10 CONSERVATION THROUGH ENGINEERING. 



COAL AND COAL. 



The Government should sample and certify coal. We do this as 

 to \wheat and meat; it is just as necessary to avoid injustice in the 

 case of coal, and it is thoroughly practicable. The public should 

 know the kind of coal it is bu} T ing, because it should buy the coal 

 > it needs. There need be no prohibition against the mining or sell- 

 1-^ ing of any coal, 1 but coal should sell in terms of its capacity to de- 

 liver heat. Some coal that is only a pint bottle is selling as a quart 

 bottle. And the quart is hurt by the competition of the pint. A bill 

 to effect such fuel inspection has been drafted and will be presented to 

 Congress. It is not a bill commanding anything, but rather gives to 

 those who are willing an opportunity to have their product inspected 

 and attested and thus acquire merit in the eye of the world as against 

 those who are not willing to subject their coal to the official test tube. 

 Coal is coal in the sense of the classic traffic classification. Coal is, 

 however, not always coal, nor is it altogether coal when put to the 

 pragmatic test of the furnace. If such a bilkwerS passed it would 

 promote the interests of those who schedule ^heir price upon the 

 merit of their goods and make against the hauling of slate and dirt, 

 its storage and handling under an assumed name. The plan is not 

 to punish the malefactor who attempts to impose upon the public a 

 slender number of thermal units as a ton of "coal, but rather to give 

 to ever man an opportunity to advertise the number of such units 



1 In every trainload of coal hauled from the mines to our coal bins, 1 carload out of 

 every 5 is going nowhere. In a train of 40 cars, the last 8 are dead load that might 

 better have been left in the bowels of the earth. No less an authority than Martin A. 

 Rooney states : " Every fifth shovel full of coal that the average fireman throws into 

 his furnace serves no more useful purpose than to decorate the atmosphere with a long 

 black stream of precious soot. At best one-fifth of all our coal is wasted." 



The first requisite toward effecting fuel economy is to secure cooperation between 

 owners, managers, and the men who fire the coal. Mechanical devices to increase effi- 

 ciency in the use of coal can not produce satisfactory results unless the operators who 

 handle them are impressed with the importance of their duties. 



.It is not essential for the plant manager to be a fuel expert, but he should be familiar 

 with the instruments that give a check on the daily operations. It is a mistake not to 

 provide proper instruments, for they guide the firemen and show the management what 

 has taken place daily. Instruments provided for the boiler room manifest the interest 

 taken by the management toward conserving fuel. It indicates cooperation and encour- 

 ages the firemen to work harder to increase the efficiency. 



A second factor effecting fuel economy is the selection of fuel for the particular plant. 

 It is not expected of a plant manager that he should be thoroughly informed as to the 

 character of all fuels; but he can enlist the services of a man who is thoroughly trained 

 In this field. The Bureau of Mines has compiled valuable information on the character 

 and analyses of coal from almost every field in the United States. Information concern- 

 Ing the character and chemical constituents of the coal, together with knowledge pertain- 

 ing to the equipment of the plant, makes it possible to select a fuel adapted to the 

 equipment, thereby insuring better combustion. Hundreds of boiler plants operate at no 

 greater than 60 per cent efficiency, and it would be a comparatively simple matter to 

 bring them up to 70 per cent efficiency. The saving in tonnage would be more than the 

 combined yearly coal-carrying capacity of the Baltimore & Ohio and the Southern Railway 

 systems. The direct saving to our industries at $5 per ton would amount to $200,000,000 

 worth of coal per year. 



