June 14, 1918.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

1199

ventilating pressure has been obtained by making and
maintaining airways of much larger cross-section than
formerly.

In connection with an investigation into air re-
sistance of the materials used in building stoppings,
results were obtained (shown in Table VI.) which may
be of interest.

It will be seen from this table that the greater size
amount of finer particles—that is, below 90 mesh size—
the smaller will be the amount of air that will be
allowed to pass through the stopping.

Stone dust is much too expensive to allow it to be
used in quantities sufficiently large for stopping pur-
poses, but soil has been found to be very effective,
in that it makes a tighter stopping than sand, and is
not so inclined to run out from between the packing
in places where it is not convenient to build a brick-
work retention wall.

PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—June 10.
German Coal Exporter.

Mr. Joynson-Hicks asked whether the firm of Endemann
and Company Limited, of Glasgow, was really the business
of one Walther Hugo Endemann, a German resident in
Switzerland; whether, though the business was ordered to
be wound up in April 1916, it has only just been liqui-
dated; whether his two assistants, Koch and Peters, both
naturalised Germans, had been allowed to carry on the
same business at the same address ever since.

Sir A. Stanley, in a written reply, said that almost all
the . capital was held by W. H. Endemann, a German
subject resident in Switzerland, and his wife. The busi-
ness was ordered to be wound up on July 25, 1916, and
was brought to an end within a week of that date. Owing
to the impossibility of realising debts due to the company
by persons in enemy countries, the liquidation could not
be finally completed during the war, and on May 22 the
Court.made an order on the petition of the Board of. Trade
for winding up. No part of the business had 'been sold
to Messrs. Koch and Peters, and licences to export coal
were not granted to them.

Dirt in Coal.

Sir Albert Stanley, in a written reply to Brigadier-
General Page Croft, stated that the Controller of Coal
Mines was fully alive to the significance of the increased
percentage of separable dirt in coal, and was sparing no
effort to decrease it. The importance of the matter had
been impressed both on miners and the management of
collieries by letter, and in some cases by addressing mass
meetings. An officer of special experience had been
appointed to make investigations at collieries with regard
to specific complaints and to consult with both the manage-
ment and the workmen regarding the steps to be taken
to remedy the trouble. In so far as the percentage of
separable dirt was affected by the cleaning and picking
of the coal on the surface, the increase was partly due
to the scarcity of labour and machinery necessary for
that purpose. Sir Albert was not prepared to accept the
figure of 5,000,000 tons as applicable either to the amount
of dirt in exported coal or to wasted tonnage, and he
was not aware of any trustworthy data on which such an
estimate could be based.

Releasing Miner Soldiers.

.Mr. Wing asked the Minister of National Service how
his recent intimation of release from the Army of miners
who are serving at home and of lower medical category
than B 1 would be administered; whether individual appli-
cation must be made; and whether priority would be
given to those whose service had been the longest.

Mr. Beck replied that applications for the release from
the Colours of miners serving at home who were in a
medical category lower than B 1 may be made in any
of the following ways : (1) The individual soldier may
apply through his commanding officer; (2) the branch
secretary of the union may apply to the War Office through
the colliery firm concerned; (3) the Controller of Coal
Mines may apply direct to the War Office. The selection
would not be made by the officer in command of the
man’s unit. The War Office would release such low cate-
gory miners serving in the Army at home as could be
spared. He did not think it practicable to regulate the
order of release by length of service.

Coal Export Licences.

Mr. Joynson-Hicks asked the Secretary for Scotland
whether H. Lindeman (Glasgow) is a naturalised Prussian
trading as a coal exporter; whether he is a brother of
the burgomaster at Kiel; and why licences were granted
to such a man.

Viscount Wolmer replied that Lindeman was of
Prussian or German origin, and had been a member of
the firm of Burns and Lindeman since 1893, when it
was established, and was naturalised as a British subject
in 1897. The firm carried on in Glasgow the business of
a coal exporter, and after a full enquiry made in 1915,
no reason was found for refusing to this firm licences for
export, which were only granted where the consignees
were approved, and guarantees were given precluding the
possibility of consignments reaching an enemy destina-
tion.

June 14.

Aliens and Coal Stocks.

Sir J. D. Bees enquired whether stocks of coal in large
cities were near exhaustion; whether the prospects of re-
plenishment were doubtful; and whether the acquisition
of unduly large amounts by aliens in the United Kingdom
was regarded with the strongest disapproval by the local
authorities, who were endeavouring in the public interest
to economise the consumption of this product.

Mr. Wardle said he was aware that the stocks of coal
were being reduced. A new Order would be issued shortly
which would, he hoped, alleviate the situation and deal
effectively with the cases referred to in the latter part
of the question.

Demurrage on Railway Wagons and Sheets.—The
secretary to the Railway Executive Committee has written
to the Bradford Chamber of Commerce, saying that relief
from wagon demurrage can be granted only for Sundays,
Good Friday, Easter Monday, Whit-Monday, August
Bank Holiday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and local
general holidays established by the custom of many years,
and not in respect of special holidays granted to munition
workers. The secretary hopes that everything possible
will be done by the traders to regulate their supplies.

