332 



FUEL, ARTIFICIAL. 



union of the two bodies easy and effectual in 

 cooperation, and better to secure the common 

 object for which both Churches exist ; hav- 

 ing done this, to submit the same to the stand- 

 ing Revision Committee, for that committee to 

 revise and lay the result before Convocation 

 for final approval and adoption." An effort 

 was decided upon to adopt a prayer-book and 

 hymnal in common with the Reformed Episco- 

 pal Church. Permission was given for the use 

 in the mean time of the prayer-book of the 

 Prayer-book Revision Committee, coupled with 

 the reservation that it was " not to include the 

 Thirty -nine Articles and the ordination service, 

 nor the use of the Athanasian Creed." The 

 Convocation refused its sanction to any min- 

 ister becoming the pastor of any Church in 

 which the "Hymns, Ancient and Modern," are 

 used in public worship. Delegates were ap- 

 pointed to attend the General Council of the 

 Reformed Episcopal Church in May, 1875. 



A rearrangement of the diocesan districts 

 was made, and the number of such districts 

 was increased to seven. 



EUEL, ARTIFICIAL. It is so evident that 

 great advantages would be gained by coal-op- 

 erators, and by the public generally, from the 

 utilization of what is known as coal-dust, 

 slack, waste, or culm, that it is to be won- 

 dered that manufactories to transform this 

 worthless material into a marketable fuel are 

 not erected everywhere in the mining- regions. 

 The immense accumulations of coal-waste to 

 be found in those regions are really a nuisance 

 to the inhabitants and an eye-sore to the trav- 

 eling public. It is generally admitted (says 

 Mr. E. F. Loiseau, in a paper read before the 

 Franklin Institute) that, on an average, from 

 40 to 50 per cent, of the entire coal produc- 

 tion, both in America and in Europe, is con- 

 verted into dust or waste. The utilization of 

 this waste has been a problem which scientific 

 and practical minds have tried to solve for a 

 number of years. Partial results have been 

 obtained, by which, a certain amount of the 

 waste of coal-mines has been utilized; and 

 this only in Europe, where a gradual and con- 

 stant increase in the cost of the natural coal 

 has given to the manufacturers of artificial 

 fuel a fair chance of profit ; but it must be ad- 

 mitted that, compared with other branches of 

 industry, the progress made in the utilization 

 of coal-waste has been very slow. The enor- 

 mous increase in the cost of coal in England, 

 France, Germany, and Belgium, during the 

 last three years, has, however, brought again 

 before the public, and this time prominently, 

 the question of utilizing the waste created 

 everywhere that coal is handled. 



Bituminous-coal dust will coke well, and it 

 is much used for that purpose ; but, the de- 

 mand for coke not being in any way equal to 

 the supply of bituminous small coal, from 

 which it might be made, a great proportion 

 of the latter is left underground. A small 

 proportion of bituminous slack is used by 



blacksmiths, and even in peculiar gfates, for 

 engineering purposes, but the largest part 

 above-ground is thrown into rivers or piled 

 up around the mines. It is estimated that the 

 quantity of waste exceeds thirty million tons. 



Although several establishments have been 

 created in France, England, and Belgium, for 

 the purpose of converting coal-waste into mar- 

 ketable fuel, that branch of industry is at 

 present quite in its infancy. France has twen- 

 ty-eight and Belgium nine manufactories of 

 artificial fuel. In England the principal seat 

 of these manufactories is in South Wales. 



Coal-dust can be manufactured into solid 

 lumps in two different ways : by simple com- 

 pression without the addition of any cementing 

 material, or by agglomeration with cements. 



In England, Messrs. Bessemer, Rees, and 

 Buckwell; and in France, MM. Baroulier, Ev- 

 rard, and Loup, have patented different pro- 

 cesses for the compression of bituminous coal- 

 dust into solid lumps without cement. The 

 coal manufactured had a great heating power, 

 but it could not bear handling and transporta- 

 tion. 



Bessemer, heating previously the bitumi- 

 nous slack until it was brought to a plastic 

 state, forced it, by a piston, into a long tube, 

 whose diameter was gradually reduced, and 

 from which the compressed coal was forced 

 in a continuous cylindrical shape. By means 

 of a revolving knife, the fuel was cut in sec- 

 tions of any required length as fast as it was 

 forced out of the tube. This process required 

 very powerful machinery. Bessemer was 

 compelled to reduce gradually the length of 

 the tube, and to increase its thickness, as it 

 very often burst. The process required a 

 large amount of natural coal to heat the dust 

 to a pasty mass, and, while being heated, it 

 eliminated from the coal the greatest part of 

 its volatile constituents. The application of 

 Bessemer's process has long ago been aban- 

 doned. 



Buckwell and Evrard compressed the bitu- 

 minous waste into moulds without heating it 

 previously. Although a powerful pressure 

 was applied to the fuel, the product could not 

 bear handling. 



Baroulier used circular iron moulds of a cer- 

 tain depth, open on top and at the bottom. 

 These moulds were filled with coal-dust, and 

 this dust was .compressed by hydraulic press- 

 ure ; more coal was then added, this again 

 compressed, and so on, until the moulds were 

 completely filled. The process, although a 

 real improvement on Bessemer's, had some of 

 its defects, and the manufactured fuel could 

 not be sold in competition with the natural 

 coal. 



These are the only serious attempts which 

 have been made to convert bituminous coal- 

 . dust into solid fuel without cement. Rees 

 took out an English patent for a process simi- 

 lar to Baroulier's. 



Among the cements which have been used 



