LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
Class
The
Collection and Disposal
of
Municipal Waste
Bv
Wm. F. Morse
\^
Consulting Engineer
Member of Boston Society of Civil Engineers (Sanitary Section)
Member Franklin Institute of Philadelphia ; Member
of the American Public Health Association
FIRST EDITION
Publishers:
The Municipal Journal and Engineer
231-241 West 39th Street
New York
Copyright, 1908
By
WM. F. MORSfc
TO THE AMERICAN MUNICIPALITIES
190819
PREFACE.
THE subject of waste collection and disposal in American and
Canadian municipalities has from the first been a perplexing and
difficult problem of municipal administration. It has not been
given the attention bestowed upon other branches of municipal
service, but most cities have followed the primitive methods in
use from the settlement of the country and along lines that are
now proven too unsatisfactory and too insanitary to be continued.
There is an increasing demand that more economical and sani-
tary results be obtained in this class of work, and to secure these
it seems to be necessary that improved methods be employed,
larger sums of money spent, and that the plants be designed and
operated under more scientific and expert supervision.-
In this work the author presents, in as compact a form as pos-
sible, data gathered by him during nearly twenty-one years of
continuous work along these lines, together with information col-
lected from scattered reports, papers, and a great variety of other
sources.
The purpose of the author is to give a slight historical sketch
of the work in the North American communities from the time
when the subject first assumed general importance, about 1885,
down to the present time. It is also 'his purpose to present an
account of the various methods of waste collection and disposal
that are in use in this country, together with a comparison of
the older with the more modern systems of collection and waste
treatment. There is also a short account of the progress of the
work of refuse disposal in other countries of the world, for
which th.e author is indebted to Mr. W. Francis Goodrich, of
London.
The author begs to acknowledge the assistance of Mr. C.
vi PREFACE.
Herschel Koyl and Mr. F. C. Tryon for papers upon special
phases of the utilization .and disposal question.
The thanks of the author are tendered for the assistance of
other gentlemen — Mr. Rudolph Hering, Mr. J. T. Fetherston,
Mr. X. H. Goodenough, Mr. J. H. Gregory, Mr. F. K. Rhines
and Mr. W. J. Springborn for reports upon work in their several
localities.
It is hoped that this book may be of assistance to those in-
terested in the subject, and perhaps help to solve some of the
many problems connected with the collection of waste and its
disposal in American communities.
WILLIAM F. MORSE.
New York City, Oct., 1908.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PART I.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRESENT CONDITIONS OF WASTE COLLECTION
AND DISPOSAL IN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES i
The means of collection and disposal ; by individual service ; by licensed
collector; by contract service; by municipal agency. Statistics of garbage
collection in many towns.
Disposal by feeding to swine; tipping into water; dumping and earth
burial. Insanitary conditions of dumps and dumping grounds. Sorting
at dumps. General prevailing conditions.
CHAPTER II.
THE CLASSIFICATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTES 13
The terminology of the subject. Classification of the American Public
Health Association. English division of wastes. Subdivision of American
wastes. Definition of garbage by various cities. Refuse and ashes. Ex-
creta ; collection, disposition and statistics. Dead animals and offal. Street
sweepings. Trade and industrial waste.
Quantities and proportions of waste. Reports of New York City com-
mission. Tables of population, loads, volume, weights and amounts per
capita. Composition of waste according to seasonal variations. Reports
of Boston commission. Tables of population and quantities. Methods
of collection and disposal. Syracuse garbage collection. Collection
statistics of the general Government. Reasons for separate garbage
collection. Analysis of separated parts of waste. Garbage ; its composition,
analysis, weight and fertilizing properties. Agricultural utilization
methods. Refuse as distinguished from rubbish. New York sanitary
code. Proportion of refuse and rubbish in five cities. Volume and value
of refuse.
CHAPTER III.
MUNICIPAL REFUSE AND RUBBISH COLLECTION AND DISPOSITION 46
First refuse utilization station in New York. Returns and percentages
recovered.' Boston refuse utilization station and its refuse destructor.
vii
viii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Forty-seventh Street Station, New York; amounts and composition.
Delancey Street Station; description and reports. Collection and final
disposition of refuse in Brooklyn. Buffalo refuse utilization station.
Refuse disposal at Lowell, Mass.
CHAPTER IV.
MUNICIPAL ASHES. COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL 77
Ashes from various coals. Analysis of ashes in New York; percentage
of unburned coal, clinker and fine ash and values. Ashes from other
wastes. Garbage ashes ; quantity, analysis and value. Refuse ash, analysis
and amounts. Street sweepings and stable manure. Approximate values
in the combined and in the separated items of waste. Methods for utiliza-
tion of these. Reasons for utilizing values in waste. Final disposition of
mixed municipal waste.
PART II.
THE DISPOSAL OF AMERICAN MUNICIPAL WASTE BY
CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
CHAPTER V.
METHODS OF WASTE DISPOSAL IN AMERICAN TOWNS BY INCINERATION 96
Historical sketch of early work. Control of the health officer of towns.
American Public Health Association ; its committees ; their reports and
papers. Business development. Lack of accurate data in early installa-
tions. City engineers. Earliest garbage furnaces at Allegheny City,
Montreal, Wheeling, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Norfolk, Richmond, Trenton,
Atlantic City, San Francisco, with reports of operation. Operating condi-
tions of the American crematories and incinerators.
CHAPTER VI.
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF AMERICAN MUNICIPAL CREMATORIES 114
From 1885 to May, 1908, with notes and observations.
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF CREMATORIES INSTALLED BY U. S. GOVERNMENT.
Notes.
LIST OF GARBAGE CREMATORIES AT PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS.
Notes.
Number of unsuccessful furnaces. Reasons for municipal failures.
Share of responsibility of municipal officers. An engineering problem.
Action of several cities in appointing commissions. Reasons for slow
progress.
TABLE OF CONTENTS. ix
PAGE
CHAPTER VII.
AMERICAN GARBAGE CREMATORIES 145
Need for a better classification of garbage furnaces. Terms now em-
ployed. Proposed classification. American garbage crematories and their
inventors. Engle Sanitary & Cremation Company. Dixon Sanitary Cre-
matory Company. Davis Garbage Furnace Company. Morse-Boulger
Garbage Destructor. Municipal Engineering Company. The Standard
Construction Company. National Equipment Company.
CHAPTER VIII.
AMERICAN CREMATORIES. (Continued.) 168
American Garbage Cremator Company. Brownlee Garbage Furnace.
Bridgeport Boiler Works. Smith-Siemens Garbage Fprnace. Seaboard
Garbage Cremator Company. Decarie Manufacturing Company. Dundon
Incinerating Garbage Furnace. Bennett Garbage Crematory. Garbage
Crematory of Lewis & Kitchen. Thackeray Incinerating Company.
Universal Destructor Company.
CHAPTER IX.
PORTABLE CREMATORIES. CALORIFIC VALUES OF WASTE MATERIALS. FORMS OF
AMERICAN FURNACE CONSTRUCTION 194
Portable garbage crematories of Fellenbaum, McClelland, de Berard and
Smead. New York City portable rubbish incinerator. Traveling destruc-
tors of British builders. Calorific Values of Municipal Waste. Table of
quantities, proportions and values in combined and separated waste. Table
of theoretical coal equivalents. Calorific values according to seasonal
variations. Range of values as compared with coal. Calorific values of
other waste material. Conclusion of American furnace work.
PART III.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR
SYSTEMS.
CHAPTER X.
HIGH TEMPERATURE REFUSE DESTRUCTORS 206
The classification of destructors. American conditions. Destructors in
American practice. Examples of successful work in this country. Division
of destructors into groups. The cell group of British destructors. Air
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
supply. Utilization of heat. Continuous grate destructors. Heat regener-
ation for air supply. Chimneys and dust prevention. Delivery of waste
to the destructors. Disposal of residuums. Quantities consumed per grate
or cell. Nuisances dependent upon temperature. Gradual development
of high temperature in destructors. The operation of destructors without
nuisance. Meldrum Simplex Destructors at Westmount, Seattle and
Schenectady. Heenan and Froude Destructors at Vancouver and New
Brighton. The Power Specialty Company.
CHAPTER XL
BRITISH DESTRUCTORS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD 262
Special article by W. Francis Goodrich, M. I. C. E. First English
destructor. Destructors combined with departments of municipal service.
Sewerage disposal works. Uses of clinker. Results in power production
for electricity works. Destructors combined with water works. Conti-
nental progress in destructor installations. Germany, Switzerland, Bel-
gium, Denmark, Russia, France. Progress in the East. Egypt, India,
Siam, Singapore. Progress in Australia, Melbourne, Prahran, Anandale,
Wellington, Auckland, Sydney. In South Africa and South America.
Table of distribution of British destructors throughout the world.
PART IV.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION AND EXTRACTION
PROCESS.
CHAPTER XII.
THE PROCESSES OF REDUCTION AND EXTRACTION IN THE U. S 290
Sanitation in American towns. Necessity for improved methods. Be-
ginning of movement in 1885. Treatment of garbage by reduction
methods. Merz process. First plant at Buffalo. Description of apparatus.
New Merz process. Chicago Merz plant the latest installation.
CHAPTER XIII.
MERZ PROCESS. (Continued.) SIMONIN PROCESS 309
At St. Paul, Milwaukee, Paterson, St. Louis, Columbus. Reports on
conditions in Columbus and estimated cost of construction. Simonin Ex-
traction Process, at Providence. Notes on feeding municipal garbage to
swine. Simonin process at Cincinnati and New Orleans,
TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi
PAGB
CHAPTER XIV.
ARNOLD REDUCTION PROCESS IN BOST' // AND NEW YORK 332
Three Boston plants. Solvay process for the recovery of ammonia.
General disposal work in Boston. Waste disposal in New York City.
Reports of earlier commissions on waste disposal. Col. Waring's investi-
gation of garbage treatment, Beginning of garbage reduction by the
Arnold process in New York City. Barren Island reduction plant; de-
scription; sanitary questions involved. Result of Col. Waring's work as
Commissioner of Street Cleaning.
CHAPTER XV.
ARNOLD REDUCTION PROCESS IN NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA, BALTIMORE AND
ATLANTIC CITY , 354
Renewal of contracts in New York and Brooklyn. Accidents by fire
and flood at Barren Island plant. Continuation of contracts for disposal.
Disposal of garbage and refuse in Borough of Bronx. Garbage disposal
in Borough of Richmond. Preliminary studies of conditions and reports.
Specifications for destructor. Establishment of destructor plant for gar-
bage disposal. Arnold reduction plant at Philadelphia. Ashes and refuse
of Philadelphia. Contracts for reduction by the Arnold process at Balti-
more and Atlantic City. Early methods of disposal at Washington. •
Crematories and the Smith-Siemens incinerator. The Arnold method at
Newark and Wilmington.
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAMBERLAIN OR LIQUID SEPARATING PROCESS ; OTHER PROCESSES 373
Washington, D. C, plant of the Chamberlain process. First plant at
Detroit. Description of apparatus. Indianapolis plant. Chamberlain
process at Cincinnati. Holthaus Reduction Process at Bridgeport, Syra-
cuse and New Bedford. Weislogel Process. Plant at Vincennes ; descrip-
tion of apparatus. American Reduction Company at Reading and York.
Penn Reduction Process at Rochester.
CHAPTER XVII.
EDSON REDUCTION PROCESS ; CLEVELAND MUNICIPAL PLANT ; AMERICAN EXTRAC-
TOR PROCESS 395
Dayton plant. Municipal reduction plant at Cleveland. Description of
works. Report of operation, and results. Financial statement for years
1905-6-7. American Extractor Company Process at New Bedford. Resume
of reduction and extraction processes. Arguments in favor of reduction
systems.
xii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
PART V.
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
CHAPTER XVIII.
REVENUE TO BE HAD FROM WASTE MATERIALS. METHODS OF UTILIZATION 420
Refuse recovery by sorting. The sanitary questions involved. Refuse
for power production. The paper manufactured in the United States.
Need for return of waste paper from cities. The commercial value of
garbage. Municipal reduction plants. The utilization of waste for steam
power. Comparison of crematory and destructor methods. Operating
costs. Municipal ashes and coal recovered. Special article by C. H. Koyl,
C.E. The utilization of waste by gas producers. Special article by F. C.
Tryon, C.E. Utilization by crushing and manufacture into fuel. The
present situation of waste disposal in this country.
LIST OF TABLES.
TABLE No. PAGE
I. Night-Soil Collection and Disposal 17
II. Areas and Population of the Five Boroughs of New
York City 20
III. Quantities of Waste Collected by Cart Loads, New York
City 20
IV. Quantities of Waste by Volume, New York City 20
V. Quantities by Weight, New York City 21
VI. Average Weights of Refuse, New York City 21
VII. Weights per Capita, New York City 22
VIII. Average per Capita for Three Years, New York City. ... 22
IX. Composition of Household Refuse by weight, New
Brighton 22
X. Household Refuse as Collected, New Brighton, N. Y 23
XI. Garbage Collection, Syracuse 24
XII. Average Daily Refuse Collection, Boston 28
XIII. Average Weekly Refuse Collection, Boston 29
XIV. Average Yearly Refuse Collection, Boston 31
XV. Refuse Collections in Boston and New York City Com-
pared 32
XVI. Collection Statistics, U. S. Government 35
XVII. Percentage Composition of Garbage 37
XVIII. Chemical Analysis of Garbage 37
XIX. Approximate Percentage of Refuse in Whole Collection . . 43
XX. Returns from i6th St. Refuse Station, New York City ... 47
*^ XXI. Percentage of Salable Portions in One Hundred Parts
Refuse 48
XXII. Quantities received at Refuse Disposal Station, Boston. . 52
XXIII. Quantities received at 4yth St. Station, New York City. . 57
XXIV. Quantities Sorted, 47th St. Station, New York City 57
. . XXV. Test for Steam Power, 47th St. Station, New York City. . 57
XXVI. Volume and Weights of Refuse, New York City 58
- XXVII. Evaporative Tests, Delancey St. Station, New York City. 63 ,
XXVIII. Quantities of Refuse and Disposition, Buffalo 73
XXIX. Quantities of Refuse, Four Years, Lowell 75
XXX. Analysis and Heating Values American Coal 77
XXXI. Analysis of Ashes of Anthracite Coal 78
XXXII. Heating Power and Value of Waste Coal 79
XXXIII. Analysis of Destructor Ashes 80
XXXIV. Analysis of Garbage Ash and Wood Ashes . . . ; 82
xiii
XIV
LIST OF TABLES.
TABLE No.
XXXV.
XXXVI.
XXXVII.
XXXVIII.
XXXIX.
XL.
XLI.
XLII.
XLIII.
XLIV.
XLV.
XLVI.
XLVII.
XLVIII.
XLIX.
L.
LI.
LII.
LIII.
LIV.
LV.
LVI.
LVII.
LVIII.
LIX.
LX.
LXI.
LXII.
LXIII.
LXIV.
LXV.
LXVI.
LXVII.
LXVIII.
LXIX.
LXX.
/
PAGE:
Ashes from One Ton of Refuse and Rubbish 84
Analysis of Street Sweepings and Stable Manure 87
Values of Recoverable Coal and Refuse 87
Approximate Values of Municipal Waste 87
Analysis of Garbage Tankage 89
Chronological List of American Garbage Crematories
from 1885 114
List of Garbage Crematories of U. S. Government 126
List of Garbage Furnaces at Public Institutions and
Business Establishments 129
Consolidated Table of Calorific Values 203
Theoretical Values in Equivalent Coal 204
Calorific Values per Pound for Different Periods 204 -~
Laboratory Analysis Steam Ashes 205
Range of Calorific Values of Waste 206
Calorific Values of Various Wastes 208
Tests, Harlan & Wolfe Destructor, Belfast 208
Official Test, Westmount Destructor 243
Operating Costs, Westmount Destructor 247
Report on Seattle Destructor 252
Report on Heenan Destructor, Vancouver 255
Summary of Official Tests, West New Brighton 261
Twelve Combined Destructor and Sewage Works 267
Watford Combined Sewage and Destructor Plant 267
Report on Eccles Destructor 268
Powder Production, Electricity and Destructor Works ... 272
British Destructors Throughout the World 283
Report on Praharn Destructor 285
Equivalent Coal in Garbage 302
Average Monthly Collection, Milwaukee 303
Average Daily Collection, Milwaukee 303
Collection Statistics, Columbus 3 1 6
Construction and Operating Expense, Columbus 317
Collection and Disposal, Philadelphia 367
Collection Costs, Rochester .... 392
Collection of Ashes, Rochester 392
Income and Expenses, Cleveland Reduction Plant 401
Summary Sales and Inventory, Cleveland Reduction
Plant -403
Quantities Garbage Delivered, Cleveland Reduction
Plant 403
Cost Collection and Disposal per Ton, Cleveland Reduc-
tion Plant . . 404
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIGURE PAGE
1. The Refuse Utilization Station, Boston 49
2. Receiving Room and Conveyor, Boston 49
3. Power and Hand Presses, Boston 50
4. Conveyor, Destructor and Boiler, Boston 51
5. The Forty-seventh St. Refuse Station, New York City 54
6. Conveyor and Sorting Bins, 47th St. Station, New York City. ... 55
7. Charging the Incinerator, 47th St. Station, New York City. ....". 56
8. The Delancey St. Refuse Disposal Station, New York City '59
9. Conveyor and Sorting Bins, Delancey St., New York City 60
10. Unloading of Scows at Sea, New York City 62
n. Tipping Ashes and Rubbish into Scows, New York City 65
12. The Carts for Ash Collection, Brooklyn and New York City 66
13. Ash Bins Removed by Trolley, Brooklyn 66
14. Method of Discharging Ash Bins, Brooklyn. 68
i 5. Rubbish Incinerator, South Brooklyn 69
1 6. The Refuse Utilization Station, Buffalo 70
17. Tipping Floor and Conveyor, Buffalo 71
1 8. Conveyor and Sorting Bins, Buffalo 71
19. Destructor and Boiler, Buffalo 72
20. First Garbage Crematory in U. S., Governors Island, N. Y 101
21. Engle Cremators, World's Fair, Chicago 104
22. Original Engle Cremator 149
23. The Latest Engle Cremator 151
24. The Dixon Crematory, Direct Draft i 53
25. The Dixon Crematory, Return Draft 1 54
26. The Dixon Crematory, Exterior Steel Case 1 54
27. The Dixon Crematory, Fort Wayne, Ind 155
28. The Dixon Crematory, Lexington, Ky 156
29. Davis Garbage Furnace ; 157
30. Thackeray Garbage :Incinerator i 58
3 1 . Boulger Crematory, First Design 159
32. Boulger Crematory, Latest Design 160
33. Morse-Boulger Destructor 161
34. Municipal Engineering Co. Crematory 162
35. Wright Garbage Incinerating Furnace 164
36. Branch Garbage Incinerator 166
3 7 . Brown Garbage Cremator 1 68
38. Brownlee Garbage Furnace 1 71
39. H. B. Smith Garbage Crematory 172
xv
xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIGURE PAGE
40. Smith- Siemens Garbage Furnace 174
41. Vivarttas Garbage Furnace 177
42. Decarie Garbage Incinerator 179
43. Decarie Fume Cremator 180
44. Decarie Garbage Incinerator, Latest Form 181
45. Sanitary Engineering Co. Garbage Crematory 184
46. F. P. Smith Crematory (Plan) 185
47. F. P. Smith Crematory, Longitudinal Section 186
48. F. P. Smith Incinerator, Longitudinal Section 187
49. Cross Section and Exterior, Smith Incinerator 189
50. Morse Destructor Furnace . . . . . 192
51. De Berard Portable Crematory 196
52. Smead Travelling Crematory 198
53. Meldrum Portable Destructor 200
54. Horsfall Portable Destructor 201
55. Fryer Cell Destructor 221
56. Beaman & Deas Cell Destructor 222
57. Horsfall Cell Destructor 223
58. Warner Cell Destructor 224
59. Sterling Double Cell Destructor 225
60. Meldrum Continuous Grate Destructor (Plan) 227
61. Meldrum Destructor with Boiler (Section) 228
62. Meldrum Destructor (Cross Section) 229
63. Meldrum Destructor (Lancashire Boiler) 230
64. Heenan & Froude Continuous Grate Destructor (Plan and
Section) 231
65. Heenan & Froude Destructor 232
66. Combined Electricity Works and Refuse Destructor, Westmount 241
67. Hopper and Charging Holes, Westmount 245
68. Front of Destructor, Westmount 245
69. Boiler of Destructor, Westmount 246
70. Plan of Destructor, Westmount 248
71. Cross Section of Destructor, Westmount 248
72. Exterior Destructor Building, Seattle 249
73. Front of Destructor Building, Seattle 250
74. The Meldrum Destructor, Seattle 251
75. The Heenan & Froude Destructor, Vancouver 254
76. Heenan & Froude Destructor, New Brighton 257
77. Front of Destructor, New Brighton 258
78. Plan and Sections, Destructor, New Brighton 259
79. First Destructor Cells, Great Britain 263
80. Thirty Years' Progress with British Destructors 265
81. Destructor with Lancashire Boiler 268
82. One Day Record Steam Pressure (Watford) 269
83. Destructor at Stoke-on-Trent 274
84. Destructor, Borough of Woolwich, London. 274
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xvii
FIGURE PAGE
85 Destructor at Annandale Australia 280
85. Destructor at Christchurch, New Zealand 280
87 Destructor at Johannesburg. South Africa 281
83, Destructor at Prahran. Australia 285
87. Mortar Mill and Clinker Separator. Prahran 287
93 Meldrum Destructor. Paris 288
91. The Weislogel Reduction Plant. Jacksonville .... 387
92 The Reduction Works of American Extractor Co,, New Bedford . . 406
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
OF
L! FOR tilt*
t
PART I.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
CHAPTER I.
THE PRESENT CONDITIONS OF WASTE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL
IN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES.
The production of waste and effete matter is the penalty of
living. Everything that enters into the life of the person which
by assimilation sustains Nature, or becomes a part of his environ-
ment, is subject to change and the gradual process of decay, and
must be removed, since its accumulation will inevitably produce
annoyance, discomfort and insanitary conditions tending to shorten
life.
If this be true of individual cases, it applies still more closely
when individuals are gathered into families and communities
and the larger associations of towns and cities; hence, the need
for cleanliness, as applied to the whole body politic, becomes im-
perative for the common protection.
Taking the family as the unit of communal life, there was at
first no trouble in the disposal of waste matters; as the com-
munity increased in numbers, the primitive methods of dealing
with effete matter, used by the individual and the family, were
extended and enlarged to meet the increased production. The
garbage was fed to swine or dumped on the nearest vacant
ground, into adjacent swamps or ravines, or thrown into the
nearest stream or ocean bay. No particular care or oversight
was exercised; none was at first thought to be needed, the chief
purpose being to get the material out of sight, if possible out of
mind, at the least cost and trouble.
FEEDING TO SWINE.
In the rural districts and smaller towns, each family kept a pig,
raised on the family swill and slaughtered at the approach of cold
I
2 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
weather. As population increased this became objectionable,
and the swill was often given away for the cost of removal, and
afterwards sold to farmers as food for stock. As the municipali-
ties became alive to the need for public collection and removal,
they arranged with contractors for its regular collection, or al-
loxwed these to make private terms with the individual citizen.
his was almost the universal custom in New England towns
and is still the method there most commonly used. /UlLJto 1884,
Boston sold the whole of its swill collection for delivery by wagon
and train to farmers in Massachusetts,, New Hampshire and
Vermont.^ With the exception of four years, 1890-94, Providence
has always sold its garbage, as do Pawtucket, Fall River, Taunton,
Brockton, Newton, Cambridge, Brookline, Somerville, Maiden,
Lynn, Lawrence, Salem, Haverhill, Chelsea, Lowell, Springfield,
Holyoke, New Haven, New Britain, and many smaller places.
