Document g5VvLeYEzp6Ox0eR00zQybDN

SPEAKING The "thickened" fuel that made flamethrowers and incendiary bomba more effective Is now going to work for the power engineer. Aa a fuel igniter, it will bring a atoker, without kindling, from cold to operating steam pressure in half an hour. Developed by Esso for a large utility, the fuel igniter--diesel oil brought to a jellylike consistency with an aluminum soap--is expected to find wide use in the power-plant and railroad fields. Any engineer who has ever cheeked grate bars or stoker iron, exposed to high temperature* for long periods, knows that cast iron has an annoying property known, logically enough, as "growth." Now along come metallur gists of Battelle Memorial Institute with a cast iron thot does not warp or change dimensions when heated repeatedly to high temperature. This growth-reststont cost iron is high in silicon; minor amounts of copper and chromium ore added in casting to make it oxidation reaislatii at high temperature. _ Aa the first eold days bring thoughts of winter, cautious optimism prevails with respect to the fuel-oil situation. Demand looka to be about 7% higher than last year, but, if all goes well, sup ply should meet It. Remember, however. Service Yea tooth the switch and the light comet on ITlth never a teink't delay The filament glows end the darkening ream It lighted at bright as day. This it the stuff that can't be stored It has to be made right new This instant mien end machines must work For you, somewhere, somehow. You need not know and you may not core Tho "whjT of the switch you flip But the work of a thousand men is there right at your finger tip. Hot helter-skelter nor hit-and-miss But timed to so true a pace That your dock keeps time <u the eery stars Bight there on your mantel place. The power plant's work is little or big As your arc is great or small But <Vs always there to serve your need At a roach of the twitch on tAs wall. B S CLARK OF POWER that availability of fuel oil in any specific area depends on transportation and storage. It's a good idea to 6gure there will be "spot" shortages this win ter oa there were last, though probably fewer, and act accordingly. Facing a power-supply deficit during industrial working hours in winter months, Cleveland Electrie Illuminat ing Co hopes to balanee supply and de mand through a cooperative load-shift program. Asked to help are 350 large users (200-kw demand and over) i their share--reducing load 15% during work ing hours by shifting part of opera tions to other hours or weekends. For its part, CEICO will (1) hold controlla ble power use in its own plants to offpeak hours (2) by agreement, reduce load of two largest industrial customers on shod notice, when necessary (3) re duce voltage to extent practicable. Meanwhile CEICO presses a 330,000kw construction program. ** Widely bailed as a revolutionary ad vance, continuous easting of steel has been announced jointly by Republio Steel Corp and Babcock & Wilcox Tube Co. In conventional steelmaking, the open-bearth furnace converts pig iron to steel, which is poured into Ingot molds. Aftet soaking, ingots are stripped, cleaned, and reduced by rolling to blooms, billets and other secondary shapes ready for further fabrication into finished products Elim inating some of the costliest and most cumbersome. mill equipment, the new method - takes molten sleet from the open hearth, and, in ona continuous operation, forms billets, cools and cuts them to ony desired length, ready for secondary fabrication. Savings of ol least 13.00 per ton are expected, with higher production. * Productivity continues to rise as our coal mines are more completely mech anized. Latest figures (1947) show that almost 60% of coal mined underground is mechanically looded. This Is one reason a U. S. miner can .produce 5.2 tons of bituminous per shift, against 1.2 tons over the same/period for his leas wellequipped British counterpart. Researchers of Sinclair Refining? have discovered a run inhibitor:'j such effectiveness and stability ihs| |^, than three gallons added to 1000 bblaj a petroleum product at the refinery jflj provide protection to the point o| ^ use. The material, known as RD-lle creates on metal surfaces an Indict, polymolecular protective layer prevents contact with air and nwlitare. Developed to protect pipelines tuba corrosion from petroleum products flowing through them, the lasting quB. ties of this Inhibitor will provide the same protection for the customer's stor age tanks, piping and oil-using equip ment. It is expected that RD-119 w{Q t* licensed to other oil companies. E A Roberts, ol Carlsbad, N. M. telli about being called in by the local banker to have a look at the Betadriven adding machine back when ink. contrivances were new. Although they kept books lor years in the old-lathioned way, the bookkeepers were oo* dependent on the machine Against E A'a better judgment, he wss talked into trying to fix the machine to aitthe time it would lake to tend to btsd-; quarters for e service man. His doobtv about bis ability to fia such a coapta device were relieved somewhat by tbs ease with which he was oble to remove the cover end expose the working parts* But his newfound confidence took s' thudding dive when he ran ocress a tip, that said, with obvious aptness, "DO NOT ALLOW THE VILLAGE TINE** ERER TO CO IN HERB WITH A SCREWDRIVER" . . . THIS MONTH'S COVER Tble Interesting pattern of tuba caught McCrnw-Hlil photogisph Syd Karton'i eye In tbe eoorse ol Pown assignment at the J*** Roppert brewery In New York. H* took the picture, left it *0 editor* to say joit wbst hi* esewrs had recorded. Here'* the oopjj* Tbe operator I* Inspecting e water-inlet end of foot lorge m* . tleal theibend-tube ammonia s**1 denser*, pan of the brewery's ml* refrigeration pfonL The bown (one In operator'* hand) ^ ten In the long "working* tbe eondenier ol the tuba which I* about o fool below the W of tbe obeli. These nab lobes perforated near tbe bottom to I*** end distribute cooling- watrf the imerior of the main tab** 94 (700) POWER Novomb*' ^ PULVUM1IR COAL FHDIRJ ore on opctoting floor. Each boiler has 3 burners In back end front walls BOILER CONTROL PANEL for boiler. No. 7 ond 9 lot.. puhrorlMr l~dm ,howr' plc'U, bV" Continued on page 98