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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 1920)
THE SUNDAY OREGOISHlAN PORTLAND, DECEMBER 19, 1920 7. RICH DEPOSITS OF FUEL LIE NEGLECTED BENEATH OUR FEET Dr. Frederick XI. Cottrell, Newly Appointed Chief of the United States Bureau of ' Mines, Discusses Some of Odr Undeveloped Sources of Power and Their Possibilities BT RENE BACHE. I I the newly appointed chief of the United States bureau of mines, is a tall, bis-boned man with a genial grin. Smooth-shaved, he looks young er than his 43 years. He was born in Oakland, Cal., and bis first Job was that of teacher of chemistry In the Oakland high schoSl. Afterward he taught chemistry in the University of California, of which he was a graduate; and nine years ago he joined the staff of the bureau of mines In Washington as consulting chemist. He became chief chemist of the bnreau and later on chief metal lurgist. Br. Cottrell possesses the imagina tion which is a fundamental requisite to the successful investigator. He is an inventor, and In this line his first Important achievement was the de vising of means for getting rid of the objectionable smoke and fumes of smelting plants. Such plants for smelting ores of copper, zinc and lead have made themselves "extremely ob noxious in parts of the west, es pecially to farmers. Cottrell cleared the fnmes out of the air by passing currents of electricity through it, thus getting rid of sulphuric, acid and poisonous arsenic saving metal dust from going to waste and preventing lnjufy to orchards and crop's. , Not only that, but in certain cases he made the sulphuric acid commercially available as a by-product and recov ered precious potash from cement kiln smoke. "I might tell you something about helium that would interest you." said Dr. Cottrell when I called on him the other day. "Ton probably know that the government just now is address ing earnest efforts to the production of that gas on a large scale in Texas. Natural gas in the neighborhood of Fort Worth contains nearly 1 per cent of helium, and the problem is to sepa rate it out economically. It is wanted for filling balloons, having the great advantage of being incombustible. An incendiary bullet will set fire to a balloon filled with hydrogen, but would not do worse than make a tiny bole in a helium airship. The army and navy are now Jointly establishing a plant designed to yiejd at least 60. 000 cubic feetvof helium per day at a cost not exceeding 10 cents a foot. "At the time when the armistice was signed the United States had on the dock rea,dy for shipment to France 147,000 cubic feet of helium, which was meant to fill balloons or airships for the use of our trbops at the front. The gas had never been produced any where in quantity before; our efforts in this direction had been kept secret; and if peace had not arrived when it did there would have been a painful surprise for the kaiser." Imagine it. Suppose that an Ameri can airship had paid a visit to Berlin with a heavy load of bombs. It would tiave been immed'ately attacked, ot course, by a flock of airplanes. 'Bui the flaming bullets discharged from the flying machines would have had no effect upon the helium balloon, be yond a few punctures, while her crew, hovering at leisure over the city could have dropped their explosives exactly where they would do the mosl good, returning thereupon to their base unharmed. The Germans would have been paralyzed with astonish ment and 'fright. Later on, doubtless, big helium bal loons would have visited German 1 1400 square . miles, with an average R. FREDERICK G. COTTRELL, I cltlea in squadrons. .The huns would ,1 thickness of 63 feet. have had no means wherewith to op pose them effectively, while their own Zeppelins engaged in raiding opera tlons would have continued to be shot down and destroyed. 'So frightful an mysterious an instrument of destruc tion possessed by one side only in the conflict might well have caused a col lapse of the enemy. But to get back to our conversation with Dr. Cottrell. "At the time of our entrance into the war," he continued, "there was in the whole world probably not more fthan 100 cubic feet of helium. It was a mere . Curiosity of the laboratory, and was valued at about 31700 a cubic foot. We may get It down to a poin much cheaper than ten cents; and, in fact, it is quite possible that, when we have fully worked out its industrial production, the by-products obtained along with it from the natural gas may actually pay more than the whole cost . of separation. Many