Several of the Western cities — St. Paul, Denver, Omaha, Sag-
maw, Bay City, Superior, Cedar Rapids — continue this custom.
The city of Worcester, Mass., maintains a municipal hog-farm,
from which it derives a very considerable revenue. In 1903 the
return from the sale of pork, pigs, tallow, etc., was $11,941. The
cost of collection of garbage was $18,140. 'The appropriation
from the city was $6,000, which represents the net cost of collec-
tion and disposal for the year.
This custom of feeding is advocated by some health officials
as being economical, not more objectionable than some methods
of reduction or cremation and capable of being carried on with
profit, and very little or no nuisance, if proper attention be given
to transportation and feeding. The cost at Providence for collec-
tion and removal of garbage has averaged, for thirteen years, i$l/2
cents per capita per annum. In other towns the profit from the
sale of garbage or from the sale of swine fed by the contractor,
reduces the cost of collection one-third to one-half.
But there are some drawbacks to this admittedly economical
system. Milk from badly nourished cows fed on swill is poor
in quality, often offensive to taste and smell, and is condemned
by nearly every health authority. Garbage-fed pork is liable to
trichinosis, as shown by the reports of the Massachusetts State
Board of Health (1889) when thirteen per cent, of hogs fed on
the public garbage of Boston were subject to this disease, a far
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 3
larger proportion than is found in Western swine. The dumping
of municipal garbage in large amounts on open ground for feed-
ing is attended with consequences objectionable in the highest
degree. No one who has been at these feeding grounds in hot
weather, and seen the process, can say it is sanitary. The clouds
of flies and insects, the multiplied streams of the lowest forms
of animal life radiating from heaps of fermenting swill, the
nauseating odors arising from the polluted, trampled ground, all
unite to create nuisance. It has sometimes happened that epi-
demics of hog cholera have swept away the whole herd, entailing
expense for their disposal and renewal.
The chief claim for this means of disposal is on the score of 7
economy, since it appears to be almost the only way as yet
devised by which a town can recover some return for the outlay
for collection and disposal. The foremost advocate of this
method, after stating the arguments for and against the practice,
says, "By this attempt to minimize the evil of the disposal of
garbage by feeding to swine, the writer does not intend to main-
tain that it is a desirable method, and would simply venture the
opinion that, under certain conditions, it is not a very bad
method."
The smaller cities are not alone in this way of treatment. The
large hotels and restaurants of New York City sell their garbage
to. private parties as food for stock. The collection is made, under
permit from the Health Department, in barrels conveyed in
large covered water-tight wagons, an empty barrel being left to
take the place of each full one removed. All collections are made
at night or in the early morning hours. The swill is emptied into
large kettles, where it is cooked for twenty-four hours, or until s
the return of the wagons on the following day. The grease v_J
rising to the top is skimmed off, pressed, and run into barrels for
sale, the remaining contents being fed to pigs or cattle, mixed
for the latter with hay or bran. I This cooking is essential to fit
the swill for feeding. Formerly, the high price of grease yielded
a profit from this source alone, but at 2,^/2. cents per pound it is
claimed that the grease product fails to pay the cost of the coal
burned. The quantity of garbage thus treated is estimated at
30,000 tons per year.
4 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
THE INDIVIDUAL METHOD OF DISPOSAL.
Those who pay any attention to the subject are familiar with
garbage dumps in all stages of beginning, growth and completion,
since there is no release from the ever present evil. In the
early days of any town, the vacant lots in the suburbs are gar-
nished with all sorts of refuse matter, until some strong objection
is made by the property owner. As the town grows, this refuse
is consolidated at convenient points where low ground offers an
excuse or roads need to be raised in grade. The dumps then
include putrescible matter which under the hot sun of summer
gives out noxious odors. A ravine or valley on the line of a
small stream becomes a favorite place of deposit, or ground
excavated for sand, clay, gravel or stone offers a favorable point
because a large quantity can be disposed of in a small area. The
cartmen, being under no restriction, select the nearest place to
dump their loads, where there is least trouble or objection. Some-
times ashes or earth covers the surface, but as it is nobody's
business to see that the dumps are kept covered, nobody cares
much for the consequences.
THE LICENSE SYSTEM.
Under pressure of complaints and with an increasing knowl-
edge of better sanitary conditions, the town authorities regulate
the dumping of putrescible matters, place the service under in-
spection of the Health Department, and license certain cartmen
to collect and remove the waste. It is usually made obligatory
to employ these men, the cost of the work being paid by the
individual householder according to the objectionable character
of the waste, the quantity, and the distance it must be hauled
for dumping. As the population increases, the expenses rise. If
there are no sewers, the night-soil collection and removal adds
to the burden. Those who are ready and willing to encourage
civic cleanliness are, in a sense, compelled to pay for the whole,
for many refuse to avail themselves of a service which should
be employed by all. (The dumps are often a serious interference
with the rights of adjoining property holders, and further re-
moval from the town entails more cost for service and inspection.
The number of collectors increases, it is difficult to establish and
maintain a satisfactory standard for equipment of carts and
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 5
apparatus, and as the town continues to grow, this service be-
comes unwieldly and unsatisfactory.
THE CONTRACT SYSTEM.
Succeeding the system by licensed collectors comes the method
of collection and disposal of city wastes by contract for a specific
term. This may include the whole or a part of the waste ; usually
it includes the garbage only, leaving the ashes and rubbish to be
dealt with by the licensed men or by private contract.
The service is performed daily, or every other day, for the
thickly settled part of the town, and bi-weekly for the remainder.
The contract provides for a standard equipment of carts, to be
kept clean, the collection to be made without nuisance, the dis-
posal to be at places designated, or by satisfactory apparatus.
The contract system is the most convenient way for the authori-
tiesT but less efficient than the municipal service. Under stress of
competition, the contractor is often compelled to work for a
small margin of profit, yielding poor service and giving rise to \
complaints. There is, in fact, but a limited responsibility, the
contractor seeking to do the least possible work for the greatest
payment. But this is often the only way the work can be done,
and when performed under vigilant inspection and rigid enforce-
ment of terms of contract, fairly good service can be secured.
THE MUNICIPAL SYSTEM.
In this case the town does all the work with its own equipment
and employees. The preliminary expenses are large, but the
force can often be used for other municipal work, dividing the
cost. The responsibility for cleanly work is better defined, com-
plaints are more promptly attended to, and with good executive
officers the employees can be brought to take pride in their work
and give the most efficient service. jWhile most of the larger cities "~
and towns have municipal service, and many smaller ones the
contract or licensed methods, the greater number of places still
use the primitive ways of treating waste. There is no rule of
general application .to methods of waste collection, but there is
an evident preference for the municipal system if it can be had
at not too great a cost. .One eminent authority says :[_^ There ap-
pears to be a well-nigh unanimous demand on the part of health
officers, and oftentimes of the public generally, fpj the municipal
6 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
collection of garbage." If municipal ownership be of advantage
in other civic departments, it certainly should be in this, so inti-
mately connected as it is with the health and comfort of the public.
TIPPING INTO WATER.
Towns on the seaboard, that could conveniently do so, formerly
dumped everything overboard, regardless of consequences. New
York City for many years sent outside the harbor thousands
of tons of waste which ultimately floated to neighboring shores
and gave rise to endless complaints. This was stopped, in part,
by Col. G. E. Waring, and of late has wholly ceased, except when
the work of disposal is interrupted by fires, or other accidents at
the reduction plant. The garbage is now reduced at the Barren
Island plant of the Sanitary Reduction Company, the ashes and
street sweepings deposited behind bulkheads at Riker's Island and
the rubbish partly sorted out and burned and partly dumped with
the ashes. With few exceptions, all the northern seaboard towns
now deal with their wastes on their own land. But jNewport and
Lynn send their garbage to sea, ano^ Boston annually . deposits
outside its harbor 122,000 loads of ashes and street sweepings.
Many of the inland cities on the great rivers continue to use
the primitive method of stream dumping. A report made by the
I Health Commissioner of a Western city, some years ago, gave
ngures of startling magnitude. According to this "eight cities
dumped into the Mississippi River, 152,675 tons of garbage,
manure and offal, 108,250 tons of night-soil and 3,765 animals.
Four cities on the Missouri River discharged 36,110 tons of
garbage, 22,400 tons of night-soil and 31,160 dead animals. Five
cities on the Ohio River dumped 46,700 tons of garbage, 21,150
tons of night-soil and 5,100 dead animals."
The present situation on the great rivers is somewhat improved,
but St. Louis still continues to dump annually 179,000 loads of
rubbish and street dirt into the river; while many towns use the
Mississippi and Missouri rivers as a common receptacle for all
wastes. New Orleans discharges all its waste into the river, but
there are no cities below it to receive the doubtful benefit of this
proceeding.
The General Government has published a digest of the laws*
*Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey; Water Supply No. 152, 1905.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 7
forbidding the pollution of inland waters, which may be studied
with advantage. The book is a comprehensive review of all
State laws on the subject, with citation of cases and authorities.
The principles laid down are briefly :
a. No riparian owner of a stream may appropriate all the1 water that
comes to him, neither may he so corrupt or pollute it as to injure the other
owners «by diminishing the value of their property in the natural stream.
b. Whenever the pollution of a stream or other body of water injuri-
ously affects the health, or materially interferes with the peace "and com-
fort of a large and indefinite number of people in the neighborhood, such
pollution becomes what is known as a public nuisance. . . . When
there is a public nuisance caused by the pollution of water, it is the duty
of public authorities to cause its abatement, and their right to do so has
been sustained in numerous cases.
c. Where municipalities are expressly authorized by statute to con-
struct a system of sewerage, and to cause the sewage matter to be dis-
charged into any particular waters, the statutory authority is to be so
exercised, subject to the implied condition that such discharge will not
constitute a nuisance.
d. Speaking generally, jurisdiction over the pollution of waters in the
United States is confined to the several States, except so far as such
powers are restricted by the National Constitution or expressly delegated
thereby to the General Government.
STATISTICS OF GARBAGE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL.
Several attempts have been made to collect statistics on waste
collection and disposal, but all have met with very indifferent suc-
cess. The records of most American towns on this subject are
incomplete and badly kept. No standard of measurement is taken
for a basis, the vague report of so many cartloads being usually
considered sufficient; there are few reports of cart capacity and
no knowledge of the average weights at different seasons of the
year ; the weights and volume of different classes of waste are not
separately tabulated. The percentage of moisture in garbage,
of unburned coal in ashes, of salable paper and rags in refuse,
and of the proportion of manure in street sweepings — all these
points must be arrived at by comparison with the returns and
reports from one or two large cities. Manifestly conditions and
surroundings in different places vary widely, and each individual
place should have its own system of records, with a basis for
measurement common to all.
In 1902 an inquiry was made by Messrs. Winslow & Hansen,
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, into** the general
facts of garbage collection and disposal in 161 representative
8 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
cities of the United States. These range in population from
28,000 up to the largest, situate in all parts of the country, and
include the most progressive and active as well as some of the
least enterprising. The reports include the figures for collection
service separated from other matters, as follows :
Number
Methods of Garbage Collection of Qities.
Municipal Collection System 54
Contract Collection System 48
Private Parties 41
No Systematic Collection. / 12
Not Reported 6
Total 161
It is understood that the term "private parties" includes the
collection by the individual and license system, as opposed to
contract and municipal methods. The statement in the paper of
the authors is that out of 155 places twenty-nine have no sys-
tematic method ; in 146 places reporting on collection method,
sixty-one adopt the municipal plan, and in eighty-five the work is
done by contractors. Almost universally, the ashes are dumped
on low ground or used for filling, but in a few cases they are
dumped, in whole or in part, into the nearest water. Rubbish is
dumped with ashes in seventy-four places, burned on the ground
in twenty-six, cremated in furnaces or utilized in nineteen, and
thrown into water in six. The means of garbage disposal are thus
stated :
Dumping on land 44
Burning in dumps 9
Dumping in water 14
Plowing into ground 18
Feeding to stock 41
Cremation in furnaces 27
Reduction or utilization 19
Irregular disposition 1 1
NOTE. — In several places different methods are used in different parts of the same
city. Thus, in Boston 49,000 tons are delivered to a reduction company and 15,000
are taken away by contractors and presumably fed to swine or dumped with ashes aJid
refuse on land.
It would appear, from this report, that the primitive methods
are still the most popular; as out of 161 places only 102, or 63 per
cent., have any systematic methods for collection, and out of 147
reporting on methods of disposal only forty-six, or less than
one-third, have any improved methods of final disposition.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 9
If this be true of 161 places of the best class, it is still more
significant when towns smaller in population and of less enterprise
in sanitary science are considered.
Mr. M. N. Baker, in the Municipal Year Book for 1902, says :
'The stubbornness with which most American communities cling
to primitive and unsanitary methods of garbage disposal is shown
by the fact that only ninety-seven of the 1,524 cities and towns
included in the Year Book have reported either garbage crema-
tion or reduction plants."
That is to say, only 6.3 per cent, of the towns of the United
States, having a population of 3,000 and upwards, have in fifteen
years made any real progress on the lines of enlightened and
scientific disposition of the communal wastes. This is not a very
encouraging result for the expenditure of time, energy and money
in this work, but still it represents progress which, though small
in itself, will serve to indicate what will be the future of the work
now fairly under way.
INSANITARY CONDITIONS PRODUCED BY DUMPING.
The deposit of organic matter in thin layers upon ground fully
exposed to the salutary influences of light and air is far more
sanitary than when the putrescible waste is buried in mass. De-
composition in the open air proceeds rapidly by the propagation
of aerobic bacteria which, assisted by the absorbent action of
the earth, resolve the compounds into simpler forms, while the
disengaged gases are oxidized by the air.
But when deposited in masses and covered, the chemical
changes are produced by anaerobic organisms only, the released
gases are greater in volume with intensely disagreeable odors, and
these find exit through the adjacent soil. Even when mixed with
ashes the putrescible matter is not rapidly changed, but continues
in a putrefactive state for long periods. Many instances are re-
ported of the presence of organic matter in offensive and danger-
ous forms, though years have passed since its deposit.
When ground made by such methods is covered by buildings,
the health of the occupants is endangered. The statement made
to the writer by the Health Commissioner of one of our large
cities was that the continued presence of cases of diphtheria and
scarlet fever in houses standing on ground filled with waste was
io THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
undoubtedly due to the, insanitary conditions of the foundations.
These diseases followed the line of previous waste dumping,
while adjoining dwellings on original ground were comparatively
free.
Dr. Ezra Hunt, of the State Board of Health of New Jersey,
says :
"Whole groups of zymotic diseases are traceable to ground conditions.
When, as in some parts, soils are composed of an accumulation of decay-
ing matters or of foul material removed from the streets, the building of
houses over it may conceal but cannot destroy the contamination. More
or less of the foul air must find its way out of the soil and endanger the
health of the people living upon it."
It is stated by some eminent medical men that the continued
tipping of refuse near South American cities largely accounts
for the yellow fever scourge. That this standing menace to health
is now becoming understood is evidenced by the fact that one of
the largest South American cities is seeking for means to dispose
of 400,000 cubic yards of refuse, the accumulation of centuries,
deposited in the immediate vicinity of the city.
* It may be said that there is a general consensus of opinion, all
over the world, that this practice of tipping organic waste and
putrescible matter of any sort upon land or into small bodies of
water, objectionable and filthy in itself and productive of nuisance
and obnoxious conditions, will, if continued, cause the inception of
certain classes of disease which otherwise would be avoided.
There is an aesthetic side to the question that should be con-
sidered— the continued presence of these unsightly heaps of refuse
matter on the outskirts of towns is not agreeable to the sight
of residents or prospective citizens. Though care be taken to
keep dumps covered, there are always floating paper, straw, litter
and light particles scattered by the wind that cannot be controlled,
and too often the bases of these heaps terminate in stagnant water,
formed by the rains percolating through the mass.
One Health Commissioner says :
"Hauling of garbage to the dump pile is certainly .not garbage disposal,
but only the removal of filth from one locality to another. The germs
of deadly diseases are deposited on the dump piles coming from the ash
barrels of infected houses, and are in turn carried by flies, mosquitoes,
cats, rats and dogs and by the wind into the homes of our people who
are thus made ill, and not infrequently death ensues from such out-of-date,
outrageous practice. Such methods are not in keeping with the teaching
of the progressive spirit of to-day, or in harmony with claims our city
would want to assume. The public dumps are made the receptacle of old
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. n
mattresses, rags and filth of every description; they are unsightly, un-
sanitary and discreditable. The present dilemma can be met with more
carts and more active service, but the final solution, according to present
lights, must lie in the cremation of all garbage."
REFUSE SORTING AT THE DUMPS.
When municipal and private waste taken to dumps contains
anything that can be recovered and sold, it is picked out and taken
to market. As a rule, the trash collection will have paper of many
kinds, books, cardboard, rags, carpets, bagging, clothes, shoes,
bottles, iron, and a host of miscellaneous articles of no service
to the original owner, but of some small value when brought to-
gether in quantities. When this mixed mass is tipped at the edge
of the dump it is pulled apart and sorted by men, often by
^vomen and children, who make this their livelihood.
The recovered things, covered with dirt and dust, often satu
rated with filth, in the last stages of decay or usefulness, are
thrown into heaps until enough accumulate for a cartload. The
dry paper is roughly baled on the spot; the wet rags and paper
are exposed to sun and air for drying ; the clothing, bottles, iron,
etc., are conveyed back to the town and again sorted and sold
for junk. This is done in almost every place where there is a
licensed or contract collection service, and many towns having
municipal service permit it on condition that the dumps are kept
leveled off without expense to the town.
TJie system has to recommend it only the fact that many poor
people get a precarious living, and that contractors recover enough
of value to enable them to do the collection work cheaper than
they otherwise could. Some large cities sell the rights for picking,
and some positively prohibit all sorting, but most pay no attention
to the custom and allow its continuance unless complaints be made
by adjoining property holders.
The recovery of these articles, as usually carried out, is ob-
jectionable for several reasons. It is not sanitary, as all persons
connected with it are necessarily exposed to dust, dirt and possible
infection from contaminated matters. The recovered portions
again handled in sorting and baling, are in too filthy a condition
to be returned to the town. The practice increases the nuisance
of the dump, and is a frequent source of complaints. The refuse
is not finally disposed of or rendered inoffensive, but becomes
subject to further inspection and possible expense.
12 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
This recovery of the marketable constituents of refuse, if done
at all, should be under municipal oversight and regulation, and
the articles saved — the property of the town — should be credited
to it as an asset against the expense of the collection service. The
agency by which this work can be done in a sanitary and profitable
way will be considered later.
The method of waste disposal at dumps has been the subject
of many reports by the various health and sanitary associations,
the State associations of the Health Officers, the civic improve-
ment leagues and the clubs and societies for the betterment of
municipal conditions and all, without exception, condemn the
method as usually practiced, and in many instances cite particular
cases where epidemics of diseases are traced directly to the pres-
ence of these piles of decaying matter.
When in some cases this means of disposal seems to be the
only practicable one, a stricter oversight of the collections and
more attention to the final processes at the dumps will do much to
mitigate the evil consequences.
This question is now discussed with greater interest since the
latest reports showing that the common house fly, which finds its
best breeding places in these piles of waste, can carry the bacteria
of some forms of zymotic diseases for long distances.
CHAPTER II.
THE CLASSIFICATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
Terminology: The Need of Definite Terms. — There is need
of a better defined vocabulary of specific terms for use in discuss-
ing this subject, as the words and phrases now employed for the
purpose frequently have different meanings in different places
or when used by different writers.
The American Public Health Association defines the various
classes of municipal waste as follows :
ORGANIC.
Garbage The rejected food wastes.
Night-soil The contents of vaults and cesspools.
Sewage Water-conveyed excreta.
Offal The refuse from slaughter houses, and animal sub-
stances only.
INORGANIC.
Ashes Household, steam and factory
Refuse Combustible articles from all sources; also glass,
iron, crockery, house sweepings and generally
everything from the house not included in gar-
bage and ashes.
Street sweepings Compounded of organic and inorganic substances.
This classification is accurate and comprehensive, but it is ex-
tended, and should be condensed for general use. Nearly every
writer uses terms for defining particular items that are appli-
cable to others quite dissimilar in nature. Some invent new words
and phrases that befog the subject-matter. In describing appa-
ratus and machinery there is frequently a conflict of technical
terms which are not common to all, and in reckoning quantities
there is the same uncertainty for lack of a definite standard of
measurement. This confusion in nomenclature is largely due to
the fact that waste disposal by modern methods is a comparatively
new subject, with a very limited literature in this country, and
with foreign terms and precedents not always applicable to our
conditions. The terms employed by the author are those estab-
13
14 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
lished by the American Public Health Association, with such
modifications as are suggested by the conditions attending prac-
tical use.
In Great Britain the general term "towns' refuse" — sometimes
called "dust" — is applied to the whole miscellaneous waste col-
lection of the town. It includes animal and vegetable matter
("soft core"), ashes, breeze (cinders mixed with unburned coal),
bones, rags, paper, glass, iron, metals, crockery ("hard core")
dust and dirt. This is placed, at the house, in a general receptacle
called the ashbin, and taken from there in a mixed condition for
final disposal. Where there is no sewerage system, the excreta
are received by the earth-closet, pail or pan method, and treated
and disposed of apart from other refuse.
The American term "municipal waste" is held to include the
whole miscellaneous city collection of rejected foods, rubbish,
ashes and street sweepings. But there is here a further sub-
division of wastes, and a separate collection of each which has
brought specific terms into use.
"Garbage" means the animal and vegetable matters removed
from houses, stores, and markets. It does not include dead
animals, night-soil, slaughter-house offal, street sweepings, ashes
or cinders, or anything but organic household waste subject to
rapid decay.
This term is subject to modification in various places, as in
New England, where "swill," meaning rejected foods only, is
used instead of "garbage." In Philadelphia it is known as "slop."
In some places it is called "offal," and in the South and some
parts of the West "garbage" includes rubbish or refuse, but not
ashes.
Definition of Garbage. — Where reduction methods are em-
ployed, garbage is more strictly defined. In New York City it
means "refuse of an organic nature consisting of swill, every
accumulation that attends the preparation, decay, dealing in,
storage of, meats, fish, fowls, birds or vegetables, including all
food wastes, and not including street sweepings — and not con-
taining more than 5 per centum by weight of other refuse."
Buffalo defines it as "all kitchen or table waste of an animal or
vegetable nature, vegetables, fish, meat, bones, fat and all offal,
carrion and general kitchen refuse, as clear of ashes and rubbish
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 15
as it is possible to keep same/' The Chicago definition is, "any
and all rejected, abandoned or discarded waste of household,
vegetable or animal food, offal and swill." In Washington it is
"the refuse of animal or vegetable matter which has been used or
intended for food."
The word "garbage" is used in places where a clear distinction
is required as to the character of the organic waste, and as now
commonly used, the word is limited to rejected food waste in all I
its forms, and will be so employed by the author in referring to '
waste.
In some sections of the country waste is not separated except
by excluding ashes. Indianapolis provides that the word garbage
shall be taken to mean all organic household waste, offal, animal
or vegetable matter, such as has been prepared for or intended
to serve as food, and in addition shall be construed to mean other
industrial refuse, such as paper, cans, bottles, discarded tin ware,
iron, and other similar material, excepting ashes, household sweep-
ings and sweepings from stores, business houses and apartments.
Though this wording is doubtful, it is assumed that sweepings
and ashes are removed separately.
