Page
.2
MOTOR SPIRIT AND OIL
FROM COAL: THE FREEMAN PROCESS
Grosvenor-man-
A demonstration of the Freeman process of producing motor spirit. kerosene, Diesel and fuel oils from shales, volatile coals and other so- lid hydrocarbons was given at the Freeman Research Laborator.ca, 7 Baldwin's-gardens, Gray's Inn road, EC.1. In this process. the
refining distillation and
of the products are carried on s.mullane- * "pilnt" ously, and results from plant are considered to justify the erection of an installation for comi
This plant, we mercial operation. understand, is to be put down at Belmont, Co. "Durham. by Messrs Coal-Oll Development (Grea: Bri- tain). Limited, slos, 82. Victoria-street, London, at first. S.W.1, and its capacity,
A sort will be 50 tons per day. bituminous coal from Grange Col- llery is to be employed arid a yield of 31 gallons of spirit and nil per ton of coal is anticipated. Of this, about 71 gallons would be motor remainder light :. spirit, and the
and heavy Diesel oil and fuel oil We are informed that no tar is producer in the process and that no catalyst is required, while the residue is a hard dense coke pro- duced in the form of more or less spherical bas or pellets, which can be used as fuel,
events, is not ground to that de- gree of fineness which would en- title it to the designation "col- loidal at the same time, to judge from the present researches. a suspension suitable oil for the
to have a gel of coa appears structure. under certain conditions. The alternative name of oil-coa fuel is favoured in many quarters. "Ccal-oil" is to be avoided because It gives the impression of refer- ring to an all derived from coal.
that ruthers pointed out The
of this the principal advantage mixed fue! was that it could be handled in the same way as oll,
but
that the price of cbal per therm is only about half that of all per therm, so that the mixture has the ease of handling associat- ed with oil, and at a lower cost.
HONG KONG DAILY PRESS. SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 1936.
ENGINEERING AND BUILDING
THE SUPPLY OF
SKILLED ENGINEERS
An editorial note in the February issue of the Amalgamated En- gineering Union's "Journal," ex- presses the opinion that it is wrong and misleading, not to say. mischievous, to talk of a shortage of skilled labour" in engineering. Unemployment," the" writer says, "is still a fact of considerable magrutude to the industry. The percentage of unemployed among
the insured workers attached to the industry at the end of last month was 9.7. All the sections of the industry show the same pheno-
The size of particle of the cost inmenon of unemployed persons
an of-coal fuel ranges from 1 or
and
Was 5.2. In marine engineering
39.7, in constructional engineering
15.4 and in the motor vehicle, cycle and aircraft industries 6.9. It is literally unbelievable," the writer declares. "that these categories of unemployed include no skilled craftsmen we know they do."
connected with each branch. The 2 to 65. The 65 size appears percentage of unemployed in gener- to be that generally favoured on al "engineering, according to the account of cost of grinding, and last official figures available, was roughly corresponds to 180 per 10.7: in electrical engineering it cen. through 100 LM.M. mesh, and 85 per cent through 200 mesh. i.e. to that now used for pulverised-
The prospects of all fuel firing. coal fuel coming into commercia. ase depend on the consideration of whether it is technically economically sound. The authors state in their paper that "no"in- formation seems to be available publicly on the behaviour or pros- pects of the fuel in Diesel en- gines"; it was stated in the dis- cussion, however, by Mr. Hamiltoh Martin, that he had used colloidal fuel in informed.
an 80-hp.
Diesel engine successfully.
