THE SMOKE NUISANCE.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17939, 6 December 1923, Page 5

THE SMOKE NUISANCE.

ACTION IN UNITED STATES

An organised fight is being made all

over the United States by civic authorities and organisations to eliminate the smoke nuisance, according to reports reaching the Department of the Interior (,says the New York "Herald - '). This campaign was suspended during the world war. when most of the smoke ordinances throughout the country were held in abeyance with the intent I of allowing industries to operate uureI strictedly while maximum production { was necessary. With the return of I normal conditions many cities have shown a determination to take up this matter seriously and work out a solu- j tion. Some fifty or sixty cities in the i country already nave smoke ordinances. , • "In domestic furnaces," says a statement from the Bureau of Alines of the Interior Department, "it should be possible to reduce smoke from 50 to 75 per cent, without spending any money for additional equipment or without change in anything excejjt the methods of handling the fuel. At industrial smoke prevention is merely a matter of management. "The increase of the smoke nuisance in the United States lias followed directly the progress of industrial development. "When towns were small and a large proportion of the population lived in the country the smoke nuisance was unknown. As people concentrated in the cities there followed a tremendous increase in' the utilisation of power and heat, and coal became the only feasible fuel where wood had largely sufficed before. Five-sixths of the coal mined in the United States is bituminous or soft coal containing a large proportion of volatile matter, which makes smoke if not properly burned. This . coal is thrown on a fire. It is difficult to supply at the proper time enough air (oxygen) to unite'with this volatile matter. Unless enough oxygen is supplied to burn completely the hydrocarbons composing the volatile matter these hydrocarbons condense as soot, which is precipitated on heating surfaces, and as smoke, which escapes into the surrounding atmosphere. "Residence smoke, while making probably less than 10 per cent, of the total smoke of a city, is particularly objectionable because it is produced in the section where its damaging possibilities are at a maximum, The smoke is discharged at a comparatively low level as distinguished from the high chimneys of a factory, hence it drifts into the windows and throughout the residential territory very annoyingly. Moreover, smoke and the distillation products of high volatile coal burned in the low temperature fire of the average domestic plant are much more objectionable than those of the same coal burned in a high temperature fire such as the furnace of high pressure power plants. "Sucn smoke has a serious pathological aspect in addition to its destructive effect on property. Acute lung diseases, such as pneumonia, bronchitis, and pleurisy, are affected by these corrosive fumes to a marked degree. "Experiments conducted by the Bureau of Mines at Salt Lake Oity showed that a tremendous improvement can be \made in the smoke performance of domestic furnaces if the firing is done with intelligent oare. In the bureau's test minimum smoke conditions were obtained when various types of boilers and furnaces were fired by what is known as the coking method, by the alternate method and by the ordinary method of firing. ■ One novel idea- advanced is the starting of fires from the top, the coal being placed immediately upon the grate, with a layer of paper just above the coal and with kindling on top of the paper."