PULVERISED COAL.

Grey River Argus, 5 November 1928, Page 8

PULVERISED COAL.

SUCCESS AT SEA AMERICA INTERESTED Nautical engineers and shipping ex perts inspected, a few days ago, the pulverised fuel system ou board the Blu. > Star liner Stuartstcir (10,646 tuns) which has just returned from a 13,000mile journey. The btuartsra.r is t’m' first British vessel in which this system has b 'u fully t'-sted. and the <xL.erts expressed th • •i>ul'-C' as saJisiicd with the apparent advantages of <b? new piaiir. The Chief Engin er-Surveyor of the Blue Star Line stated that at lhe iu ttigation of Sir E. V estey, joint head of the line, the system would ultimately be used in the passenger vess Is on the South American .service in the same class as the Stuartstar. lit-? saving in cost ox fuel is said to b? considerable, and the Stuartstar on arrival iu port, was spccul- ssly cltaii, despite the fact tlu.it the coal hud been powdered on board. The Stuartstar saii'ed to , Buenos Sho made the journ y iu eighteen days, and returned with a full carg** of meat, in cc’id storage. She carried a limited numb r of passengers, al though nut a passenger ship, and js one of a fleet of four of the world s ( largest insulated cargo vessels. The coal powder is pulverised untix it passes through a mesh which hao 90,<>00 holes to the square inch. Mr Coik , chi-f engineer of lhe ship explaining the method said: “The coal powder is delivered from lhe. end of the hopper or feeder into the electrically driven pulveriser by an ndless baud. After grinding :• powerful fan sprays i’t with great speed into the -furnace. Such foreign matter as tramp iron in the coai supplies cannot hunt the pulveriser.” Fourteen tons (if coal a day is th'avuiage> consumption of a single boiled fitted with the apparatus. A hand tired furnace consumes sixteen tons a day. The type of coal us d costs a toai. ‘‘COME TO STAY” “We have overcome all the dilh unities we had anticij at'vl, ’ said M* Th’ompson, chief engineer Surveyor ox the Blue Star Line. “Our ultimate object at thei instigation of Sir L. Vestey, is that the system shall be used in the passenger vessels on the South American Ser vic? in the sain c.ass as the Stuartstar. Ships equipped with the installation will have their boiler efficiency raised by 18 to 20 per cent.”

Mr Co'ok, chief engineer of tnv Stuartstar, stated, “We did nut Lave a single hitch in spite of the fact that the installation was insallecl i>only ten days. Pulverised fuel has come to stay. ’ ’ Chitf Engine?! HasleU, of th*Boa.rd of Trade, who inspected the ship for that Department said: “1 think that pulverised coal will prove a serious competitor to oil fuel.” Two high officials of the Fuel Be search Board who visitGd the ship mphasised the importance of the experiment by the Blue Star Line. Ont of the chief advantages of the new system which is a-l-British, was explained by Mr Thompson: “With the ordinary system of coal firing b) hand” he said, “ashes accumulate m ♦he furnac s, which have to be cleane a every four M'O urs - During the time that the furnaces are being cleaned, there is a loss of speed owing to the i-educ d steam. The puUeriscd fuei s'-sLin de s away with this. It ts continuous and there is uv fluctuation of st'ti.m or speed.” Mr William Todd, president of lhe Todd Shipyard Coiporafion, the largest shipbuilding concern in the United Stat ?'S of America, has arrived in Eng land to study the possibilities vt pulverised coal for the propulsion of sea-going vessels. Certain British owners Irnve lor some time past been looking lor sujne coal-burning method which wouht satisfactorily eompM'e with the Diesel and the oil-burning engine, xvrit‘*-s a shipping correspondent. Although <» is certainly a payable proposition in certain trades, there arc other trades wh re coal would b < used more economically and moreover, be nnr fre ly available than oil is at present.