CURRENT SCIENCE

Hydro-Electric Power and Fuel Economy.

In the course of his presidential address to the
Iron and Steel Institute, Mr. E. Schneider said that
France did not dispose of a stock of mineral fuel
corresponding to her wealth of iron ore. In 1913,
whereas 23 million tons of ore were extracted, her
native coal mines provided only 4 million tons of
metallurgical coke, which, together with 3 million
tons imported coke, made up merely the 7 million
tons necessary to her production in cast iron (5 million
tons). It behoves them, therefore, to cast up the
account of their resources in hydraulic power, so as
to reserve for metallurgical purposes the greatest
possible part of the coal production. Those resources
might even now be easily appropriated for the traction
of trains and tramcars, lighting purposes, and the
distribution of driving force over extensive zones,
since a 60,000v voltage was in use, and one of 120,000v
would be so very soon. Whereas the waterfalls now
utilised yielded only from 700,000 to 800,000 horse-
power, future plants should allow a yield, at low
water, of a minimum of 4,500,000 horse-power. And
as 1,000 hydraulic horse-power economise per year
10,000 tons of coal, in round numbers, the profit to
expect from those plants would rise to 30 million tons,
a figure approximating the total coal extraction before
the war.

Metallurgical and mining industries were interested
in this question not only indirectly in the way pointed
out, but also directly, by the use of hydro-electric
current to control engines, and even to produce metal.
The engineer’s task began there in an endeavour to
combine harmoniously the use of thermic power as
produced by the blast furnace and coke ovens, and
hydro-electric power; the latter having the defect
of being transmitted by very long lines exposed to
many risks. It would, therefore, be well to provide
very powerful thermic generating sets, ready for run-
ning at a moment’s notice, capable of carrying on the
work in the chief departments, pending the time when
the thermic emergency stations should have brought
up to a maximum figure their normal reduced power.
That part would devolve upon groups worked by
Diesel motors of 2,000, 4,000, and even 6,000 horse-
power, the price of oil-fuel being, in that case, a
negligible matter. In France they were studying
such motors, and their realisation seemed assured.
Hydraulic power would, in certain cases, be directly
utilised in metallurgical works, without previous
electric transformation. Workshops turning out
projectiles had already been equipped with hydraulic
presses worked directly by water forced at high pres-
sure through pipes. More powerful presses could be
worked in a similar manner, and even rolling mills
might be driven by high-pressure hydraulic turbines,
transmitting their energy, in the case of reversible
mill engines, through the medium of a Fbttinger
transformer. A similar installation was put in several
years ago at the Terni steelworks for the manufacture
of armour plates, the power transformer being electric.

Powdered Fuel.

The use of pulverised fuel is stated by the General
Electric JReviezv to have been extended to a number
of railway locomotives scattered through the United
States and Brazil. The possibility of employing low-
grade fuels, such as lignite, bituminous slack, and
anthracite dust or tailings, has been demonstrated;
use has been made of Brazilian bituminous coal, for
which no other method of combustion has been found
practicable, of graphitic anthracite coal, such as is
found in the Canadian North-West and in the New
England States, which has heretofore been regarded
as valueless for fuel, and of lignites, which cannot
be burned in the locomotive in any other form, owing
to the impossibility of keeping unconsumed coal from
passing out of the funnel and causing fires alongside
the line. Further, by the aid of powdered fuel the
efficiency of the firebox, as compared with that ob-
tained with hand firing, has been increased by 20
to 25 per cent., and the ability instantly to stop
combustion, and the use of fuel when the engine is
standing or drifting is resulting in a fuel saving of
from 25 to 40 per cent.

At an installation at the works of Messrs. Dilworth,
Porter and Company at Pittsburg (described in Iron
Age) the dust is conveyed from the pulverisers to the
point of use by air pressure, in distinction from
systems in which continuous helical screw conveyors
are employed or high-velocity air carrying the coal
dust in suspension. The transport pipes are 4 in. in
diameter throughout, and this fact is claimed as one
of the economies ensured by the method as against
screw conveyors or air mains of large cross-section.
The powdered coal collected in tanks at the pulverising
station is subjected to air pressure in the upper part
of the tank, and the coal is forced as required from
the bottom of the tank through the delivery pipes.
Coal has thus been delivered for a distance of 1,500 ft.
The speed depends in part on the air pressure. Four
tons, for example, have been carried through a 550 ft.
line in five minutes with air at a gauge pressure of
40 lb. The coal is pulverised to pass 95 per cent,
through a 100 mesh sieve and 85 per cent, through
200 meshes.

Firing with Coal Dust.

