PARK AND CEMETERY. 
301 
MODERN CREMATORY RETORT CONSTRUCTION 
FRONT OF RETORTS, SPRINGFIELD, MASS., CREMATORY. 
Whatever may be one’s opinion of the 
relative advantages of cremation and earth 
burial, the steady, although limited, demand 
for cremation makes it advisable for the 
modern cemetery manager to keep in touch 
with the progress of cremation and with 
the construction and operation of crema- 
tories. 
Undoubtedly the most important aspect 
in the recent advance of cremation has 
been the elimination of disagreeable phys- 
ical conditions accompanying the process of 
incineration. 
The chief opposition has in the past been 
due to the actual conditions accompanying 
a cremation, in crematories with the older 
type of retorts and heat obtaining equip- 
ment. Noisy operating mechanism for fur- 
nishing the necessary heat in the retorts; 
smoke and unburned gases escaping from 
the chimney during a cremation ; slow 
progress to completion, have all had their 
influence in retarding popular approval of 
the practice. 
The Jarvis-Koerting retort construction, 
used in the handsome new crematory in 
Forest Lawn Cemetery, Omaha, described 
elsewhere in this issue, has been designed 
with the idea of eliminating these objection- 
able accompaniments of cremation. By 
careful experimenting the manufacturers 
have perfected a retort in which complete 
combustion is obtained, and no smoke or 
unburned gases escape to be liberated from 
the chimney during cremation. 
For obtaining the necessary temperature 
in the retort the fuel oil was deemed best 
adapted. Coal, coke and wood, although 
still used in many crematories, are very un- 
satisfactory. Producer gas systems are 
used, but these require much mechanical 
equipment and high operating expense. Il- 
luminating gas and natural gas have been 
utilized, and, especially as to the manufac- 
tured gas, which is very low in calorific 
value, large burners must be installed and 
compressed air used with the gas. These 
burners are often noisy in operation and 
therefore objectionable. Considerable ex- 
perimenting has been done in an endeavor 
to use electricity for this purpose. Up to 
the present time only one electrically heat- 
ed crematory is in existence, and this has 
several unsatisfactory features. Several 
hours' time is required for cremating a 
body, and the cost for electricity is high. 
Fuel oil is believed to furnish a most 
satisfactory means for obtaining the re- 
quired temperature in a retort. Many oil 
plants have been installed in crematories, 
and operate with steam-jet burners or air- 
jet burners. Both these types of burners, 
however, have the disadvantage of making 
considerable noise, caused by the jet is- 
suing from the nozzles. Further, in the 
case of the steam-jet burner it is necessary 
to have a boiler plant, with all its incon- 
veniences, whereas with the air-jet burner 
an air compressor is required, with the dis- 
advantage of high operating cost, noise and 
repairs. 
The Koerting system overcomes these 
objectionable features by atomizing the oil 
by mechanical as well as physical action. 
The mechanical action of atomizing the oil 
is accomplished by forcing the oil through 
burners under high pressure, by means of a 
pump, while the physical action is accom- 
plished by heating the oil to the flash point, 
so that it vaporizes as it leaves the nozzle. 
This mechanical oil firing system makes for 
REAR OF RETORT, PHILADELPHIA CREMATORY. 
