December 27, 1918.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

1357

The release of miners from the Army is proceeding
so rapidly that difficulties are being experienced in
South Wales in absorbing them in the industry, and
a special demobilisation committee has now been set
up by the South Wales Conciliation Board to deal
with the problem.

Our Cardiff correspondent states that the Home
Office enquiry into the Bedwas trouble has ended
practically in a settlement.

By a large majority, the miners’ lodges in North-
umberland have decided to re-open negotiations with
the Northumberland Coal Owners’ Association, for
the abolition of the three-shift system of working.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Articles of
Commerce (Relaxation of Restrictions) Order (1918),
the Board of Trade notifies that the Lighting,
Heating and Power Order (1918) ceased to have
effect from December 23, 1918.

The Minister of Munitions has revoked the Refrac-
tory Materials (Maximum Prices) Order, dated
November 19, 1918.

We shall probably hear a great deal
Oil from in the near future concerning the
Mineral production of oil from coal and other
Sources. materials of organic origin, and the
question arises how far the organic
matter in coal differs from the kerogen in shales.
Dr. F. Mollwo Perkin, in a paper read recently
before the Institute of Petroleum Technologists,
expressed the opinion that they are distinct
substances, notwithstanding the similarity of their
distillation products. The question is not easy to
answer definitely, and there are many considerations,
as Dr. Perkin pointed out, which obscure the results
in experimental methods of investigation. Even the
well-known differences in the results obtained in
low-temperature and high-temperature distillation
may not be so real as is generally supposed, and it
may well be found that the paraffins of the low-
temperature process may represent an earlier stage
of the high-temperature method also, the benzine
series being produced by further chemical or physical
action under the influence of heat. The fact is, that
it is necessary to know a great deal more than we do
of the reactions that take place within the retort, as
well^as the influence upon them of the shape of the
retort, the velocity of the reaction, and other factors.
The pursuit of knowledge of carbonisation phenomena
must always be more or less elusive, because the
final products of distillation invariably represent
the results of decomposition and polymerism of the
compounds originally present. Since, also, it is
almost impossible to maintain uniform temperatures
everywhere, and to avoid contact by the gases with
the heated surface of the retort, there is a difficulty
in obtaining concordant results. Possibly it is thus
that may be explained much of the failure in practice
to secure trustworthy performances, especially with
certain types of carbonising retorts; while the
differences obtainable in horizontal and vertical
retorts respectively, may be accounted for in the
same manner. In addition to the chemical
and physical problems involved in carbonisation
processes, there is also to be considered the commer-
cial aspect of the question, which, indeed, must
always play the chief part in determining the success
of any process. Dr. Perkin, for example, dwelt
upon the influence of the various carbonisation
processes upon the future of the dye industry. It is
unquestionably most important that this industry
should be retained in the country and made inde-
pendent of any possibility of German control.

It does not help matters in the least to make
exaggerated claims for the results obtained by parti-
cular processes. It is upon these grounds that low
temperature carbonisation has hitherto largely failed
to reach expectations. No process can hope to
become a commercial success unless its limitations
are fairly stated. There can be no permanent
success for any method which bases its claim upon
the production of so many gallons of crude oil, of
which from 30 per cent, to 40 per cent, may consist of
distilled water.

For this reason, Dr. Perkin has done good service
in stating clearly the bald facts of our knowledge of
carbonisation phenomena so far as they are at present
available. He frankly disputes the claim of any low-
temperature process to produce directly more benzol
and toluol than can be got by high- temperature
treatment, upon the ground that such an assertion is
in direct conflict with first principles.

This illustrates in a forcible manner the relation
between pure and applied science. Of course it is
open to critics to say that what are claimed to be
first principles may be fallacious. But the burden
of proof lies with those who run counter to those
principles, and experience shows that they rarely
succeed in maintaining their position.

It is interesting to note the distinction between
the treatment of oil-shale and that of coal by
carbonisation. Shale treatment appears to lie
between the low and high temperature processes.
As far as the production of oil is concerned the
retorting of shale is essentially a low temperature
process; but since it is commercially desirable to
obtain a high yield of ammonia, a moderately high
temperature is maintained in the lower portion of
the retort. The Bryson retort used for this purpose

is long and narrow, and is not suited for treating
coal; and the chief part of the research work hitherto
carried out in connection with this problem has been
concerned with the discovery of a suitable retort for
the production, not only of the maximum yield of
crude oil, but also of marketable by-products.