natural gases contain much gasoline, and the work for extraction of helium will stimulate the development of methods for getting, gasoline and other light ' hydro-carbons from natural gas. "Helium has more than 'nine-tenths ot the 'ascensional power' of hydro gen, when used In balloons. In this respect,, then, it Is nearly equal to hydrogen, while in another very im portant respect it is far superior, its wastage through the balloon fabric being only about one-half as great. As regards the process by which it is obtained, a detailed.description would be too technical. Suffice it to say that we get helium from natural gas by liquefying out all the other constitu ent gases. I asked him to explain this for my lay readers, and he continued "Natural gas mi gift be called the vapor phase of petroleum. The latter is an exceedingly complex mixture of substances which we-call "hydrocar bons. If these were arranged in a column according to their densities we would have asphalt, the heaviest, at the bottom. , Next would come lubricating oil, then kerosene, then gasoline arid then certain gases, the lightest of which is marsh gas the vapor which, rising in marshy places, lends to WIll-o'-thaWisp - his mys terious torches. Lighter than marsh gas, however, 'is helium, which, when reduced to a liquid, boils at a tern perature more than 450 degrees below the zero of Fahrenheit that is to say, within a few degrees of the 'absolute zero, which is no temperature at all. 'What are some of the other prob lems you are facing?" 1 asked. The exhaustion of our petroleum wells looms ahead of us as a not dis tant prospect," Dr. Cottrell replied. Gasoline is likely to become steadily more expensive, and with increasing scarcity its use will be restricted more and more to special purposes. More and more shall we become de pendent upon foreign countries for oil supplies. Fortunately, we still have for oil production a vast and as yet untouched resource in the 'oil shale' which extend In beds over im mense areas in the Rocky mountain states, much of these black rocks be ing capable of yielding a ton, some thing like forty gallons of oil, 3000 cubic feet of gas and seventeen pounds of ammonium sulphate the last highly valuable for fertilizer. The oil shales of Colorado alone underlie According to the estimate of the United States geological survey, these shales are capable of yielding a quan tity of hydrocarbons many times greater than all the oil fields of the world have produced up to date.. As yet, however, their- development in this country is only in earliest in fancy. It has not passed beyond the experimental stage, though in Scot land the industry has been well es tablished for years." "How do they get the oil "out of the shale?" was the natural question.- "Tiey are mined like coal," he an swered. "The material taken out goes to breakers and then into retorts for distillation, the oil being obtained by heating the rock in the absence of air. This process breaks un the com plex organic compounds! probably of vegetable origin, contained in the shale, and yields hydrocarbon oils and gases. Among the ultimate products are motor gasoline, illuminating oils. fuel oils, lubricating oils and paraf fin." 'Are there no other sources of fuel oils?" I wanted to know, and Dr. Cottrell went on: "Virtually untouched as yet is our 'lignite, which represents not less than one-third of the entire fuel re sources of the United States. It is a fuel fully equal to much of what European "countries depend on for in dustrial purposes; but we have such quantities of anthracite and bitu minous that this low-grade kind of coal has been neglected. Indeed, mil lions of tons of bituminous coal and anthracite are annually shipped from the East into regions such as western : : . fe'a ,V-i A J:.5':i:.;x:;.::-;.r;r:l,i.-;.i " . .. I , ' ' " 5 V;s I I - - , - kk a-f s i w, 3 j -a. -" -ell1 -IP al II Mi.rTT'l' Bk xrrtrrTjfci ! I benzol, toluol which last, when the railroad tunnels and when the treaty with nitric acid, yields TNT 1 wind blew Just right fumes of sul- and a great variety or otner inmgi. p" "' ...... Minnesota, where unlimited quanti ties of lignite are available near at hand. There are vast beds of lignite in North Dakota, Texas and other wes tern states. It is brown in color, woody in texture and contains about 30 per cent of water this last, by the way, rather poor stuff on which to pay freight or to put into the furnace. In warm weather it falls to dust, ow ing to evaporation of the water. It, takes fire readily by spontaneous combustion' and