According to Engineering, the consumption of pul-
verised coal in the Portland cement furnaces of
America is said to amount to about 6,000,000 tons
annually. Part of the success of this form of fuel
in the cement industry is possibly due to the circum-
stance that cement makers being accustomed to fine
grinding, were ready to properly pulverise the coal
before attempting to use it as fuel. The experience
gained has, moreover, led to the introduction of the
system into other industries, some 2,000,000 tons
being used annually in American steel works and
about three-fourths as much in copper smelting works.
It is also being largely used for desulphurising and
roasting ores in rotary kilns. Attempts are now being
made in America to use dust fuel also for steam

AND TECHNOLOGY.

raising in boilers originally erected with the intention
of operating them either with natural gas or with
crude oil. A typical instance is provided by the power
house at Parsons of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas
Railway. The eight 250 h.p. water tube boilers in-
stalled there were originally operated with natural gas
or crude oil. When this became scarce, the only coals
available were of somewhat low quality containing
much moisture and much ash. It was found, how-
ever, that in spite of this they could be used
satisfactorily in the form of dust, and a complete
equipment for pulverising and drying the coal was
accordingly installed by the Fuller Engineering Com-
pany of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and was set to work
in the summer of 1916. The results have, it is stated,
been most satisfactory.

The pulverising and drying plant is arranged in a
separate building. After a first crushing the coal is
passed through a magnetic separator to take out
casual pieces of iron or steel which might otherwise
cause injury to the fine crushing plant. The material
as received from this separator undergoes a further
rough crushing, and is then dried in an independently
fired kiln, after which it passes to the fine crushers
which reduce it to a state such that 95 per cent, of
it will pass through a 100 mesh screen. In this
condition Mr. Barnhurst, engineer to the Fuller
Engineering Company, states that the coal weighs
from 32 lb. to 38 lb. per cu. ft., and will flow almost
like a fluid. It is best handled by screw conveyors
running in dust-proof ducts. The wear of these con-
veyors is said to be small, as the coal has itself lubri-
cating properties. About 17 h.p. hours per ton of
coal treated are expended in the crushing, drying and
elevating machinery. The furnace in which dust fuel
is to be burnt must, Mr. Barnhurst states, be of very
ample capacity. This is required for two reasons. In
the first place to ensure that the fuel stays in the
furnace long enough to be completely consumed; but
a second consideration, and one of greater importance,
is that if the furnace is cramped the linings will be
cut away by the high velocity of the gases.

Measuring Coke Oven Gas Used in Soaking Pits.

Increasing quantities of surplus gas from by-product
coke oven plants are being consumed in various pro-
cesses in steel mills, and it is desirable to have an
accurate and reliable measurement of this gas. For
this purpose (says Metallurgical and Chemical
Engineering) the Thomas meter has been applied,
which measures the quantity of gas in standard units,
such as cubic feet at 30-60, without any calculations
or corrections for pressure and temperature, although
these may vary through wide ranges. The total
quantities (in cubic feet) are shown on an integrating
meter and the rate of flow is shown graphically on a
curve drawing instrument. The graphic chart
obtained from this • instrument is very useful to the
superintendent of a coke oven plant, showing at a
glance the amount of gas being used for fuel in the
coke ovens over any period, with variations in quanti-
ties clearly indicated. The meter is installed in a
housing which replaces a portion of the gas pipe line.
The principle of the Thomas meter is that it measures
the heat capacity of a gas electrically. The amount
of electric heat necessary to raise a standard unit
two degrees is used as a measure of the gas flowing
through the meter. The electricity for heating the
gas can be conducted on comparatively small wires,
consequently the meters showing the amount of gas
used can be placed in the superintendent’s office or
other desired location, which may be several hundred
feet from the meter proper.

MINERS’ WAR WAGE.

Sir Guy Calthrop, Coal Controller, met the execu-
tive of the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain at
the offices at Holborn, yesterday (Thursday) relative to
the workmen’s application for a further advance in
wages. Mr. Robert Smillie (president) stated the
men’s case for an advance, which was based on the
general rise in the cost of living, and following a
two hours’ discussion, Sir Guy Calthrop promised to
submit the proposal for the advance and the men’s
case to the President of the Board of Trade, and a
reply would be given as early as possible.

The matter will have to go to the War Cabinet
previous to a decision being reached.

MINING INDUSTRY AND MILITARY SERVICE.

Support was given by colliery representatives to the
application for exemption made to Doncaster District Tri-
bunal by an architect and surveyor, aged 44, married,
grade 1. It was stated he was employed by the owners
of certain collieries, particularly in drainage work, which
prevented the flooding of large areas of agricultural land
and consequent loss of cultivation. Recently he had
taken charge of a new undertaking in the production of
reinforced concrete pit props. The chairman said it was
a very important development. Conditional exemption
granted.

A new Order withdraws certificates of exemption held
wholly or partly on occupational grounds by certain men
of various ages, including men engaged in the wholesale
or retail distribution of coal. The Order provides that
the exemptions of the men concerned are withdrawn as
from June 22, after which date the men will be called
up for military service. The Order does not affect pro-
tection certificates issued under the Schedule of Protected

Industrial and National Councils.—Dr. Addison has
arranged with the representatives of the iron, and steel
trades for the setting up of an industrial council to cover
the industries concerned, and representatives of the. em-
ployers have also agreed to establish a second. National
Council on Trade Policy in their industry. This Council
will represent all the iron masters in the country and
every form of steel activity. One or two Labour repre-
sentatives will probably sit on the committee. Its func-
tions will be the closer organisation of exports and pro-
duction, and the assuring of raw materials for the industry.