223 



Power Economy in the Southern Indiana Quarry 



Industry. 



<T. C. Mance. 



The limestone (luany industry of southern In<lian;i offers a fertile field 

 for research aloni,' the lines of conservation. The early operators adopted 

 wasteful methods of luoduction. feeling that the abundance of the deposits 

 would give an unlimited supply of lirst-grade stone. The tendency has been 

 to continue with the old methods and machinery to tin- i)r(>sent time. With- 

 in the last few years, however, competition has hci-ouie so keen that man\ 

 of the operators of the district have begun to realize the wastefulness of 

 the present methods and to look for more ethcient ones. 



The principal losses accompanying the production of building stone in 

 Monroe County can be grouped imder four heads : 



(1) jjosses or seconiT-graae stone. 



(2) Losses of human labor. 



(3) Losses of lime, cement and fertilizing materials. 



(4) Losses accomi)anying powei' production. 



The losses due to inetticient methods of power i)roduction are probably 

 the greatest and the most in need of remedial action. Ihe method of 

 power production thnnigliout the district is wasteful in the extreme. Tower 

 is generated in a large number of separate units distributed over the (luarry 

 and there is a great loss of human labor in supplying the coal where it is to 

 be u.sed as well as a great loss of coal due to careU^ss handling. Several 

 quarrymen have made careful tests n]ion channeling machines, at my sug 

 gestion. to determine the amount ol coal consumed by the different types ot 

 machines dining a given run. and it has been f(mnd that wliite the Sullivan 

 or IngersoU channelers cut faster they consume iiractically twice the 

 amount of coal in a given period of time as the Wardwell type of chan- 

 ueler. which is widely used throughout the district. 



In many of the mills the boilers and engines have been in operation 

 over twenty years and the amount of coal used per horse-power hour is at 



