1st Session.

No. 460.

STATEMENT OF INVESTIGATIONS AND TESTS OF FUELS AND STRUCTURAL MATERIALS OF UNITED STATES, SHOWING BEARING ON CONSERVATION OF MINERAL RESOURCES.

LETTER

FROM

THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR,

TRANSMITTING,

BY DIRECTION OF THE PRESIDENT, A STATEMENT OF THE PURPOSES AND RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATIONS AND TESTS OF THE FUELS AND STRUCTURAL MATERIALS OF THE UNITED STATES, SHOWING THE BEARING OF THESE INVESTIGATIONS ON THE CONSERVATION OF THE MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY.

MAY 4, 1908.-Referred to the Committee on the Geological Survey and ordered to be printed.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
Washington, May 2, 1908.

SIR: By direction of the President, I have the honor to transmit herewith to the Senate a statement of the purposes and results of the investigations and tests of the fuels and structural materials of the United States, showing the bearing of these investigations on the conservation of the mineral resources of the country.

Very respectfully,

JAMES RUDOLPH GARFIELD,

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE.

Secretary.

Statement of the purposes and results of the investigations into, and tests of the fuels and structural materials of the United States, showing the bearing of these investigations on the conservation of the mineral resources of the country, transmitted in accordance with the Senate resolution of April 25.

GENERAL STATEMENT.

Attention has been frequently called to the profligate manner in which the people of the United States have used, and are continuing to use, the resources with which nature has so richly endowed them.

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For several years past the United States Geological Survey has been studying the causes of and means to prevent unnecessary waste, with particular reference to fuels and structural materials, in the hope that the results of these investigations would lead to the conservation and prolongation of the life of these natural resources.

The statistics collected by the United States Geological Survey show that up to the close of 1907 this country has consumed about 7,000,000,000 tons of coal, and it is estimated that for every ton of coal mined at least a half ton has been wasted, either by being left in the ground or thrown upon the dump as of too low a grade for commercial use. The production to the close of 1907 represents, therefore, an exhaustion of something over 10,000,000,000 tons of coal.

In 1907 the total coal production was, approximately, 470,000,000 tons, and in the last ten years the quantity produced has nearly equalled the total tonnage prior to the beginning of that decade. It has been estimated that if the production continues to increase at the same rate as has obtained during the last fifty years, the greater part of the easily accessible coal supplies will be exhausted before the end of the next century. The publications of the Geological Survey have called public attention to what has been common knowledge among those interested that the methods of mining and of utilizing our fuels in common practice have been exceedingly wasteful, and that at least one-half of the waste now entailed is preventable.

The investigations which are being conducted by the Geological Survey at the present time have been directed toward the decrease of the great waste, not only in the mining but also in the utilization of our fuel supplies. It is well known that the waste encountered in the mining of coal falls into insignificance when considered with the loss in utilization. In the ordinary manufacturing plant but from 5 to 10 per cent of the energy of the coal becomes effective for actual work, while in locomotive use only from 3 to 5 per cent of the fuel energy is made available. It has been computed that only one-seventh of 1 per cent of the energy in the coal is represented in the light which is given out by an electric lamp.

In the manufacture of coke by the beehive practice, which is customary in the United States, valuable by-products of gas, tar, and ammonia, amounting to many millions of dollars annually, are wasted.

Of the 36,400,000 tons of coke produced in the United States in 1906, only 4,558,000 tons, or 12 per cent, were made in by-product recovery ovens.

As part of the investigation into the structural materials of the country, statistics have been collected which show that during 1906 losses by fire reached a total of $518,611,800, or more than $6 per capita. This was, of course, an unusual year, the San Francisco fire alone having cost $350,000,000. The total loss by fire during that year was more than the value of the wheat crop, which amounted to $490,332,760, and approached the value of the cotton crop, $641,720,435.

The average yearly fire loss from 1897 to 1906, inclusive, was $2.70 per capita, while in six of the leading European countries the average per capita fire loss in 1906 was only 33 cents. The fire losses in the United States during the last ten years, according to the National Board of Fire Underwriters, have aggregated $1,946,705,620, and

had the United States shown the same per capita fire loss as the European countries, 90 per cent of this would have been saved.

In addition to the property loss there was, according to the census statistics for the year 1900, a total of 6,772 deaths which resulted from burns and scalds in the United States.

There is every reason to believe that this large loss of life and property could have been largely prevented by the proper construction of dwellings, factories, and office buildings. Practically fireproof construction, particularly in the cities, costs but little in excess of the more combustible style of buildings and is economical in the end. There is urgent need for accurate data concerning the strength and fire-resisting and other properties of building materials, and also for a revision of the system of construction, and it has been the aim of the investigation of structural materials to provide this information. The study of structural materials by the Technologic Branch is conducted primarily in behalf of the United States Government, which owns buildings valued at more than $1,000,000,000 and which is expending $30,000,000 annually for new buildings. But it is also of great value to the people, who are expending each year for building and construction work approximately $1,000,000,000. The Government does not insure against loss by fire, but endeavors to provide against such loss by making its buildings fireproof. The study of structural materials is costing the Government only a small fraction of what would be paid to insurance companies in premiums.

FUEL INVESTIGATIONS.

PURPOSES OF THE FUEL INVESTIGATIONS.

The purposes of the investigation of fuels by the Government are: To lessen the waste of the nation's fuel supply.

The testing of the fuels used by the United States Government, and how th se fuels can be used most efficiently.

Determining the quality, properties, and most efficient methods of utilizing the els belonging to the United States, occupying some 50,000,000 acres.