"Refuse" includes all combustible matters like wood, paper,
straw, rags, mattresses, broken furniture, house sweepings, dis-
carded clothing of all kinds; also glass, iron, tin cans, crockery,
and the miscellaneous collection not comprised under garbage,
ashes or street sweepings.
"Ashes" includes the household ashes from all varieties of
coal and wood, but not steam or factory ashes from boilers or the
large furnaces in hotels and trade and manufacturing establish-
ments.
"Excreta" When there are no sewers, the night-soil contained
in vaults and cesspools must for sanitary reasons be removed
periodically. This is usually done by the license method, the
contractor for the work providing a suitable excavating apparatus,
and sealed tanks or barrels for transportation. The cost of re-
moval is paid by the property owner under a sliding scale of
charges fixed by the town, and disposal is usually made outside
the city limits by dumping or burying, sometimes by composting.
The final disposition of this very dangerous matter should be
under the strict superintendence and frequent inspection of town
16 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
health officers, and should not be left to the convenience or caprice
of the contractor.
Too often its insanitary disposal on ground draining into the
water supply of the town has been accompanied by disastrous
epidemics of typhoid fever, as witnessed by the outbreaks of
this disease at Plymouth and Butler, Pa. ; Ithaca, N. Y., and
Columbus, Ohio.
Excreta are sometimes composted with earth or manures, and
many attempts have been made to manufacture a commercial
product called "Poudrette" by a process of drying the excreta
and mixing with marl and other substances, but the offensive
character of the material, together with its uncertain value in
comparison with other fertilizers of standard composition, has
made the method unprofitable.
In one or two places where the collection of night-soil is done
under the direct charge of the town, the large returns received
have paid for the cost and left a surplus to apply to the general
expense of other waste collection.
Night-soil can be disposed of by fire in specially constructed
furnaces, and many thousands of barrels of this waste have been
and are now thus destroyed annually. The removal of excreta by
a sewerage system is a separate department of municipal work,
independent of the disposal of other wastes.
The statistics of collection and disposal of night-soil are re-
ported from 36 cities by Prof. A. Prescott Folwell, secretary of
the American Society of Municipal Improvements, in the Munici-
pal Journal and Engineer, of New York, July i, 1908. This in-
formation was obtained for the benefit of the members of the
society and includes reports from eight cities of the first class,
six of the second, seventeen of the third, and five of the fourth
class, and is condensed in the table following :
The amount of night-soil removed depends entirely upon local
conditions and the sewerage systems in each place. In this table
the yearly quantities vary from 3,000 barrels in one place to 492,-
ooo barrels from another city. The expense of removal is almost
invariably a charge upon the property owner, the frequency of
removal depending upon conditions, usually once a year and
within certain months. The cost is usually fixed by ordinance,
and varies from 33^ cents to 75 cents per barrel of from 36 to
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
NTROL OF
REMOVAL
F CONSIDERED
SATISFACTORY
EXPENSE
BORNE
BY
SJ9DIJJO }i
9UOQ 9q
ON
sjapjoqasnojj
)
fspjJBg Xg
i3 Xg
00 NO »>-
i8 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
45 gallons. When no regulations are made as to cost, the con-
tractor makes his own agreement. The control of the vault
cleaning service is under inspection of the city officers or boards
of health. The final disposition, if outside the city limits, re-
ceives but limited attention, unless complaints are made by ad-
joining townships.
"Dead Animals and Offal" In nearly, every one of the larger
towns the carcasses of larger animals, such as horses, cattle,
swine and sheep, are taken by private parties who conduct render-
ing works which are not directly under the control of the town
except as concerning the sanitary operation of the plant. A
payment is usually made by the town, or by the owner of the dead
animal, for its removal by the rendering company in a special
wagon built for the purpose.
By various processes the carcasses are converted into many
forms of commercial articles or substances which afford a reve-
nue. Smaller animals, such as dogs, cats, rats, etc., are not usually
thus treated. They go with the ashes to the dumps or with the
night-soil for burial. Where crematory furnaces are installed,
these carcasses are burned with the waste, and where there are no
rendering plants the carcasses of the larger animals are also easily
disposed of in this manner. Sometimes the collection and dis-
posal of large dead animals is a part of the general contract for
disposal of garbage, but it is usually a separate contract.
Condemned animal food, market and butcher shop offal, and
all miscellaneous animal refuse are also disposed of by the private
rendering companies without cost to the town. Generally every
remnant of animal life can be utilized in one form or another by
various economical means.
"Street Sweepings," while included under the general term of
municipal waste, are not in usual practice collected or disposed
of except by the town itself, separately from the other wastes,
and they are not included in the contracts for collection and
disposal of household wastes.
Trade and Industrial Wastes. — There are many kinds of trade
and industrial wastes which are not generally included in munici-
pal disposal work, but which are still under control of the town
and are sometimes provided for by its agency.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 19
When small in amount and organic in character, requiring fre-
quent removal, the town sometimes comes to the aid of the
factory, or the merchant, and makes disposal of the waste by its
own means, for a fixed sum. When, however, the weight or
volume of the waste is large, and the material is of inorganic
character, means are often provided by the town for its trans-
portation and final disposition by enlarging its own equipment,
and it then receives payment pro rata for the quantity handled.
In such cases the cost of the work is a matter of private agree-
ment, the town performing its duty by publicly assisting a private
enterprise for the common good of the community. But the
point at which municipal control ceases and private responsibility
begins is uncertain and indefinite and the fruitful source of much
trouble.
In some localities the right to have waste removed by the
town is determined by the number of persons or families in the
building or buildings; or again, the volume of waste must not
be over a stated amount; or only certain kinds of waste, strictly
defined, may be removed. Manifestly, for a town to favor a
private individual or corporation, by the removal and disposal of
private refuse without a return of some sort, is an injustice to
the rest of the community, and an exercise of arbitrary power
which should not be permitted.
As a rule, all classes of private trade and industrial waste, and
household waste of all kinds above a certain fixed quantity, must
be removed and disposed of at the cost and risk of the parties
concerned, and not through the agency of the town, unless pay-
ment be made of the cost of the work so performed. But the
town is expected to furnish ground for dumping, or other satis-
factory means for the disposal of all waste, when collection is
made by private agency.
QUANTITIES AND PROPORTIONS OF WASTE.
It has been very difficult to give accurate data determining
the quantities of waste materials from American towns. Until
the last three years there has been little attention paid to the tabu-
lation of amounts, and hardly any effort made to fix the relative
proportions of each class or give the seasonal variations. But
the investigations lately made by commissions and engineers in
some of the larger cities have shown the value of accurate details
2o THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
in this direction, and by their assistance the towns are better able
to say exactly with what amounts they are dealing, and to govern
their costs of collection and disposal accordingly.
The study of this question, in respect to amounts and propor-
tions, made in New York by the commission appointed by Mayor
TABLE II.— AREAS AND POPULATIONS OF THE FIVE BOROUGHS OF
NEW YORK CITY.
BOROUGHS
Area in
vSquare
Miles
PoPULATIONf
1904
1905
1906
Manhattan
The Bronx
22 .00
40 . 50
77-50
130 .00
57-25
2,060,041
3OI,l6l
1,349,129
199-359
74,969
2,112,528
326,324
1,394,766
210,949
76,956
2,165,015
351,487
1,440,403
222,539
78,943
Brooklyn
Queens
Richmond
Greater New York. .
327-25
3,984,659
4,121,523
4-258,387
tCalculated from United States Census of 1900, using same rate of increase as between
1890 and 1900.
TABLE III.— QUANTITIES BY CART LOAD, NEW YORK CITY.
TOTAL REFUSE
1904
1905
1906
Manhattan :
The Bronx:
Brooklyn :
Queens:
Richmond :
New Yc
Number of cart loads . . .
Number of cart loads . . .
Number of cart loads . . .
Number of cart loads . . .
Number of cart loads . . .
1,928,946
163,170
7J4 995
1,998,820
178,529
740,755
89,756
64,400
2,130,646
182,640
. 738,058
125,122
72,979
>rk City
3,072,260
3,249 445
TABLE IV.— QUANTITIES BY VOLUME, NEW YORK CITY.
1904
1905
1906
Manhattan :
The Bronx :
Brooklyn :
Queens:
Richmond •
New Y<
Volume in cubic yards . .
Volume in cubic yards . .
Volume in cubic yards . .
Volume in cubic yards . .
Volume in cubic yards
5,009,179
405,424
1,930,082
5 oio 607
435,453
2,081,200
215, 711
96,600
5,422,643
452,439
2,059,188
3J5-9C9
109,469
Drk City
7-839-571
8,359,648
TOTAL REFUSE
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
21
George B. McClellan, consisting of Messrs. H. De B. Parsons,
Rudolph Hering and Samuel Whinery, engineers of high stand-
ing and practical acquaintance with the subject, is undoubtedly
the most comprehensive yet published.
The report made by these gentlemen deals with the quantities
and proportions of waste in the five boroughs of Greater New
York for a period of three years.
TABLE V.— QUANTITIES BY WEIGHT, NEW YORK CITY.
TOTAL REFUSE
1904
!9°5
1906
Manhattan :
The Bronx:
Brooklyn:
Queens:
Richmond :
Weight in tons
Weight in tons
Weight in tons
Weight in tons
1,933,982
165,529
629,144
2,021,500
181,861
648,169
83,823
60,656
2,146,453
185,297
645,925
115,964
65,543
Weight in tons
New York Citv. .
2 .OO6.OOO
3.1 SO.I82
TABLE VI.— AVERAGE WEIGHTS OF REFUSE, NEW YORK CITY.
KINDS OF REFUSE
*Man-
hattan
and The
Bronx
* Brook-
lyn
Queens
*Rich-
mond
Average weight per cart load in Ibs. :
Garbage
Ashes
2,037
2 172
t2,037
i ,o t;o
i,398
i 800
Rubbish
I O ^O
i 126
•3 OO
Street sweepings
2 O32
i ^8
^U«J
2 7OO
Average cubic yards per cart load :
Garbage
i 8q
ti 85
I <%O
Ashes
2 OO
I ?O
Rubbish
7-3 i
7-2 I
j. . $<j
I ^O
Street sweepings . .
2 OO
2 OO
I 'CO
Average weight per cu. yd., Ibs. :
Garbage
1,1 IO
"j"I,IOO
032
Ashes . .
I 086
07 ^
I 2OO
Rubbish
143
I 54
2OO
Street sweepings
i o 1 6
760
I 8OO
Average weight per cu. yd., tons:
Garbage
Ashes
o-55o
O ^4.3
to- 55°
o 488
o .466
Rubbish
O O7 2
O O7 7
Street sweepings
o . 508
0.385
o . 900
*From measurements.
|No figures given; taken the same as Manhattan and The Bronx.
22 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
TABLE VII.— WEIGHT OF REFUSE PER CAPITA IN POUNDS, BY
BOROUGHS, NEW YORK CITY.
Garbage
Ashes
'Rubbish
Street
Sweep-
ings
Total
Ref-
use
Manhattan . .
217
i 327
108
•7 -5 O
i 082
The Bronx
Brooklyn
119
14 c
708
406
5i
88
I76
168
1,054
807
Queens
I 02
C44
61
2 A. Z
I O4.2
Richmond
2 «;6
<;6i
40
804
i 661
New York City
184
940
93
267
1,484
TABLE VIII.— PER CAPITA AVERAGES OF YEARS 1904, 1905 AND 190«,
NEW YORK CITY.
Garbage
Ashes
Rubbish
Street
Sweep-
ings
Total
Ref-
use
181
076
O3
260
I.J.7O
To carry these reports still further and determine the composi-
tion of the several parts of the waste, and the seasonal variations,
the tables made by Mr. J. T. Fetherston, of the West New
Brighton District, Borough of Richmond, are added :
TABLE IX.— COMPOSITION OF HOUSEHOLD REFUSE BY WEIGHT,
DISTRICT OF WEST NEW BRIGHTON.
FROM MECHANICAL ANALYSIS
1
o
4->
0)
E
o>
»rj
GARBAGE
MONTH
z
G
a
u
*c3
O
Ashes and
Percentage
Garbage
Percentage
Fine ash
Percentage
Clinker
Percentage
Glass, Met
Percentage
Coal and
Percentage
Vegetable
Percentage
Animal
Percentage
Free Water
Percentage
Rubbish
Percentage
1906
January
83-5
16.5
40.5
i .4
3-1
34-7
14-3
0.6
0.7
4-7
February. .
87.6
12 .4
40-3
i-3
3-4
38-3
10 .9
0.4
o-3
5-i
March
86.0
Id. O
42 6
I . 2
•2 I
•2 C . C
12.2
o . 5
0.6
4 • 3
April
79-3
78.7
AiT * w
20-7
21.3
i^t, . w
40.8
37-7
I .O
0.6
O
3-2
5-7
O J J
31-5
31.8
17.9
l8.7
0.8
0.7
0.8
0.7
t • o
4.0
4.1
May
June
71.9
28.1
So . 7
ii . i
8-4
16.2
24 .4
I .0
i .4
6.8
July
58.3
41.7
'3.8
0.8
9.0
12.6
36.3
1.6
i-7
14.2
August
54-3
45-7
20 .O
o-5
10 .9
9.0
39-7
1-7
2 .0
16.2
September..
So 5
49.1
21.7
0.6
8-5
7-7
42.5
1.9
2 .2
14.9
1905
October . . .
60. i
39-9
29 .O
3-5
6.6
iS-2
3°-9
3-1
i-5
IO .2
November .
71 .4
28.6
31.8
0.7
5-2
30.8
22.6
1.8
I .0
6.1
December .
76.6
23-4
34-4
0.9
3-1
34-6
19.6
i .1
0.8
5-5
Averages .
73 -3
26.7
34-7
1.8
4.8
26.7
22.6
I .2
i . i
7-1
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
OK» O 0\ 0 00
suox
z\
jo a3Biuaoja<i
spjBA ojqno
lO ON •* W "1 N r^vo TJ- «*5O -<r
M ON M « w O t- 1^-00 OS O M
06 «>. \o 0 0 t-oo 0 0000
1 1^ W O HI N ON "frvO O 000
8 M"
jo
. o>
M
. «*>
F^OX
jo aSB^uaoaaj
00. 0
II
O O 00 t>» C\ M I^vO f1* W T
6d»wo*6od444 ^*oo
jo
suox
« HI N ro O ^f\O 1^ O\
\O*^t^t^O»tONMN
ONOO O ONOO «» ^ ^ •V
M i« m <*5 rf t^ ovoo fO M O r-
' tij/ioovd ro osoo 10 \d N \d
0000 r» »» t^^O \O \O ^O t- *-•
jo
24 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
The following table of quantities of garbage only, collected in
the city of Syracuse (population 115,000) for four years, is in-
tended to give a basis for comparison from a city where this waste
has been accurately recorded for disposal by reduction process :
TABLE XI.— GARBAGE COLLECTION, SYRACUSE, N. Y., FOR FOUR
YEARS, 1904-1907.
MONTH
To
NS
1904
1905
1906
1907
January
February
March
April
S31 -40
508.05
582.70
560 . 79
690 .40
559-23
622 .62
619 . 55
694-73
636 .96
730.16
675 . 57
938.70
636-55
686.25
770 . 32
May
546 02
736.20
728 03
860 o^
June
710 .44
811 .7s
704 . 80
832 . <;<?
July .
664.83
733 .45
781 . 15
970 . 80
August
865.66
921 .85
1,002 . 65
I 023 . 50
September
i 090 62
I 112 OO
aSs 66
I 080 12
October
748 36
886 65
i 088 07
I OQ4 Q3
November
736 oo
861 1 5
i o <c8 73
031 . 8 1;
December . .
m. IO
701 . <? 5
896 . 30
798 . 60
Totals
8,279 -°°
9,257 .00
9,985 oo
10,634 . oo
Average per week
T SO . 2
178.0
192 . o
204 . 5
" day
Maximum per month. . . .
26.5
41 .9
29.7
42 .8
32.0
40.3
34-o
40-5
COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE, BOSTON.
In August, 1907, Mayor John F. Fitzgerald, of Boston, Mass.,
appointed a commission to report upon the current conditions of
the waste collection and disposal service of the city, and to
formulate recommendations for future action. The commission
comprised . Prof. Sedgwick, of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology; Mr. X. H. Goodnough, chief engineer of the State
Board of Health, and Mr. W. Jackson, city engineer. The pre-
liminary report upon the quantities and proportions and disposal
means 'for the several city districts is contained in a paper entitled
"The Collection and Disposal of Municipal Refuse/' presented
by Mr. Goodnough before the Sanitary Section of the Boston
Society of Civil Engineers, January i, 1908 (Journal of the
Association; of Engineering Societies, May. 1908, Vol. XL., No.
5).
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 25
This excellent report comes at an opportune moment, and is
herewith condensed for purposes of examination and comparison.
The collection and disposal of municipal waste in Boston is
carried on by a separate bureau called the Sanitary Department,
which is unler the control of the Commissioner of Streets.
The city is divided into ten districts, the boundaries of which
follow in part the natural topographic divisions and in part the
original boundaries of former municipalities which have been
annexed to the city at various times. These districts and the
population of each are as follows :
District No. i
District No. 2
District No. 3
District No. 4
District No. 5
District No. 6
District No. 7
District No. 8
District No. 9
South Boston
East Boston
Charlestown
Brighton
West Roxbury
Dorchester
Roxbury
South End
Back Bay
Population
71,000
....... 5!,ooo
40,000
22,000
37.00°
89,000
109,000
\ 103,000
District No. 10
North and West Ends
73,000
Total
CQ c ooo
Pooulation.
census of IOCK. .
595,380
CLASSIFICATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE IN THE CITY OF BOSTON.
In the city of Boston the principal municipal wastes requiring
disposal fall into six general classes :
1. Ashes, including house and store dirt.
2. House offal.
3. Combustible waste and rubbish.
4. Market refuse.
5. Street cleanings.
6. Cesspool and catch basin cleanings.
With the exception of No. 3, the above divisions apply to all
parts of the city. The third item, combustible waste and refuse,
is known as the third separation and represents an attempt to
•keep separate from the other wastes materials which if dumped
into the harbor are likely to float ashore. It applies to that por-
tion of the city lying north of Massachusetts Avenue, but does
not include Charlestown and East Boston.
COLLECTION OF WASTES.
House Dirt and Ashes. — At the present time 213 single and 20
double carts are used for collecting house dirt and ashes in all
26 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
parts of the city. All of the carts are of wood, are fitted with
canvas covers and so constructed that their contents can be readily
dumped. This class of material is collected by the employees of
the Sanitary Department except in the districts of Dorchester
and West Roxbury. In Dorchester all this work is done by con-
tractors, while in West Roxbury less than one-third of the total
quantity of ashes is collected by contractors.
House Offal. — About 138 carts are used for collecting house
offal throughout the city. Fifty-seven are iron— 40 of which
have a capacity of about 50 cubic feet each, while 17 have a ca-
pacity of about 80 cubic feet each. Of the 81 wooden carts in use,
7 are large carts, having a capacity of about 80 cubic feet and
the remainder are small ones, having a capacity of 40 cubic feet.
All of the carts, with the exception of those last mentioned —
the small wooden ones — are covered with wooden or canvas covers
so arranged that the carts can be readily dumped. The small
wooden carts are emptied by shoveling out the offal.
Waste and Rubbish. — The collection of this class of refuse is
done entirely by employees of the Sanitary Department, most of
the material collected being delivered at an incinerator plant on
Hecht Wharf near Atlantic Avenue. There are 56 carts used in
this work. Thirty-four of these have a capacity of 109 cubic feet
each, while the remainder will hold double this amount. All the
carts are of wood and are fitted with canvas covers. They are
not so arranged that they can be dumped. The material has to
be removed by hand through doors in the rear of the carts.
Street Cleanings. — Street cleanings are collected by the Street
Department, which uses 104 carts in this work. They have a
capacity of about 50 cubic feet each, are made of wood and are
not covered. Sixty-eight of the carts are owned by the city and
the remainder are hired. Part of the work, that in Brighton and
West Roxbury, is in charge of the Street Paving Department. '
Cesspool and Catch-basin Cleanings. — Cesspool and catch-basin
cleanings are collected by the Sewer Department, and during the
year 1906 42 carts, 22 single and 20 double were in use at one
time or another on this work. Of the single teams, 16 belong
to the city and 6 were hired from contractors, while of the
double teams, i is owned by the city and 19 by contractors. The
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 27
double wagons are all of wood, and are fitted with wooden covers,
but part of the single wagons owned by the city are in the form
of a half-cylinder fitted with covers so arranged that the material
can be easily dumped. The half-cylinder carts have a capacity of
about 30 cubic feet, while the larger wooden carts hold 35 cubic
feet.
FREQUENCY OF COLLECTION.
House dirt and ashes are collected either once or twice a week;
during the winter time and only once a week in summer. Paper
and rubbish are collected chiefly on Mondays and Thursdays, in
the portion of the city north of Dover Street, and on Wednesdays
and Saturdays in the remaining districts. In the districts of the
city where there is no third separation, such material is mixed
with the ashes.
House offal is removed from the dwelling houses, as a rule,
once a week in the winter and twice a week in the summer, ex-
cept in the Back Bay, where it is removed twice a week through-
out the entire year, while in the business portion of the city —
Districts 8, 9 and 10 — the large hotels and restaurants are visited
daily.
The following tables indicate that the quantity of ashes and
house dirt per capita collected daily throughout the city was
greatest in the North and West Ends and in the South End and
Back Bay, the districts which include the business portions of the
city and the larger hotels. Next to these districts, the quantity
was greatest in the suburban residential districts of Brighton and
West Roxbury. Practically all of the combustible waste and
rubbish is collected in the downtown districts.
The quantity of garbage is greatest per person in the South
End and Back Bay, Districts 8 and 9, and next largest in the
North and West Ends, District 10, the districts of the great
hotels. It will be noted that the quantity of garbage collected in
East Boston is much greater per capita than that collected in
South Boston or Charlestown. The explanation offered is that
East Boston, being a very large shipping point, contains a large
floating population in proportion to the population of the district,
including sailors and employees of vessels, not recorded in the
census.
28 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
OQ
dl
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Ashes
Rubbish
Garbage
Market refuse . .
Total...
Ashes
Rubbish
Garbage
Market refuse . .
Total...
Ashes
Rubbish
Garbage
Market refuse . .
, Total .
Ashes
Rubbish
Garbage
Market refuse . .
Total....
ur
Ashes ........
Rubbish
Garbage
Market refuse . .
Total . . .
o
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THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS
,
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WEEKLY G
G EACH MO
ION, 1905, 59E
1"
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September
October
November
December
g
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II.— BOSTOf
OF REF
Ashes
Rubbish
Garbage. . . .
Market refuse
1
jJi
III!
•g » S|
Ashes
Rubbish. . . .
Garbage
Market refuse
H
Ashes
Rubbish. . . .
Garbage. . .
Market refuse
1
Ashes
Rubbish
Garbage
Market refuse
Total.
Ashes
Rubbish
Garbage
Market refuse
Total..
||| "
3
•si
TABLE XI
i
b
£
.c
g
1
I
%
1
Average
•5J days per we
30 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
COMPARISON OF QUANTITIES OF WASTE AND REFUSE COLLECTED
IN THE CITIES OF BOSTON AND NEW YORK.
Before leaving the question of the quantity of wastes it will
be of. interest to compare the quantities collected per capita in
the city of Boston with those collected in the boroughs of Man-
hattan and the Bronx, kindly furnished by Mr. Wm. Mac-
donough Craven, recently Street Commissioner of the City of
New York. These figures are for ashes, rubbish and garbage.
They show a very remarkable similarity in the total quantity of
such wastes collected in the two cities.