FUEL BURNT MORE EASILY I: was found that the fuel burnt more easily than of or brown-cool dust, and that it ignited at some 23 atmospheres pressure, as com- pared with 30 atmospheres to 45
YIELD OF OIL AND SPIRIT The yield of oil and spirit, of course, depends upon the char- acter of the soal or other sold hydrocarbon treated. In the case canne! torbanite and of shales, coa's, which have a high percent- age of volatiles. the yield of liquid hydrocarbons, we are usually exceeds 100 gallons per ton, and a tes: of a combined tor- ban'te and cannel coa! obtained from Mold. Flintthire, containing 84.79 ver cent of vo atlles, gave the equivalent of 108 gallons of ol per ton. The mixed oil from gier test which, it is stated. gave 245 per cent, of spirit with a spe cine gravity of 0.700, 20.0 per cent. of heavy spirit with a spe- cific gravity of 0.842, 10 per cent. of lamp ol, and 54.5 per cent. of heavy of distilling over at 300
"There are," he goes on to say, "skilled men available who do not fine employment because employ- ers consider them to be too old There are young men skilled in the trade who have not been employ- ed since they finished their ap- prenticeship. These are two sour ces from which employers wanting skilled labour should draw a su
temporary or e'en supply. No local shortage, we believe, would exist if firms would give these men chance and, quite as important,
it
SCOTTISH SHIP-
BUILDING
Messrs. Barclay, Gurle and Com- pany, Limited, 'Whiteinch, Glas- gow, have just booked an order to build a large motorship of 9,200 tons deadweight for a dew Glas- sow shipping concern. Meists The Lamond Shipping Company. This new company has been form- ed by Mr. Robert Jack Dun op. junr,, of Messrs. Thomas Dunlop. & Sons, Glasgow. The propelling machinery of this vessel willcon- sist of the latest type of Barclay- Curle-Boxford Diesel engines which will be constructed at the builders' North Engine Works at Whiteinch.
The important contract ไป suppy and fit on board the ma- chinety for two oll tankers placed by London owners on the Norin- East coast of England has just been secured by Messrs. John L. Kincaid and Company. Limited. Greenock. Each vessel wil be" Harland and Wolff-Burmeister and Atted with a set of 10-cy Inder
Wain type of Dielel engines, which will be the largest single- screw oil engines built on the Clyde for some considerable time.. These two tankers will be about foo ft. long. and of about 14.000 tons deadweight
STAINLESS-STEEL VENEER
FOR MILD AND OTHER
STEELS
this rest was subjected to an En- atmospheres for other Diesel fue's provided assistance to enable men, local industry during the past
This observation of the combus
on of the fuel under pressure is interesting when contrasted with the authors observation that a boilers' the two constituents burn more or less independency, the o!! first, and then, the cool, so that
who find employment at a dis tance from their homes. to remove their families to the neighbour- hood,
The outstanding development of week has been the disclosure of an invention by a Sheffield metallur gist that promises to revolutionise many branches of trade. Up to the present the task of welding stanless steel on to mild steel or alloy steels has never been satis-
NEW COKE-OVEN. PLANT AT GLASGOW
sur-
Messrs. Wilam Dixon, Limited, Govan Iron Works, Govanhill, Glasgow, have recently been en- gaged in the erection of a new coke-oven plant which will be the most modern of its kind in Scot- land, and which has cost some- thing in the neighbourhood of a quarter of a million sterling. It is estimated that this new plant will produce about 200,000 tons of Arst-c ass metallurgical coke per annum, for use in the modern blast-furnaces, which will mount the difficulty of obtaining an adequate supply of hard splint coal. This may mean the early re-lighting of a number of furn aces to cope with the present arge demand for local pig-iron. The new coking plant consists of a battery of 50 regenerative coke- ovens hested by blast-furnace or coke oven gas. About Nat or the total daily quantity of gas pro- duced will be used in the process bat unless Messrs. D'xon can secure a market for the remain- der of the surplus gas it will re- quire to be burned., It wi') 'be a very great plty if some inilions of cubic feet of high calorific value coke-oven gas has to be des- troyed daily, but meanwhile, the Glasgow Corporation do not seem inclined to enter into any agree-
ment in the matter. The it is likely to be put into operation in a few days.
."
