coal trade bulletin - Clpdigital.org

34 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
which has leased to the Government at a nominal
rental for a long period of years a piece of land
in the center of the city. The bureau has laid
the necessary sidetrack, and mine operators in
the Michigan mining districts are endeavoring to
obtain funds for constructing a building to house
the car.
It is to be noted, in connection with the generous
action of the various railroad companies
mentioned in furnishing the facilities for per­
manent stations for these cars, that over 73 of
the principal railway lines of the country haul
the cars free of cost to the Government to and
from mine disasters and on tours of training.
A rescue motor truck has been purchased for
the Birmingham, Ala., station in order to enable
rescue men to reach promptly any mine in the
Birmingham district in case of disaster and save
miners who might perish were succor delayed
even a lew minutes, and in order to train at the
mines, when off shift, those miners who can not
afford to leave their work to visit the station at
Birmingham. This truck can carry to a mine
disaster 10 rescue nine, with the necessary artificial
breathing apparatus and first-aid supplies,
which weigh in the aggregate nearly a ton, and
are too heavy for quick and efficient transportation
by wagon, and will be able to reach in a
little over an hour any mine in the district. This
truck should materially increase the effectiveness
and usefulness of the Birmingham station.
During the year 12 demonstrations, including
tests of safety lamps in the lamp galleries and
demonstrations of breathing
APPARATUS AMI METHODS
of first aid were given at Pittsburgh. These
demonstrations were witnessed by about 1,500 persons,
including representatives of the international
Association of Testing Materials, the International
Congress of Applied Chemistry, the International
Mine Experiment Station Conference, the Mine-
Rescue and First-Aid Conference, the Coal Mining
Institute of America, State mine inspectors,
engineers of the Navy Department, mining in­
structors, students of niining engineering, mine
operators, mine foremen, and fire bosses.
Previous to the examination held in April, 1913,
for bituminous mine inspectors in Pennsylvania,
about 50 of the candidates—24 being inspectors
then in office—visited the station at various times
to witness demonstrations and see the various
types of safety lamps, especially those approved
by the department of mines of Pennsylvania.
Again, previous to the mine foreman and fire
bosses examination in the Seventeenth Pennsylvania
bituminous district, a majority of the can­
didates visited the station to witness demonstrations
and learn the methods for testing for gas.
Experiments were made at the Pittsburgh sta­
tion with differing designs of a hand-fired fur­
nace to determine the effect of the different features
of construction upon smoke production and
the furnace efficiency. In tests with Pittsburgh
coal it was shown to be possible by careful firing
to operate the boiler at approximately its rated
capacity without the smoke emission exceeding
that permitted by the smoke ordinances of most
cities. The manuscript for a technical paper de­
scribing some of these tests and showing the re­
sults obtained has been prepared for publication.
The work done by the bureau in relation to
the coking of coal included (1) studies of the
fundamental constituents of coal in the attempt
to determine why some coals coke and
OTHERS DO NOT,
and to ascertain how the coking qualities
of a coal may be improved, and (2) the study of
coke and the possible improvements to be effected
in the utilization of coke, especially in foundry-
practice. The constituents of coke were studied
at the Pittsburgh experiment station under the
supervision of the chief chemist. The experi­
ments dealing with the construction of coke ovens
and efficient utilization of coke, also conducted
at the experiment station, were under the supervision
of the chief mechanical engineer.
Experiments and tests to ascertain the temperature
and the gases at different points in a foundry
cupola, and thus determine the conditions governing
the efficient utilization of coke in foundry
practice, were completed and the results were
published in a bulletin.
An experimental by-product oven was designed
for carrying on much-needed experiments to throwlight
on unanswered questions in regard to coking
the coals of this country in ovens of the latest
type. The enormous annual waste of resources
that attends the making of coke in beehive ovens
has been repeatedly noted in previous reports of
this bureau and deserves thorough study.
A small by-product oven was designed and built
for the study of the precipitation of tar from
the gas and vapor from the oven by means of an
electrical method (Cottrell system). This method
seems to be of much promise to the by-product
industry as regards lessened cost and better separation
of the by-products.
NORFOLK AND WESTERN SHIPMENTS.
The coal and coke tonnage of the Norfolk &
Western Railway for February, 1914, was:
Coal Coke
Pocahontas S86.287 64,610
Tug River 204,074
Thacker 19S.228
Kenova 71 401
Total 1,359,990 64,610