ON THE ANTHRACITE COAL AND COAL-FIELD OF SOUTH TVALE.?. 229 



ship Elephant, belonging to Messrs. Penn & Son. Into the fall details 

 time -will not permit me to enter— they are given in a paper read by Mr. 

 Flannery before the Society of Naval Architects, and fully reported in 

 ' Engineering,' on April 16, 1880. I may say, however, that they fully 

 confirm the trials made at Swansea. Mr.' Flannery concluded his paper 

 in the following words : ' It would be superfluous to say that this coal, 

 anthracite, should have very general adoption in Her Majesty's N"avy, and 

 on board yachts, on account of its cleanliness, economy, non-explosive 

 character, absolute smokelessness and strength under transportation, 

 along with the absence of deterioration in the tropics.' 



For stationary engines, where there is ample gi-ate-surface, and great 

 rapidity of evaporation is not needed, stone coal requires but a good natural 

 draught and proper stoking. 



I need hardly say that it is used for the engines at all the anthracite 

 collieries, and for thirty years by Messrs. Hall & Son, at their powder 

 mills at Faversham. These gentlemen have been good enough to reply 

 to inquiries I made of them in view of this paper, as follows : — 



' We took to anthracite primarily on account of the absence of smoke 

 and sparks, and it always satisfies us in this respect. 



' Fo alteration in our furnaces was needed. Forty pounds of steam is 

 our average, although some of our boilers work up to fifty pounds. 



' We use no artificial draught. The distance between the fire-bars is, 

 in the larger furnaces one inch, and in the smaller fths ; and we do not 

 notice that they burn out faster. If the nominal price of North Country 

 and Welsh coal is the same, we should say the latter is 25 % the cheaper 

 of the two.' 



Messrs. Pigou & Wilks have also used the same fuel at their Dartford 

 powder mills, for the past five or six years, and I am favoured with 

 information of a similar nature to the foregoing, in respect of their expe- 

 rience of it. 



I had intended alluding to the use of anthracite in the manufacture of 

 iron ; but I fear my paper has already exceeded the limits to which I am 

 entitled, and the subject is too large and interesting to be dismissed in a 

 few brief sentences. I can but hope that I have said enough generally 

 with respect to this fuel, to show the great desirability of increased 

 attention being paid to it. Quoting the words of Mv. Hiissey Vivian — 

 ' We possess the finest anthracite in the world, and it lies almost 

 untouched.' 



Its advantages as a steam-raising fuel are undeniable, and not less so 

 are those it presents for domestic and general purposes, where, as in 

 London and other great cities, the absence of smoke would so greatly 

 minister to the health and happiness of the inhabitants. I believe there 

 is here a field worthy of the attention of scientific men, whose duty and 

 privilege it is to render the products of the earth available for the benefit 

 of mankind. 