WOOLWICH FREE-FERRY
BOATS TO BE RECON-
STRUCTED
AL a meeting of the London County Counci on Tuesday, Feb-
deg. C. The residue waxed at 13 it is necessary to provide sufficl- may arise in the case of particular factorily accomplished. By this ruary 18, It was recommended that
deg. C., without the formation of pitch or tar.
A for-
ent space for the complete com bustion of the slower-burning so lid partic.es before the flame im- pinges on the boller subes,
been derived by the mula has authors for ca culating the econo- mics of the system. showing that the cost of calo dal fuel works out at about 0.998. per theim, as com- pared with oil at 1.13d; taking ac- count of all such items as the ecst of mixing and grinding, freightage, and so forth.
Finally, attention may be dir- ected to the experimental methods employed.
31 COMMERCIAL PLANT In the commercial plant, the process will be carried out in a vertical cylindrical retor divided horizontally into eight sep rate chambers. Each
to chamber is be heated by gas burners below it and maintained at a deßnite tem- perature thermos: ically controlled, the temperature being increased in steps from the top chamber downwards to Д maximum of about 850 deg. F. The crushed coal will be introduced into the uppermost chamber from a hop per and wil fat on to a rotating table Fixed ploughs will be pro- vided to move the coal slowly to the outer edge of the table. when It wil fal to the bottom of the chamber and be
moved back to- wards
by rotating he centre ploughs. It will then fal to the next lower chamber, being moved in this
and tra- as in the first
this velling in
way through ail "the chambers. finally leaving in the form of coke from the low- Est. In the uppermost the mois- ure be evaporated and in the subsequent chambers more or less volatile constituents will be dri- ven off. These, in each case, will
TO reffux con- be passed through a
Some of the gas and con- denser densate" from the condensers will be returned to the chamber pre- ceding that in which it was form- ed, the yield. It is claimed, being materially increased in this way. The sirplus gas and condensate will be ed away the former be ing used in the heating burners and the latter being stored for use. In nurmal operation, we un- derstand, the gas produced in the dist Nation process will not be suf- ficient for heating the chambers but will be supplemented by gas from a producer plant using a small amount of the coke residue. It is expected that the plant will be in operation by the end of " the present year.
COLLOIDAL FUEL
↓
SHORTAGE MAY ARISE "A temporary and local shortage sections of the craft, which would disappear entirely if the available unemployed skilled labour, accus- tomed to certain sections of the. industry, was adapted to carry out the particular phase of the craft in which, It is alleged, there is a shortage. These" men possess the necessary maturity of craft; it only requires developing, and the exercise of a spirit of tolerance by those responsible for the industry, to fit this type of skilled labour for the employment in question."
new process a veneer of stainless
steel can be put on other materials. It will also weld high-speed and other alloys steels. The inventor is Mr. F. F. Gordon, a director of Messrs. Spear and Jackson. Limited, manufacturers of saws, edge tools, spades, shovels, c.. Etna Works, Sheffield. It is claimed that cheap mild steel can be given a thin stainless veneer ön one or both faces, and that sheets can be made with a stainless coat- ing of 1 thousandths of an inch or even thinner. The effect on the shipbuilding industry will be tremendous. By the ""Gordon", process, ship plates coated with "stainless" could be made 20 per cent. thinner, resulting in a saving in gross weight, and in increased carrying capacity. It would fur- ther、 save shipowners heavy ex- pense, in that ships would not have to go repeatedly into dry dock for the removal of barnacles, as these will not adhere to stainless steel. In addition, stainless-faced plates would rarely need painting. Similar sheets may also be used in the aircraft and automobile in- dustries, and for railway carriages. This new process, it is claimed, In January, the home branch will produce pipes with a stainless membership of the Amalgamated lining, and bridges which would Engineering Union increased from not require repainting. Sheets can 203,270 to 204,382 and the colonial also be coated with nickel instead branch membership tromi, 25,089 to of stainless steel Nor are its uses 25,249. The number of members confined to steels with non-corro, in receipt of sick benefit inrceased sive coatings. Any kind of steel
It is stated that the union is pre- pared "to go thoroughly into this question of alleged labour short age" with the employers if it is assured that the considerations in- dicated "will be paramount in the inquiry," "We do not say, the writer continues, "that a shortage may not arise if present tendencies in the industry continue: but we do say that it has not yet arisen. having regard to the number of older men with skill and experi- ence available, the number of finished apprentices who have not yet found employment and the continuing high percentage of un- employment in every section of the industry."