so oannot be safely stored in quantity." "Then we get little of value?" I in terrupted. , "Oh, yes!" he responded. "Dried and powdered lignite is mighty good fuel under locomotive boilers, in ce ment kilns and in large furnaces. A mixture of 33 per cent of it with oil can be advantageously used as a liquid fuel; and if this expedient were widely adopted it would tend impor tantly to conserve our petroleum re sources and effect o great saving in the cost of raising steam. "Experiments have proved that dried lignite made into briquets with Dr. Frederick G. Cottrell, director of the U, S bureau of mines, a suitable 'binder' is equal to some ntuminous coal when used in heating plants and factory furnaces. In this shape, of course, it is easy for the fireman's shovel to handle. And the same material 'carbonized' affords. In the form of briquets, an ideal smoke less domestic fuel for stoves, fire places and ranges. By merely heat ing the lignite sufficiently to drive off the moisture and part of the vola tile matter a 'char is obtained that, when briqueted, is hardly Inferior for such purposes to anthracite. ' "Before very long the demand for carbonized lignite, which is. in effect, a dense charcoal, will be large, and wiM grow apace. It will place the Ignite regions in possession of a f jel virtually equal to anthracite. Mean while, in those regions, neglect to utilize the lignite makes high prices for fuel, retards .industrial develop ment, and Is a cause of other" eco nomic losses. "The gas yield of lignite Is upward of 10.000 cubic feet a ton.- It may be used for coking, for illumination, for furnace fuel or for power for gas engines. Perhaps we may see the day when the farmers of North Dakota and Texas will employ gas-producer tractors. To till the soil by power derived from fuel mined beneath the ground will be a performance not altogether lacking in picturesqueness. "Other by-products of oil shale dis tillation are ammonia, oil and tar. From the tar may be derived carbolic acid, dyes, medicinal drugs, perfumes, I Including pitch, which may be used in the binder for the carbollzed lig nite briquets. Indeed, the by-products should, with a developed Indus try, pay the cost of carbonization." And here I turned the conversation to coal, so much in our mind today. Dr. Cottrell declaring: "It would be appropriate for me to say that before long undoubtedly we shall make much wiser and better use of our coal thn hitherto. We shall save and utilize its valuable by-prod ucts which we have been accustomed to throw away. More of our coal will be used in the shape of .powder, blown Into furnaces like oil a method which of late has been widely adopted In metallurgical furnaces." And in the next breath he astonished me with this prediction: "One thing we want is cheap ony- gen for Industrial purposes, and we are soon going to have it Today bot tled oxygen in steel cylinders costs 3200 or more a. ton. We shall get it down to 32 or $3 a ton or possibly even less. How, you ask? Simply by reducing air o a liquid and distilling it. Then, instead of being sold in steel bottles, it will be piped direct from the separating plant to the fur naces. V 'Our coal, before It comes to mar ket, is carefully cleaned, to get rid of slate and other Incombustible ref use. We throw a few shovelfuls of It, say, into the family fuMiace; but. in order that it may burn, we must also pour into the furnace a large quantity of air to furnish oxygen. The air is only one-fifth oxygen, the balance being nitrogen, an inert gas o much refuse, in other words. What is the result? A less vigor ous fire. Much fefuse-'puta.f ire out. whether it be elate or. ashes or nitro gen.. We aire obliged, incidentally, to heat the nitrogen us0essly,-.nd that heat passes out and away; It is just so much clear loss. Thcsame propo sition applies, of course, to Indus trial fufnaces. 'Ores, before tbev sro into the smelting furnace, are 'concentrated' to the utmost meaning by this term that all waste is eliminated so far as possible. But, in thus dealing with iron, eopper or lead the weight of air that goes into the furnace is as great or greater than that of all the solid materials. Four pounds of waste in the form of nitrogen go In for every pound of oxygen. It means a throw ing away of much valuable fuel ef ficiency. "We must separate the oxygen from the air and use it for the fire in mora concentrated form ' than at present. That, when oxygen is cheap, as I am sure it will be before long, will mean economy of fuel and a correspond ingly less eost of production. With