SEWERAGE. 



477 



past three years in the United States, says : " The ' 

 Forristal furnace, which has been operated until re- j 

 cently in the city of Milwaukee, consists of a two- 

 story building. Teams drive into this building and , 

 dump their loads into a hopper, from whence it is | 

 carried by elevators into the drying-room above. 

 Here it is treated by steam-heat, and the liquid resi- 

 due is drained off. It is then shovelled through a 

 tubular shoot to the floor below, where it is depos- 1 

 ited in front of the furnace doors. Thence it is ' 

 shovelled into the fire, tind kept constantly stirred. 

 The fire itself is operated on the principle of a 

 blacksmith's forge, with the aid of a blast fan. The 

 latter, together with the refuse-elevators, is run by a 

 small steam-engine, which also furnishes steam for 

 the drying-room. The furnace is of brick, with 

 square form and arched top. It contains a single 

 fire, which is relighted every day. A single row of 

 doors on each side of the furnace serves for the ad- 

 mission of fuel, for the supply of refuse, and for 

 stirring or stoking the fire. Smoke and gases are 

 earned out directly into the chimney shaft. An en- 

 gineer and four laborers are required to run the 

 plant. " 



The " Rider garbage furnace " has been largely 

 nsed in Pittsburg for the destruction of spent tan- 

 bark and has performed this task, as also that of the 

 destruction of garbage, to the apparent satisfaction 

 of its owners and the public. Its construction re- 

 quires the primary investment of a large sum, but 

 its patentee claims for it great economy in the ex- 

 penditure of fuel, of which it is said to require an 

 amount equal to less than five per cent, of the ma- 

 terial cremated, this being used as an initial supply 

 to bring all parts of the furnace to a proper temper- 

 ature ; after which it is claimed that the garbage it- 

 self, if furnished in sufficient quantity, will provide : 

 all the fuel necessary to maintain its operations. 1 

 This fnrnace consists of a front chamber 121 by 6} ' 

 feet, which is surmounted by a dome containing 

 8 circular openings, 15 inches in diameter. In the 

 rear of this is another cliamber, 9i by 6j feet, floored 

 with a tile hearth and separated from the first cham- 

 ber by a bridge wall, 3 feet in thickness, and having 

 in its rear a second bridge wall over which the pro- 

 ducts of combustion pass to enter the chimney. The 

 second chamber is also surmounted by a dome in 

 which are 6 circular openings, of the same size as the 

 first. The products of complete combustion are said 

 to be innocuous, while the solid residue is valuable 

 as a fertilizer. 



The "Mann destructor" shares with the Engle 

 patent the beauty of simplicity of structure. As j 

 built in Montreal, Canada, where its operations are , 

 reported as being very satisfactory, its combustion 

 chamber is quadrilateral, with dimensions 16 by 9 

 feet, and 10 feet high. This is fitted with a grate of 

 approximately same dimensions, laid with a slight 

 incline upward in the direction of the chimney-flue. 

 At the lower end of this grate is its single fireplace. 

 On each side are three tiers of three doors each ; the 

 upper tiers are at the level of a staging floor upon j 

 which the loaded refuse-carts are driven, the refuse 

 being emptied directly into the fnrnace through ' 

 these doors, or placed upon the floor in front of them. 

 The second tier of openings is situated just above 

 the line of the grate, and these are used for stirring 

 the fire. The lowest tier is at the level of the ash- 

 pit and are for the removal of the ashes. The grate 

 bars are two inches apart. 



The " Engle crematory " has a brick chamber 33 

 feet long by 5 feet wide, and 7 feet high from grate to 

 dome ; at the end of the furnace grate nearest the 

 chimney, but not opening into it, is the primary fire- 

 place ; at the further end of the furnace grate, and 

 communicating with it, is a second grate four feet 

 below the level of the primary one. Here a sec- 



ondary fire burns, and with it the chimney flues are 

 connected by a superheated tiled roof conduit, run- 

 ning beneath the primary fire-grate for a length of 

 28 feet to the chimney shaft, 100 feet high. Tho 

 building in which the furnace is enclosed is three 

 stories in height ; at the level of the first floor is a 

 double row of doors, the upper of which is used for 

 feeding the primary fire and for stoking the burning 

 material, while the lower opens into the ash-pit and 

 permits the removal of ashes. On the same floor, at 

 the farther end of the furnace, are doors for supply- 

 ing the secondary fire and removing its ashes. Tho 

 second floor is on a level with the top of the brick 

 furnace, and upon this floor the bodies of dead ani- 

 mals are delivered through a large tubular shaft, by 

 means of pulley attachments, to the furnace below 

 near the primary tire. The third floor is on a level 

 with three tubular shafts, 15 feet in length, rising 

 from the dome of the furnace and into which tho 

 miscellaneous refuse-wagons immediately discharge 

 their contents from the upper floor upon which they 

 drive. The capacity of this furnace is very great, 

 and the expense of operating is said to be very mod- 

 erate. Three men operated it five days, consuming 

 33 horses, 59 dogs, 103 barrels of hotel and commis- 

 sion house refuse, 12 loads of market offal, and 70 

 loads of manure, weighing in all over 200 tons, at a 

 cost for labor and fuel of $38 25, or 19 cents per ton. 

 An analysis of the ash from this crematory demon- 

 strated that it was valuable as a fertilizer. 



The most recent and novel invention has lately 

 been erected in Buffalo, N. Y., and is called a " gar- 

 bage extractor." It is thus described by Dr. Ed- 

 ward Clark, health officer of that city, who says it is 

 a wonderful piece of mechanism : " The garbage is 

 first of all put into dryers, which consist of a large 

 iron cylinder within a cylinder ; the space between 

 the two cylinders is filled with superheated steam, 

 which drives over 60 per cent, by weight in tha 

 shape of moisture and organic gases from the gar- 

 bage. The internal cylinder contains a number of 

 revolving arms, filled also with superheated steam ; 

 these arms keep the garbage constantly stirred, so 

 that all moisture is driven off at a temperature of 

 over 300 F., and by means of a powerful suction fan 

 is forced into a column condenser from which it 

 emerges as a perfectly clear and odorless water. 

 After the moisture is all driven off, in the form of a 

 distillate, tho dryers are emptied of their contents, 

 and instead of resembling garbage the mass looks 

 like soft brown earth containing a certain quantity 

 of grease. It has very little odor. This mass is 

 then elevated into what is known as the ' extractor,' 

 where, by means of a chemical solution, all the greaso 

 is extracted and drawn off into barrels. This, of 

 course, has a commercial value. The residue is then 

 taken from the extractor and used as a fertilizer, 

 after removing all the pieces of bones, glass, iron, 

 rags, etc. The final product is perfectly dry, free 

 from oil and odor, and no more offensive than dry 

 earth, which it very closely resembles." 



It would seem, from the description of the various 

 kinds of "cremators," " destructors," and the "ex- 

 tractor," that the disposal of all manner of sewage is 

 in process of being solved without the use of drain 

 and sewer-pipes. House and hotel crematories are 

 also coming into use quite extensively in the larger 

 cities, and some families even depend upon their 

 kitchen range to destroy the greater portion of the 

 garbage and kitchen refuse, rather than rely upon tho 

 uncertain movements of the garbage collector, while 

 the dry earth or ashes and the pail-closet system of 

 disposing of excrement emphasizes the practicability 

 of dispensing with the dangerous water-closet and 

 sewer-pipe. 



Di-y-air Closets. Another system of disposing of 

 fecal and urinary deposits is rapidly coming into 



