March 15, 191 7] 



NATURE 



47 



are wide, which consideration presumably justifies 

 a list of members somewhat disconcerting- in its 

 length. 



The committee has issued a first report, and if 

 it relates intention rather than achievement, that 

 is only natural at a time when so many of the 

 committee must be very fully occupied with urgent 

 national duties. The field has been mapped out, 

 however, and a number of sub-committees ap- 

 pointed to give special attention to sectional work. 



Having regard (says the report) to the mag- 

 nitude of its work, and the fact that the coal question 

 is one upon which almost every branch of manufac 

 turing and transport industry is dependent, the original 

 committee of thirteen members appointed by the Asso- 

 ciation in .October, 1915, decided to exercise somewhat 

 freely its power of co-option so as to make a general 

 committee sufficiently large and representative of all 

 the important interests involved. 



The chemical and statistical sub-committee, 

 with Dr. J. T, Dunn as chairman, is proposing 

 to occupy itself with the chemical investigation of 

 coal, the survey of the chemical character of the 

 principal British coal seams, and an inquiry into 

 the amount of wastage due to coal which for one 

 reason or another is at present left behind in the 

 pits. Another sub-committee, with Mr, T. Y. 

 Greener as chairman, is to deal entirely with car- 

 bonisation. A return is to* be prepared which, 

 when completed, 



will enable the committee to arrive at an approxi- 

 mate estimate of the margins of possible economies in 

 the shape of improved utilisation of the coal carbon- 

 ised, which can now be effected in the coking industry, 

 and the directions in which further progress is likely 

 to be made. A memorandum is also in course of pre- 

 paration describing the more important developments 

 of the by-product coking industry, from its inception 

 until the present day. 



"The committee would welcome the offer of 

 proper facilities to enable them to investigate the 

 •question of low-temperature carbonisation." 



Dr. J. E. Stead is chairman of the sub-com- 

 mittee for metallurgical, ceramic, and refractory 

 materials, which is concerning itself mainly with 

 ascertaining actual fuel consumptions in these in- 

 dustries, and 



will endeavour to draw up a statement as to the best 

 lay-out and arrangement of a combined by-product 

 coking, iron -smelting, and steel-making plant, from 

 the point of view of utilising as completely as possible 

 surplus gases and waste heat, and thus realising the 

 ■maximum fuel economv in the heavy steel industry. 



A sub-committee on power and steam-raising, 

 ' with Mr. C. H. Merz as chairman, is to inves- 

 tigate the economies in fuel which would result 

 from the use of improved methods. Regarding 

 the practice of to-day, * 



in view of the impossibility of obtaining accurate re- 

 turns of fuel consumption per horse-power-hour from 

 the whole of the pK>wer users in this country,^ it has 

 been decided to investigate the matter by asking for 

 detailed returns from typical factories in various trades 

 and in different districts throughout the country, 

 selected by members of the sub-committee who have 

 special knowledge of particular trades. Special memo- 

 randa are in course of preparation on questions of 

 organisation of power production for industrial and • 



XO. 2472, VOL. 99] 



transport purposes, the use of large turbine- and gas- 

 en0n€s, and other important aspects of the power 

 question. 



Mr. E. D. Simon, secretary of the committee, is 

 also acting as chairman of the domestic fuel sub- 

 committee, which feels 



that it will be wise to recognise at the outset that 

 there is probably no single solution of the domestic 

 heating problem which is likely to be universally 

 adopted within any measurable period of time; and 

 that, therefore, it should preferably concentrate its 

 efforts upon questions of more immediate practical 

 importance. 



It proposes, therefore, to examine the possi- 

 bilities of existing systems and methods, and also 

 the relative efficiencies of coal-fired, gas-fired, and 

 electrical heaters. 



Arising out of the present extensive use of solid fuel 

 in domestic fires, the sub-committee will also consider 

 the important question of the prospects of substituting 

 for raw coal some form of carbonised fuel (semi-coke 

 or coke). There can be no doubt but that if such a 

 substitution could be effected, without either increasing 

 the domestic coal bill or involving some other dis- 

 advantage, not only would there be a great addition 

 to the amount of valuable by-products annually ob- 

 tained from coal consumed in the Kingdom, but also 

 the smoke nuisance in our large centres of population 

 would be materially reduced. 



The scheme of work which the committee and 

 its five sub-committees set out is frankly ambitious 

 and highly comprehensive, and although this first 

 report would be more accurately described as a 

 prospectus, that peculiarity will presumably not 

 attach to future issues. 



A memorandum on a special aspect of the fuel 

 question has been issued to the executive com- 

 mittee of the Manchester Steam Users' Association 

 by Mr. C. E. Stromeyer, their chief engineer; it 

 is concerned primarily with steam-raising. The 

 author thinks that "our manufacturers have been 

 spoiled by the ease with which they could obtain 

 the very best coal in the world," and deplores 

 "our almost universal practice of over-working 

 boilers." On the Continent, he points out, first- 

 class coal cannot be obtained, " but there the works 

 provide themselves with ample boiler power, and, 

 on the whole, they obtain a higher efficiency than 

 we can hope for with our superior coal but hard- 

 worked boilers." To use coke and conser\'e by- 

 products would necessitate the same reform. 

 " Steam users naturally do not like coke, partly on 

 account of its relatively high price, and partly 

 because it would require larger boilers than the 

 present ones in which to burn it with as good 

 effect as the best coal." But Mr. Stromeyer does 

 not expect too much from this source; he con- 

 siders a number of working results with steam- 

 engines of various types, and concludes : — 



The fuel economy question may therefore be briefly 

 summarised by saying that hardly any improvement is 

 likelv to be effected in the. economic working of boiler?. 

 for, as is well known, there is only a margin of about 

 20 to 25 per cent, to play with. CcMisiderable pecu- 

 niary saving might often be effected by increasing 

 the number of boilers, so as to be able to bum a poor 

 and relatively cheap fuel if this can be got. Our chief 

 h<:^)es unll therefore have to be centred on engine im- 