METHODS OF DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE AND REFUSE IN
THE CITY OF BOSTON.
Ashes and House Dirt. — Of the total amount of 466,000 tons
of this material collected in the entire city in the year 1906,
132,000 tons, or 28 per cent., were delivered at Fort Hill wharf,
on Atlantic Avenue, discharged into scows and dumped at sea off
the mouth of the harbor. All of the remainder of this waste and
refuse is disposed of by dumping it upon low grounds in various
parts of the city.
Combustible Waste and Refuse. — Of the total quantity of waste
and refuse, so called, collected in the city, amounting to 3,108,000
cubic feet in the year 1906, 2,829,000 were delivered to an in-
cinerator plant on Hecht Wharf and the remainder deposited
on dumps in various parts of the city, where a part of it was
burned.
Garbage. — Of the 55,700 tons of house offal collected in the
entire city in 1906, 41,960 were conveyed to scows at the Fort
Hill and Albany Street Wharves — 17,660 tons to the former and
24,300 tons to the latter — and towed to the garbage reduction
plant at Spectacle Island. The remainder — 13,740 tons — col-
lected in East Boston, Brighton, West Roxbury and Dorchester,
was sold for the feeding of swine.
During the past year the sale of offal from Dorchester for the
feeding of swine has been discontinued, and this offal is now
delivered at Fort Hill Wharf. Difficulty has been experienced
on account of the disposal of offal from East Boston for the
purpose of feeding swine, and it is likely that that method of dis-
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
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32 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
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THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 33
posal will soon be discontinued and the offal from that district
delivered to the reduction plant at Spectacle Island.
The works for the disposal of garbage in the city of Boston
were originally constructed on the mainland, and, though located
more than a mile from any dwellings, yet nuisance was severe, and
the plant was subsequently removed to Spectacle Island. Ref-
erences to serious nuisance from this plant in its present loca-
tion have been made in the newspapers during the past summer.
Street Cleaning. — Of the 5,850,000 cubic feet of street clean-
ings collected in the entire city, 1,965,000 cubic feet, or 34 per
cent., are delivered to Fort Hill Wharf and dumped at sea. The
remainder is dumped with the ashes and other refuse for the rill-
ing of low lands.
Catch-Basin Cleanings. — Cesspool and catch-basin cleanings
amounted in 1906 to 837,000 cubic feet, of which 190,000 or 23
per cent., were shipped at Fort Hill Wharf and dumped at sea,
while the remainder was dumped with the other refuse in the low
grounds about the city.
Market Refuse. — The market refuse, amounting to about 8,600
tons, was dumped into scows at Fort Hill Wharf and disposed of
at sea. A considerable quantity of market refuse is, however, dis-
posed of on the land dumps in various parts of the city.
DUMPING ON LAND.
The great bulk of the refuse material disposed of from the
city is dumped upon the low grounds, and at the'present time the
number of such dumping places in use in the city of Boston is in
the neighborhood of 60.
The total number of loads of waste and refuse dumped at these
places was counted during certain weeks in the month of June,
1907, the results showing that at the largest of these dumps 477
loads of material were disposed of in a single week. At the next
largest dump 282 and 283 loads, respectively, were disposed of in
different weeks. At ten other dumps more than 200 loads per
week were disposed of, and at eight others between 100 and 200
loads per week were disposed of.
These dumps are used in many places as a playground by chil-
dren and are a source of constant annoyance to the Health Depart-
ment from foul odors and especially from smoke caused by fre-
34 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
quent fires. They are usually very unsightly and at times of
high winds many acres of ground are sometimes covered by flying
debris, chiefly paper, from a large dump.
OBSERVATIONS.
This paper by Mr. Goodnough is particularly valuable because
of its division of the city into districts with the population of each
carefully noted and the records of relative proportions of every
class of waste in each district. It is also, as far as is known, the
only published report that gives reliable data in regard to the
quantities of catch-basin cleanings from a given area. While this
class of refuse is not usually included in the waste disposal service,
it is still well-known as one of the troublesome items with which
every municipality has to deal. With the figures presented,
which include the number of teams and the labor required, it
should be a simple matter for the officials of any town to make
calculations of costs according to the system desired.
Although this paper does not give details of the operation of
the Refuse Utilization Station, it points out that the disposal of
light refuse and rubbish by this method has relieved the city of a
great volume of troublesome refuse which formerly caused a nui-
sance by flotation to adjoining shores when dumped into the bay.
The disposal of 2,829,000 cubic feet, equivalent to 104,407 cubic
yards, or 11,067 tons, which was handled by the Refuse Disposal
Station in 1906, shows the value of this method of treatment in
strong contrast to the insanitary, untidy disposal at dumps.
This paper is an acceptable contribution to the literature of
waste disposal in the New England States. (Note: House offal
as here used means garbage. House dirt and ashes does not mean
garbage and ashes, but other house refuse. Rubbish means paper
and light refuse.)
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS.
•
In bringing together the reports of the various commissions
and expert engineers it has been the author's intention to select the
most practical information from all the available sources. Tables
derived from reports in other localities might be added, but as
quantities are contingent upon local conditions and vary for many
reasons, a general recapitulation would be of little or no service.
With the aid of the figures given in the foregoing tables, the
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
35
officials of any town, after making due allowances for local con-
ditions, may obtain a close estimate of their quantities of separated
waste, their special seasonal variations and some idea of the com-
position of each. This is the information needed when new
methods for disposal are under consideration, and no uncertain
and indefinite rough estimate of cart loads will afford a clear idea
as to what the amounts are to be dealt with or of what special
character they may be composed. Without a fairly close esti-
mate, the town is at the mercy of the contractor, who proposes
to collect or dispose of the waste by guessing at the quantities —
and these are never on the smaller side — and then takes a chance
as to the equipment he must provide, and the capacity of the in-
cinerator he proposes for — and neither are ever too large. Be-
tween the two guesses there is frequently a wide variation from
the facts, which makes trouble for both parties when the test
comes for making good the contractor's guaranteed figures.
THE COLLECTION STATISTICS OF THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT.
The statistics published by the General Government (Depart-
ment Commerce and Labor, Census Bureau, 1905) contain tabu-
lated reports from 154 cities having a population of 30,000 up-
wards. These figures are not conclusive, nor do they accurately
represent the conditions. They are usful as giving some general
idea of the work of collection and disposal. From the tables the
following condensation has been made :
TABLE XVI.— STATISTICS OF COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF REFUSE
(FROM U. S. CENSUS, 1905).
CENSUS
GARBAGE
OTHER REFUSE
DISPO-
SITION
According to Population
Not Reported
Collected
Burned
Reduced
Otherwise Dis-
posed of
Animals
1
1
I
4
4
7
21
Night Soil
Other Refuse
Disposed of by
Householders
1
1
1
Group i — 15 cities, with
300,000 or over
Group 2 — 25 cities, with
100,000 to 300,000
Group 3 — 47 cities, 50,000
to 100 ooo. . .
2
3
12
21
13
20
3°
43
1 06
4 '
6
13
ii
7
5
6
2
5
ii
ii
28
9
19
8
27
10
9
16
18
53
3
i
5
9
1.8
4
5
4
5
2
1 1
i
21
2
3
5
27
Group 4 — 67 cities, 30,000
to 50 ooo
154 cities
38
34
2O
55
63
:i8_
35
36 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
As compared with the government reports of 1900 on this sub-
ject there is a great improvement in conditions, as at that time
53 places failed to make any reports whatever, and the returns
actually made were much less complete than those cited above.
SEPARATE GARBAGE COLLECTIONS.
'There are several reasons for a separate garbage collection.
The amount is approximately only ten to twelve per cent, of the
whole bulk of waste, it is the most objectionable class, and it
must be removed more frequently than any other. When in a
cleanly condition it may be utilized in the reduction process or fed
to swine. In most places the regulations for separation impose
fines, or the refusal to remove the garbage when it is mixed with
foreign matters.
In Southern towns it is the custom to collect garbage and
rubbish together. Sometimes ashes and manure are included, and
occasionally dead animals, and when thus mixed the only practi-
cable disposal is by cremation, or by burying in the ground.
In only a few of the larger cities is the separation of ashes
from garbage and rubbish completely accomplished. New York,
Brooklyn, Boston, Washington and Buffalo have means for the
recovery of the salable parts of the rubbish, and other large
cities are considering the installation of rubbish stations. In the
remaining towns and cities the ash collection includes the rubbish ;
the whole is discharged together, a small part of the refuse being
recovered by dump picking.
Where there is a separate collection the burden of it comes
upon the householder, as he is required to have three cans or
vessels and to keep them in accessible places ; he is also held re-
sponsible for their cleanly and serviceable condition. The room
used for their storage and the care exercised in filling them are
a considerable tax upon the patience and convenience of the house
occupants.
THE COMPOSITION OF GARBAGE.
In dealing with separated garbage, its character and composi-
tion must be taken into account. Several analyses have been
made, but there is need of a more extended and accurate quan-
titive anaylsis than any we now have.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
37
TABLE XVII.— AVERAGE PERCENTAGE COMPOSITION OF GARBAGE.
Waring;
New York
1896
Craven;
New York
City,
1899
Fethers-
ton;
Atlantic
City, 1901
Hering;
Trenton,
1903
Moisture
Solids, animal and
vegetable
Per
Cent. Weight
71 = 1,420 Ibs.
20 = 400
Per
Cent.
70
25 1
Per
Cent.
82
Q 1
Per
Cent.
80
Grease recoverable. .
Non-combustible. . . .
2 = 40
7 = 140 '
1}
18 }
16
4
ioo = 2,000 Ibs
IOO
TOO
IOO
Waring's report in 1896 was upon the average of 3,000 tons
of summer garbage from different cities, treated by different
methods of reduction. Craven's report, on one reduction plant,
shows better methods. Fetherston's and Hering's figures were
from cremation plants, where nothing of value was recovered.
The paper by Mr. B. F. Welton in the discussion before the
American Society of Civil Engineers, December 18, 1907, gives
the following analysis of dry samples of waste, including garbage
representing collections for the years 1905-06 in New York City :
TABLE XVIII.— CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF DRY COMPOSITE SAMPLES.
CONSTITUENTS
Coal
and
Cinders
Garbage
Rubbish
Percentage by weight of —
Carbon . .
r cr 77
A.T. IO
4.2 3 0
Hydrogen
0.71;
6 24
4 • JV
e 06
Nitrogen
Oxygen
o .64
2.37
3-70
27 . 74
3-41
33 . <2
Silica
^O .OI
7. <;6
6 .40
Iron oxide and alumina
8 08
O A. I
2 O3
Lime
I 21
426
2 26
Magnesia
Phosphoric acid
Trace
None
0.28
I .47
o-57
O . IO
Carbonic acid
None
O ^Q
I 4.O
Lead
Trace
f Sulphides 1
O 52
Tin
Trace
o 20 1
_y • j*
Trace
Alkalies and undetermined
0.27
4-45
I .21
IOO .00
IOO .00
IOO . OO
38 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
In an analysis of Milwaukee's garbage made by Prof. R. E. W.
Sommer, he found in dry garbage 8.77 per cent, of grease, 1.61
per cent, of nitrogen, 12.50 per cent, of glucose, and 2.31 per cent,
of phosphoric acid. Total combustion gave 61.88 per cent, of
ashes and 38.12 per cent, of combustible matter. Wet garbage
contained 78 per cent, of water. It was found that if placed to a
height of 8 inches in a barrel, 0.67 per cent, of water drained off ;
at a height of 16 inches, 7.05 per cent, drained off; and at a height
of 24 inches, 9.33 per cent, drained off.
THE WEIGHT OF GARBAGE.
There is no absolute standard of weight for garbage that can
be applied to all conditions. Heretofore it has been the practice
to estimate the average weight for one cubic yard from 1,500 to
1,700 pounds. This includes the liquids which may be thus
divided.
(1) The contained moisture in the organic composition of all vege-
table substances, varying according to the nature of the vegetable. The
summer garbage of American towns during the melon and fruit season
carries a much larger quantity of liquid elements than the same amount
of garbage does in the winter, when it is composed of the drier and more
compact vegetable refuse.
(2) The free water, or liquids held in suspension in the interstices of
the garbage by capillary attraction, coming from household cooking and
washing, or from snow and rain falling into the uncovered garbage cans
or carts. . When this free water is allowed to drain off, the integral char-
acter of the garbage is unchanged, but the weight is reduced.
The latest examinations, as previously quoted, would indicate
that the volume of contained water in average city garbage has
been placed at too high a figure. It seems probable that the
average weights of the liquid elements of garbage should be
given as 70 per cent., 72^ per cent., or 1,400 to 1,450 pounds per
ton.
The probabilities are that there is an average of 1,450 pounds to
the cubic yard, 54 pounds per cubic foot, and 38 cubic feet to the
ton, and this may be taken as representing the average collection
of Northern towns where the garbage contains a normal pre-
centage of moisture.
If the free water (estimated at twelve and one-half per cent, by
weight) be omitted, then the figures would be 1,270 pounds per
cubic yard, 47 pounds per cubic foot, and 42^2 cubic feet per ton.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 39
THE FERTILIZING ELEMENTS OF RAW GARBAGE.
There is some value in garbage as a fertilizer for poor soils, but
the proportion of plant food is less than is popularly estimated.
The fertilizing values are approximately, phosphoric acid, 0.65
per cent.; ammonia, 0.65 per cent.; potash, 0.15 per cent. These
small proportions of plant food are present in the green garbage,
and when the application of this to the soil is made by the crude
method of plowing under it is attended with difficulties that
are hard to overcome. It is strongly advocated by many, who
argue that there must be a return to the ground of organic matter
taken therefrom, to prevent a possible food famine in some far
distant future, but it does not appear that efforts in this direc-
tion are successful. Many American towns have tried this
method, and nearly all have abandoned it because of the nuisance
produced, or for financial reasons. Large areas of suitable lands
are seldom found in the vicinity of large towns ; the presence of
foreign substances in the garbage is embarrassing and detrimental,
and the soil so treated must have time to oxydize and assimilate
the garbage before another dose.
When garbage passes through the various stages of grease ex-
traction by steam or naphtha, pressing and grinding, drying
commonly known as the reduction or extraction process, the fats
are separated and the solid portions, called "tankage," then con-
tain the fertilizing elements in a concentrated form. This method
of treatment will be considered later.
AGRICULTURAL UTILIZATION.
This method is used in all parts of Europe except Great Britain,
and the reports made in Paris by the chief engineer in charge of
this work are instructive :
In Paris house refuse is known as garbage (gadoues), and is com-
posed of all kitchen refuse and any remnants produced by the sweeping
of the inside of public properties or private buildings, not mixed with
industrial waste, earth, gravel or rubbish. It is contained in pails having
a maximum capacity of thirty gallons. The broken crockery, glass, etc.,
are deposited in separate receptacles. The garbage is collected by the
city laborers, and removed by contractors in carts of six cubic metres
(7.85 cubic yds.), and sent directly to the fields by wagon, rail and water,
where it is delivered to the farmers. The quantity is six hundred thou-
sand tons yearly. But the contractors have raised their bids, because
the fields on which it is possible to utilize the garbage are growing fewer
near Paris, and the suburban towns are refusing to allow it to be de-
posited on their grounds ; and the farmers are able to buy chemical f er-
4O THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
tilizers at cheap rates, and will pay only a low price for the garbage-
fertilizer, which requires careful sorting. Without such sorting their
fields are strewn with tin cans, broken crockery and glass, etc., which are
dangerous to their horses' hoofs.
To bring it into a better condition for use by the farmers, the
garbage is sometimes ground into a homogenous mass, at grind-
ing stations located as near as possible to the centers of collection.
This process, as reported by M. Tur,* has some interesting and
novel features :
The ground garbage looks like vegetable earth, mixed with bits of
paper and straw. Its odor is hardly perceptible, can be endured for a
long time, and may be removed by sprinkling with lime water.
The ground garbage can be used in the fields without giving the same
trouble as the original garbage, all debris troublesome or dangerous to
the farmers having been removed.
Hygienic considerations do not seem to enter into the question of the
adoption of one or the other method (utilization or incineration) pro-
vided the agricultural utilization does not bring the garbage storehouses
near the inhabited centers.
This method seems to have been invented to overcome the
reluctance of the farmers to receive the garbage in its rough
state, as "they will not take the least trouble to procure this
fertilizer."
Experiments in incineration showed that the garbage was self-
burning, i. e., that it would burn without any addition of coal,
and it was" recommended that there be installed a destructor of
the English type as near as possible to the center of the borough
which it serves, to reduce to a minimum the charge for hauling.
The disposal of refuse in Paris is complicated by the existence
of rag-pickers, numbering upwards of 25,000, who from long-con-
tinued custom have a vested right to first sort over the refuse.
They are authorized by the janitors of houses to make the first
collection from the pails before emptying, a second picking is
being made while the carts are being filled, and the third in the
stations at the trans-shipment of the garbage.
This method of grinding up the refuse to obtain a class of
fertilizer more acceptable and better suited to the farmers' uses
has been tried in three of the districts of Paris. The disposal by
incineration in three other districts is now being done at three
'Proceedings Amer. Soc. Civil Engineers, 1904 International Engineering Congress.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 41
destructor plants built by Meldrun Brothers, of Manchester,
England, the united capacity of these being 700 tons per day.
These experiments in the city of Paris by opposing methods of
utilization by preparing the waste for ground fertilizer, and its
total destruction by fire, developing steam power for various
purposes, will be watched with great interest by other cities of
Europe where agricultural utilization has been employed for
centuries. Another large city of France, St. Etienne, has adopted
the destructor system of the Meldrum Company, and still others
are investigating the subject.
DRY REFUSE OR RUBBISH COLLECTIONS.
The term "refuse," often used to designate the collective mass
of municipal wastage, is also applied to any one particular item
or part of the same mass. The author has preferred to follow
the definition previously given, and to apply the word to the dry
refuse and rubbish, as distinguished from other parts of city
waste. Properly speaking, it should be used to designate only
the very last stage, or the ultimate form of any kind of worthless
matter, but this is a technical definition, and it is believed that it
will be clearer and less confusing to employ it as defining that
part of the genuine wastage known as dry refuse and not to use
the word in connection with every form of waste as is generally
done.
The separate treatment of refuse for the recovery of its salable ••
parts has shown the need of a subdivision of the term "refuse."
When the final disposition is by fire the refuse must be com-
bustible in character, and after sorting out the valuable parts the
remainder can be easily burned, leaving a small amount of ash
that gives no trouble to dispose of. But the non-combustible part
is more difficult to deal with, as it contains for recovery only
metals and bottles that can be sold as junk, leaving the greater
part absolutely worthless for any purpose. This is "rubbish,"
the last form of refuse, and the final residue of the whole collected
mass of city waste.
This component (refuse) of city wastage represents many dif-
ferent things in -different places. In the eastern part of the
country it is called dry refuse or rubbish, and includes all the
inorganic rejected substance from the house, except ashes. It
42 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
also frequently comprises out-of-door waste, such as cut grass,
the sweepings of lawns and walks, leaves, the branches of
trees, etc. In the west it is also termed refuse and rubbish, and
is called collectively "garbage." In the south it is "trash," and
while generally including nearly every kind of waste except garb-
age, frequently contains this also.
There is no clear distinction possible except in cities where
a separate collection service has been established ; it then becomes
necessary to define it accurately.
Regulations and ordinances have been adopted in practically
all the municipalities of any size throughout the country, and
these differ widely in various places. The question is receiving
serious consideration by the authorities everywhere, and in time
there will undoubtedly be more uniformity in the laws relating
to the subject.
The Sanitary Code of New York City, probably the first to
use definite terms, and which has guided most other places in
this matter, defines the separation of wastes as follows :
CARD OF INSTRUCTION FOR HOUSEHOLDERS.
Put into Garbage Put into Ash Put into Rubbish
Receptacles Receptacles Bundles^
Kitchen or Ashes, Sawdust, Bottles, Paper,
Table Waste, Floor and Pasteboard, etc.
Vegetables, Street Sweepings, Rags, Mattresses,
Meats, Broken Glass, Old Clothes, Old Shoes,
Fish, Broken Crockery, Leather and Leather Scrap,
Bones, * Oyster and Clam Carpets, Tobacco Stems,
Fat. Shells, Straw and Excelsior
Tin Cans. (from households only) .
*NOTE. — Where there is a quantity of shells, as at a restaurant, they must be
hauled to the dump by the owner. x
tAll rubbish such as described in this third column must be securely bundled and
tied, or it will not be removed.
REVERSE OF CARD.
It is forbidden by city ordinance to throw any discarded scrap or
article into the street, or paper, newspapers, etc., ashes, dirt, garbage,
banana skins, orange peel, and the like. The Sanitary Code requires
householders and occupants to provide separate receptacles for ashes and
garbage, and forbids mixing these in the same receptacle. This law will
be strictly enforced.
Boston follows the same code and regulations, but requires
that bottles and cans that have held food shall be put with the
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
43
garbage, and all others with the ashes. Other large cities follow
the same regulations, with local changes.
The item of tin cans gives trouble everywhere; no one wants
them, as, except in large numbers, their value is nothing. When
in bulk the solder and tin can be recovered by heating, and the
iron will bring something for rough purposes. Tin cans properly
belong with ashes, as any impurity is speedily deodorized by the
fine ash.
There is a collection of refuse in some of the larger eastern
towns, though little attention is paid to its disposal. About
twenty New England towns have weekly or bi-weekly service,
and some fifteen other places, west and south, collect refuse once
a week.
THE PROPORTIONS OF REFUSE AND RUBBISH.
So few reports of the actual percentages of refuse are available
that it is difficult to give any data except that obtainable from
estimate and observation. The subjoined table, compiled by the
writer some years ago, is believed to be fairly representative :
TABLE
XIX.— APPROXIMATE PERCENTAGE OF DRY
WHOLE MUNICIPAL WASTE.
REFUSE IN
Per Cent,
by
Weight
Per Cent.
by
Volume
Wt. per
Cubic
Yard
New York
7 to 10
20 to 2 $
140 Ibs.
Ready for sorting
Brooklyn
8 to 12
20 to 25
ICC "
Boston
4 to 6
15 to 20
202 '
Gross weight
Buffalo
8 to 10
2 c to 3 =;
2 I C. "
Philadelphia
6 to 8
15 tO 20
J75 '
Estimated
The lighter weights in New York or Brooklyn represent the
amount collected by the city teams, but in reality the amounts
produced are far greater. The best part of the dry refuse of
New York City never comes to the city's carts. All large business
houses sell their waste privately, or give it away on condition that
their steam boiler ashes are removed free of cost. The janitors
of apartment houses and the superintendents of office buildings
control the waste paper for their own benefit. The city collects
from private houses of the better class, and from the tenement
44 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
districts and smaller shops, and all this is often picked over by
junk dealers before the arrival of the city teams. Preliminary
sorting for private sale is done in every large town to a greater
or lesser extent ; it is more noticeable in New York because of
the relatively larger quantities.
The Boston collection is greater in weight and quantity, but
of less value for market. The Buffalo refuse has a larger per-
centage of dust, dirt, iron and wood. That of Brooklyn is of
the best average quality, as the paper and rubbish from the resi-
dential districts is cleaner and better than from the business sec-
tions. Chicago and some other places have a system of collec-
tion in stationary iron boxes at street corners, supposed to be
for waste paper only, but which receive a large quantity of other
matters. The franchise for the boxes is held by a company whose
chief purpose is to use them for advertising purposes. The
usefulness of this box service is very doubtful, considering the
valuable room surrendered by the city at street intersections and
the payment made of a small percentage upon the income received
by the company.
THE VOLUME OF DRY REFUSE.
