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Show SMOKELESS COALPLANT How the Government Has Set a Good Example. Washington, Jan. 1 -Setting the ood example of operating its own power plant smokelessly in a city th it is attempting to combat the nuisance, the United States bureau of mines is out with the statement that the smoke of cities can be largely reduced reduc-ed and perhaps entirely prevented. The power plan is connected with the experiment Btation of the bureau a Pittsburg, Pa., and it has been conducted con-ducted without objectionable smoke for more than two years. The bureau's report, made public today, destroys the popular notion that smoke may be lessened by the use ot a socnlled 'smoke consumer," some special device which. If placed in the stack or in the smoke passages, pas-sages, will In some way consume he smoke Samuel R Flagg, engineer in Charge of the smoke investigations, declares that although such a method mav not be an impossibility, it is im practical. Smoke, he says, is caused i,v the lames from the coal coming Into contact with the cool surfaces of a boiler. As an illustration, place , i iucer in the flame ol a candle, and the bottom of the saucer will be cov ered with smoke. Hold the saucer just above the flame and there will be no smoke Coal can be burned smoke-lessly. smoke-lessly. Engineer Flagg insists, if you give the coal the proper c hance to ! burn That is all there is to It. The bureau of mines is charged with conducting tests to increase the efficiency with which the fuels purchased pur-chased bj the government are used, and Incidentally It has found that fed eral buildings throughout the countiy are not only wasting coal but arc adding to the smoke nuisance of the j cities. This led to taking up an In-. In-. -ligation ot this troublesome prob- It was discovered by Engineer Flagg that no two cities in the coun try were attacking the problem from the same angle, and he soon came to the conclusion that manv of them were wrong and were wasting their etiotis. He found drastic ordinances In some municipalities thai could onlj .serve to make th. clmens fight them, he found in otheV mties laws that could not possibly be enforced As a result of his investigation, he declares that the most progress can be made in cities by the authorities insisting that In all new buildinns furnaces shall be Installed that are absolutely smokeless. In his report he quotes a number of the different smoke ordinances, ordi-nances, explains where they are good and bad. and builds up n series of ordinances or-dinances that might prove of value to municipalities of various sizes Mr. Flagg says: It is quite certain cer-tain that the greatest advances in smoke abatement In our cities have come in the past and must come in the future, through the organized effort ef-fort of the city fmoke Inspection d1-! d1-! partmeuts. supplemented by the a-i a-i tive co operation of citizens A strong Dublb sentiment in fHvor of smoke abatement is almost an absolute ae cesslty, if satisfactory results are to be accomplished. The lime may come when public sentiment againSl per mitting the escape of dense smoke will be so strong that every plant owner or operator will feel obliged to prevent su b escape oT smoke, regard-I less of the existence of an ordinance or of his own personal feeling or inclinations This condition does not prevail today in any city in the United Uni-ted States "Under present conditions it is too often the case that buildings are so designed ;is to leave Insufficient room for the proper equipment Boilers are so placed that they cannot be properly cleaned or operated; hence they are forced, or additional capacity is crowded In ami smoke-producing conditions resull 11 Is therefore mi portanl that the situation of the boil er plant and the providing of adequate ade-quate space for it should receive consideration con-sideration no less than the proper de-! de-! sign of furnaces Obviously, to nc-comnllsb nc-comnllsb these ends, insistent and I systematic as well as Scientifically correct methods must be adopted. In other words, organization is neces-sary, neces-sary, and the ordinance should spec ify i-fy not only how the work is to be organised, but also the necessary (qualifications of those who are to be nnnointed to carrv II on Satisfactory progress vill seldom be mrub unless the organization Is such that certain officials or employes give their entire attention to the work of smoke abate men! and are held responsible for the results produced If the installation of improperly designed furnaces Is prevented, the policing duties of the inspectors will eventually be reduced to :t minimum. The advisability o!" making this sort of provision Is clear Ij shown In nearly any one of the cit ies where this protective work is not done, by the fact that some of the newest plants have been so constructed con-structed that dense smoke Is emitteci a large part of the time, even though the firing may be done with a fair degree de-gree of care and intelligence The smoke ordinem e should therefore re quire that plans an) specifications 1 1 1 , eonstruetion work on turnaces be submitted to the .smoke inspector and be approved by him before work In started. If this protective feature is to be Included, tbelsmoke inspector must be an engineer, Qualified by technical training and expeiien e lor the duties of the offifce, and the ordinance ordi-nance should specll'v 'thai ih. se quail fications are required "The most important conclusion re, chod is that smote abatement, by brdinance cannot hop to succeed jn-(less jn-(less siftiported by UbliC sentlmev.t Luc. that a smoke ordinance Should I Ihok to future prevention rather than in immediate prohibitum. In other BBBBsM words, strict control of furnace construction con-struction offers much greater hope for smoke abatement than desultory imposition of severe penalties on the escape of 'dense' or 'black' smoke The report just issued by the bureau bu-reau Is entitled, "Smoke Abatement and City Ordinances." Copies may be had by those interested writing to the director of the bureau of mines, W ashington, D. C. |