Measurement of the rate of settling of an all-coal sus- pension is difficult and laborious.. The authors have devised an in- genious apparaty's consisting es- sentially of a glass tube holding the suspension. fitted up as compound pendulum that will as- cillate upon knife edges carried upon agate surfaces. From the period of oscilation of the pen dulum, the centre of gravity of the be calculated, and mixture can from that the average settlement per particle. The rate of settle- ment is mot proportional to the period of the pendulum. The more rapid fail during the fra day or two with the suitable oil is by of the time taken reason
establish the dilute gel structure, Measurement of the time taken for re-formation of the dilute gel structure is determined ELS follows: the oll is vigorous'y stirred, or preferably, heated, and
from 3.032 to 3,681, and the num- then introduced to a convenient
ber in receipt of superannuation level in a capillary U-tube, which,
benefit decreased from 14,036 to with its contents, is stored in a 13,997. The number of members constant-temperature bath.
The in receipt of donation benent de level of the oll in one limb is dis-
creased from 3,125 to 2,847, and the placed about 1 in. by applying a
to:al number of unemployed mem pressure, and then the time taken to bers from 13,115 to 11,923. flow back some three-quarters of this distance is measured. level is then again displaced, and the ol is left a period before an- other observation of the time of flowing back.
"
NEW BRIDGE OVER PENRYN HARBOUR
The
ENGINEERING AND AGRICULTURE
two of the older boats working on the Woolwich Ferry service should be lengthened from 62 ft. to 72 ft.. making their decks the same size as those of the two newer boats. Special platorms, 8 It. wide, for the storage of cycles, are to be provided on al four boats. Since 1930, when the new boats were delivered, a three-boat ser- vice has been in force between 7.30 am, and 7 p.m. Nevertheless, the number of vehicles left behind 'on each journey is greater than previous to that date. The altera- tions mentioned, are designed to relieve this congestion. The work is to cost £7,000 of which the Minister of Transport has consen- ted to contribute 80 per cent. Similar platforms for cycles are to be fitted on newer boats.
IRON AND STEEL PRODUC TION IN GREAT BRITAIN
The monthly memorandum n the British Iron and Steel Federa- tion, Caxton House, Tothill-street, London, S.W.1, thows that there were 10% blast-furnaces in opera- tion at the end of December, this total being identical with that at the beginning of the month The production of pig-iron in Decem~ ber...amounted to 559,300 tons
can be welded to any other class of material, and welded so secure-
in November, and 513,500 tons in ly that they will never come apart,. December, 1934. The total pro- however much heated, worked, or
duction of pig-iron during 1935 stressed. Some of the purposes for amounted to 6428,400 tons, this which two-ply or multi-ply mater!-
being an increase of 1.7 per cent. als made of bonded, steels of dif-
over the 1934 ngure The produc- ferent types can be used are safe
tion of steel ingots and cast ngs. cars, plates, springs for motor
in December, 1935, totaled 811 500 hacksaws with blades of carbon
tons, against 803,300 tons in No-. steet and high-speed steel teeth.vember and 854,500 tons in De emr
rafis with manganese steel tresds, machine knives and sheer blades with high-speed cutting edges and carbon steel backs, and bars for punches, with high-speed steel face. The invention has been patented all over the world.