The amount of paper produced and consumed in this country
is enormous in weight and bulk. Houses, shops, wholesale and
department stores, office buildings, banks, factories and institu-
tions, where the waste produced cannot be destroyed, send outside
the building quantities of articles which have become worthless
through use, or are not worth preservation owing to their cheap-
ness and profusion.
Of this amount, paper in many forms is the largest proportion.
The consumption of paper in the United States is stated on good
authority to be 38 pounds per capita per annum. Asuming a
population of eighty millions, this is 1,520,000 tons per year. To
produce this paper whole countries and territories are laid under
contribution, thousands of acres of forest trees are turned into
pulp; the world is explored and ransacked for old or new forms
of manufactured and vegetable products to be worked into paper
stock, great factories and many firms and companies, with huge
amounts of capital, are all busy trying to satisfy the insatiable
demand of the public for more paper.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 45
An instance of the use of paper in New York City may be
cited. The combined weight of one number of each of six Sun-
day newspapers, on March 5, 1906, was 5% pounds, an average
of 15 1-3 ounces for each paper. The whole number of sheets,
if spread out flat, would cover 52 square feet of surface. The
length of these sheets, if placed end to end, the long way, would
be 393 feet, more than one city block. It is estimated that the
newspapers of New York City daily consume 350 tons of paper,
and that fully two-thirds of this remains in the city aqid is not
sent out through the mails. This is upwards of 85,000 tons to be
accounted for yearly, to which must be added the stream of other
matter — circulars, posters, advertising and trade matter of all
sorts, besides the great value of paper in the weekly and monthly
journals and magazines.
By far the largest proportion of paper manufactured, after
serving temporary and transient purposes, is thrown aside as
worthless. It is so cheap as to be hardly worth saving; its
abundance makes it a nuisance, and it is the custom to get rid
of it as soon as possible,
CHAPTER III.
MUNICIPAL REFUSE AND RUBBISH COLLECTION AND DISPOSITION.
The history of the efforts made in this country to systematize
the collection and saving of this kind of municipal waste dates
from the beginning of the experiments made by the late Col.
George E. Waring, when Street Cleaning Commissioner in New
York, twelve years ago. He saw at Budapest a certain method
of sorting the city waste by placing it in thin layers on an endless
movable belt or platform, driven by power, and stationing on
either side a file of women who, as it passed, picked out certain
specific articles or substances which had a market value, or which
could be put to some useful purpose. Not a cleanly, but a
practical way of recovering things which would otherwise be
wasted and lost. (jGoJ. Waring applied this idea at one of the
New York Street Cleaning District Stations, and found that a
large proportion of the rubbish could be saved, and that it repaid
the effort and cost of recovery. He afterward built an experi-
mental station to which was brought the refuse from three dis-
tricts ; erected a movable platform for sorting, and a furnace for
burning the residue. The station built by the city, was run by
contract, and the city received from it a revenue based upon a
sliding scale, according to the quantities delivered, allowance
being made for delay and stoppages. The collection of refuse
was made by the city, and householders were asked to keep it
separated from the garbage and ashes.
This experiment proved that there was a far greater value in
city refuse than had been generally known ; that the preliminary
separation could readily be made at the house; that a separate
force of men and carts could be profitably employed for collec-
tion ; that the refuse could be sorted, baled and marketed, the
.worthless portions being destroyed without nuisance in the neigh-
borhood of the works, and that there was revenue for the city
in the process. Though the furnaces and machinery were not
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
47
adequate for the work, yet the results were reasonably good,
considering all the circumstances.
The returns from the Waring experimental station from Jan-
uary i, 1898, to August n, 1900 — two years, seven months and
eleven days — are shown by reports made by the Street Cleaning
Bureau and by private observation. The amount of combustable
refuse collected in three street cleaning districts, Numbers 12, 14
and 1 6, respectively included in the territory bounded by Sixth
and Seventh streets, south, the Bowery and Fifth avenue, west,
Twenty-second-street, north, containing 116,525 persons, and
having a fair average of houses, shops, stores, department stores
and factories is as follows :
TABLE XX.— RETURNS FROM EAST SIXTEENTH STREET REFUSE
DISPOSAL STATION, NEW YORK CITY.
Year
Loads
Collections
Payments to
City by
Contractor
Value to City
per Ton
1898
1899
1900
1 5,3 56
12,946
7,422
6,710
5,660
3.30°
$4,141
3,!°9
3,680
61.7 cents
54-9
$1.10 (7 mos.)
THE QUANTITIES AND COMPONENT PARTS OF REFUSE RECEIVED
IN 1899.
Paper, books, strawboard, etc 3,058,616 Ibs.
Rags, carpets, clothing, shoes, etc 576,812
Iron, copper, brass, lead, rubber 132,438
Bottles, proprietary 29,000 No.
Bottles, common 3 50 bbls.
Nearly all this refuse came from houses and shops, the large
department stores contributing about 1,500 loads of wrapping
paper and strawboard. A smaller proportion of factory waste
was received, useless except for fuel. These items may be still
further classified.
Of the whole annual quantity by weight thus treated, 37 per
cent, was sorted and sold, 60 per cent, was burned, and 3 per cent,
to 5 per cent, was incombustible and was taken away with the
ashes, which formed about 17 per cent, of the quantity burned.
About 75 horsepower in steam was derived from combustion, of
which less than 25 per cent, was utilized. This station was dis-
continued by a new city administration, and for two years all the
48 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
TABLE XXI.— PERCENTAGE OF SALABLE PORTIONS IN ONE HUNDRED
PARTS OF REFUSE.
Paper, six different grades 74.5
Rags, clothing, bagging, twine 12.2
Carpets, four grades 3.3
Bottles, common and proprietary 2.5
Metals, iron, brass, lead and zinc 2.1
Tin, all sizes and kinds 1.4
Leather, shoes and scraps 1.9
Rubber, shoes, hose and mats 2
Barrels, whole 1.4
Other salable material .5
city's refuse was gathered and marketed for the benefit of one
contractor, who, after rough sorting it at the clumps, conveyed
the remainder of the refuse in scows to fill land.
THE REFUSE UTILIZATION STATION IN BOSTON.
Up to 1898 the city of Boston collected the refuse and rubbish
with the ashes, and towed the larger part to sea outside the har-
bor. Under the influence of tides and winds the lighter portions
were carried to adjoining beaches, causing complaints and threats
of litigation. The matter was taken up by the city Board of
Health, under the leadership of Dr. Samuel H. Durgin, president,
resulting in action by the Mayor and the City Council, who asked
for plans and estimates for a disposal station for dry refuse.
The designs, estimates and superintendence of the author were
accepted by Mayor Josiah Quincy, and a contract was made, in
1898, with a company organized for the purpose, for a term
of ten years, with the privilege of purchase by the city at the end
of five years, or an extension to the company for the same length
of time.
The city furnishes the ground, collects and delivers all the
refuse, and pays the company $5,500 annually. The plant, which
cost $30,000, was erected and is maintained and operated by the
company, which receives all revenue from the material sorted,
and disposes of the residue.
The station is located at the Fort Hill dumping wharf, on
Atlantic avenue, about one-half mile from City Hall, nearly in the
geographical center of the city, and on the line of the elevated
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
49
and surface car lines, It consists of a building 162 feet long,
80 feet wide, with brick walls and steel columns supporting a
FIG. 1.— THE REFUSE UTILIZATION STATION, BOSTON.
wooden roof. (Fig. I.) There is a sub-basement under one-half of
the building containing the baling presses and destructor. A large
FIG. 2.— THE RECEIVING ROOM AND CONVEYOR, BOSTON.
5O THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
storage space is provided for receiving the waste, the carts, dis-
charging with no delay, except for weighing each load. (Fig. 2.)
From this receiving room the refuse, with a little preliminary sort-
ing to remove heavier articles, is placed on an endless belt or mov-
able iron platform 4 feet wide and 150 feet long, which carries it
slowly toward the other end of the building. On each side of
this moving conveyor stand files of men who pick out the several
grades of paper, rags, cardboard, etc., and place in bins behind
tfiem.
/ The bottoms of these bins discharge into power-driven presses
placed in the basement, which press the paper and rags into bales
of 600 pounds. (Fig. 3.) The other articles, glass, iron, leather,
FIG. 3.— POWER AND HAND PRESSES, BOSTON.
twine, etc., are removed to separate bins. The portions of refuse
not worth saving, which remain on the conveyor, are discharged
in a continuous stream into the destructor placed across the rear
end of the building, everything worthless being burned without
delay, and without rehandling or sorting.
This destructor is of a special and peculiar type, built with
interior walls of heavy fire-clay blocks, and exterior walls of red
brick, solidly braced with buckstays and tie-rods; it is provided
with fire-clay covers for the feeding holes, and doors for remov-
ing ashes and clinker. (Fig. 4.)
At the rear end, between the furnace and the chimney, is a
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 51
6o-horsepower steam boiler with an independent fire-box, operated
solely by heat from the destructor, and furnishing the power ~
for moving all the machinery for sorting, baling, driving a v
dynamo for lighting the building (ten arc and thirty incandescent
lamps), and for heating it in winter. No fuel has ever been used
except the refuse, and but a portion of the heat developed is used.
A boiler of 200 horsepower can be maintained at its full ca-
pacity by the heat from the destructor. The draft is regulated by
FIG. 4.— THE CONVEYOR, DESTRUCTOR AND BOILER, BOSTON.
heavy fire-clay dampers, the surplus heat going through a bye-
pass to the chimney — a self-supporting steel shaft 140 feet high,
lined with fire brick. The plant operates from 8 to 12 hours a
day, dependent upon the supply of refuse, and has a capacity of
500 cubic yards in 24 hours.
The refuse is collected from city districts which include the
business and a part of the manufacturing section, besides a large
area of the residential part, the estimated population being 200,-
ooo, and covering 95 to 100 miles of streets. The collection is
made daily by 17 large market wagons, and by 31 paper carts, the
52 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
daily average being from 50 to 65 loads ; a maximum of 100 loads
has been dealt with.
The character and composition of this refuse is very nearly the
same as in New York, but the separation of the various grades of
paper and saving of minor articles is much more thoroughly done.
The quantities sorted cannot be accurately stated, but in a general
way it can be said that 50 per cent, by weight and 65 per cent,
by volume is sorted available for market. The amount burned is
TABLE XXII.— APPROXIMATE QUANTITIES OF REFUSE RECEIVED
AT BOSTON STATION.
Year
Loads
Estimated
Lbs. per Load
Cubic Yds.
Tons
1899
IQOO
I9OI
1902
!903
1904
1905
1906
16,926
16,423
17,585
16,684
15,875
16,234
16,008
796
,045
,045
,045
,045
,045
,405
......
6,736
8,581
9,188
8,717
8,294
8,482
8,364
11,067
104,407
I
Total amou:
Yearly aver
Weekly
Daily
nts (8 years)
69,429
8,678
167
28
age .
about 25 per cent, by volume ; 10 to 12 per cent, is worthless and
is removed, with the 15 per cent, of ashes remaining from com-
bustion, to the adjoining dumping scows and towed to sea.
The destructor was the first of its type erected, being a radical
departure from the experimental furnace of Waring, and in many
points, unlike the existing types of American crematories. It is
a down-draft furnace, taking all the material through a chute
kept continuously supplied by the conveyor belt, the air for com-
bustion entering through the same opening on the top of the
furnace. This kind of bulky waste requires larger furnace ca-
pacity and more air than the usual garbage and rubbish, and
the grates and flues must be arranged to allow the free and un-
interrupted passage of a larger volume of gases, to avoid back
fire when the furnace is full. There must also be ample provision
for detaining small floating particles of ash or partly burned bits
of paper, a point usually overlooked in American practice.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 53
The boiler was intended only for the work of this plant, as no
use could be made of the surplus heat, and the power now em-
ployed is less than 50 per cent, of the capacity that can be de-
veloped. If an opportunity offered, a boiler of 200 horsepower
could be operated by the gases of combustion, and the earning
capacity of the plant in steam power be increased nearly four
times.
The automatic charging by the conveyor belt requires only
two men to operate this furnace, an important saving as com-
pared with incinerators where four to six men are constantly
needed to fire by hand, stoke, and remove ashes. There was at
first a secondary fire box provided for consuming gases by extra
fuel, but as this was not needed, in repairing the furnace after
six years of continuous use it was deleted. But few changes or
alterations have been found necessary, these comprising power
presses instead of hand, an ash lift for removing ashes and rub-
bish, and a hoist for loading the bales of paper. While there is
no direct revenue from this plant to the city, it receives the
greater benefit from this system of disposal, as the delivery of
the refuse at this central station is less expensive than before, -the
cost of transportation outside the harbor is saved and the sanitary
disposal is a vast advantage over the former methods with their
attendant nuisances and constant complaints.
At the expiration of the contract of the Refuse Utilization
Company the city proposes to erect a larger station on the same
site and conduct the work by its own agents for its own benefit.
The work of this station for a continuous period of ten years
is a striking illustration of the value of practical business methods
applied to the recovery of waste materials heretofore lost.
It also points a moral in favor of successful municipal service
by contract as contrasted with other works of the same general
character, where the station has been operated by city employees,
with apparatus theoretically designed to be perfect, but practically
proved to be altogether inadequate.
THE FORTY-SEVENTH STREET REFUSE UTILIZATION STATION,
NEW YORK CITY.
At the incoming of the reform city government of New York,
in 1902, the Commissioner of Street Cleaning, Dr. J. McG. Wood-
54 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
bury, caused to be erected on a pier extending into the Hudson
River at Forty-seventh street, a rubbish incinerator described by
the designer, Mr. H. De B. Parsons, C. E., as follows:
FIG. 5.— THE FORTY- SEVENTH STREET REFUSE STATION, N. Y. CITY.
The design of the incinerator, Fig. 5, consists of three cells, each
having thirty square feet of grate area. The products of combustion
pass over the cells into the smoke flue in such a manner that the product
from cell No. i has to pass over cells Nos. 2 and 3 ; the product of com-
bustion from cell No. 2 mixes with the products from cell No. I, and
together they pass over cell No. 3; and that from cell No. 3 mixes with
the products from cells Nos. i and 2, and is intimately mixed again in
passing along a tortuous flue to the base of the stack. The result of this
arrangement has been highly satisfactory,, as regards the non-production
of smoke. Taking a stormy day, when the material was brought to the
incinerator wet, the smoke was seldom visible for more than about
seventy-five feet from the top of the stack, and then only during the
period of stoking one of the grates.
This incinerating plant was constructed as an experiment. In order
that it might be free from any hindrance from injunction or otherwise,
lest it might create a nuisance to neighboring property, it was decided to
locate the plant on one of the city piers, about 250 feet from the bulkhead
line. The permanency of location, of course, was not considered, the
idea being that if the plant could be constructed quickly, and show that
combustion could be carried on without creating a nuisance, it would lead
to the introduction in the future of other stations, more favorably situ-
ated, and at which better facilities could be provided for the reception
of the material and for picking the same.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
55
Shortly after the incinerator was built some changes were
found necessary. The flues connecting with the chimney were
simplified to allow a shorter passage of the gasses. A larger
boiler was installed with more direct connection with the furnace ;
a picking belt, or conveyor (Fig. 6), with bins for sorting the
FIG. 6.— CONVEYOR AND SORTING BINS, NEW YORK STATION.
refuse, and an engine and dynamo for electric lighting were
added.
An effort was made to change the method of charging by
using an automatic conveyor direct to the charging openings, but
it was found impracticable owing to the peculiar construction of
the incinerator. After a period of about four years the cells were
found to be greatly damaged by the heat, and specifications were
prepared by Mr. Parsons calling for a new construction of a
two-cell incinerator to be connected with the large boiler.
These two cells were to be built with interior walls of concrete
9 inches thick, and with exterior red brick walls 13 inches thick,
the whole bound together with buckstays and angles in the usual
manner. There were two top-charging holes for each furnace
with heavy doors protected by fire-clay slabs.
The concrete walls for interior lining was to be made with
56 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
one part Atlas cement, two parts powdered slate, and one part
of clean steam ashes from not less than l/% inch in diameter. The
grates were in sections five inches deep, tapering in thickness 24
down to 5/1 6 inch and spaced ^4 inch.
No reinforcement of the interior walls was used. The contract
was let, the incinerators built and work begun. Cracks and
FIG. 7.— CHARGING THE INCINERATOR, NEW YORK STATION.
breaks presently appeared in the interior walls, rapid disintegra-
tion of the whole structure took place, and in a month it was
practically destroyed. No incinerator has as yet taken its place
and the refuse, after rough picking, is removed with the ashes
to Riker's Island.
The tables following, condensed from the reports of Mr. F. L.
Stearns, engineer of Street Cleaning Department, show the work
done in two incomplete trials of the first incinerator. There are
no reports from the second one :
REPORT OF FORTY-SEVENTH STREET INCINERATOR, NEW YORK,
OCTOBER 7, 1904.
The measurements for weights, bulk, and fuel value of waste
were made on the loads received for one-half day. The tests
for power were made on the entire day.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
TABLE XXIII.— QUANTITIES RECEIVED.
57
No.
of
Loads
Cubic
Yards
Cubic
Yds. per
Load
Weight
Pounds
Weight
per Cubic
Yard
City carts
44
33i
7 .6 ,
48,100 1
140 Ibs.
Private carts
10
•3 n
•J Q
4 Oo 1
TABLE XXIV.— SORTED MATERIAL.
Cubic
Yds.
Wt.,
Lbs.
Cubic
Yds.
Wt.,
Lbs.
Newspapers
08
c 184.
Raes
6-\
i 007
Manila paper
<?4*
T 2 50
Baggingf
i
184
Pasteboard
10 ^
4..QCQ
Carpets
i±
Mixed paper
Mixed paper and
rags
53
6
2,613
62 <
Shoes
Hats
i
\
180
1 7
Books
4
2 ^0
Rope
I
ill
Iron and tin
16
1,942
Barrels
2 I
2,826
Bottles
±
363
Boxes
I i
I 4OO
Totals
333?
jy.MS
Totals
42 \
5,999
Total picked out, 23,114 Ibs.; 48.8 per cent, by weight, 63.5 per
cent, by volume.
Total burned, 24,275 Ibs.; 51.2 per cent, by weight, 36.5 per cent.
by volume.
Total ashes from combustion, 3,529 Ibs. = 6.8 cubic yards, at
519 Ibs. per yard.
Percentage of ashes of amount burned, 10.7 by weight, 3.1 by
volume.
TABLE XXV.— EXPERIMENTAL TRIAL FOR STEAM POWER OF 47TH
STREET INCINERATOR.
Duration of test 4^ hours
Quantity of rubbish burned 23,011 .o Ibs.
Average horse-power developed 232 . 7
euantity of rubbish to produce i horse-power per hour . 21.9 Ibs.
rate surface 1 54 . o 'sq. ft.
Horse-power per hour per square foot of grate area. . . i . 51
Heating surface of boiler 2,759 .9 sq. ft.
Heating surface per square foot of grate area 17 .9 sq. ft.
Water evaporated per pound of rubbish i . 59 Ibs.
Percentage of ash from rubbish 14 . 5
Weight of rubbish per cubic yard in .o Ibs.
58 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
No use could be found for the power developed, though this
was estimated at $8,000 per year in value. Owing to the peculiar
construction of the furnace, it was fed by hand through front
side doors by the continuous work of three men. The ashes
were removed through the back side doors by two other men.
The work required a foreman, an engineer and his assistant and
two laborers for charging the boiler fire-box with large bulky
articles that could not be burned in the incinerator. The force
employed was nine to eleven men daily, varying with the quan-
tities brought by the city teams. The city received payment for
the sorted paper and rubbish at the rate of about $3.20 per ton of
recovered paper. Applying this amount toward the expenses of
the plant there was a deficiency of approximately $300 per week
on the whole operation of the refuse station.
The following table of volume and weights per cubic yard is
from the report of Mr. Stearns on the Forty-seventh Street
Station* :
TABLE XXVI.— VOLUME AND WEIGHTS OF REFUSE N. Y. CITY.
Newspapers, picked. . . .
5,185 Ibs. 98 cu.
yds.
Manila paper, " ...
1,2 50
54* '
M
Pasteboard.
4,909
^05
"
Mixed paper,
2,613
53
"
Rags,
. . 1,007
6* '
"
Mixed rags and paper
62 s
6
"
Iron and tins,
16 "
"
Bagging,
184
i
"
oo o '
Carpets,
274
"
Barrels "
2 826
7i "
"
Books
2 ^Q
o
«
Bottles,
363
i "
«
Shoes
186
^ "
"
Hats
17
\ "
«
Rope,
Ill
m
"
Boxes
1,400 II
"
Total
yds.
23,114 Ibs. 372 cu.
Waste
24,272 " 218^ "
Total. .
S. <?Qoi CU.
yds.
47,^80 It
Percentage picked 48 . 8% by weight, or 63% by bulk
of waste 51-2% " " 37%"
'Transactions A. Soc. C. E., Vol LX., p. 345, 1908.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
THE VALUE OF REFUSE.
59
The method of recovery and the value of marketable refuse in
the whole of New York City is thus stated :
The rubbish is picked over at the dumps [and utilization stations] by
a trimming contractor, who pays the city for the privilege. The value of
this marketable refuse to the city is about $3.20 per ton. The Commis-
sioner of Street Cleaning has stated that this figure is too low ; probably
it should be increased 50 per cent. It is figured thus : The average rub-
bish collections are 300 tons per day, or 1,800 tons a week, of which the
marketable proportion is 35 per cent., say 600 tons. For this the con-
tractor pays the city approximately $1,920 weekly, or at the rate of $3.20
per ton. In this case the "City" comprises the boroughs of Manhattan
and Bronx only, as Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond deal with their own
refuse. The total yearly amount of marketable material is 93,600 tons,
and the payment made for the privilege of sorting everything saleable
is $110,000.
DELANCEY STREET REFUSE DISPOSAL STATION, NEW YORK CITY.
Following the construction of the Forty-seventh Street Sta-
tion, the Department of Street Cleaning caused to be erected in
November, 1905, a combined refuse incinerator and power plant
in Delancey street beneath the Williamsburg Bridge. The build-
ing (Fig. 8) which contains the furnaces and boilers is a one-
FIG. 8.— THE DELANCEY ST. REFUSE DISPOSAL STATION, N. Y. CITY.
story structure 70 x 150 feet in area, with brick walls and a steel
trussed roof. It is divided into two rooms by a fire wall, in the
6o THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
front of which is the receiving, baling and sorting floor; at the
rear end are the boilers used for steam generation.
From the sorting floor a short conveyor (Fig. 9) carries the
FIG. 9.— THE CONVEYOR AND SORTING BINS, DELANCEY STREET
STATION, NEW YORK CITY.
refuse to the top of the furnaces, discharging between them, so
that they may be fed by hand simultaneously. During the pas-
sage of the refuse over the conveyor the trimming contractor's
/men pick out a small proportion of the paper, which is baled by
power presses and removed from the building. The remainder
of the refuse furnishes fuel for the operation of the furnaces and
the development of steam power.
There are two furnaces placed back to back, with a common
smoke flue connection to the chimney. These furnaces are the
same dimensions, but are unlike in interior construction. Fur-
nace No. i, designed by Mr. H. De B. Parsons, originally fol-
lowed the same general construction as that of the Forty-seventh
street incinerator, except that there were two separate cells instead
of three, and two charging holes placed on the side and de-
livering the refuse over a short incline to the fire grates which
form the floor of each of the two cells. The grates consist of
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 61
wrought-iron bars riveted up in sections. Each cell is a com-
plete furnace in itself, having a charging hole, and stoking and
ash pit doors.