more concentrated oxygen we can utilize poorer and cheaper coals, be cause when the nitrogen Is cut out the fire will stand more of other things that will not burn." Next I wanted to know about the business of getting rid of smoke and fumes. "Well," the chief replied. " the be ginning of that was fifteen years ago, in California. A smelter near Benicia got into trouble because of alleged fume nuisance and damage, of which residents of the town and farmers of the surrounding country com plained. Its plant was near one of house would fill the tunnel with choking gas. A large traveling pub lic was thus rather forcibly impressed with tire apparent Justice of the coin, plaints, and general publio opinion correspondingly influenced in tbe controversy. "It was, of course, a very serious matter, and finally legal proceedings were started to compel the closing of the smelter plant. Laboratory work of mine relating to smoke and fumes excited the smelting company's atten tion, and soon a small electrical equipment installed on the dissolving house flue cured the trouble. "The principle on which the process was based was that of passing elec tric currents through the flue gases before they left the smokestacks of the works, thereby causing precipita tion of the objectionable matter from the gases. That little contrivance Is still in operation and is yielding sul phuric acid as a by-product of com mercial value. "If it had not been for legal pro ceedings against other smelting con cerns, what is known today as the precipitation process for getting rid of objectionable fumes and smoke might not be available today to In dustry and the publio generally. But when it came to be understood that means were available for mitigating nuisances of the kind, as well as re covering in many cases considerable values from the waste gasvs. smelters all over tbe west began to investigate the subject carefully which has led to adoption ot the method by many plants, partly as a matter ot bettor metallurgical efficiency and partly because courts and juries have In clined to the view that farmers were not demanding of the smelters any thing unreasonable when they In sisted upon thoroughly up-to-date equipment for fume control. "Perhaps one of the best Illustra tions ot the great expansion of the utilization ot the process from Its small beginnings Is a recent Installa tion at a copper mine in Montana. There one sees a stack thirty feet higher than the Washington monu ment and eighty-six feet In dlamuter, containing the equivalent of 6.S73.214 bricks, built expressly for the Instal lation cf the process. The smoke, con ducted through a vast flue system from the furnace. Is passed Into cham bers wherein hang 111 mlies ot chains electrified by a bih-tenslon current Its solid particles are repelled by the chains and adhere to large plates be tween which the chains are sus pended. When the plates have become thickly coated, the current Is shut off and the accumulated material falls into hoppers. By this means the gusra that go through the stack are 'swept' before Joining the outer atmospheie and several hundred tons of duit and fume are collected each day, having a value that runs Into tbe thousands of dollars." And Doctor Cottrell closed the In terview with these startling state ments, adding: ."It was this work dealing with smoke and fumes as a business of na tional Interest, Inasmuch as an ad justment between farmers and smelt ers In many parts of the country was Involved that originally led to my Joining the Bureau of Mines in Washington."' MARSE HENRY" WATTERSON AT 80 OPTIMISTIC ON FUTURE "Don't Worry, Even if Atlas Should Stumble and Drop the World," He ' Advises. The Best Way to the Editorial Chair Is Through the Ranks BT CHARLES W. DUKE. IS AMERICA going down hill? Have we climbed to the zenith of human endeavor in this mod ern civilization and started down the other side? "For 2000 years we have been building the world's most perfect civilization," said Colonel "Marse" Henry Wattereon, who has been called! "The Greatest Editor the South Ever Produced." "If h'story is to repeat itself," he added, "then, we have attained the pinnacle and are now bound the other Way." Eighty years ago, his hair and whiskers snow white, a falter in his step, but that hair-trigger brain of his still functioning as of old, this patriarch of American journalism was taking it easy in a Boft-cushioned chair In the foyer of a big New Tork hotel, a picture of comfort, when the writer "bumped"' into him. "Marse Henry had just dropped In from the Manhattan