Ogden Evening Standard | 1912-01-18 | Page 7 | Why Fuel Oil is Preferable

WHY FUEL OIL IS PREFERABLE. Chemistry has shown that coals from the same district may vary is greatly as cuts of meat from the same beef That coal varies greatly In Its proportion of ash, sulphur and heat units (the elements that affect the value of steam coal) Is shown by the exhaustive tests that many large users now require before purchase A neglect of this precaution often results disastrously. For Instance, according ac-cording to Business, a manufacturer who had taken advantage of an opportunity op-portunity to save a few dollars on tie first cost of his coal by buying somo that he had been assured came, from the same district as tho good coal he had formerly used, soon found himself In considerable trouble. The increase Is consumption to keep up the required amount of steam was so great that the added labor brought forth Immediately complaints from the engine-room. Firing had to be almost al-most incessant, and grates became clogged so rapidly that stoking was also close to a continuous operation, and all the while the ash pile was growing into a mountain. A chemist was called In finally to look into the condition. Ho did so, and his test provod that the coal con-nnd con-nnd the great ash heap, two-thirds ash Such lessons cost money, but' thoy have to be learned In some way, asd tho groat ash heap, two-thirds the size of tho original coal pile, made a striking object lesson The storage of coal Is also a considerable con-siderable Item Frequent handling will greatly increase its cost In one plant whore an oxpert was called in to advise on this subject ho discovered discov-ered that the company was spending 63 cents a ton on the transportation of coal from the time It reached the siding until it went Into the furnaces. In a German factory firemen trained to appreciate the scientific principles involved In the work produced a saving sav-ing over the work of the regular but untrained stokers of $8 50 a day, or ?f0 a week of 1-14 hours The untrained men had produced a thermal efficiency efficien-cy of 60.6 per cont, while the trained stokers on the same job brought it up to 72.7 per cent, an actual saving, If expressed In dollars and cents, of $S 50 per day In another Gorman plant where a similar test was made a saving three tlmfs the amount of that juflt quoted was produced. New York Sun.