12 PRELIMINARY REPORT ON COAL-TESTING PLANT, [bull. 261. 
plant. In addition to this, the delivery of a considerable quantity of 
operating and conveying- apparatus purchased from the Link Belt 
Machinery Company, of Chicago, was dela} r ed by a strike in the works 
of that company. As a result of these combined influences the plant 
was not put in operation until the first of September. 
Notwithstanding these delays, the committee feels that through the 
hearty and patriotic cooperation of a large number of manufacturers 
of apparatus and machinery, it was able to collect and install, within 
a notably short time, a testing plant that was well suited for such 
pioneer work. 
BUILDINGS. 
The buildings for the housing and protection of the machinery and 
of the operators in charge, with the exception of the chemical labora- 
tory, were built by contract and paid for out of the appropriation. 
These buildings were: 
(1) A boiler and engine house, in which were installed 2 Heine safety 
boilers, 1 Frost boiler, 1 Allis Corliss steam engine, 1 Westinghouse 
gas engine, 1 Bullock generator, 1 Westinghouse generator, an elec- 
tric switchboard, a gas-analyzing laboratory, and all the incidental 
apparatus pertaining to the operations of these portions of the plant. 
The contract price for the construction of this building was $2,700. 
It was built by the Barwick Construction Company, of St. Louis. 
(2) A storage and washery building, in which were installed 5 stor- 
age bins of 35 tons capacity each, 2 coal washers, 1 revolving screen, 
1 set of crushing rolls, 1 pulverizer, 1 Frost steam engine, 1 hopper 
scale, and the conveying machinery adapted for such a plant. This 
building, which had to be of extra strong material and construction, 
was completed at a contract cost of $4,550, the Settle-Price Construction 
Company, of St. Louis, being the contractor. 
(3) Two buildings f or briquetting machines and equipment, one built 
by the Baerveldt Construction Company, of St. Louis, for $1,050, and 
the other by the Barwick Construction Company, of St. Louis, for 
$693. 
In the letting of all contracts, bids were obtained from at least five 
responsible bidders. 
The chemical laboratory was installed in the Metal Pavilion, a short 
distance from the other buildings. 
EQUIPMENT. 
The plant, when put into operation in September, contained the fol- 
lowing testing equipment, all of which had been contributed free of 
charge: 
Two Heine water-tube boilers, 210 horsepower each, contributed by 
the Heine Safety Boiler Company, of New York and St. Louis. 
