ENGLAND'S SOURCES OF MOTIVE POWER.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1839, 14 January 1880, Page 2

ENGLAND'S SOURCES OF MOTIVE POWER.

[" Scientific American."] Eor a time so much popular apprehension existed among the English people regarding the exhaustion of their coal supply that a royal commission was appointed to inquire into the matter. They reported, after due examination into the subject, that the total available coal within the United Kingdom, was not likely to be exhausted under from 276 to 360 years, at the rate of consumption going on in 1871. Notwithstanding this long period before the coal Bupply will be exhausted, a writer in " L'lngenieur Universal" thinks it is worth while for England to be inquiring now what substitute can be drawn upon for coal. Eor purposes of iron smelting there is no good substitute known except charcoal, and obviously its employment is out of the question in England. Therefore the writer concludes that there is very little prospect at present of inventive ingenuity doing much to supersede the use of coal in this direction. But for many mechanical and useful purposes a substitute would not be difficult to find. The writer thinks it has been demonstrated that coal gas for illuminating purposes can be superseded with advantage, and it is obvious that mechanical genius may any day work similar marvels in other departments where coal has hitherto been considered a necessity. There is no present prospect of such a result occurring in iron smelting ; but for mechanical purposes increased attention is now being directed to hydraulic power —-a power which has been too much neglected in our times of abundant coal supplies. He then repeats Dr. Siemen's calculations of the cower that is daily running to waste at the Ealls of Niagara, where one hundred million tons of water fall some 300 ft. every hour. The force represented by the principal fall alone amounts to 16,800,000-horse power ; and to produce the same amount of power by steam would require 266 million tons of coal per annum—an amount which all the coal raised in the world would scarcely be sufficient to supply. Tremendous as this appears, the calculation may be regarded as more cuiious than useful; for, as the district around Niagara is destitute of minerals, the water power of the Falls is never likely to be utilised. But the calculation might be usefully applied to other places. Sir William Armstrong has done good service in the way of showing how to carry and utilise water power at a distance by oonveying it through high pressure mains. For instance, were this power generally employed, where possible, to give motion to dynamo-electrical machines, the electric light could not only be produced altogether without the use of coal, but it could be carried to a great distance, illuminating towns distant from coal fields at less cost and in a superior manner to anything that has ever been done by gas. Another means that is capable of more extensive application is compressed air, which has been employed with wonderful results in some places on the Continent. Still, when all these and other sources of power are brought into more extensive requisition, coal will continue to bejindispensable for many purpoies. But though our stock in store is immense, the coal trade in the future is likely to experiecee greater vicissitudes than in the past; and, with the recollection of the fluctuations of the last ten years still fresh in the public memory, it is well as far as it is possible to provide a second string to our bow, so that when one source of power fails another may be readily available.