke of the piston employed. (Five
claims.)

115790. A Manufactured Fuel. E. N. Pearson, 103,
Lower Clanbrassil-street, Dublin, and L. Meredith,
Clonard, Blythe Bridge, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.—
This invention relates to manufactured fuel which can
be used for heating or other purposes for which coal is
now used, and has for its object the utilisation of waste
or by-products in combination, so as to form a com-
paratively cheap and useful fuel. The said manufactured
fuel consists of a mixture of oil impregnated or oil
saturated fuller’s earth and coal slack or coal dust or culm
and common salt such as that used for curing purposes,
and water or other suitable liquid, the resulting mixture
being subsequently moulded into any convenient form
by any suitable means, and then more or less dried. The
ingredients are incorporated or mixed in or about in the
fob owing proportions : One part of oil impregnated or
oil saturated fuller’s earth to four parts of coal slack
or coal dust or culm, to which is added about a handful
or small quantity of common salt to about each hundred-
weight of said mixture, and sufficient water or other liquid
to ensure a pasty or comparatively stiff mixture when
said ingredients are thoroughly mixed together in any suit-
able and known kind of mixing machinery, such as mortar
machinery. The resulting mixture is then moulded into
any convenient form by any suitable means, such as by
briquetting or moulding machinery of the known kind,
or by the employment of other suitable and known mould-
ing devices. This resulting mixture in moulded form is
dried more or less by natural or artificial means, and is
then ready for use. (Five claims.)

115989. Multi-stage Fans. F. W. Marillier, “ Deva/’
Westlecott-road, Swindon, and C. C. Champeney, “ Fair-

dale,” Belmont-crescent, Swindon.—This invention com-
prises a multi-stage fan having an impeller with inner and
outer cylindrical walls connected by side walls facing each
other, the hollow impeller so formed being divided by
vanes into a plurality of compartments, the fluid entering
the first compartment through an aperture in its inner
cylindrical wall, from which it is delivered through an
aperture in the side wall, near its outer circumferential
wall, into a chamber or passage situated on that side of
the impeller, from which it passes into the second com-
partment through an aperture in the side wall near the
inner circumferential wall, and is delivered through an
aperture into the opposite wall, near the outer circum-
ferential wall of the casing, into a chamber or passage
situated on that side of the casing, from which it flows
through an aperture in the side wall of the casing into
the third compartment, and in like manner for any
number of compartments and passages or chambers for
the stages for which the fan is constructed until the last
compartment, from which the fluid is delivered through
an aperture in its circumferential wall. The impeller can
be divided into a plurality of compartments in groups
and a chamber or chambers, or passage or passages,
arranged on each side for passing the fluid delivered from
its respective compartments with the exception of the
last compartment of each of the groups, which delivers
through holes in its circumferential wall. Each of the
groups of the impeller may consist of three or five com-
partments. The impeller can be placed in a casing formed
with chambers having openings adjacent to the apertures
in the compartments for receiving and passing the fluid.
In order that the fluid delivered into the chambers or
passages shall be prevented from whirling, fins are pro-
vided for directing the currents. The casing in which
the chamber or chambers, or passage or passages, is or
are formed is in halves in the form of two truncated cones.
The division of the impeller into groups of compartments
enables the fan to be better balanced. (Ten claims.)

116023. Water Softening Material. G. H. Widner, 109,
East Walnut-street, Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.A.—This in-
vention relates to a process for producing a water softening
material. Specification No 7070/1917 explains that certain
substances occurring in nature as clays are capable, when
properly treated, of softening water by base exchange.
In other words, this material has the capacity, when the
water is to be softened and is passed through a bed of
such material of taking up the calcium or magnesium, the
presence of which in the water renders the water hard.
After a certain amount of water has been softened it
becomes necessary to regenerate the material, and this has
been accomplished, according to the previous specification,
by passing a neutral solution of a salt of an alkali metal,
preferably sodium chloride, through a bed of said water
softening material, which removes the calcium and mag-
nesium from the material and renders it capable of again
softening water by taking up the calcium and magnesium
therein. In order that upon the start the material may be
in the best possible condition, it is desirable to regenerate
the natural material, i.e., to subject it to the action of
sodium or potassium chloride in an improved manner. The
present invention has to do particularly with the prepara-
tion of a water softening material from a material having
alminium silicate as its base. It has been found necessary
to provide some means of preventing the material from
being reduced to a mudlike consistency by the action of
water, because in such condition it is practically impossible
to force water to be filtered through it. The material is re-
duced to a thin mud, either by drying, powdering and mix-
ing with water,, or by levigation with suitable machinery,
and it is then treated with salt brine (sodium chloride)
and a large part of the impurities removed. The mud
is now concentrated by suitable means to a desired con-
sistency and forced under pressure through small screen-
like openings, which deliver the mineral in string-like
particles, which are broken off at suitable lengths. The
mineral is now dried, preferably slowly at first, at atmo-
spheric temperature, and then rapidly by artificial means,
and then baked at a temperature of from 600 to 700 degs.
Cent., or such temperature as will render the material
hard enough to resist the powdering action of water. The
result of this treatment is that it comes out a harder and
better product than by the methods heretofore employed,
it being much more porous, and has double the capacity
of softening water than the material heretofore employed
has had. Furthermore, in this way a more uniform
product is secured, and every particle contains the same
ingredients. By mixing the salt with the material during
the time it is in the condition of a pasty mass, the salt
reaches every part of the material and initially regenerates
each and every part thereof, and the subsequent washing
removes many impurities, such as calcium, magnesium,
etc. Furthermore, the addition of the salt at this time
simplifies the handling of the material and reduces the
time required for the completion of the same. (Three
claims.)

NEW PATENTS CONNECTED WITH THE
COAL AND IRON TRADES.

Applications for Patents.

July 2 to 6 (inclusive.)

[Note.—Applications arranged alphabetically under the
names of the applicants (communicators in parentheses).
A new number will be given on acceptance, which will
replace the application number.]

Adams, S. H. Fluid, etc., direct pressure lifting and
forcing apparatus for solids, etc. (10916)

Allatt, J. R. L., Lovatt, A. L., and Steele, J. Means
for attaching capels, sockets, catchings, ferrules, etc.,
to ends of ropes for winding and hauling. (10793)

(Babcock and Wilcox Company.) Steam boilers. (11117)
Bevington, M. Ling-. Rotary engine. (10854)

Bickerton, H. L. Internal combustion engines. (11130)
Bicknell, R. H. Tunnelling machines. (10996)

Biddles, W. Method of collecting and storing power
without fuel. (10827)

Bindley, W. T. Robinson-. Prime movers. (10868)

(Bosch Akt. Ges., R.) Regulating device for dynamo-
electric machines. (10864)

(Bosch Akt. Ges., R.) Automatic regulator for dynamo-
electric machines. (11013)

Brabbins, B. Rocking firebar for steam boilers, etc.

(10822)

Bracq, E. Pyrites furnaces. (11020)

Brooks, A. B. Clinometers. (10855)

Cammell, Laird and Company, Carter, G. F., and Varley,
G. Apparatus for burning tar as liquid fuel in boilers,
furnaces, etc. (11122)

Davies, W. E. Distillation, gasification, etc., of car-
bonaceous material, and separation of volatile matter
therefrom. (10895)

(Continued on page 90.)