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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



ISl 



ding, by bigh penalties, the skreoning of any sea-borne coals, before they 

 leave the port at which they are embarked. A law of this kind would at 

 once terminate that luinous competition among the coal owners, which has 

 nr^ed them to vie with each other in tte wasteful destruction of small coal, 

 in order to increase the profits of the coal merchant, and gratify the prefer- 

 ence for large coals on the part of rich consumers ; and would also aiiord the 

 public a supply of coals of every price and qualily, which the skreen would 

 enable him to accommodate to the demands of the various classes of the 

 community. 



A f.arther consideration of national policy should prompt us to consider how 

 far the duty of supporting our commercial interests, and of husbanding the 

 resouri'cs of posterity, should permit us to allow any extensive exportation of 

 coal, from a densely peopled manufacturing country like our own; a large 

 proportion of whoso present wealth is founded on machinery, which can be 

 kept in action only by the produce of our native coal-mines,' .and whose pros- 

 perity can never survive the period of their exhaustion. 



At the last meeting of the British Association at Neweastle, Dr. 

 Buckland rend a paper on the appHcation of small coal to economical 

 purposes, in which lie referred to the well- known enormous annual 

 waste of coal at the moutlis of the various pits near Newcastle, and 

 stated that, owing to wliat lie liad said on (lie subject in his Bridge- 

 water Treatise, the attention of a benevolent individual had been 

 called strongly to the subject. Tliat individual had succeeded in agglu- 

 tinating the small particles of coal into a firm compact mass, by a pro- 

 cess at once simple and che.ip ; and he believed lie had taken out a 

 patent for the metliod. There would be even an economy in using 

 tliis coal for many purposes, as it occupied onc-lliinl or one-fourth less 

 space, when packed in bo.Kes, than coal in its ordinary state. Speci- 

 mens were exliibitcd, wliich had a lirni compact appearance, and Dr, 

 Buckland stated that by the direction of government, trials hud been 

 made under the inspection of competent persons, and tliat success had 

 been complete, tlie combustion .being at least as [iroductive as that of 

 coal in its common state. 



Tiie experiments alluded to by Dr. Buckland, took place at Wool- 

 wich Dockyard in August last, under the superintendence of Messrs. 

 Kingston and Dinnen, two experienced engineers. The " prepared 

 fuel," as it was termed, is a composition of skreencd coal, river-mud and 

 tar, cast into blocks of nearly the size and sliape of common bricks. 

 One great advantage attending this form is that a much largei ([uantity, 

 weight for w-eight, may be stowed in the hold of a sea-going steam- 

 vessel, than of common-coal, and it is besides not liable to sliift its 

 position, like the latter. An Engine was worked with this prepared 

 fuel, and the consumption for 6 hours -tj minutes, was 7.50 lbs. The 

 same engine required 1165 lbs of north country coals to keep it going 

 for the same time, sliowing a saving of 41.3 ll)s in favour of the pre- 

 pared fuel. 



At another experiment, Welsh coal was used, and 104(3 lbs. were 

 consumed, while G801bs. of the prepared fuel ea,sily performed the 

 same work in the same time. It was also remarked that it re<iuired 

 about 50 lbs. less of the prepared fuel to get the steam up, than of 

 common coal, and that the steam was maintained by it at a more 

 even temperature, with very litlle feeding. 



It would seem, therefore, that there can no longer be any excuse 

 for a continuance of the wasteful practice of consuming the small 

 coal at the pit's mouth, to say nothing of that which is thrown aside 

 as useless in the pits themselves, and which never sees the light, 

 since by this invention, that which was before considered as mere 

 refuse, has acipiired a certain fixed value, and it is to be hoped that 

 this disgraceful practice is now completely put a stop to. 



Of the various substances which have been used as a substitute for 

 coal, where that arlicle is scarce, peat stands foremost in the list. 

 Our peat or turf beds are of great extent, especially in Ireland, and 

 contain a valuable reserve of fuel, applicable, when properly pre- 

 pared, to all the purposes of mining or manufactures. An important 

 feature in this fuel is, that, unlike coal, of which we know of no 

 instance of reproduction, turf or peat is continually being reproduced; 

 in fitct, in many parts of England the growth exceeds the con- 

 sumption, and consequently the turf beds in (hose places are on the 

 increase. 



Before being used, however, this fuel requires to be thoroughly 

 dried by exposure to the sun and air, during which process it con- 

 tracts considerably in its dimensions, and increases in density, so 

 much so as frequently to approach in hardness and appearance to 

 common coal. This, however, is only the case with bog peat, or 

 that which is saturated with water, but turf may be made so by 

 placing it at first in running water, and then suffering it to dry. 

 Artificial means have been used for compressing peat; and a machine 

 for this purpose, invented by a patriotic nobleman, Lord Willoughby 

 de Eresby, has been attended with complete success. The chief 

 advantage of this invention is the great saving of lime effected in 

 the conversion of the wet peat into a solid dry fuel. 