That a completely satisfactory process has been so
long delayed is not a cause for wonder considering
the complexity of the problem. Dr. Perkin has no
misapprehension as to the difficulties of its solution,
but he is decidedly optimistic as to the possibility of
founding a genuine home oil industry based upon the
sure foundation of scientific research.

A bulletin recently issued by the
Power. Smithsonian Institution* deals with
the subject of “Power: Its Signifi-
cance and Needs.” The authors are Messrs. Chester
G. Gilbert and Joseph E. Pogue, of the Division
of Mineral Technology, United States National
Museum ; and the object of the publication, like
that of its predecessors on Coal and Petroleum, is to
discuss various sources of energy in connection with
the development of industrial resources. Mankind,
say the authors, is dependent on industrialism, and
industrialism is contingent upon a supply of power,
which is defined as the substitution of mechanical
energy for human energy, of mechanical work for
human labour.

The subject is quite appropriate for treatment by
American industrialists, because in that country the
importance of mechanical aids has been perhaps
better recognised than in any other field of labour.
It is equally certain that in Great Britain, mainly
owing to the reluctance of labour to appreciate the
advantages of increased output, the development of
machinery has not been allowed to pursue an
unrestricted course. This attitude has been largely
due to the mistaken notion that machinery tends to
displace man-power. The authors of this bulletin,
however; are not concerned with demonstrating the
advantages of the full utilisation of power so much
as with the discussing the inter-relations of the
three recognised sources of energy — hydraulic
power, steam power and electricity. In this con-
nection electricity is regarded as the means whereby
water power is placed upon terms of equality with
coal.

The attention of American industrialists, as in
Great Britain, has already been called to the serious
aspect of the problem of transport, owing to the
distribution of population over a wide area. If
dependence has to be placed upon freight-hauled
coal, which already represents over one- third of the
haulage in the United States, it is foreseen that
trouble must soon ensue. So long as power is
provided by means of freighted coal in its present
heavy proportion, say the authors, the transportation
system of the country is bound to break down during
every period of sudden industrial expansion. This
was the experience of Great Britain at an early
stage of the war, and it was also the experience of
the United States when once that country began
seriously to embark upon the preparation and equip-
ment of a large army. Thus the limiting factor in
the supply of power, both in America and in Great
Britain, is not a dearth in energy resources, but in
the means for getting the energy distributed to the
points of use—a problem which has hitherto, to some
extent, been solved by the concentration of industry
near the coal fields.

It is now generally recognised that there is an
appalling waste involved in the haulage of coal, of
which only a fraction of the energy value is available
at its destination. We might accentuate this state-
ment by reflecting upon the tonnage of incom-
bustible ash that has been carried over British
railways during the last two years—an amount
which would be found seriously to reduce the
number of ton miles estimated to have been saved
under the Controller’s coal distribution scheme. The
elimination of superfluous weight is a fundamental
requirement of efficient transportation. The neglect
of this principle has not been peculiar to this
country, for in the United States precisely the same
thing has happened—the temporary cessation of
commercial competition in the fuel market having
been largely responsible for the wholesale despatch
from the collieries of imperfectly screened or dirty
coal. The result, however, in that country is more
serious, because more than three times as much coal
is distributed there than in Great Britain, while
distances are greater and the demand is still
increasing.

It would be interesting to examine, from the
standpoint of economics, how this waste of power is
apportioned, and who has to pay for it. Probably
the cost is ultimately distributed over the whole
community. An estimate made by the authors of
this bulletin places the annual cost at more than
10 dols. per head of the population of the United
States. At a similar rate, in Great Britain, the total
yearly loss would amount to nearly £100,000,000—
or, in a decade, to a large fraction of the whole cost
of the war.

In examining next the question of electric power,
the authors remark, with truth, that by the trans-
formation of the energy of coal into electricity by

* Bulletin 102, Part 5, Smithsonian Institution, United
States National Museum, Washington, 1918.

means of steam power plants, but little is gained,
while the broad problem of transport is still further
aggravated because more raw coal is distributed.
The possibility of establishing central power stations
in the coal fields is only limited by the question of
electrical transmission. In the United States trans-
mission lines up to 100 miles in length are now
common, and the authors maintain that such lines,
up to 250 miles in length, are regarded as prac-
ticable. If, therefore, standard distances of 200
miles are accepted, a large part of the United States
could be supplied with electricity generated in the
coal fields. How much more feasible, therefore, is
such a proposition for the British Isles, where no
portion of the land is as much as 200 miles from the
nearest source of coal supply.

