June 15, 1917. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 1129 ggggm^BffiscHSMge^ " of any machine or engine that cannot he absolutely re- stored to perfect condition by BARI M AR Scientific Welding Service An Invaluable THERE is no weldable part mt n in it iti a n n im a r\v mn m m o aid to work of National Importance The repair work of the Barimar Specialists has been tested times without number in the largest plant-using concerns in Great Britain—and always with complete success. How to Send Goods : Remove all fittings. Label plainly with sender's name and address. Specify in writing “to be repaired under money-back guarantee." Despatch carriage paid. BARIMAR Ltd., Dept. L, Telephone— 8173 Gerrard. 10, Poland Street, London, W. Telegrams— “ Bariquamar, Reg, London.” In any case of breakdown of plant where the part cannot be sent to London, a wire will ensure instant despatch of a Bari- mar Mobile Section, equipped to complete repair on the spot. enders invited for about 3,000 tons LARGE STEAM COAL, and 3,000 tons THRO’ STEAM COAL, delivered Camborne Station, G. W. Railway, over a period of four months, 1,500 tons per month. ■ Address bv 23rd inst. to GRENVILLE UNITED MIKES LIMITED, Granville House, Arundel-street, Strand, London, W.C. 2. URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL OF DARTFORD. ELECTRICITY DEPARTMENT. enders are invited for a year’s supply of COAL to the Electricity Works, Dartford. Specification and Form of Tender may be obtained from the undersigned, upon receipt of a stamped addressed foolscap envelope. Tenders must be delivered to the COITKTII. OFFICES, Dartford, in sealed envelopes, endorsed “ Tender for Coal,” not later than noon on the 28th June. Council Offices, W. KAY, Dartford. Clerk to the Council. 14th June, 1917. anted Enquiries from all the Collieries in the United Kingdom as to our Agency for REPORT BOOKS and FORMS, as prescribed by the Coal Mines Act, 1911.—-Full particulars on application to the 0OI.LIBEY GUARDIAN CO. LTD., 30 & 31, Furnivil-street, Holborn, London, E.C. 4. J. W. BAIRD AND COMPANY, PITWOOD IMPORTERS, WEST HABTLEPOOL, YEARLY CONTRACTS ENTERED INTO WITH COLLIERIES. OSBECK & COMPANY LIMITED, PIT-TIMBER MERCHANTS, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE. SUPPLY ALL KINDS OF COLLIERY TIMBER. Telegrams—“ Osbecks, Newcastle-on-Tyne.” *** For other Miscellaneous Advertisements see Last White Page. AND Journal th® Oral asad Trafcs. Joint Editors— J. V. ELSDEN, D.Sc. (Loud.), F.G.S. HUBERT GREENWELL, F.S.S., Assoc.M.I.M.E. (At present on Active Service). LONDON, FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 1917. The London coal market is principally occupied with pressing orders for stock coal. Hard steams are in good demand. Gas coals are more plentiful, and slacks are selling freely. Outward business in freights is very small, and South Wales is accountable for most of the fixtures. The markets for the most part appear to be in a passive condition. A better supply of tonnage on the Tyne improved the market outlook, but the Durham pits have not derived much advantage so far, and they are offering coals freely for spot shipment. The usual sort of activity is reported in Lancashire and Yorkshire, where house coal is eagerly sought for replenishing stocks. South Wales and Scotland furnish a contrast, for while the Cardiff market became firmer in anticipation of a higher official basis of prices, Scottish coal owners find a great difficulty in disposing of domestic fuel, owing to restrictions and the inadequate supply of steamers. The monthly Board of Trade returns summarise the coal, coke and manufactured fuel exports. The quantity shipped in May totalled 3,664,823 tons, value £4,909,384 (last year 3,825,387 tons, value £4,790,460), and the aggregate for five months was 15,795,303 tons, value £20,963,021, compared with 17,000,732 tons, value £18,551,184, a year ago. A National Federation of Colliery Under-managers of Great Britain has been formed. Application is being made for representation on the advisory committees connected with the control of the coal industry. The Controller of Coal Mines intimates that no decision has been arrived at regarding coal rationing. Precautionary steps have been taken in arranging for depots and reserves, and local authorities have been invited to co-operate. At the annual meeting of the Mining Institute of Scotland, held on Saturday, in Edinburgh—Mr. D. M. Mowat, Coatbridge presiding—an address on “ The Higher Training of Colliery Managers ” was given by Mr. G. L. Kerr. A conference of the South Wales miners com- menced in Cardiff on Tuesday, the delegates having been summoned to consider a draft of new rules from the Federation executive, and also a large number of amendments which the lodges proposed. A paper on ‘1 Methods of Mining in the Penn- sylvania Anthracite Field,” by Mr. H. M. Crankshaw, was read and discussed at a meeting of the Man- chester Geological and Mining Society on Tuesday. The necessity for maintaining an Coal and adequate supply of coal for the the Public public utilities is obvious, for every- Utllities. thing, including the production of munitions and the health and efficiency of the worker, depends upon the daily supply of artificial heat, light, electricity and water. Such are the complex conditions of life induced by the high state of civilisation in which we live. It is, therefore, satisfactory to know that the Coal Controller is carefully considering the best means of satisfying public requirements, in addition to the needs of private consumers. The case of the gas industry has recently been reviewed at the annual general meeting of the Institution of Gas Engineers, upon which occasion Mr. Guy Calthrop came into the open, and spoke candidly of the operations and plans of his department. We have nothing but praise to bestow upon this procedure. The more our Controllers can be induced to emerge from the Cimmerian darkness of bureaucratic seclusion, the more will public confidence increase in the methods they may think fit to adopt. Upon such occasions they become parts of the visible mechanism of State organisation, instead of being the intangible autocrats of fheir respective departments. The problem of coal distribution in this little country should not be really