In France peat is extensively employed, both for dontestie pur- 

 poses and in the different metallurgie processes, after having been 

 converted into a charcoal by placing the peat to be carbonised in ,a 

 furnace, W'here it is ignited, and smothered up in the usual manner. 

 The iron made with this peat cliarcoal is described to be of a superior 

 quality to fiwedisli iron, being more malleable, and more easily 

 welded, owing, as it is supposed, to its comparative freedom from 

 sulphur, which is known to exist in large quantities in coal, and 

 which is not completely driven off by its conversion into coke. 



Very lately this peat-coke has been introduced into some of the 

 transatlantic steamboats, in combination with a certain proportion of 

 resin. This resin fuel is not used alone, but when about 2} cwt. of it 

 are mixed with 20 cwt. of coal, a much better combustion of the coal 

 takes place ; and the effect is described as being equal to that which 

 H ould be produced by '17 cwt. of coal. The mode of using it is by 

 throwing it in fronf of the fire with each charge of fresh coal. 



For many years the attention of scientific and practical men has 

 been directed to a method of using a valuable description of coal, 

 the use of which, owing to its peculiar properties, has been, until 

 lately, confined within a very narrow compass. 



Tliis fuel is the "anthracite," or stone-coal of South Wales. Its 

 chief properties consist in its freedom from sulphur or bitumen (being 

 composed wholly of carbon, mixed with a slight proportion of oxide 

 of iron, silex, and alumina), its great durability and steady heat, 

 burning clearly without smoke or llame. These valuable qualities 

 have long secured to antliraeite a very extensive use in the drying of 

 malt in many districts of England, where it is prefericd even to coke 

 or charcoal ; but it is only w ithin the last few years that it has 

 acquired the high rank of importance, in a national as well as a 

 domestic point of viev/, which it now' possesses. 



Dr. Aniott, for whose stoves it is exclusively recommended by him, 

 has declared that it is a blot in the police regulations of London, that 

 all great manufacturers are not confined to the exclusive use of this 

 description of coal, its non-emission of smoke and noxious vapours, 

 tending so much to preserve the purity of the atmosphere in the 

 metropolis. Since, so long back as the reign of Elizabeth, the burn- 

 ing of coal was prohibited m London during the sitting of Parliament, 

 le^t the health of the knights of the shire should suffer during their 

 abode in London (so careful was this queen of the health of her 

 subjects) ; it is surely incumbent on us in the present day, when from 

 the immense increase of the number of manufactories of every descrii)- 

 tion, the atmoqihere of London is never clear from smoke, to pass 

 some legislative enactments to remedy the growing evil. Experi- 

 ments have satisfactorily proved that anthracite gives out in combustion 

 30 per cent, more caloric than coke or bituminous coal. 



In Amerien, this valuable mineral has been long and extensively 

 emploxed, not only for manufacturing processes, but also in steam- 

 navigation, and tor locomotive engines ; also for the wanning of 

 apartments, and for every other domestic purpose : indeed, its cheap- 

 ness, the intensity and durability of the heat which it produces, 

 together with its perfect safely and freedom from smoke or smell, 

 give it a decided preference over every other species of fuel. 



Mines of this coal liave for some years been extensively worked in 

 Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and other states ; but it is in Pensyl- 

 vania that it is found in the greatest abundance : there (he anthracite 

 coal formation covers a tract of country many miles in length and 

 breadth, extending across the two entire counties of Luzerne and 

 Scliuylkill. Throughout this region it is obtained with very little 

 labour, being situated in hills from 300 to GOO feet high above the 

 level of thesiirrnimding rivers and canals, and consequently easy of 

 transportation io all parts of the Union, It exists in horizontalbeds, 

 from 1.5 to 40 feet in thickness and covered merely by a few feet of 

 gravelly loam. This coal has been found in several European 

 countries, and exists abundantly in Ireland ; but the great supply of 

 anthracite for this countiy is found in that part of the great coal 

 formation w hieh environs Swansea and Carmarthen Bays, and which 

 forms a part of tlie great coal-liidd of South Wales. Here it exists 

 in immense quantities. 



It is, however, but very recently that the attention of engineers has 

 been turned to the use of this fuel for locomotive engines: a short 

 time since, a tri'ril of it was made under the sanction of the directors 

 of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and the following is the 

 report of the talented engineer of that company : — 



In the first instance, the engine ran out with a load about G miles, and 

 the coal was found to do very good duty without any difficulty being expe- 

 rienced, either with the tubes, or in the getting up of the fires. The engine 

 brought back a load of coal waggons from the Helton Colliery, and acquired 

 a speed cf 21 miles an hour, thus loaded. Another trial was made in the 

 evening with the .same engine for (he whole distance to Miinchester, taking 

 S loaded waggons ; the journey was performed in 1 hour and 29 minutes. 



