34Q SCIENCE PROGRESS 



betricb und Rauchbekampfung" of Hamburg, a. Society which was 

 founded in 1902 by a group of Hamburg manufacturers, who 

 were convinced that some better system of control of their 

 boiler and heating plants was desirable, and possible, than that 

 in use up to that date. Since its formation, twelve years ago, 

 this Society has achieved an undoubted success, and the tenth 

 annual report, which has appeared this year, states that the 

 Society on April 1, 1914, had 500 members and 1,744 boilers or 

 other heating appliances on its register. When one notes that 

 the Society started in 1902 with only a few Hamburg manu- 

 facturers behind it, and that in 191 1 a daughter-society was 

 founded in Helsingfors, and withdrew many members from the 

 parent body in Hamburg, this success is the more striking. It 

 proves that when worked on right lines, co-operation in the 

 scientific supervision of boilers and heating-plant can be made 

 beneficial to both the individual factory-owner and to the general 

 community — for the one obtains higher efficiency and a smaller 

 coal-bill, and the other gains by less smoke and a cleaner 

 atmosphere. 



The objects of the Hamburg Society, as set forth in its rules, 

 are the attainment of the highest possible efficiency from the 

 heating and boiler plants of its members, with the least possible 

 emission of smoke. To this end, regular examination of these 

 plants and of the methods of working them is undertaken by the 

 expert staff of the Society, and suggestions are made for im- 

 provements when such are required. The education and control 

 of the firemen in the proper performance of their duties are also 

 undertaken by the firemen-instructors on the staff of the Society. 

 Comparative tests of fuel, and tests of smoke prevention and 

 other appliances of a similar character are also carried out 

 by the expert staff, and the results are circulated amongst 

 the members of the Society. Each boiler or heating plant, 

 when brought under the control of the expert staff, is tested 

 at the earliest possible date, and a written report upon 

 the results of the examination is submitted to the owner. 

 Should the firing have proved inefficient, one of the firemen- 

 instructors is sent to the works to give practical instruction to 

 the firemen employed there, and tests of the plant are made 

 at intervals until this fault is remedied. Defects in design 

 are similarly dealt with. The annual subscription to the 

 Society for members, without any boilers or heating-plant 