club, his favorite INew York nook, to meet Mrs. Watterson In time for lunch. . The question of the alleged im pending decline ot American civiliza tion was one of his own propounding. It had been arrived at after a few dissertations on world events, the high cost of living, the political situa tion and the league of nations.' Colo nel Watterson dismissed bolshevism. socialism and the democratic party with ene sweep of the hand. "I'm getting too old to meddle in such perplexing, things any more, he said. "But ours s somewhat of a difficult situation today. It is not a political situation, but 'rather a condition growing out of the war. It will take us some t'me to untangle and get back to normal." It was then he raised the 'ques t tioa of possible decadence after 2000 years of Christian civilization more particularly, after 300 years' construction of tbe North American republic known as the U. S. A "Well, what do you say?" was asked in turn. "Do .you think the world Is so topsy-turvy that It is headed down hill Inst ad of upward?" Colonel "Marse" parried. "Study history," be counseled. "Look at the Egyptian decline. Take up the Gre cian civilization; tnen tne Konran. In each case they bullded what was considered a perfect civilization. Each in turn represented something big ger and 'better than the world ever before tad known. Then they crumpled and fell. "Now we have been building our ' own for 'Z00Q years, if history may be taken as a criterion, then w are bound for a tumble. "Will it happen? How do I know? Bow does any one know? Time alone will answer. Walt and see; but in the meantime it might be a good thing to study the underlying reasons for the decay of other civilizations and take care lest we go the way of the rest of them. History, I tell you; study it Tou can learn a whole lot from it" In the meantime, "The gentleman from Kentucky" is not worrying a whole lot about the future. "It would be a terrible thing if we all knew Just what was going to happen," he added. "Just think what a fearful thing it would be if we all knew when we were going to die. "Don't worry that's my motto," he remarked. "I guess you might sum up my whole philosophy of life in that way. Worry won't get you any where. Just go along naturally and take things easy. I have worked hard in my time, but I never let work throw me." The colonel was reminded: he was looking exceedingly well on his SOth birthday. Tjooks are deceiving," he coun tered. "Don't you hear me puffing? I've just come over from the club and in a taxi, too but I'm blowing like a fellows. Can't stand much any more." The Wattersons were about to "take off" from Manhattan for their home in the south. The colonel ex plained he now sees little of his native heath out Kentucky way. Only small portion of the year is spent there. Their time is divided between New Tork and their winter home in Florida. No matter if Atlas stumble and fall, permitting the world to come crashing down, there ' is one virtue amid all the vices of today, accord ing to Colonel "Marse." . It is the modern newspaper. True to his old love, he maintains, with falcott Will lams, that, "taken as a whole, the newspaper was never better written and never d'd its work better in any of its fields than it is doing today. . Some one complained recently that reporting appeared today to be a lost art To this Colonel Watterson emphatically takes exception, declar ing the newspaper of the moment can not be excelled- in the matter of col lecting and presenting news. Where Is there anything to com pare with it?" he demanded. "Every mqrning at breakfast I read not only every th'ng ot - importance that has happened in my own town, in my own state, in m y o w n country, but throughout all the world. In what business field do they work faster and produce more substantial results than in v the modern newspaper of ficer' . Take it from "Marse" Henry, th best way Into the editorial chair is by way of the "local" room. The best editors are those who have come , I was bora aext door to a print afcoa aad grew np la a aewspaper office," Im Colonel Wattersoa'a proud boast. "First and last, I have filled every newspaper fnaetloa front galley bey to leading writer. I am proud of any calling and Jealoaa of Its moot '1 , III i' wmm ' IK ' np from the ranks of "cub" reporters sparring for "scoops." "Giv- me the 'cub' every time," he said, "rather than the long-hatred Intellectual when it comes to making editors. I'd much rather have the district reporter than the highbrow from college hill If I were molding an embryo- editor." Watterson 