Such a project, which the authors designate as
carbo-electric, to distinguish it from hydro-
electric energy, is only just beginning to attract
attention in the United States; and, in view of
the Government scheme of central power stations
for Great Britain, it will be interesting to watch its
development. The question seems to resolve itself
into the relative advantages of coal haulage on the
one hand, and energy transmission on the other.
The authors proceed to discuss at some length the
comparative economic aspects of water power and
coal power; but with this part of the subject we are
not immediately concerned, owing to the very limited
sources of water power available in Great Britain.
The problem in the United States is also enlarged
by the possibilities of the oil fields, and by the fact
that already about one-eighth of the petroleum
output is consumed by the railways.

The conclusions arrived at in this paper are that a
situation has already been reached in the United
States where industrial expansion demands some
measure of reform. It is held that the further
development of railways will not meet the require-
ments, since there are already signs of over-expansion
in that direction ; and the railways, instead of being
a source of strength, threaten to become a source of
weakness to the country. Electric transmission is
held to be the key to the problem, and the case for
this view is put with a strength which appears to be
unanswerable. We commend this little brochure to
the attention of industrialists on this side of the
Atlantic also. It reflects many of the conclusions of
the Reconstruction Sub-committee, recently reviewed
in these columns; and it strengthens the case
materially by showing that like causes have pro-
duced like effects under totally different industrial
conditions.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF SESSION, SCOTLAND.
SECOND DIVISION—December 22.

Before the Lord Justice-Clerk and Lords Dttndas,
Salvesen and Guthrie.

Check-Weigher and Deductions.

J. Dobbie v. Coltness Iron Company Limited.—The
Division advised an appeal for the defenders in an action
by James Dobbie, miner, against the Coltness Iron Com-
pany Limited, Blairhall Colliery, Fife, for £6 18s. 10d.,
the balance of wages said to be due to the pursuer from
January 1915 to March 1916, in respect of deductions from
the gross weight of the mineral sent up by the pursuer
from the defenders’ pit.

The Division (Lord Salvesen dissenting) held that the
deductions had not been made by the defenders in accord-
ance with the provisions of the Coal Mines Act, and
granted decree for the sum sued for. Their lordships held
that as there was no agreement made between the masters
on the one hand and the miners on the other as to a
special mode for determining the deductions, and as the
miners had appointed a check-weigher, it was incompe-
tent for the weigher to determine the amount of deductions
at his own hand during the period when the check-weigher
held his office.

Partnership Dissolved.—The London Gazette announces
dissolution of the partnership of J. A. Clabour and J. B.
Clabour, engineers, trading as J. B. Clabour, Guiseley,
York.

Result of the Engineers’ Ballot.—The final figures in the
ballot in the engineering and shipbuilding industry on the
question of the employers’ offer of a 47 hour week, to
begin on January 1, were made known on Monday as
follows: For acceptance, 286,545; against, 148,526;
majority for acceptance, 138,019. It is stated that a hitch
has occurred in the discussion between the engineering
trade unionists and the Special Committee appointed at
the Prime Minister’s recent meeting at Caxton Hall on
the question of dilutees and the restoration of pre-war
conditions.

Birmingham Metallurgical Society.—At a meeting of the
Birmingham Metallurgical Society, held at the Chamber
of Commerce last week, Mr. J. E. Fletcher, of Dudley,
read a paper on “ The Mechanical Methods Used for the
Production of Solid Steel Ingots.” He said that the
subject of sound or solid steel ingot production has been
very much discussed during the war by metallurgists and
engineers, and their conclusions may be briefly summarised
as follows : (1) That unsound steel is due to the presence
of included gas bubbles and so-called shrinkage cavities;
(2) that such unsoundness can be remedied at least par-
tially by providing a refractory lineal feeding head at the
ingot top; (3) that when steel is properly made in the
furnace the minimum of deleterious gases and segregates
remain in the ingot; (4) that mechanical methods for
overcoming the “piping” trouble in ingots, unless of a
simple, effective and cheaply operated nature, are unneces-
sary. The author stated that he considered that there
is, however, a place for mechanical methods which can
assist the proper crystallisation of steel masses by pro-
moting a more homogeneous crystalline arrangement, and
in preventing the harmful mass of segregation of oxides,
etc., in the ingot.