Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/552

 536

��Popular Science Monthly

���At left: Charging coal in a modern gas plant. Right: Tar-separating machinery. Huge plants like these will increase in number, supplanting our present antiquated fuel users

��of saving coal is brought out by figures recently compiled by the Chicago, Mil- waukee, and St. Paul railway. This line has 440 miles of railroad electrified be- tween Harlowton, Montana, and Avery, Idaho. Hydro-electric powerplants driv- en by mountain streams furnish the pow- er. In one year's operation startling results have been achieved. These we make clear in the figures on page 533. If all coal saved had had to be hauled up through St. Paul from Illinois and Eastern sources, think what a tremendous addi- tional burden it would have been on the railroads. Similar savings can be effected on all roads. After the war the country will probably make immense strides in this direction.

Says E. W. Rice, Jr., president of the American Institute of Electrical Engi- neers:

"Tlic walorfalls cfjiislitiilc potential wi-allli which can only Ik; truly c-oiiscrvcd hy dovi-lopnicnt and use — millions of horst'iiowcr are running to waste every day, which, once harnessed for the henctil of inankini)cril.\-.

"Il is really terrifyin;^ to realize ilia! -f) jxt cent of the cnornions amount of coal which we are di^^in^ from the earth each year is liurMe our ruilroa <'(|uivalent to three limes that amount of |»ower in the motors of an ele<'tri<- locomotive, c\<'n including; all tlu; los.ses of j<eneration and Iransmi.ssion from the Hourco of power lo the locomotive."

��Future of Our Coal Situation

From all indications, the trend lies in the direction of the development of our waterpowers, the use of powdered coal, and the establishment of gas and coke plants. These last will take raw coal, convert it into coke, gas, and by- products. All will be efficiently used. This means a great deal for the dyestufifs industry, farming, and all branches. Says William Hamlin Childs, an author- ity on the by-products industries:

"A four foot vein of coal will yield enough sulphate of ammonia to fertilize the land lying above it for 1,000 years."

This, he means, is in addition to all the coke the coal will yield, and other prod- ucts. Truly our present-day boilers and furnaces are inefficient in getting the good out of coal. When men get to using our three to five trillion tons of coal in the new way, what won't it do for the country?

It may be worth noting in conclusion that all England is about to make an e.x- tensive experiment in fuel conservation. As far as possible all railroads are to be electrified, factories operated from cen- tral stations, isolated plants done away with, and other marked changes brought about. Electric powerplants will be lo- cated at mines, doing away at a single stroke with railroad transportation prob- lems. London smoke and fogs will be cut down.

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