'came up from the local room. As & lad he was educated at the Episcopal academy In Philadel phia, where he gained his first edi torial experience as editor of the school paper. They badly bent their bylaws to continue him in office. After school, as a lad of 17 years, he went to MacMlnnvIlle, Tenn., and there started in Journalism as founder, publisher and editor of a weekly newspaper. But be was not for small town stuff, and at 13 years of age he sold his country newspaper and set forth for New Tork to embark upon the remaxkable career that car ried blra to the editorship of the Louisville (Ky.) Courlar-Journal and tbe title of "The Greatest Editor the South Ever Produced." "I was born next door to a print shop and grew up in' a newspaper office," Is the colonel's proud boast. First and last, I have filled every newspaper function, from galley boy to leader writer. I am proud of my calling and jealous ot its good name." "No game like it In all the world." he says. "A high calling no man can attain a higher sphere of use fulness but withal good sport, life, adventure, color, travel, temperament and all that. "Some people think of It as a stren uous game in which a man wear out before his time. Well. I'm stilt here and 30 years old. Just got out of the saddle recently. On the point bf longevity the newspaper man msy live as long as any other, provided he takes care of himself." Colonel Watterson complains they are not -making great -editors now adays; like they used to. He says there are no Qreeleys, no Danas, no Bowles. Medills and Haleteads. like there were in the old days when an editor could speak for a whole sec tion of the country, and whose opin ions could help shape party plat forms. He deplores the passing of "individualism" in this respect While airing bis own personal view In the matter the colonel took oc casion to say that "If I had my way I would abolish the average editorial page, for it Is nothing but flapdoodle." He says the people are thinking for themselves today. But when it comes to the straight news the modern journal is a marvel of 20th century perfection. He thinks You have to hand It to the boys. for they are getting out the news." which, from his point of view. Is the prime function of a newspaper. Scientist Explains Gravity's Hold on Atmosphere Air, If It Could Be Seen. Would Resemble Swarm of Uaals. SCIENTISTS say that to understand how the atmosphere is tied to the earth by gravitation, a mental pic ture of a gas, such as the air, must be formed. Can you call to mind the appear ance of a swarm of gnats dancing in a sunbeam and -how they flit to and fro and up and down with irregular motion? If your powers of sight could be increased about 10.000,000 times the air might present to to an ap pearance not unlike that swarm of gnats. For the air consists of in numerable particles (molecules) of di minutive size, flitting about and jos tling each other, now colliding like billiard balls, now flying apart, now hitting against the solid object of wblch tbe visible world is composed. "Just as would be the case with a jumble of billiard balls rolled at ran dom on the table, the Individual mo lecules have all kinds of different speeds;" explains Alfred J. Lotka In Popular Science Monthly. "But the average speed .of a large number of them is definite, and depends on tbe temperature. At 10 degrees Faren heit the average speed ot the mole cules of tbe air Is about 1600 feet, or something over one-fourth mils, per second. ' 'To shoot a body off the earth so that It will never return requires a velocity of about seven miles per sec ond. Tou will therefore see that a molecule of the air, at the average speed of 0 degrees, can never leave the earth. "The earth s gravitational pull falls off as the distance increases. A stone weighing one pound at tbe earth's surface, 4009 miles away from the center, will weigh only one-quarter of a pound If takeq to a point out la jipace 4000' miles from the surface or 8000 miles from the center. This la tbe law discovered by Newton. "But If, instead of going -out Into space, we make a d-r bore-hole In the arth, how will gravity vary as we go down? "If the earth were a uniform per fect sphere, gravity would decrease as you go down Into It But, as a matter of fact, the central portion of the earth Is more than twice as dense as the crust, and for this reason the weight of a body Increases as you go down; though, if you could go far enough, a point would undoubtedly be reached where gravity would begin to decrease, becoming zero at the earth's center."