The gases of combustion pass upward to a cross flue which is
connected with the boiler and the stack, and is controlled by
large fire clay dampers. Each cell has a sliding door in the front
end for the admission of large pieces of furniture, mattresses, etc.
The second furnace, designed by Mr. F. L. Stearns, of the
Department of Street cleaning, is practically the same size, but
has a different arrangement of feed holes and grates. There is
but one side feed-hole, which is a straight passage from the
charging floor to the fire grates, the other feed-hole being on the
top near the outlet, and large enough to receive barrels and other
bulky matter. There are two sets of iron fire grates, placed
horizontally, one above the other, 'so that partially burned matter
from the upper set of grates may fall to the lower and there be
wholly consumed^ the ashes being raked out of the ash pits below.
There are two 2oo-horsepower Sterling water tube steam boil-
ers, each with 1,950 square feet of heating surface. These are
provided with the regular fire grates for using coal, and can be
run independently of the incinerators. The boilers are fed from
a pump in the adjoining building, the feed line passing through
an economizer coil in the base of the stack, which heats the feed
water to a high temperature.
In the adjoining building are placed two loo-k.w. and one
5o-k.w. direct connection engines, with generators of multipolar
direct-current type, wound for 250 volts, operating a three-wire
system. Their ratings permit an overload capacity of 25 per
cent. The distribution, which is controlled by an eight-panel
switchboard, provides for two circuits for local lighting and five
for the bridge, which are arc lamps connected on the multiple
system.
The chimney of these incinerators is of the radial brick type,
and is 200 feet high; inside diameter 4^2 feet at the top. The
foundation is concrete, 14 feet thick, on 30 foot piles over an
area 24 feet square.
The cost of the building, chimney, furnaces, conveyor
and outside driveway was $34,193.00
Boilers and Electrical Equipment 49,391.00
$83,584-00
62 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
The saving effected by this method of disposal over the former
one of dumping was expected to be $30,300 a year. This is 36.8
per cent, of the cost, and at this rate the whole expense of the
plant, maintenance and repairs would have been paid in three
years. The amount of refuse handled daily (approximately
1,050 cubic yards) is about one-fifth of the total daily output of
the boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx.
FIG. 10.— THE UNLOADING OF SCOWS AT SEA, NEW YORK CITY.
After the construction of this incinerator many changes were
made. The charging holes were removed from the side and
placed in the middle line of the furnace. The inner partitions
between the cells were removed, and the incinerator thus became
a rectangular open chamber floored with cast-iron fire bars and
charged by two openings through the roof.
After its operation for six months the walls showed signs of
weakness, and repairs were made. Subsequently, the strain put
upon this furnace for developing high temperature for electric
lighting proved its inability to withstand the pressure, and after
an intermittent use of about two years the east incinerator was
in too bad a condition to be operated.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 63
At the present time the west furnace is used for destroying
refuse rejected by the picking contractor, but no steam power is
developed. The boilers have been removed, the machinery for
electric lighting is dismantled and the whole plant is in poor
condition for anything like satisfactory work.
TABLE XXVII.— DATA AND RESULTS OF EVAPORATIVE TESTS;
RUBBISH INCINERATOR AND ELECTRIC LIGHTING STATION,
DELANCEY SLIP, BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN,
NEW YORK.
Trials made by H. De B. Parsons.
DATA
West Boiler
East Boiler
Grate surface of furnace . .
113 sq. ft.
1,890
60
Dec. 20, 1905
5.5 hours
Fair
Dry
3i,i93lbs.
8,926 "
22,267 Ibs.
10%
29, 92 5 Ibs.
36,568 "
6,435
610
200
2
2
74 sq. ft.
1,890
60
Dec. 21, 1905
5.5 hours
Rainy
Wet
21,175 Ibs.
7.245 "
Effective water-heating surface .
Surface of feed-water heater coil
in flue
TOTAL QUANTITIES
Date of Trial
Duration of trial
Weather
Condition of rubbish . .
6,876
1,800
250
Weight of rubbish delivered. . . .
Weight of rubbish picked out as :
marketable. . .
paper. . . .
rags
cans
Weight of rubbish burned
Weight of ash estimated
13, 930 Ibs.
. 10%
24, 67 5 Ibs.
30,054 '
Total weight of water fed to
boiler
Equivalent water evaporated,
from and at 2 12°
Number of furnace men :
stokers
feeders
Boiler horse-power developed . . .
ECONOMIC RESULTS
Water evaporated, actual, per
pound of rubbish
6
3
192.7
i .34 Ibs.
i . 64 "
I58-4
i. 77 Ibs.
2.16 "
Equivalent evaporated per Ib.
of rubbish
From an article contributed by Mr. F. L. Stearns to the dis-
cussion before the American Society of Civil Engineers, the fol-
lowing explanation is included :
The plant began by furnishing 250 amperes at 250 volts and lighting
only a part of the bridge. Later the load was increased until 800 am-
OF THC
UNIVERSITY
OF
64 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTK.
peres at the same voltage was generated, lighting the whole bridge. In
creating this power, however, the plant was run beyond its reasonable
capacity, 'resulting in the melting of the fire brick in the flue leading to
the boilers, which it is now realized was too small. This portion of melted
brick, together with ashes and other elements carried from the furnace
in suspension, filled the flues with a slag like iron ore ; while the melting
brick gradually disappeared until the top of the flues caved in and the
plant was obliged to discontinue lighting the bridge and was used simply
to dispose of the rubbish.
The Edison Company about this time offered to light the bridge at the
rate of 3^ cents per kw-h., which was cheaper than it could be done
by a plant of this kind, however efficiently run, and this offer was there-
fore accepted and the use of the plant for lighting discontinued. Another
furnace has been built close to the boiler, the connection between the two
being, instead of a flue, an opening the full width of the boiler and fur-
nace. This has as yet been run for only a year, producing steam to run
the conveyor and presses without any repairs, melting of brick or pro-
duction of slag. As there seems no use to put the power to other than
lighting, and as this was being obtained more cheaply than the cost of
furnishing it by the incinerating plant, this is used now simply for in-
cinerating rubbish and the waste heat is permitted to go up the stack to
the outside air.
The failure of the incinerating plant to light the Williamsburg Bridge
does not prove that rubbish is not a good fuel, neither does it prove that
it is impractical to generate steam power with rubbish as a fuel. Only
twelve years ago this burning of rubbish alone was untried, and to-day
we are not only trying to compete with coal-burning plants of the same
capacity but with the large plants of the Edison Company. Experience
with this plant seems to have demonstrated that, in competition with
coal-fed plants of equal size, rubbish-incinerating power plants can fur-
nish steam power economically. But no small plant can furnish power
as cheaply as a large one ; and a large incinerating plant is impracticable
because of the undesirability and great cost of hauling the rubbish from
such great distances as would be necessary to provide fuel for such a
plant.
This statement by Mr. Stearns treats the question of the opera-
tion of the lighting plants very tenderly. The facts appear to be
that the design of the furnaces was not based upon correct prin-
ciples. It is true that the combustion of this class of waste had
not been done in an extended way except at one point in the
United States, but the calorific value of the fuel was fairly well
understood, the quantities to be dealt with were known, the boiler
power to be developed was a fixed quantity, and with these
factors there should have been no great difficulty in constructing
a furnace which should be equal to the work.
The actual results were most lamentable, one furnace having
collapsed within six months after the first installation, necessitat-
ing many repairs, and even after changes were made in the de-
sign, there were still unfortunate results in the production of
steam and in the maintenance of the furnaces themselves.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 65
They were theoretical designs evolved from calculated formula,
and, as a matter of fact, failed almost completely when it came
to a practical trial under existing conditions. It is a demonstra-
tion of a truth that sometimes occurs in practical mechanics, that
a theoretical design from carefully prepared data does not do the
work nearly as well as even a rough construction by a practical
man who understands the power of heat, and who can design and
maintain his constructions from his own personal experience.
FIG. 11.— TIPPING ASHES AND RUBBISH INTO SCOWS, N. Y. CITY.
FINAL DISPOSITION OF ASHES AND REFUSE OF BROOKLYN.
In July, 1903, a five-year contract was made with the American
Railway Traffic Company, organized to take over the contract
from private parties for the final disposition of the ashes, street
sweepings and refuse collected in the borough. There were
established thirteen receiving stations, built and maintained at the
expense of the company, at which the wastes (not including
garbage) were delivered by the city carts. At two stations the
carts (Fig. 12) discharged directly into cars run over the trolley
lines of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company to a dumping
ground near Coney Island. At eleven other stations the city
carts discharge the ashes and sweepings into steel bins having a
capacity of 9^4 cubic yards, weighing, when loaded, from five to
eight tons. Four bins constitute a load, which is taken to the
66 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
FIG. 12.— THE CARTS FOR COLLECTION OF ASHES, NEW YORK AND
BROOKLYN.
FIG. 13.— ASH BINS REMOVED BY TROLLEY, BROOKLYN.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 67
dumping ground by trolley. All ashes and street sweepings are
disposed of in this manner. (Fig. 13.)
The refuse, separated at the houses, is delivered by the city
carts at the stations in separate buildings, wherein the marketable
portions of the rubbish are recovered by sorting, the residuum
being sent with the ashes to the dumps, or to the East New York
Disposal Station, where it is destroyed and the steam power
generated is utilized.
THE EAST NEW YORK DISPOSAL STATION.
The largest station operated by the American Railway Traffic
Company, under their contract with Brooklyn, is at East New
York, a suburb of Brooklyn proper.
The building of this station is 150 feet by 75 feet, wooden
frame, corrugated iron covering, two stories high. One-half the
area of the upper floor space is devoted to the ash collection
teams which dump their loads into pockets, or bins, beneath which
the cars of the trolley line are loaded.
The other half of the upper floor contains a short belt con-
veyor for sorting the refuse brought by city teams, the picking
bins, and the office. The second half-floor below has another
conveyor which receives the rubbish brought from the other
stations, and which is burned without further sorting.
Conveyor No. i, above, discharges into Conveyor No. 2 below,
and the latter discharges directly into the furnaces.
The incinerator is a double furnace of the "bagasse burner"
type, the fire boxes being divided by a bridge wall, so that either
may be run independently of the other. There are two grates
placed horizontally ; the upper consists of iron pipes connected
into headers outside the furnace, for water circulation, and spaced
one foot apart. The lower grates are of the usual cast-iron fire-
bar pattern. There are two doors at the front of each furnace
for stoking and for removing ashes. Both furnaces connect with
a common combustion chamber, and this with a Sterling water-
tube boiler of 300 horsepower. The chimney is of radial brick
type, 100 feet high.
The steam power employed is about one-half the capacity of
the plant, and is utilized for operating an air compressor for
drills and hammers in the neighboring repair shop of the Brook-
68 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
lyn Rapid Transit Railroad Company, and for heating the build-
ings and running the conveyors. The ash collection is from 50
to 70 loads, and the refuse 20 to 40 loads daily. All the baling
is done by hand.
There are no available data in regard to the amounts sorted
and destroyed at this station, since this is a private contract and
is not under the control of the city. The American Railway
Traffic Company is annually transporting one million yards of
material, which represents the ashes, street sweepings and rubbish
left after sorting. The company receives 35 cents per cubic yard
for this work of final disposition, besides the revenue from all
recovered material and the value of the steam power generated
at the incinerator plant.
During the period that this system has been in operation, three
and one-half years, about eighty-five acres of sunken marsh land
have been raised to the grade of the surrounding country and
made good taxable area.
THE DECARIE REFUSE INCINERATOR, BROOKLYN.
The American Railway Traffic Company has a small Decarie
FIG. 14.— METHOD OF DISCHARGING ASH BINS, BROOKLYN.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 69
incinerator in use in one of the Brooklyn districts. This is a
square box of steel plate 10 x 10 feet and about 10 feet in height,
with steel smoke stack 125 feet high. The usual water jacket
construction is followed in this case, the double walls having
space for water circulation, which is connected with the water-
tube grates and the steam generator or square boiler box which
forms the interior roof of the furnace. There is no steam power
obtained from the plant, the conveyor for sorting being driven
by electric motor supplied by currents from the street connections.
The incinerator burns no garbage or other material than the dry
combustible matters rejected in the process of picking. The
capacity of the plant is stated at 30 to 40 cart loads daily, about
200 to 250 cubic yards. There are no reports of quantities re-
ceived, sorted, or burned, and nothing is known as to the cost of
operating and necessary repairs.
THE THIRTY-SEVENTH STREET RUBBISH INCINERATOR, SOUTH
BROOKLYN.
For the disposal of the refuse of this district of South Brooklyn,
the Street Cleaning Bureau has built a small incinerator of a
simple design. This is a square box of steel plate (Fig. 15), lined
FIG. 15.— RUBBISH INCINERATOR, THIRTY-SEVENTH STREET, SOUTH
BROOKLYN.
70 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
with fire brick, floored with cast-iron grates, with ash pit below,
and flue connection with a short chimney at the rear above the
fire bars. The furnace is charged through one large door at the
level of the tipping platform. There is a corrugated iron covering
house and inclined approach and platform for the collection carts.
The work is carried on by one man who recovers whatever of
value he can pick out of the refuse as his payment for destroying
the remainder.
THE REFUSE DISPOSAL STATION IN BUFFALO.
In 1903 the city of Buffalo had under consideration a plan for
the reorganization of its service for the collection and disposal
of waste; also for the disposal of sewage from a large district
of the city that was below the level of the main sewerage system.
An examination made by the Commissioner of Public Works,
Col. Francis G. Ward, of several plans and methods, decided him
FIG. 16.— THE REFUSE UTILIZATION STATION, BUFFALO.
to accept the designs of Mr. C. M. Morse, deputy engineer com-
missioner, for the erection of a combined sewage pumping and
refuse disposal plant on ground owned by the city at the Ham-
burg Canal.
The contract for the collection and disposal of the ashes, garb-
age and refuse for a term of five years, was awarded, after com-
petition, to the Buffalo Sanitary Company, and provided for the
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 71
erection of a refuse disposal station adjoining the sewage pump-
ing station, which was completed in June, 1905.
The building is of brick, is 200 feet long, 50 feet wide and 25
FIG. 17.— TIPPING FLOOR AND CONVEYOR, BUFFALO.
feet high at the eaves, with a steel trussed roof. (Fig. 16.) A
division of the building into two parts is made by a fireproof
wall ; the main receiving room is 100 by 50 feet, and affords ample
space for dumping the four or five hundred cubic yards of refuse
FIG. 18.— CONVEYOR AND SORTING BINS, BUFFALO.
72 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
received daily. Beyond the fireproof wall is the destructor,
separated from the adjoining sewerage pumping station by an-
other wall, through which the flues connect to the fire box of
the steam boiler in the pumping station.
Between the receiving floor and the destructor is placed the
conveyor, which carries the refuse up an incline to the floor of the
sorting room, and thence 60 feet between the sorting bins. (Fig.
18.)
After passing the second floor the remaining worthless rubbish
passes up the inclined conveyor (Fig. 18), and is discharged
through a chute into one or another of the three charging holes,
FIG. 19.— DESTRUCTOR AND STEAM BOILER, BUFFALO.
as may be desired. When the works are operating this stream
of combustibles is constant, no hand-firing being required.
The destructor is 33 feet long, 12 feet wide and 13 feet high.
The exterior is strongly braced by buckstays and tie-rods, and
by longitudinal angle bars to which the frames of all doors are
bolted. (Fig. 19.)
The interior construction really comprises a double furnace,
with independent fire boxes and fire-brick grates for sustaining
the refuse. The area of the fire boxes is 36 square feet, that of
the refuse grates 160 square feet; a total of 196 square feet of
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 73
grate surface. The fire boxes are separated by a bridge wall, so
that they may be worked independently under forced draft. Be-
hind the fire bars are two sets of fire-brick grates, one above the
other, but divided from each other by a longitudinal bridge wall.
Above the upper set of grates is the main receiving chamber of
the destructor, approximately 20 feet long, 8 feet wide and 6
feet high, interior dimensions. At the rear end is a combustion
chamber common to both furnaces to which all the gases are
directed and from whence they are taken into the boiler of the
sewage pumping station, or direct to the chimney by a bye-pass.
A small 75-horsepower boiler is set in connection with the
destructor for the purpose of electric lighting, operating the con-
veyor and bailing presses, and for furnishing forced draft. By
means of sliding dampers this boiler can be put out of commission
when connection is made with the boilers of the sewerage plant.
The combustion of refuse is accelerated by forced draft from
a 6o-inch blower, introduced on each side of the destructor under
the ash pits of the fire boxes. The chimney, which is connected
with the boilers of the sewage pumping station and with the
destructor, is 150 feet high, of radial brick, reinforced by a lining
of fire brick to withstand the high temperature generated by the
destructor.
The rooms which contain the dynamo and engine are separated
from the main destructor room, and bathrooms and all other
necessary conveniences have been provided for the comfort of the
employees. The approximate cost of the refuse disposal station
and all machinery, inclusive of the chimney, was $50,000.
The quantities of refuse received at the station for the first six
months of its work, when under the control of the Buffalo Sani-
tary Company, was reported as follows :
TABLE XXVIII.— QUANTITIES AND DISPOSITION OF REFUSE,
BUFFALO.
Quantities Disposition
June, T9°5 I2.736 Rubbish, dirt, ashes sent to
July, I9°5 I4.599 dump from station, 2,116
September, 1905 15,176 cubic yards.
October, 1905 1 5,3 9 5 Tins marketed, 452 cubic yds.
December, 1905 10,887 Iron marketed, 2 tons.
January, 1906 10,924 Paper marketed not reported.
Delivered at Station . . 79,7 17 cubic yards.
74 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OK MUNICIPAL WASTE.
In May, 1907, the city purchased the buildings and equipment
from the Sanitary Company for a payment of $50,000, and have
since operated the station for its own benefit. The gross returns
for recovered articles and steam supplied to the sewage pumping
plant for 4 months 10 days, May 20 to September 30, 1907, was
$11,957.83. After deducting the cost of operating and adding
the allowances formerly made to the Sanitary Company for
steam, the net returns from the station for the period named is
about $5,000, or at the rate of $1,250 per month, or $15,000 per
year.
The recovered articles included 2,362,417 pounds of paper, 83,-
703 pounds of rags, 53,626 bottles and four car-loads of tins.
The quantities received and sorted for one day, Oct. 14, 1907,
were :
14 bales of newspapers ' 9,07 5 Ibs.
34 " mixed-paper 22,980 '
i Manila 53 5 '
i Rags 650 '
i Flour bags (paper) 63 5 '
51 bales 43.875 Ibs.
FINAL DISPOSITION OF REFUSE AT LOWELL, MASS.
Since 1892 this city has destroyed its garbage by cremation in
an Engle Cremator, except during times when it has been sold to
the farmers for feeding swine. This cremator was not of suf-
ficient capacity for the work required, and in 1904 the city
erected a small incinerator for the disposal of the refuse.
The Decarie incinerator built at this place in 1904, at a cost of
$10,000 for the furnace only, is a departure from the usual type
of construction of this company. It is a circular, double-jacketed
vertical boiler 8 feet in diameter and 10 feet high, having interior
hollow pipe grates, arranged in a circle and at their upper ends
tapped into the bottom sheet of the steam generator. On the
front outside are two fuel grates arranged one above the other,
the purpose being to make a down-draft from one grate through
the other, the heat then passing into the incinerator. These grates
and fire box are of no service and are not used. On the rear side
exactly opposite to this is a square- jacketed brick chamber, having
a grate at its upper and farther end, over which the gases from
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
75
the incinerator are' supposed to pass before reaching the chimney.
The incinerator is charged through one large opening on the top
24 inches in diameter. There are nine doors for firing and re-
moving ashes, one large charging hole above, and eight smaller
circular 4-inch openings for stoking. The water-jacket and the
hollow grates are part of the circulating water system. This
steam boiler system generates a small amount of steam, not
enough to utilize for power and which is allowed to go to waste.
The kinds of materials burned at this incinerator are rubbish,
paper, small amounts of wood, sawdust, sweepings, barrels, and
generally combustible refuse, with condemned food-stuffs from
the market houses. An attempt has been made to burn garbage,
but all the matter of this kind is found to pass through the grates
into the ashpit below and is removed when partly burned, with
the ashes. The furnace is not suited, nor is it used for the con-
sumption of garbage in any considerable amount.
The official report of quantities for the week beginning April i,
1907, is 47,125 pounds, or an amount of 3 1/3 tons per day.
Time occupied, 8 in the morning until 5 o'clock at night. Fuel
used daily, 150 pounds of coal and about i to 2 cubic feet of
wood. The following report of quantities and cost of operating
is condensed from the official report of the city for the years
named — 1904 to 1907 inclusive :
TABLE XXIX.— RUBBISH AND MARKET REFUSE, LOWELL, MASS.
PAPER AND
RUBBISH
Market
Refuse
Number
Tons
Reported
Total
Tons
Collec-
tion
TOTAL
COSTS
YEAR
Number
Loads
Collected
Tons Tak-
ing 6 Yds.
to Load,
200 Ibs. to
Yard
Per
Year
Per
Ton
1904.. . .
1905.. . .
1906 . . .
1907.. .
Totals.
536
606
723
708
32i
363
433
424
3°3
664
1,046
i,i95
624
1,027
*,479
1,619
$992-92
1,101 .20
1,762 .45
1,489.80
$i-59
i. 06
1.19
.89
2.573
i,54i
3,208
4,749
$5,346.37
1.18
A report recently published has the following paragraph :
Garbage crematories have been installed in many cities in this coun-
try, but in a very large number of cases they have been reported as
76 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
unsatisfactory or have later been superseded by other designs or by a
different method. The crematories which are seen in American cities
are furnaces operated under ordinary draft, usually with coal as a fuel.
A recent examination of a furnace of this kind used, in this case, for
the burning of market wastes, showed serious defects from a sanitary
point of view. The heat was not great enough to destroy the odors at
all times, and the heavy gases generated in the furnace, though dis-
charged through a tall chimney, fell to the ground and were very offen-
sive. The refuse was not completely burned, and the charred mass dis-
charged from the furnace containing unburned material was offensive
and much of it had to be reburned. Coal was being used, though not
in large quantities, as the wastes contained much combustible material.
The operation of this furnace in or near a populated district, in the
manner in which it was being operated when examined, would be in-
tolerable.
*
CHAPTER IV.
MUNICIPAL ASHES. — COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL.
The largest item in waste disposal work is municipal ashes.
The average quantity from towns using coal for domestic fuel
is from 70 per cent, in winter to 50 per cent, in summer, an
average of 65 per cent of the total waste collection for the year
through.
The composition and character of municipal ashes varies not
only with the kind of coal used but also with other local conditions.
The character of the people has much to do with this. In wealthy
residential towns the ashes are far greater in quantity and contain
more unburned coal. The reverse of this is true in populous
towns largely made up of working people. The geographical
locality has perhaps the most noticeable effect. In the cold winter
season of the north the consumption of fuel goes on at a much
higher rate than in the temperate and warmer regions of the
Middle and Southern States. .
These various considerations make it impossible to assign any
fixed percentage of ashes to any community unless the particular
conditions are known.
The variation in American coals used for household fuels is
roughly shown in the following table :
TABLE XXX.— APPROXIMATE ANALYSIS AND HEATING VALUES OF
AMERICAN COAL.
Fixed Car-
Volatile
Ash
Heat
KINDS OF COALS AND
bon, Per
Matter, Per
per
Units
LOCALITIES
Cent. Com-
Cent. Com-
Lb.
Per Lb.
bustible
bustible
Coal
Coal
Anthracite, Penn. and Col
100 to 92
o to 8
10 .0
13,700
Semi- Anthracite, Penn. and W.
Va.. .
