NO NEED TO SHIVER.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1641, 19 May 1919, Page 7

NO NEED TO SHIVER.

USES OF BROWN COAL. GERMAN ENTERPRISE NEAR COLOGNE. ■ WILL AUSTRALASIA HEED THE LESSON. [ln the following* striking article in the Sydney "San," Professor DaTld, of Antarctic fame, throws an entirely new light on the fnel problem*, not only of Europe, hat of the whole white race. Without a similar development of science and power ont here, winter it likely to pnt on new terrors at the years go by.] It is common knowledge that during the war Germany -was industri- ; ously preparing for the intense coni test on the economic plane, on the xe-establishment of military peace. Neutral visitors- to Germany have seen the evidence of-this activity, and since the Armistice was signed our own soldiers have had peeps into the enemy territory which afford confirmation of the fact.

This is significant, for if great industrial achievements were possible to Germany during the war, when the more efficient of her men were in the # fighting line, what further achievements will he possible when the work of reconstruction has made progress? It means that Germany will probably be as formidable a rival as before in the field of industry and commerce. One of the latest arrivals from the British army of occupation in Rhineland is Lieutenant-Colonel T. W. Edgeworfh "David, more widely known, as Professor David of Sydney University, in the dapper military officer, with his shapely uniform, peaked cap, and close-trimmed moustache, it is difficult at first glance to recognise the easy-going professor, of the ascetic, cleanshaven face, soft felt hat, and loosefitting garments—consisting mostly of pockets in which letters, books, and papers ever bulked enormously —who in pre-war days was so familiar a figure in the educational and intellectual byways of the city.

The Fortuna Mines. Professor David went io Cologne in bis official capacity to advise the British armies about -water supply and the geological structure generally. He had heard of the unprecedented development which had taken place during the war in the brown coal deposits of Rhineland, and he made it his business to inquire into the subject. What impressed him, he states, on entering Germany and driving through its villages and towns, was the apparent industrial prosperity of the country, particularly as one: approached the large brown coal region between Duren and Cologne. Everywhere very large factories were in full operation. At Quadrath, about eight miles west from Cologne, he visited the Fortuna, one of the most important of the great brown coal mines. Nothing like these mines has yet been developed in any other part of the world. The mines have the form of huge open-cut quarries, '• and coal is cut away from the seam, which in places has a thickness of over 200 ft, by an ingenious mechanical contrivance. This is an electri-cally-driven rotating steel cutter, enclosed in a kind of steel track which admits of being alternately lowered and raised, so as to operate on the whole face of the cliff. The electric power is generated on the spot.

Clever Contrivances. As the coal is cut it falls automatically into trucks, switched on to strong- travelling chains or wire cables, is raised to the surface, and distributed in three directions. Part is loaded straight into railway trucks for local fuel requirements. Less than one-fourth of Ihe total output is used in this way. Of the remainder, about half is stamped into briquettes, the rest being fed into the furnaces, which generate the immense amount of power, as much as 120,000 kilowatts, which the Fortuna mines transmit to Cologne; Essen. Dusseldorf, Bonn, and other Rhineland towns.

This brown coal contains 60- per cent, of water. The percentage of ash is low—about four or five—and it usually contains no-more than hj per cent of sulphur. Speaking of the coal fed to Ihe furnaces, Professor David stales:— "The Germans have devised a very clever arrangement of furnace-con-struction, disposition of fire bars, and control of the hot gases of combustion, so as to secure the absolute maximum of efficiency and power. The drawback presented by Ihe presence of so much water in the coal is overcome by allowing the coal to travel slowly down inclined chutes, where, by the operation of hot gases, the moisture is extracted before the coal reaches the furnace. Nothing is wasted, for the gases used for desiccating the coal are readmitted to the furnace. The ashes, which do not form clinker, are removed from time to time on the exhaust or air suction principle. Knowledge is Power.

"The steam generated acts direct on the largest turbines I have ever seen. The turbine shaft drives a generator which produces 53,000 continuous kilowatts. I saw several of these large turbines at work in one great engine-room. It was a most impressive sight, and, in view of the dilliculties of handling this brown coal material, which so many nations would have neglected to use altogether, I cannot help wondering how it has been given to us to conquer a people which had mastered so dillicult a problem and applied the highest principles of science to the full utilisation for arts and manufactures of this natural product'' The making of the briquettes also won the professor's admiration. The coal is dumped on to machines which tear it and grind it into a rough powder, which is then conveyed on huge bells, made of a paper compound, to rotating, conical drying floors. Here all but 18 per oent. of the moisture is extracted from the powdered coal, which is next conveyed to the hoppers, whence it is automatically fed into the dies for jbriquetting. The briquettes measure, roughly .11 in x 3in x 2in. Enough For 200 Years. The secret of making them successfully depends apparently on the amount of pressure applied when ramming the powder into the dies. Professor David was told bv the German manager that the pressure was equal to 1400 atmospheres, or about HOjOOOIb per square inch. Under this enormous pressure the coal is considerably heated, and I becomes plastic. The briquettes I emerge from the dies in an endless ! stream like sausages: lhey at first are quite hot to the touch, but cool off as

they (ravel by rhufe to the railway trucks, into -which they drop somatically. About 800 tons of briquettes are manufactured dally si this one mine. The manager estimated that at the present rale ef coal output, the concession of the Fortima mines would last fcr 200 years. In regard to the Saar valley coal mines, Professor David thinks that Germany can well afford to hand them over to France without suffering any serious limitation of her own supplies. Germany's present available coal supplies considerably exceed, he states, those of Great Britain.

In Australia wc have supplies of brown coal at Morwell, 89 miles from Melbourne, and at Lees Creek, near Lake Eyre, in South Australia. The Victorian deposits have an immense thickness, 900 ft, and with a Jractioiv-of the German enterprise, Melbourne and suburbs might be now drawing all the electric power they need from that field. Sir Donglas Mawson has interested himself in the Lees Creek deposits, and is satisfied that they can be economically