i STEAM COAL - Clpdigital.org
i STEAM COAL - Clpdigital.org
i STEAM COAL - Clpdigital.org
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BRITISH <strong>COAL</strong> SUPPLIES REPORT.<br />
THE <strong>COAL</strong> TRADE BULLETIN.<br />
The effect of the final report of the British Royal<br />
Commission on coal supplies, which was recently<br />
issued, is that the United Kingdom is in no immediate<br />
danger of a coal famine. The document propounds<br />
a paradox, for though the commission of<br />
1811 estimated the coal resources of the country<br />
then available at 90,207,285,398 tons, the present<br />
commission is confident that the available quantity<br />
in the proved coal fields is 100,914,668,167 tons,<br />
or 10,707,382,769 tons in excess of the store of<br />
coal which was available 34 years ago. Yet in<br />
the period from January 1, 1870, to December 31,<br />
1903, 5,694,9z8,507 tons of coal were extracted,<br />
and in spite of that the British Isles have more<br />
coal than ever they had. The mystery of the<br />
widow's cruse seems to be outdone, but it is explained<br />
that the excess is accounted for by the<br />
difference in the areas regarded as productive by<br />
the two commissions, and by discoveries due to<br />
recent sinkings and workings, and to more accurate<br />
knowledge. The commission finds that the<br />
depth of workings is increasing, though the deepest<br />
collieries are in other countries. The greatest<br />
depth is attained at Pendleton, in Lancashire,<br />
about 3,000 feet below the surface, or more than<br />
half a mile down; and it is declared that no insuperable<br />
mechanical or engineering difficulty exists<br />
in deep mining, nor is it necessarily unhealthy,<br />
in spite of increasing temperature, if the<br />
ventilation be brisk and the air dry. At Pendleton<br />
it is now found just as comfortable to work<br />
at 93Va degrees in the deeper levels as it was at<br />
82 degrees formerly. The limit of deep mining is<br />
the limit of cost, and the commission assumes that<br />
4,000 feet is the extmeme possible depth in mining<br />
and that a width of twelve inches is the limit.<br />
below which seams cannot be profitably worked.<br />
Of the coal available above that level no less than<br />
79.3 per cent, is in seams of two feet thick and<br />
upwards, and 91.6 per cent, in seams of more<br />
than eighteen inches.<br />
It is further estimated that below a depth of<br />
4,000 feet there are seams in Great Britain containing<br />
5,239,433,980 tons of coal, though the commissioners<br />
express no opinion as to whether it is<br />
workable. There are also large "unproved" coal<br />
fields, the supply from which is speculative; they<br />
are outside the area dealt with, and it is estimated<br />
that at depths less than 4,000 feet they contain<br />
39,483,000,000 tons. This includes the undersea<br />
area lying between five and twelve miles beyond<br />
high-water mark in the Cumberland coal<br />
field estimated to contain 854,000,000 tons, and<br />
those areas undersea in St. Bride's and Carmarthen<br />
Bay with 383,000,000 tons.<br />
Having regard to these conclusions the commissioners<br />
seem to have no anxiety as to the<br />
future coal supply. Indeed, they estimate that.<br />
:;i<br />
although the output of the British coal fields has<br />
grown rapidly until it has reached 230,000,000 tons,<br />
the rate of increase in the output will shortly tend<br />
to diminish owing to natural causes; then they<br />
believe there will be a stationary period, finally a<br />
gradual decline in the rate of increase. Holding<br />
this opinion they declare against the coal tax,<br />
saying "it is self-evident that the export duty<br />
which came into force in the early part of the<br />
year 1901 must affect our competitive power (i. e.,<br />
in the international coal trade), and must have an<br />
influence on the exportation of coal." They add:<br />
ihere seems no present necessity to restrict artificially<br />
the export of coal in order to conserve<br />
it for our home supply." The witnesses all believed<br />
that export of coal must be maintained, and<br />
that it is essential to commerce.<br />
The decline in the ratio of the output is to be<br />
obtained by possible economies which are discussed<br />
at length. A great deal of coal is wasted,<br />
being left in the mines as roof supports or barriers,<br />
or because it is unsalable owing to its<br />
broken condition. But coke ovens fitted for the<br />
recovery of by-products and factories for the manufacture<br />
of briquettes or "patent fuel" are extending<br />
the utilization of inferior coal; and developments<br />
in the production of power gas tend in the<br />
same direction. Central pumping stations also<br />
make for economy, and the work under the South<br />
Staffordshire mines drainage act has made available<br />
a large quantity of small coal which might<br />
otherwise have been lost. Coal cutting machinery<br />
is also valuable in enabling thin seams to be<br />
worked profitably, and whereas in 1900 there<br />
were only 311 such machines at work in British<br />
pits, there were in 1903, 643 at work in 225 collieries,<br />
with an output of 5,245,578 tons. They<br />
yield a larger percentage of coal than hand labor,<br />
and it is in better condition and shows less waste.<br />
If all engines were as efficient as the best only<br />
half the quantity of coal now required for steam<br />
Raising would be used. If gas engines were<br />
used instead of steam the 52.000,000 tons annually<br />
required for steam raising would be reduced to<br />
11,000,000 tons. The utilization of inferior fuel<br />
for power gas generation, the employment of blast<br />
furnace gases for a similar purpose, the improvement<br />
of methods of domestic heating, whereby a<br />
consumption of o2,000,000 tons might be reduced to<br />
half, and other economies towards which the<br />
country is tending, will enable it to husband still<br />
further its enormous resources and put the dread<br />
of a coal famine out of mind.<br />
The laboratory of the mechanical engineering<br />
department of the University of Tennessee has<br />
been equipped with a Cameron regular boiler feed<br />
pump.