92 to 87
8 to 13
8 7
Semi-bituminous: 111., Ind., la.,
Mo
Bituminous: Pa.. W. Va., Va.,
87 to 78
13 to 25
5-6
14,700
Ga., Ky., Tenn
78 to 50
2 5 to 50
6.0
13,600
Lignite: Mon., Wy., Col., Wash.,
Id., Cal....
Below co
'\bove co
77
78 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
The refuse of a coal fire includes fine ash, clinker, slate, coal
partly coked, and unburned coal. The proportion of each varies
with the variety of coal, the kind of furnace, and the skilfulness
of the fireman. The ashes of anthracite coal burned in the houses
of the larger Eastern cities have been analyzed, and the results
given by Waring,* tabulated and reported by Koyl and Craven,
are accepted as the standard.
TABLE XXXI.— ANALYSIS OF ASHES FROM ANTHRACITE COAL, NEW
YORK CITY. (CRAVEN.)
AVERAGE HOUSE COLLECTION
Apart-
ment
Houses
Large
House
Furnaces
Factory
Egg
and Nut
Steam
Boilers,
Pea Coal
Unburned coal recoverable. . .20%
Clinkers and partly-burned
coal 1 5%
35%
20%
40%
I 5%
25%
30%
20%
40%
Coarse ash and slate T 5%
Fine ash „ • • 5°%
4<r%
4r%
4S%
40%
The proportions of unburned coal, clinker and fine ash by
volume are very nearly the same as those by weight given above.
This analysis was made shortly after the separation of wastes
was instituted in New York City, and the quantities of unburned
coal quoted in this table were then thought to be very large, but
have since been found to be correct.
Any one who wants to see the coal that is carried from his own
and other households has only to inspect an ash dump after a rain-
storm has washed away the upper coat of fine ashes. He will see
enough unburned coal in sight to convince him of the fact that
an average of 20 per cent., or 400 pounds of coal per ton of ashes
is a comparatively safe estimate.
The figures of the New York Commission are, for 1906, for
Greater New York, two million tons of ashes taken from the
households to Riker's Island and other dumping places. At an
average of 20 per cent., or 400 pounds of coal per ton of ashes, this
city is annually burying 400,000 tons of coal per year in preparing
the foundations for the future municipal buildings to be built on
this ground. By simply sifting out the coal and saving 50 per
cent, of it, at the present market prices (and it will never be
•Disposition of the wastes of New York City, G. E. Waring, 1899.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
79
lower) the city would provide in five years for enough money to
erect the buildings to cover the site.
What is true of New York is true of all American cities in a
greater or lesser degree. All are equally wasteful and indifferent,
because, perhaps, it is nobody's particular business to look after
trifling details of this sort.
The value of this fuel for heat production is an important
factor in waste disposal work. Assuming that 20 per cent, of
the coal and burnable clinker is recoverable it represents 400
pounds of fuel per ton of ashes, and the value in heat units and
rate per ton is shown in the following table :
TABLE XXXII.— HEATING POWER AND VALUE OF WASTE COAL
(KOYL).
Average
Heat
Units
Per Ct.
of Heat
Units
Value per Ton
Recovered Coal
New coal
I I,OOO
100%
$5-5°
Recovered coal and clinker . . .
8,000
73%
4.00 from ashes of
new coal.
Later tests of these ashes from households has shown the coal
and clinker that can be utilized as fuel under forced draft to be
larger in quantity but less in volume of heat units, averaging
coal and clinker 35 per cent, and 5,000 B.T.U. of heat. The ques-
tion of fuel value is discussed at length under other heads.
The utilization of clinker from clean steam ashes for concrete
manufacture of certain kinds is well-known, and is increasing in
favor. In many places fine ash is screened, sifted and ground, and
used as a constituent of mortar, with good results. Tests of
this mortar demonstrate that it possesses the tensile strength of
65 pounds per square inch, as compared with that of ordinary
lime and mortar of 15 pounds per square inch, and that it has a
crushing strength of 1,000 pounds as against 150 pounds strength
of ordinary mortar.
A large factory in New York uses fine coal ashes as a substi-
tute for sand in certain kinds of brick-making, with entirely
satisfactory results. It is also widely used for fireproofing in
floor filling and similar construction work.
8o THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
When dealing with disposal of wastes by incineration the ash
resulting from combustion of the several kinds of refuse becomes
an interesting factor. Not all waste produces the same returns in
quantity or character when burned under different conditions.
ASHES FROM THE COMBUSTION OF ENGLISH TOWNS' REFUSE.
Under the English practice of burning all house refuse and
ashes in furnaces operating at high temperature under forced
draft, the residuum of ash and clinker is thoroughly calcined and
freed from organic matters. There is a small amount of fine dust
deposited in the combustion chamber and dust catchers of the
furnaces, which is used as the basis of several kinds of disinfect-
ing powders. The clinker, which is removed through the firing
and stoking doors of the destructors is screened, ground, and
mixed with hydraulic lime and cement, and is formed into paving
blocks, flagging, tiles, bricks, and gravel for concrete filling in-
stead of broken stone. At Liverpool some of the smaller munici-
pal buildings are made altogether of this material, and the blocks
and bricks used are suitable for many kinds of construction work,
as they can be moulded in any form or made in any color. When
properly seasoned these bricks are 50 per cent, stronger than the
ordinary building brick, and are manufactured at far less cost.
The best selected clinker from English destructors is so per-
fectly vitrified that it is in demand for use on the filter beds of
sewage works, and is found to perfectly supply the place of an
equal volume of broken stone at much less than the cost of the
latter.
TABLE XXXIII.— ANALYSIS OF DESTRUCTOR ASHES (GOODRICH);
FROM REPORT OF MR. J. M. TAGGERT, BRADFORD, ENGLAND.
SAMPLE
Fine
Medium
Silicious matter
61 .08
21 . t^O
7 .80
Traces
4.12
5-5o
67 . 10
19.30
6 .00
Traces
i. 80
5-8o
Iron and alluminia Oxide
Carbonate of Lime .
Magnesia
Organic and Volatile Matter
Moisture . .
100 .00
100 .OO
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 81
The clinker from destructors burning mixed garbage, refuse
and ashes, and operating at a temperature of 1,800° to 2,500°, is
a very different product from the ashes of American crematories
burning garbage and refuse only, at a temperature of from 600°
to 1,500°.
No American form of crematory has yet succeeded in burning
large quantities of mixed municipal waste (garbage refuse and
ashes) with any reasonable success. It s not, indeed, attempted,
nor is the form of furnace suitable to obtain and continue the
higher temperatures reached in British practice. It is possible
for American furnaces to attain high heat for brief periods, and
under certain unusual conditions a clinker may be formed that is
similar to the one described above, but this is the exception, not
the rule. The American garbage crematories deal only with
garbage and refuse under natural draft conditions, and do not
attain the highest temperatures nor produce an ash that is com-
pletely vitreous and free from organic matter. On the other hand,
there is a value to American crematory ash that should be taken
into account when the values of all waste materials are considered.
ASHES FROM AMERICAN CREMATORS.
Fourteen years ago the writer caused an analysis to be made
of the ashes from the Engle Crematory in Des Moines, Iowa.
This analysis gave the following proportions of fertilizing
elements :
Calcium carbonate 8 . 007
Magnesium Phosphate 3-oio
Calcium phosphate 66.855
In transmitting the analysis Prof. Call, of Drake University,
Iowa, after preliminary observations on the relative quantities of
the constituents, says :
"Now as to the usefulness of this ash ; I believe that the analysis
shows this material to have value for fertilizing purposes. There
is a relatively small amount of insoluable matter, and a large
amount of matter which can be readily dissolved in water, and by
the ordinary processes of nature made useful ... I have
no hesitancy in saying that this sample shows a high grade of
value."
The opinion of Prof. Call has been confirmed and supplemented
by the opinions of others, and the value of the ash is well estab-
82 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
aiqniosuj
f» w M oo
M 00 • 00 00
aptxQ
to e* o) co
•<t ON ON t-
um^
OO M • M CO
-XQ uinppQ
00 N -<t
CO N M t^ tO
CO O M NO 't
9pix0
umipos
IO • IO
NO • NO
10 . 10 -
o n
NO r^- OO CNI
M t-» t^ NO CO
rt 00 00 00 M
g umu™m
t^ NO NO NO
Tf M f» M O
0 K
NO M M <N,
CO M ^J- M OO
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CO M MM
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CO *O IO IO
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|| uiH
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00 NO O NO 00
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NO M O 1^- t^
00 0 0 t^ M
Tf CO NO O M
sgsXjBiiy
jo jgquin^
10 co t» CS O
M ^"
EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS
Hatch Exp. Sta., Mass. Agr. Coll., Am-
herst ; ashes from cremation of swill
The same ashes from cremation of gar-
bage
New York Agricultural Exp. Sta.,
Geneva; ashes from cremation of
garbage
Iowa Agr. Exp. Sta., Des Moines;
ashes from cremation of garbage. . . .
Hatch Exp. Sta., Amherst; wood
ashes
ON NO
<o ON NO
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00 ON
UJ **> ^"
•
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ts> t^» CO
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Ul
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ll
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AVERA
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ffi ffi
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 83
ished. The preceeding table gives several anaylses of garbage
ash, and for the purpose of comparison an analysis of wood-ash,
a well-known commercial fertilizer, is added :
Although there are no nitrates found in garbage ash there is a
large amount of calcium oxide (lime) present in its superior form.
When animals are burned with the garbage, the ash is rich in
phosphate and lime.
The value of ashes for land dressing does not depend altogether
upon the amount of soluble phosphates and acids which by
chemical analysis are shown to be present, but is due also to the
fact that the ashes are an assistance or addition to the ground and
act as filling for the interstices in loose and sandy soil, favoring the
rise and retention of moisture, and on stiff clay soils rendering the
texture pliable and easily worked. It also corrects acidity in some
soils by the addition of alkaline properties. In the author's ex-
perience the use of garbage ashes as a fertilizer has been attended
with uniformly successful results.
Household garbage burned under ordinary conditions leaves 10
per cent, of residuum. From this is screened out the broken
crockery, tins, glass, and all other foreign matter, leaving about
5 per cent., or 100 pounds of ash per ton of garbage available for
use. This is a conservative estimate, and is probably less than
the average.
For fertilizing purposes, garbage ashes must be kept separate
from coal and refuse ashes, should be housed under cover, foreign
matter screened out, and samples frequently analyzed to show
the proportions of fertilizers present. The ash should include
all bones even though partly calcined.
ASHES OF REFUSE AND RUBBISH.
When municipal dry refuse (rubbish) is burned in incinerators,
the residuums include large amounts of iron in many forms, tin,
glass, and other incombustibles. If these be previously removed,
leaving the combustible matters, the percentage of ashes, which
is fairly constant in amount, can be ascertained. There is always
present a large per cent, of silica in various combinations, the
quantity depending upon the cleanliness of the collection and the
locality from whence the refuse comes. The following table gives
an approximation of the ashes of refuse from all available data :
84 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
TABLE XXXV.— ASHES FROM ONE TON OF MUNICIPAL REFUSE AND
RUBBISH.
PLACES
Authority
Percent-
age
Weights,
Lbs.
New York Utilization Station
Boston
New York 47th
Street
Craven ....
Morse
Stearns . . .
i?
15
14 . c
360
300
290
New York Utilization Station Delan-
cey Street
Parsons
14 O
208
Buffalo Utilization Station
Morse
10 ^
3QO
New Brighton. Average of test for
i year
Fetherston.
I3.8
376
The ashes from combustion of refuse in New York City were
analyzed at the Lederle Laboratories as follows :
Sample of ashes from West Forty-seventh Street incinerator :
Moisture 2.12%
Potassium carbonate 2 .65%
Calcium phosphate i . 98%
Alkaline earth carbonates, silicates, soda, oxides of iron and
alumina, etc 68 .05%
Organic and volatile matter (loss on ignition) 25 .20%
100 .00%
Sample of ashes from Delancey Street incinerator :
Moisture 0.7 5%
Nails and other metal 5 • 4&%
Broken glass 4 • ° 5 "
Bone phosphate 2.71%
Potash . 0.46"
Alkaline earth carbonates, silicates, soda, oxides of iron and
alumina, etc. > 60 . 91 %
Organic and volatile matter (loss on ignition) 25 .64%
joo .00%
STREET SWEEPINGS — QUANTITIES AND VALUES.
Street sweepings is the last constituent of municipal waste to be
considered, and although usually not a part of waste disposal
work, still is an item of the whole mass of waste from which some
returns may be expected.
In 1898 the General Government collected data in regard tc
sweepings, from which the following is quoted :*
*The fertilizing value of street sweepings, U. S. Agricultural Bulletin No. 55,
H. W. Wiley and E. E. Ewell, Chemists.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 85
Of 354 cities to which inquiries were sent, 150 made no report, and of
the 204 reporting, 70 had no method of utilization; 74 used them (street
sweepings) for filling land, and 60 cities, or about 17 per cent, of the
whole number, with a population of 10,000 to 100,000, used them for
fertilization. For the cities reporting, the average quantity collected was
168.9 tons for i ,000 population. Assuming this to be a true average,
then, for all the cities of the United States the total amount would be
three million tons.
THE FERTILIZING VALUE OF SWEEPINGS.
The value of sweepings for land dressing depends greatly upon
the nature of the paving from which they are taken. It is practi-
cally nothing when it comes from macadamized roads, and only
approaches good stable manure from the well-kept, hand-swept
streets of crowded cities. Sweepings are often mixed with much
foreign matter, which lowers their value. There are few reports
of the value of sweepings available. These are presented in the
table XXXVI following.
Street sweepings when dried average 50 per cent, of sand,
powdered stone, abraided iron and other foreign matter, and 50
per cent, of combustible organic matter. During continued fine
weather the sweepings become finely divided and pulverized, and
when taken up by the wind are a nuisance to the public and a
positive injury to property. It is claimed that disease germs
are communicated in this manner, and it is reported by physicians
in the larger cities that the increase in catarrhal and kindred
diseases during periods of dry, windy weather are noticeably above
the normal percentage.
In 1905 New York City separately collected the street sweepings
and delivered them in bags at the dumps to the Long Island
Railroad, which sent them to the farmers, charging only the cost
of freight and handling. This experiment was not satisfactory,
as the cost of the bags, which quickly rotted, and the freight
charges, were more than the value of the material. There being no
storage facilities, no disposal could be made in winter, and the
attempt to utilize sweepings in this way was abandoned. They
are now sent with ashes to fill land on Riker's Island. Though
the approximate value of this waste is about $i a ton, only
under exceptional conditions of cheap transportation can it be
made to return a revenue.
The government reports from farmers using sweepings are to
the effect that their value is about two-thirds that of farmyard
86 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
manure, giving best results when used as top dressing. The
cost varies from 15 cents to $2 per ton, to $6 per carload. They
contain a considerable amount of stones, cans, etc., that must be
removed by the purchaser, and they should be well rotted before
using.
STABLE REFUSE.
The waste from private stables is not generally considered as
municipal waste. The view taken by most places is that this
comes under the head of trade refuse or private waste with which
the city has no concern. The waste from the city stables is com-
monly removed with ashes and dumped, and the householders
make private agreement for the removal of stable refuse. Stable
refuse in New York City is removed by a private company for the
payment of a fixed sum averaging about $i per load of 2,000
pounds. This is sent by rail to country depots for distribution
to farmers.
The quantities, according to the data furnished by the great
express companies, average about 30 to 32 pounds per horse for
each 24 hours. The total quantities removed in New York cannot
be stated, but the amounts are diminishing each year by reason
of the adoption of self-propelled vehicles in place of horses.
Stable manure, when the liquids are drained off and the horse-
bedding is of straw, peat, wood shavings or saw-dust, is com-
bustible with forced draft without other fuel. Several large ex-
press companies burn their stable refuse under their steam boilers,
and by adding a small quantity of slack coal, obtain power for
electric lighting and workshop purposes.
Some of the larger cities class manure as a municipal waste
and in calling for tenders for incineration include stable manure
in the general waste to be destroyed. In one city, the average
quantity to be destroyed is nearly 40 tons daily, the manure
weighing about 970 pounds per cubic yard, and is nearly 13 per
cent of the total city waste collection. Undoubtedly the disposal
of stable manure will be done by city agency in an increasing
number of places wherever incinerating plants are installed, as
the value of manure for steam-producing uses is more than
equivalent to an equal volume of mixed city waste. In the opera-
tion of the Westmount Destructor fresh stable manure is de-
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
fH
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88 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
stroyed with a greater rapidity than any kind of waste, with a
proportional development of heat.
APPROXIMATE COMMERCIAL VALUES OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
If garbage, refuse and rubbish, coal and clinker and other
waste products of the city can be successfully dealt with by the
contractors after being delivered to them in a separated condition,
and if such work be remunerative to the contractors, why should
not the town itself do its own work of waste disposal and recover
at least a part of the profit it now allows others to make, applying
this profit to the expense of the collection and disposal service?
There are several reasons for the present contracting methods.
It has long been the custom to allow this work to be done by
contract, and it is often difficult to break through traditions and
precedents, and the personal influence, political pull and actual
graft that too often govern matters of this kind. But modern,
sanitary and economical methods can be established if the town
authorities are willing to investigate and to act upon their con-
victions.
MARKET QUOTATIONS FOR REFUSE.
Per 100 Lbs.
Per Ton
Paper 7 grades. . .
Rags 6 ...
Bagging 4 • • •
Carpets 3
Twines 2 ...
Rubber
$0.25 to $0.80
•30 " -85
.65 " i.oo
.60 " .75
.36 ;; .50
•3° " -5°
$5.00 to $16
6.00 " 17
13.00 " 20
I2.0O " 15
7.20 " 10
6.00 " 10
These are whole-
sale prices for car-
load lots. The
retail prices for
smaller quantities
are 15% to 25%
lower.
The value of a ton of ashes in an unsorted condition is practi-
cally nothing except for ground filling. A load (1,500 Ibs.) of
this brings from 10 cents to 25 cents, according to the demand and
cost of hauling. Although the actual values in coal, clinker and
fine ash are there, they must be established by the separation and
utilization of the several parts. (See Table XXXVII.) This can
be done economically on a large scale only, with large volumes of
ash to deal with, and with a market for the several portions. The
coal in ashes will always be salable ; the clinker is coming more
into use, and the fine ash is already being manufactured with lime
and cement into building bricks of any desired color, possessing
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS.
greater strength and density than ordinary brick, to which it is
superior in every way. It is made in less than one-tenth the time
of the ordinary brick, and is sold at no greater cost. This industry
will undoubtedly be extended to include a wide variety of forms
and shapes for building material in which ashes as a substitute for
sand will be used in large quantities.
The value of the refuse in. the above table is based upon the
present market price of newspaper "commons," or the lowest
class of printed matter sorted from city collections.
VALUE OF GARBAGE TREATED BY REDUCTION PROCESSES.
^
No statement of the value of American waste would be com-
plete unless it included some estimates of the amounts returned
by garbage when treated for the recovery of its commercially
valuable constituents.
There are three reduction processes — by steam only, by naphtha,
and by a combination of these two in one system. Although these
three methods are fairly well known there are no complete and >
accurate data obtainable from the companies employing them, *
hence all estimates in regard to them must be made conservatively.
The following table, compiled from official sources, is an
analysis of the identical product of different processes in different
localities :
TABLE XXXIX.— ANALYSIS OF GARBAGE TANKAGE.
LOCALITIES — PROCESS
Nitro-
gen
Phos-
phoric-
Acid
Potash
Bone
Phos-
phate
] 2 .
12 .
Lime
New York City, Pierce Process
3 4
3-5
37
3-
3
2 .9
2 .Q
3-7
2 9
2 5
2 . I
I 64
2.50
3-1
3 -5
3-9
2.6
1.6
o
3 •'*
6.
!:,
g'oS
6 .92
•7
i .
".66
i -15
.6
.6
:.S5
^
I . 20
5°
.64
56
Providence, Simonin Process
Buffalo, Merz Process
Philadelphia, Arnold Process
Pittsburg, Flynn Process
Paterson, Merz Process
Bridgeport, Holthaus Process.
Philadelphia (Terne) Maximum
Minimum
Baltimore, Arnold Process (Gascoyne)
Penn. Experiment Station
•American Reduction Co., *Brooklyn .
Hatch Experiment Station. Mass. . . .
Average...
2 . OO
3 . in
* 6
*This analysis, made some ten years ago from samples submitted by a company
not now operating, is included, although the sample probably contained a larger
percentage of animal matter than is usually present.
90 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
The value of garbage for commercial products lies chiefly in
the amount of grease extracted. This is assumed to be 3 per
cent., which equals 60 pounds from an average ton of garbage —
larger, perhaps, than is usually obtained. This grease is extracted
from garbage by the process of boiling the garbage with steam
in digestors, and .afterwards pressing out the grease and water,
which are then separated ; or by using naphtha as a solvent, which
is afterwards recovered from the grease. This grease is a dark
brown, heavy oil containing many impurities and some moisture,
and must be repeatedly refined before it is fit to be used. It is
largest in amount in winter and least in summer. There is a con-
stant market for the grease at prices which vary from 2^ cents
to 3 cents per pound. Great quantities of it are sent abroad for
use by soap manufacturers, and a considerable amount is bought
here for the same purpose.
Tankage is the solid part of the garbage that comes from the
dryers after the extraction of the grease. It is mostly the fibrous
skeletons of vegetable matter, with a small percentage of animal
substance. The proportions vary according to the amount of
water present in the original mass of material, and averages about
400 pounds of tankage to each ton of garbage.
The value of tankage depends largely upon the nitrogen present,
obtained from animal substances, and the amount of which is
determined by an analysis of samples, the whole being sold upon
the guaranteed percentage of fertilizing elements present. The
market is not constant, as at certain seasons the supply exceeds
the demand, and tankage is frequently disposed of by being burned
under the boilers of the plant in place of coal. When the grease
has been extracted by naphtha, tankage is often highly inflamma-
ble ; sometimes there is an occurrence of spontaneous combustion.
Four or five plants have been destroyed from this cause, and
many cases of fires are constantly reported from reduction works.
The manufactured material does not readily lend itself to
transportation to distant places because of its bulkiness in pro-
portion to the weight. It quickly deteriorates in character, and
must be marketed soon after production. As a fertilizer it is not
applied in the tankage stage, but is used as a "filler' for super-
phosphates or other ingredients for making a complete manure.
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 91
ENGLISH METHOD OF UTILIZATION BY HAND SORTING.
The method of utilization by sorting out salable artices from a
mixed mass of "town refuse" brought together at one point has
been severely condemned by several English authorities. The
conditions attending the work at one station in London are thus
reported to the London County Council by the medical officer and
the engineer :
"The process carried on in a London dust contractor's yard has
not undergone much alteration since the following description by
Dr. Ballard was written : 'On a load of dust being upset from the
dust cart on the surface of the yard men and boys proceed to sort
it. They are provided with a fork and an instrument called a
drag, which has a short handle and three cast iron teeth set about
three inches apart, and with these they fork and drag over the
heap so as to separate from it obvious pieces of vegetable and
animal refuse, bones, rags, paper, iron, crockery and glass. These
are distributed, some into heaps, others into baskets ; the bones are
put into a bin or heap by themselves for sale to bone-boilers. The
rags and paper are also usualy set aside for sale ; the iron and old
tins are always set aside for sale, and usually also the glass, while
the broken crockery, brickbats, etc., etc., are laid in a heap to be
used as material for making new roads.' '
These are practically the same conditions that apply to American
dumps where we still allow the pawing over of ashes, refuse and
rubbish, and where the situation is not unlike that described above.
This practice is to be strongly condemned, and should be prohibited
as unsanitary and in every way objectionable.
