1068 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



about 40 per cent of the deposits, or 

 about 300,000,000 tons additional, was 

 wasted, and a good proportion of this is 

 represented by coal dust — culm, or slack, 

 as it is called. Most of it is waste ; it 

 is either dumped back into the mines as 

 ''filling," or it is burned to get rid of it. 

 The amount of such waste since coal- 

 mining began in the United States can be 

 stated only in billions of tons. And the 

 heating value of this coal dust is even 

 greater than that of the marketed coal. 



BRIQUETTING AN IMPORTANT KUROPE^AN 

 INDUSTRY 



In Europe no such destruction occurs. 

 The coal dust is pressed up into briquets, 

 which make a higher grade fuel than the 

 run-of-mine coal. Germany manufac- 

 tures 17,000,000 or 18,000,000 tons a 

 year of briquets from coal waste — the 

 highest grade fuel she produces. In the 

 United States briquets could be made at 

 the coal-dust piles, from either hard or 

 soft coal, superior to any lump coal, and 

 sold at the mines at a cost of about $1.25 

 a ton. Yet we pay for our household 

 coal, not so good, from $5 to $8 a ton. 

 Of course the transportation item, either 

 in coal or briquets, is always the greatest 

 cost factor. 



But some of us will yet see the coal 

 briquet in common use in this country. 

 It has already gained a foothold, and, as 

 Edward W. Parker, of the Mineral Re- 

 sources Division of the Geological Sur- 

 vey, says, it is only a matter of time and 

 education when the briquet will come 

 into general use. There is, he remarks, 

 a plethora of raw material which can be 

 made into briquets, and in the utilization 

 of which one of the greatest steps in the 

 application of conservation principles 

 can be made. In "Mineral Resources" 

 for 1908, Mr Parker made the optimistic 

 statement that the preliminary period of 

 failure and discouragement in the manu- 

 facture and use of briquet fuel had ap- 

 parently passed, and that the industry 

 would soon find itself on a substantial 

 footing. In his last report he notes a 

 marked increase — 55 per cent — in the 

 annual production, although the industry 

 is still in its infancy. 



However, the output for 1909 was 

 139,661 tons, valued at $452,697. As 

 many of these briquets were manufac- 

 tured practically at the point of con- 

 sumption, this value represents in large 

 measure transportation charges. When 

 comparisons are drawn between the ex- 

 tensive development of the briquetting- 

 industry in Europe and the small begin- 

 nings in this country, it must be kept in 

 mind that in foreign countries the raw 

 fuel is relatively high-priced. In Ger- 

 many, where the briq netting industry has 

 been most highly developed, raw coal is 

 not only more expensive, but also of 

 lower grade than the coal of the United 

 States. Mr Parker gives three principal 

 reasons for the holding back of our bri- 

 q netting industry : first, our large supply 

 of cheap fuel ; second, the higher cost of 

 our labor, and third, attempts to exploit 

 secret processes for briquet - making, 

 under which extraordinary claims are 

 made, but which have not proved suc- 

 cessful in commercial operation. 



The greatest cost of the briquet lies 

 in the binder which must be used to 

 cement the coal dust together. The cost 

 of manufacture should be about 40 cents 

 a ton, but the cost of adequate binding 

 material runs as high and higher than 

 75 cents for a ton of briquets produced. 

 With asphaltum residuum of the heavier 

 petroleums, water-gas tar pitch and ordi- 

 nary coal-tar pitch, all excellent binders, 

 available for briquet manufacture, there 

 is no reason for secrecy with regard to 

 the constituency of patented binders. 



brioue:ts make ideal, l^UElv 



Briquets make splendid fuel, but the 

 people know little of them. The better 

 educated the public becomes in the use 

 of briquetted fuel the more rapidly will 

 the industry develop, the most pro- 

 nounced retarding element having been 

 the tendency to exploit secret methods 

 of questionable merit instead of progress- 

 ing along conservative lines in paths laid 

 out by the experience of European coun- 

 tries. The history of the briquet indus- 

 try in Europe reveals the fact that every 

 conceivable substance having any claim 

 as a bond has been tried. After practical 