difficult even in war time. The United Kingdom is a complicated net- work of railways. No part of it is really far from a coal field. The chief trouble would appear to be that of securing particular kinds of coal for special purposes. This is notably the case with the gas industry. It is true that the gas works only consume about 16,000,000 tons of coal out of our annual output of about 238,000,000 tons; but most of the supply of gas coal has been derived from particular seams in Northumberland and Durham, involving long-distance transport, by rail or sea, with restricted facilities for carriage now prevailing by either of these methods. The Coal Controller, therefore, asks the managers of gas companies not only to economise in the use of coal generally, but also to abandon, as far as possible, their predilections for particular classes of fuel. As a recompense for this concession, he hinted at the possibility that our present emergency might bring to light something which would be of benefit to the gas industry as a whole. This is not at all impossible. Probably the gas industry is not very different from many other com- mercial concerns, in which a forced departure from long-established custom has proved a healthy stimulus to new discovery and improved methods. The whole of the gas industry has been built up upon the candle-power standard. The change to a calorific standard has introduced a totally new aspect. Mr. A. E. Broadberry, in his presidential address at the above-named meeting, said that increased quantities of gas were now demanded from inferior coals, with the inevitable result that the quality had suffered. We are not sure, however, about the inevitability of this result. It is perhaps true that the attempt to obtain too much yield of gas per ton of coal might not prove to be real economy. But we really know very little about the calorific value of commercial gas, which is, of course, a very different matter from that of the coal from which it is derived. There is room for much experimental work in this direction. In the first place, it is necessary to insist upon some standard method of ascertaining the calorific power of coal gas, for which purpose the ordinary bomb calorimeter is hardly suitable on account of the difficulty of ascertaining accurately the volume of gas in the bomb. There are, however, certain types of flow calorimeters, such as the improved Junker type and the Vernon Boys gas calorimeter, which can be used for this purpose, and the Boys apparatus is now accepted as a standard instrument in most of our large towns. Then, again, the gas companies are confronted with a difficulty in the supply of gas oil, consisting mainly of a residual American petroleum, used for the enrichment of water gas. The Coal Controller, although disclaiming any special knowledge of “ blue ” gas, has been advised that by the adoption of certain precautions, a considerable proportion of uncarburetted water gas can be added to coal gas, and a substantial saving in coal can be thus brought about. In this connection it is interesting to note that an important paper has recently been read before the American Gas Institute, showing that greatly improved heating value can be obtained per gallon of oil used with a water gas plant by cracking the oil in an inert atmosphere. The best heating results appear to have been obtained in a hydrogen atmosphere ; while the best illuminating results followed when conducted in an atmosphere of methane. Without further investigation, we do not think the authors of this research, Messrs. Downing and Pohlman, have definitely established the possi- bility of improving the recognised water gas practice. But their investigations do tend to throw light upon the whole question of water gas enrichment, and we trust they will be a means of stimulating further experimental work in this direction. One important result which Messrs. Downing and Pohlman have established is that the light-giving constituents formed from a gallon of oil reach a maximum between 1,300 and 1,350 degs. Fahr., higher tem- peratures being followed by uneconomical degradation. This fact is the more noteworthy as the old-fashioned practice has been to operate the carburettor at a temperature of about 1,800 degs. Fahr., leading probably to the formation of hydrogen amongst the u cracked ” products. We are not aware, however, to what extent the higher temperature improves the calorific value of the gas. These and other considerations only serve to illustrate the considerable field that is awaiting investigation in regard to the water gas problem, upon which there is still much diversity of opinion among gas engineers. In the present emergency, a temporary coal economy is, of course, the main consideration ; but it is not unlikely that the ultimate result may be a permanent revolution in gas manu- facture, to the advantage both of the industry and the nation. At a recent general meeting of the The Present Verein deutscher Eisenhtittenleute Position an address was given by Prof. Dr. of Coal Franz Fischer on the present position Research, of coal research. The desire for more accurate knowledge of the chemical properties of coal is apparently strongly felt amongst the German iron masters, and Prof. Fischer had no trouble in showing the importance, from the industrial standpoint, of recent develop- ments in this direction. The problem, in his view, lies mainly in the domain of chemistry. Beginning with the origin of coal, he attached importance to the influence of bacteria in the process of conversion of the original vegetable matter. Recalling the experi- ments of Petzhold and Bergius, he referred to the uncertainty as to whether the artificial products made by these chemists were really identical with coal. It is, as a matter of fact, still open to question whether ordinary coal represents a further stage in the transformation of lignite, or whether the lignites and the bituminous coals are respectively the end products of two different series of transformation. Although in general lignite and bituminous coal are readily distinguished from one another, there are cases where they are so alike that they can only be identified by some special test, such, for example, as the streak test first described by Donath. Bituminous