The taking of stock of existing fuel deposits in the United States to determine their value and availability for use under varying con

ditions.

To ascertain the extent and causes of waste in the mining and preparing of fuels for market with a view to lessening this waste.

To determine how coals may be used with greater efficiency, so that instead of only 5 to 10 per cent of the heat units being converted into work, this percentage may be largely increased.

To indicate means whereby low-grade fuels-bony coal, culm, slack, washery refuse, lignite, and peat-heretofore almost unused, might be made of commercial value.

The abatement of the smoke (with increased efficiency) from public buildings, locomotives, ships, etc.

The storage of coal at naval stations, etc., without danger of spontaneous combustion or waste.

The analyzing and testing of coals, using carefully collected samples typical of the various coal fields in the United States, with a view to assembling of data which will serve as a basis of information needed both for the purposes of the Government and those of the general public.

SOME RESULTS OF THE FUEL INVESTIGATIONS.

The full value of such investigations as have been described above can not be realized until many years after their inauguration; but even within the three years this work has been under way certain investigations have already led to important results, some of which may be briefly mentioned as follows:

During the past year a plan was perfected by the Government for the purchase of its coal on specifications. At the present time forty departmental buildings in Washington, and a number of public buildings throughout the country, are buying their fuel supplies on these specifications, the prime element in which fixes the amount of ash and moisture. Premiums are paid for any decrease in the ash content to 2 per cent below the standard, and corresponding penalties are fixed for any increase in ash above the standard. The chemical and calorific determinations of coals purchased for the use of the Government have resulted in the delivery of a better grade of fuel without corresponding increase in cost, and have resulted in consequent saving to the Government. The Government, under this system of purchasing coal under specifications and testing, has been getting more nearly what it pays for, and paying for what it gets. These investigations, by suggesting changes in equipment and methods, are also indicating the practicability of the Government purchasing cheaper fuels, such as bituminous coal and the smaller sizes of pea, buckwheat, etc., instead of the more expensive sizes of anthracite, with a corresponding saving in price. The fuel bill of the Government now aggregates about $10,000,000 yearly, the saving on which, through securing coal containing less ash, alone amounts to about $200,000.

The making and assembling of chemical analyses and calorific determinations of carefully selected samples of coal from nearly 1,000 different localities in the different coal fields, which, with the additions made from time to time representing parts of coal fields or additional beds of coal in the same field not yet examined, will be an invaluable source of accurate information not only for use of the Government, but also for use of the general public. Of the abovementioned localities, 501 are in the public-land States and 427 in the Central, Eastern, and Southern States.

The tests of different coals under steam boilers have also shown the possibility of increasing the general efficiency of hand-fired steam boilers from 10 to 15 per cent over ordinary results, and if this saving could be made in the great number of hand-fired boilers now being operated in all parts of the United States, it would result in large saving in the fuel bill of the country and a resultant conservation of the fuel resources.

Experiments which have been made with residence heating boilers justify the belief that it will be possible to perfect such types of boilers as may economically give a smokeless operation for residence heating also. The tests under steam boilers furnish specific information as to the most efficient methods of utilizing each of a number of different types of coal in Government buildings and power plants in different parts of the country.

GAS-PRODUCER TESTS.

The tests in the gas producer have shown that many fuels of such low grade as to be practically valueless for steam furnace purposes, including slack coal, bone coal, and lignite, may be economically converted into producer gas, and may thus generate sufficient power to render them of high commercial value. Coals as high as 45 per cent ash, and lignites and peats high in moisture, have been successfully converted into producer gas, which has been used in operating gas engines. It has been estimated that on an average there was developed from each coal tested in the gas producer plant two and one-half times the power developed when used in the ordinary steam boiler plant, and that relative efficiencies will probably hold good for the average plant of moderate power capacity, though this ratio may be greatly reduced in large steam plants of most modern type.

It was found that the low-grade lignites of North Dakota developed as much power when converted into producer gas as did the best West Virginia bituminous coals when utilized under the steam boiler. In this way lignite beds underlying from 20,000,000 to 30,000,000 acres of public lands, supposed to have little or no commercial value, are shown to have a large value for power development. This is of importance to the West and makes possible a great industrial develop

ment there.

In the fuel-testing plant, with the best Kanawha Valley coal, the steam plant produced 0.28 horsepower per pound of coal per hour, and the gas producer 0.96 horsepower, or 3.34 times the efficiency for the producer gas plant over the steam plant. The remarkable feature. in these tests was the comparison between the Kanawha Valley coal under the steam boiler and the lignite in the producer gas plant. The former under the boiler produced 0.28 horsepower per hour, while the lignite produced 0.30 horsepower per hour when operated in the producer gas plant, or 1.04 times the power of the best steam coal burned in a boiler furnace.

It became evident early in the fuel investigations that the greatest possible saving and consequent prolongation of the life of the fuel resources of the country might be had through a more rational utilization of the low-grade fuels. In the bituminous coal fields, especially in the Middle West and Southwest, where the coals are poor, the coal bed may run but 2 or 3 feet of good merchantable steam coal, but to mine this the entries and drifts must be opened to a height of 6 feet. This means that from 2 to 4 feet of material, even containing quite a quantity of medium grade coal, is thrown on the dump heap. Means of burning the whole coal as mined, or of burning the "bone" coal alone, may be devised which will make the entire product mined of value for heating and power purposes.

BRIQUETTED COAL.

Another important factor in conserving the coal supply is found in the manufacture of briquets. These are composed of waste bituminous or anthracite coal mixed with 6 or 7 per cent of gas pitch, the whole pressed into cakes or briquets by machinery. Briquets have been used in foreign countries for many years with much success.