ber, 1934. The total production for 1935 reached 9842.400 tons representing an increase of 112 per cent. over the aggregate for 1934
1 having been suggested to the Council of the Society of Engineers that there was a pressing need for professional body of qualified
that over 200 persons attended the The new bridge, which has been agricultural engineers which could The paper on the subject of "Colloidal Fuel," read by, Dr. A. B. built by the Cornwall County maet, read papers, publish trans rarious premiums. It is not in conference at Oxford on Mechanisa- Manning and Mr. R. A. A. Taylor, Council to carry the Trulo-Fal actions and have the use of a tended that the activities of the tion in Mixed Farming at which both of the Fuel Research Board's mouth road over Penryn Harbour, library, the views of those likely to new section shall overlap those of three lectures on The Engineerk
the Agricultural Engineer As Contribution to Agricultural Evolu staff, before the Institution of replaces, a swing bridge which was be interested were elicited and Unery cal Engineers, on February Po narrow that traffic had to cross meeting was held towards the end sociation, as that deals with the tion" were given by Mr. S. J. it in alternate streams,, The new of last year. As a result, the ofercial side of agricultural Wright, Deputy Director of the In- 31 Cast, carries the theoretical con bridge is a reinforced concrete Society has formed an Agricul engineering. On the other hand, stitute for Research in Agricultural ception of this type of fuel a stage structure with a clear span of 23 ft. tural Engineering Section to it will cater for those who, not be Engineering The Secretary of the heerer to complete understanding and is provided with a 30 ft, car which qualified agricultural en ing engineers hold technical Society of Engineers in Mr. A: 8. At this meeting and at others, ringeway and two 10ft, footpaths.gineers will be almitted. This positions on the staffs of agricul E Ackermann, 17, Victoria-street, there has been opposition to the If forms part of a scheme for section will hold separate moet tural collages or other official London, S.W., who will be nieased name "Colloids' Fuel, partly on widening Commercial and Talange, though the papers submitted posts. The need for such a body to forward particular of the new the ground that the coal, at a mouth-roads and Quay-hill.
will be eligible to compete for the can be illustrated by pointing out, section.
AND
PORTI
GEMENT
EMERALCRETE
RAPID HARDENING
PORTLAND CEMENT
IN PAPER BAGS OF 941BS NETT
PRODUCT OF-
GREEN ISLAND CEMENT CO. LTD.
EXCHANGE BUILDING. HONG KONG
THE TAIKOO DOCKYARD & ENGINEERING COMPANY OF HONGKONG, LIMITED.
..
BUILDERS OF ALL CLASSES OF SHIPS. BUILDERS OF RECIPROCATING STEAM ENGINES. BUILDERS OF MARINE AND LAND BOILERS. BUILDERS OF TURBINE MACHINERY
Under License From Messrs Parsons. BUILDERS OF DIESEL ENGINES
Under Special License
From Messrs. Sulzer Bros., Winterthur. Licensed To Manufacture Lanz Perlit Iron, Specially Suitable
For Internal Combustion Engine Working Parts. DOCK & SLIPWAYS.
FOR DOCKING VERY LARGE, AS WELL AS SMALLER VESSELS,
ON ANY TIDE.
ALL CLASSES OF SHIP, ENGINE AND BOILER
REPAIRS AND EXTENSIVE
WELDING, BOTH ELECTRICAL AND OXY- ACETYLENE SKILFULLY AND PROMPTLY CARRIED OUT.
BUTTERFIELD & SWIRE Agents,
HONG KONG, CHINA & JAPAN,
.TEL ADDRESS: "TALKOODUDE," HONG KONG.".
TELEFHOSE; 30211.
CALL FLAG: "NUMEBAL ONE" Over " Parx LÄT AND,”
SPEED EASTWARD
FROM SEATTLE IN
"SOLID
COMFORT
ON THE COMPLETELY
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ENG MARSHALL, Agent SRED
291 Granville St. You
F. BANDALA
THE MILWAUKEE ROAD