350 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



In England and on the Continent it is generally allowed that 

 the greatest producers of smoke in the cities and towns are the 

 domestic grates, but here it must be admitted that our mining and 

 industrial works are the chief offenders, and it is with the keenest 

 sympathy and hesitation that I venture to attack the system, not 

 the works ! 



Let us now consider the cause of an abnormal production of 

 smoke in furnaces. 



Firstly, we must indite careless or ignorant stoking ; secondly, 

 the use of improper coal or fuel ; thirdly, the use of obsolete or 

 badly-designed fire-boxes ; fourthly, defective draught, due to choked 

 tubes or defective flues ; fifthly, the want of scientific supervision of 

 Furnaces and Boilers by the Managing Engineering Staff. 



Then let us consider the effects of the same from a scientific 

 point of view. 



The merest engineering student knows, or ought to know, that 

 bituminous coal can be completely consumed so as to emit no smoke, 

 (a) by heating and regulating the supply of air to the furnace, (b) 

 by securing and maintaining a proper temperature in the furnace, 

 and (c) by properly controlling the gaseous products of combustion 

 in their passage to and up the chimney. 



It has been publicly reported that Messrs. Crossfield and Sons, 

 of Warrington, have, by adopting a scientific treatment of their fuel 

 and stoking, saved looo tons of coal per week, which means that 

 they were saved the use of almost double the number of boilers, 

 with all attendant expenses of depreciation, firing, upkeep, etc., which 

 amounted in all to about ;^25,ooo per annum, and the Cardiff 

 Railway Company admit that their saving of fuel amounts to 25 

 per cent. The points observed by these consumers have been the 

 proper construction of furnaces, flues and chimneys, the regulation of 

 air supply, mechanical and careful stoking, the preparation, elevating, 

 and conveying of fuel, the heating of feed matter, and careful 

 supervision by their senior engineers. 



The point I wish to bring home at this time, when the saving 

 of working costs is our great problem, is, if a single coal consuming 

 firm can effect the saving I have quoted, what would be the saving 

 to our great gold industry and other industrial concerns if their 

 example was followed? 



Human nature is hard to drive but easy to lead, if met in a 

 rational manner. There is a class of person, unfortunately too 

 numerous, who resents anything like interference, and such is most 

 difficult to deal with, because out of " pure cussedness " they will 

 do all they know to evade restraint, and look upon advice as an 

 impertinence. The conceit that is born of ignorance is the bugbear 

 of progress, science, and economy, and probably justified the incep- 

 tion of the Public Health Act (England) 1891, which fathered that 

 splendid fighting body known as the Smoke Abatement Society. If 

 •only for economic reasons, I submit that such a body should be 