AMERICAN METHODS AT UTILIZATION STATIONS.
But these conditions do not apply to the refuse utilization
stations that are established in large cities and operated under
restrictions that compel cleanly work. True, there is dust, but it
can be drawn off by proper ventilating apparatus, and there is
dirt which is burned and not permitted to accumulate. All stages
of disposal work are accompanied by these difficulties, which are
unavoidable but which may be regulated and made less harmful
and annoying by the employment of adequate means.
In this method of utilization by sorting at central stations the
92 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
daily collection of refuse, the burden of the system comes upon
the householder, who must do the first sorting. If there is no
separation in the first stage than there can be none thereafter that
is complete and satisfactory.
The householder, therefore, is the one that makes it possible for
something to be saved, but he profits only in an indirect way. The
separately collected garbage goes to a reduction company that
agrees to accept paymeent from the city for its disposal upon con-
dition that clean garbage is delivered to the company. The
rubbish and dry refuse, in al cases cited except one (Buffalo), goes
to a contracting company that benefits by the benevolent action of
the housewife, who gives it clean paper to handle. The sole actual
benefit that the householder receives is the removal of matter that
has become embarrassing and with which he cannot deal alone.
In places where there are no contractors and no municipal force
to perform the service he must pay for its removal, out of his
own pocket, from five to ten times the amount he would be assessed
for the service on his property valuation if the town performed its
work properly.
GENERAL SUMMARY OF WASTE UTILIZATION METHODS.
In this table (No. XXXVIII) are brought together the items of
waste separately analyzed and classified in the previous tables, and
it represents the theoretical commercial values which, although
undoubtedly present in the waste, are in such combination with
one another as to make it impossible to utilize them when collected
in a mixed mass. But when separated into their classes at the
houses there is no difficulty in providing treatment for the recovery
of the commercially valuable of each class. This is done now by
the separation of garbage for reduction, but the separation of ref-
use for market, and by the use of a part of the ashes for concrete
work and brick making. It is necessary only to carry this one step
further and in providing for waste disposal add the equipment
required by each class of material and deal with all the waste,
instead of dividing it up among several opposing methods or
/mong several different contractors.
A return will always be available from the waste when it is
properly treated by the best means. Coal will never be cheaper
than it is now, and a partial supply from whatever source, even if
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 93
of a poor quality, will always command a market. Clinkers and
ashes have just been discovered to be of real worth, and we have
only to note the many uses to which these unpromising materials
are put abroad to see what may be done with the same things
here. Paper stock is cash on demand, and nearly everything of a
fibrous nature can be manufactured into one or another form of
paper. The return to the earth of the waste of households in the
form of fertilizers, of garbage concentrated into ash by fire or .x
into tankage by mechanical processes, is an economical means of *
dealing with large volumes of matter which returns a revenue, or
profit, over all expenses.
Bringing all the waste to one station and using each method
best adopted to each material means economy in equipment and
operation, as the residuum from one class of refuse will furnish
power and heat for the treatment of the whole.
Now that the real value of certain parts of discarded matter
are better known and have a recognized standing in the world's
markets, there may be expected a movement, which is indeed
already begun, that will give the benefit of the economical treat-
ment of waste products to the people, who are the ones chiefly
concerned, and who should chiefly benefit by the wisely ad-
ministered, economical and sanitary methods at the service of
municipal authorities.
EXAMPLES OF THE UTILIZATION OF WASTE MATERIALS.
Frequent reference has been made by many writers to the
methods and appliances used abroad for the recovery of some
useful by-product of the municipal waste, and many valuable hints
are to be had from the records of towns that have had longer
experience in this line than most of our American cities.
We have little to learn from the examples of Continental cities,
except that some of their methods of careful collection and sys-
tematic service might well be adopted, but in Great Britian there
are many ways of dealing with waste matter, born of the press-
ing necessity for economy and efficiency, that may well apply to
our own needs. The quotation given in this chapter concerning
the unsanitary method of sorting general refuse applies to the
conditions of twenty years ago, when they were beginning the
serious study of the question. Great advances have been made
94 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
since those days by the use of mechanical devices for conveying,
separating and utilizing the various parts of the town's refuse.
All these are made possible by the use of steam power generated
by the waste itself, and this steam power is the principal factor in
the various methods and forms of utilization. But, aside from the
value of the power developed in the larger English cities by the
employment of powerful refuse destructors, and which is used for
municipal lighting, traction, water and sewage pumping, etc., is
the great field for the manufacture of certain forms of building
material made from the clinker and ashes left after the destruction
of the combustible part of the waste.
We have practically the same kind of waste to deal with, and
one that contains a larger proportion of valuable matters than
that of any foreign community. The American people enjoy a
plentiful supply of food, clothing and fuel easily and cheaply
obtained, and are more wasteful in their habits of life than any
other nation. The absence of economy in the disposal of all
residue excites the wonder and astonishment of foreign observers.
This habit of wastefulness," probably caused by exceptional abun-
dance, is a national trait that cannot and need not be changed, but
there is every opportunity to profit by the example of others who
have advanced the art of economic waste disposal by a quarter of
a century.
DISPOSAL OF MIXED WASTE.
There is but one opinion as to the means of sanitary disposal
of municipal waste when it is collected in an unseparated mixed
condition by the city's cart — it should be destroyed by fire. The
mass contains every class of waste intimately mingled by gathering
from every source alternate layers of garbage, ashes, refuse, trade
waste, street sweepings, leaves and park refuse, and sometimes
manure also. The ashes of this mass furnish a temporary relief
from the odors as the liquids are absorbed and the particles of
animal and vegetable matter become coated with the fine ash, which
arrests putrefaction for a short time.
When these loads of mixed wastes are discharged at the dumps,
in order to save the expense of covering, and to avoid the nuisance
of flying papers, frequently the refuse is set on fire and may burn
for days, sending out clouds of nauseating smoke. The suburbs
THE MUNICIPAL WASTE OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 95
of most towns, where there are no means of disposal except by
dumping, are nearly always subjected to this nuisance. In one
New England city the dump fire, after burning for days, was so
offensive that the Fire Department was called in for the relief of
adjoining householders.
For the larger towns where separation is made there is less
difficulty in disposal, for each class can be treated by itself, but
for th6 smaller places where a mixed collection by private or con-
tract service is made, the final disposition is the hardest problem
that the town has to solve, and the most practical and sanitary
solution is destruction by fire.
PART II.
THE DISPOSAL OF AMERICAN MUNICIPAL WASTE
BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
CHAPTER V.
METHODS OF WASTE DISPOSAL BY INCINERATION IN AMERICAN
TOWNS.
In attempting to collect and reduce to intelligible form the data
existing on the subject of disposal of municipal waste in American
towns in early stages, it has been very difficult to procure accurate
and extended accounts that are of value as records.
At the beginning of the work, in the years 1885 to 1890, the
control was almost exclusively in charge of the local health
officers of the cities. They first recognized the importance of the
question, and being responsible for the public sanitation, were the
first to advocate better methods of removal and disposal of those
parts of the waste which were most offensive and dangerous to
the public health.
There was no system of concerted action. Each Health Officer
treated the matter in his own way, always under the strong eco-
nomical pressure of the City Council, which, as a rule, would only
vote money to suppress an epidemic of disease, but could never
be brought to recognize the wisdom of preventive measures.
The question was taken up in 1887 by the largest sanitary society
in the country — The American Public Health Association (which
afterwards included the Dominion of Canada and the Mexican and
Cuban Republics), by the appointment of a Special Sanitary Com-
mittee for the collection of data and publication of reports on the
subject. For nearly twenty years the committee continued its
reports, which, with the papers contributed by the members
of the Association upon the special and local conditions of their
cities, formed the only definite and accurate accounts of the work.
In 1894 a special effort was made by Mr. Rudolph Hering, C.E.,
then Chairman of the Committee, to obtain data on the subject.
96
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 97
The replies to the circulars sent out contained much information,
but it was so indefinite and irregular in arrangement, and so
obscurely expressed that it was never reduced to tabulated
form. The papers of the members in all parts of the country con-
tained the best details and suggestions, and when made public were
of great assistance to others. The Association continued its work
through its committee up to 1904.
Meantime the business side of the matter was being developed
by companies and persons who brought forward many furnaces for
destruction of waste by fire, and means and apparatus for treat-
ment for recovery of the valuable parts of the waste.
Still, the practical application of these means remained, as a
rule, under the charge of the Health Officers. These gentlemen
were not always fitted by experience in previous business and
professional training to consider the detail of the best forms of
construction and working of garbage crematories and reduction
plants. Thus it happened that there were many failures both in
methods and appliances, much time was lost and large sums of
money wasted before the Boards of Health were willing to accept
the conclusion that, in all the practical details of means, apparatus
and application of inventions, this is an engineering question to be
solved by men whose special training fits them for the work, and
the responsibility that comes with it.
Meanwhile, the reliable literature of the subject did not keep
pace with the growth of the work. The builders of crematories
at widely separated points were intent upon pushing their in-
dividual ideas and their particular designs, each claiming his to be
the best yet brought out, and paying little attention to what was
happening elsewhere.
There are many accounts of the operation of crematories,
written mostly by those directly interested on behalf of the
builders or the town authorities. Probably the largest number
of these were drawn up by newspaper writers, who designed to
give a record of the current news items for home consumption,
sometimes for personal, political or financial reasons, to exploit
the efforts of their local authorities, or the particular device in
use, and these reports were often inaccurate and not always
true. In the absence of correct returns, these items were put
forth as authoritative accounts of the work, were used as an
98 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
indorsement of the particular furnace elsewhere, and, being ac-
cepted without investigation, perpetuated and multiplied the
errors. While in many cases these accounts must be accepted as
the only existing record, they must be taken with the utmost
caution, until verified by other and more independent observers.
The sharp competition of opposing interests developed mutual
misrepresentation and recrimination. Contracts were obtained by
personal and political favor, by influential pull, by manipulation
and graft, with little regard to the interests of the city or town.
Each place having adopted a system, the local authorities felt con-
strained to endorse it to others. There was no standard for com-
parison except these indefinite newspaper reports. But more than
all else, there was no accurate system of trials or tests to deter-
mine the initial efficiency of apparatus, and in most cases no sub-
sequent official record of continuous operating results, tabulated
for use.
In this connection the great engineering journals have exercised
a wise discretion and admitted to their columns the detailed
description and illustrations of plants installed, accepting no re-
sponsibility for their operation and refraining from comment upon
the claims made for successful design or performance of any
particular plant. This course has compelled accurate and better
accounts, and it is to the columns of these journals that we must
look for reliable details of construction and operation.
This state of affairs continued for nearly seventeen years,
from 1885 to I9°2> and this whole period is marked by the succes-
sive appearance of something like twenty-five or thirty different
forms of apparatus and methods for the disposal of municipal
garbage, for almost every one limited their constructions to the
treatment of this item of waste.
It was in the year 1902 that the first examination and report
upon the operation of an American crematory was made by a
competant engineer qualified by training and acquaintance with
other incineration systems to report upon the merits and de-
ficiencies of the particular one noted.
The City Engineers of most places have not, as a rule, taken up
the subject with intent to familiarize themselves with its details.
Heretofore, they have not been anxious to offer suggestions, or
perhaps they were not consulted by the Boards of Health or Com-
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 99
mittees of Council who had the matter in hand. But whatever be
the reason the Engineers of the country have shown but little
interest in the matter and allowed it to "drag its slow tortuous
length along" with little help from them.
There are several notable exceptions to this where exhaustive
studies were made and accurate reports submitted, and in some
few cases the City Engineers have taken charge of and caused to
be successfully operated crematory furnaces in their towns for
continuous years. But within the last three years there has been
a marked change in the engineering aspect of the subject. Six of
the larger cities have appointed commissions or employed special
engineering experts, and in one case the department controlling
the collection and disposal of wastes has through its Chief En-
gineer, made a thorough study and formulated an admirable
report. The reports already made by these gentlemen have been
drawn upon in the previous tables, and will be still further cited.
FIRST GARBAGE CREMATORIES.
Up to 1884 there was little or nothing known in this country
of the methods of destroying offensive waste by fire. In England,
a Fryer furnace had been built at Manchester in 1876, and this
destructor, with some changes and modern attachments, is still
operating. This furnace was followed by the "Beehive" and
several others. The Sanitary Engineer and Weekly Journal
(now the Engineering Record), of New York, in its issue of
September, 1884, gave a brief account of these, with such illus-
trations as were available, but little interest was shown in the
matter, and no similar furnaces were built here until 1886.
FIRST U. S. GOVERNMENT GARBAGE FURNACE.
In December, 1884, Lieut. H. J. Reilly, U. S. A., at that time
Post Quartermaster at Governor's Island, New York Harbor,
addressed the Editor of the Sanitary Engineer, saying that he had
a daily average of five cubic feet of garbage which he wished to
cremate, and asked where he could find information as to the
proper construction and size of a furnace for the purpose. In
reply, the Editor referred to the previous issues of the Sanitary
Engineer describing the "Fryer" destructor, the "carbonizer" at
St. Pancras, London, the Leeds destructor, and the "Beehive"
destructor at Burnley, England.
ioo THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
In the August 13, 1885, issue of the Sanitary Engineer appeared
the letter of Lieut. Reilly reporting the construction of a gar-
bage furnace at Governor's Island, New York Harbor, as follows :
Office Post Quartermaster, Governor's Island, X. Y.
July 29, 1885.
SIR: — I enclose herewith a sketch to scale of the garbage furnace which
is in use here, as it may interest your readers.
The garbage, varying in daily quantity from ten to thirty cubic feet,
used to be buried, but the small extent of good ground available for the
purpose became so saturated that in the summer time especially the odor
was distinctly perceptible, and not agreeable. For this reason it was finally
decided to burn the garbage, and I made many unsuccessful attempts to
get some information as to the proper construction of a furnace for the
purpose.
I finally appealed to you, and it was on information derived entirely
from your valuable paper that the furnace now in successful operation
was built. An experimental one, which gave excellent results, was first
tried by obtaining an old brick oven so as to get something similar to
"Fryer's Destructor" which was described in your paper.
The one now in use consists essentially of a chamber 4x5x3 feet, lined
with fire brick and divided into three spaces by two gratings, composed of
34-inch round iron bars, with inch openings between them, and the neces-
sary doors, grate bars (surface six square feet), and ashpit. The gratings
are for the purpose of supporting the garbage, so the heat can get through
and dry it and to prevent it from stopping the draft or putting out the
fire.
The operation was commenced by making a coal fire and putting the
garbage on the right side to dry; the next day's garbage was put in on
the left side and the dry garbage was raked over the fire. By putting
garbage in on the left and right sides alternately dry garbage is supplied
and the fire kept constantly burning.
The chimney, owing to its location, had to be built fifty feet high,
although it was intended originally to have it only thirty, which would
have given ample draft. The total cost was about $350. There was a
slight inoffensive odor from the chimney which is perceptible in certain
conditions of the atmosphere ; it is very similar to that given off by burn-
ing letter paper. No fuel of any kind other than the garbage is used or
needed, unless the fire is allowed to burn out, when, of course, some
fuel is necessary to start the new fire. One man has charge, and after
putting in the day's garbage generally limits his attention to raking the
dry garbage over the fire at noon and again at sunset.
Very respectfully,
H. J. RKILI.V.
This form of furnace was afterwards built by the U. S. Govern-
ment at many of the Army posts and depots, and continued in
use up to 1894, when the last example was built by the author at
Fort Totten, Willets Point, New York Harbor. The capacity of
all is very small, rarely exceeding one ton daily.
The same construction as that described bv Lieut. Reillv was
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
101
followed at Fort Totten, except that the grates for sustaining the
garbage were made of steel railroad bars set in heavy cast-iron
headers at the top and bottom. But the weakness of this form
of grate bar exposed to the direct action of the fire made constant
repairs necessary, and the absence of any device for consuming
the gases that passed direct to the chimney was a fatal defect.
As the first example of the "garbage cremator" in this country
it did the duty for which it was required quite as successfully as
some of its later, more complicated successors. This furnace at
Governor's Island was removed in 1904, after nineteen years of
continuous service, and replaced by a furnace of a different form
of construction.
FIG. 20.— THE FIRST GARBAGE CREMATORY IN THE UNITED STATES,
GOVERNOR'S ISLAND, 1885.
THE FIRST MUNICIPAL GARBAGE FURNACE.
Next following the Government garbage crematory built by
Lieut. Reilly at Governor's Island, was that constructed by the
Rider Company, at Allegheny City, Pa., in 1885. This appears
to be the first one which engaged in the disposal of the garbage
of a municipality. The cost of the plant was about $5,700, its
capacity, 30 tons daily, it was operated by two men, and used the
cheapest coal as fuel. The enclosing building was a cheap con-
struction and the whole installation was largely in the nature of
an experiment, although it continued in service some six or seven
years.
102 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
It was a plain brick rectagonal box, with one horizontal set
of grates, the main firing chamber being divided by a heavy
bridge wall, over which the flames passed from the front to the
rear. It was charged through ten small openings on top, the
waste falling on the grates in small conical piles. The front sec-
tion was fired with slack coal, and the heat generated was suffi-
cient for combustion in the second compartment. The ashes were
removed through doors on the grate level.
In the year following — 1886 — a Rider garbage cremator was
built in Pittsburg, Pa., of the same general description as the
one in Allegheny City. In this furnace, natural gas was the fuel
employed, the work being carried on by four men. The arrange-
ment of the plant was not convenient for receiving and charging
the waste, and the expense of operating was very great.
During 1889 an attempt was made to record the quantities of
waste destroyed, reported at 23,400 cubic yards, equivalent to
9,384 tons, an average of about 75 cubic yards per day. The cost
was about 90 cents per ton.
This furnace was not adopted by other cities, as the operation
was found to be very expensive, and there were many complaints
of nuisance from the chimney.
The Pittsburg cremator was discontinued in 1901.
THE WHEELING NIGHT-SOIL CREMATORY.
In September, 1885, Dr. Baird, Health Officer of Wheeling, W.
Va., appealed to the Sanitary Engineer for information on a
night-soil furnace, and was responded to by a reference to the
destructors used abroad, and to the Government cremator at
Governor's Island. None of these suited the case, and the town
authorities began a series of experiments in destroying night-soil
by fire. At first the waste was mixed with coal slack and burned
in gas retorts, which was too expensive ; later an old steel-heating
furnace was used with better success. Finally the city, in 1886,
contracted with Mr. M. V. Smith, of Pittsburg, to build a furnace
of the Siemens regenerative plan, employed for obtaining high
temperature in iron and steel mills. The capacity was to be sixty
tons daily of garbage, night-soil and dead animals. The location
was on a top of a hill, chosen probably for fear of offensive fumes.
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 103
The furnace — afterwards known as the Smith-Siemens crematory
— has been continuously in use for upwards of 21 years. Many
repairs have been made, but the original design has been sub-
stantially followed. Natural gas is the fuel. No available reports
of costs of construction, repairs or operation can be had, and so
far as known there are no pictures or cuts of the plant in ex-
istence.
It is understood the city is about to advertise for bids for a
modern disposal plant.
THE FIRST CANADIAN FURNACE.
The first furnace in Canada was in the year 1885, built by Mr.
Wm. Mann, for the disposal of night-soil in Montreal.
This was a square brick chamber floored with grate bars, with
ashpit below and at the back, a flue to the chimney in which was
placed a secondary fire-box. Subsequently, in the following year
a second furnace of the same general description was built in
another part of the city. This one continued in use for about four
year. Both these cremators were employed for night-soil in their
first intention, though garbage in considerable quantities was
burned in the later design. The large amount of fuel required for
this work led to the discontinuance of these first cremators in
1891.
REPORTS UPON EARLY CREMATORIES.
The earliest furnace that came into general use was the Engle
cremator, the first example being in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1887.
During the following years up to 1893 there were twenty-five
Engle cremators designed and built for destroying garbage and
night-soil, using various fuels. These furnaces were described
and reports of operation were given by many local authorities,
but no official report was had until Mr. William S. MacHarg,
civil engineer, in charge of water and sewage disposal of the
World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893, made a test of the
two Engle cremators designed and built by the author, and con-
tinuously used for the six months of the Exposition. From this
report the following is condensed :
IO4 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
THE ENGLE CREMATORS AT WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION,
CHICAGO, 1893.
Number of Cremators, two, capacity each 5o Tons
Fuel, Crude Petroleum, fed by 'Air Compressor.
Tons of garbage destroyed 5,009
sewer sludge destroyed, 1,854, equivalent to tons
of garbage destroyed 4,000 "
Total destroyed during six months 9,009
Gallons of oil consumed 169,839 gals.
Labor, 3 shifts of 5 men and engineer eight hours each.
Cost of disposal of garbage $o .67^
" sewage sludge 0.75!
FIG. 21,
•THE ENGLE CREMATORS, COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION,
CHICAGO, 1893.
The operation of the cremators was entirely satisfactory. All
the material was thoroughly burned without producing fumes or
odor. The carcasses of many animals were also destroyed.
These cremators were removed from the grounds at the close
of the Exposition. The Engle Company was awarded the grand
prize for its work in connection with this exhibit, and another
prize for the Engle Fire Closet, for the destruction of night-soil,
also employed in exposition work.
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 105
THE ENGLE GARBAGE CREMATOR, RICHMOND, VA., 1893 TO 1908.
The official reports of this city show the continuous disposal of
garbage, market refuse, rubbish and the smaller animals for a
period of fifteen years by the Engle Cremator, built under the
superintendence of the author in 1893. The quantities of waste
destroyed are estimated from the detailed yearly reports of loads
of garbage, market refuse and miscellaneous matter consumed.
This approximates 6,182 tons per annum of mixed garbage, refuse
and animals, but includes no night-soil, street sweepings or ashes.
The cost for operating expenses and repairs (which includes the
addition of \en feet to the cremator, raising the brick stack twenty
feet and complete relining of furnace), was 68 to 70 cents per
ton of waste destroyed. At this time all the garbage is destroyed
without difficulty, and the cremator seems likely to fulfill its pur-
pose for some years to come. It has been under the charge of one
Superintendent, Mr. W. P. Belton, for the past fourteen years.
ENGLE GARBAGE CREMATOR, NORFOLK, VA.
The following data are taken from the report of W. T. Brooke.,
City Engineer, 1893 to 1902. The year 1896, when the cremator
was operated by the contractor, is omitted :
Total loads mixed garbage and refuse, 58,793.
Expenses of operation and maintenance:
Labor $16,735.64
Fuel (coal) 9,237.31
Repairs and sundries 3,263.39
Total expenses . $29,236.34
The collection is done by city teams, the carts holding forty-one
cubic feet and averaging over one ton to a load. Assuming the
quantity to be 60,000 tons for the period, this would give fifty
cents per ton as the cost of operating, including also maintenance.
During this time two steel chimneys have been supplied, and the
furnace has been completely relined once, besides usual repairs to
grates, etc.
For the past six years, 1902-1908 the quantity of waste has
increased, because of nearly doubled population of the city; and
the cremator is now too small for the work demanded. The
cremator has been under the charge of one superintendent for
twelve years.
These cremators of the improved Engle type (Warner patent)
io6 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
at Richmond and Norfolk, have, with the exception of the furnace
at Wheeling, W. Va., probably been in continuous use longer than
any of the American garbage furnaces. The first cost was small,
about $7,500 each; the repairs and extensions have not changed
the original designs, and there has been no serious complaint or
stoppage on the score of nuisance, though both are located in close
proximity to dwellings. In these two cities the growth of popula-
tion and increase in quantities of garbage has made these furnaces
too small for present demands.
SMITH-SIEMENS CREMATOR, ATLANTIC CITY, N. J.
In 1902 Mr. J. T. Fetherston, engineer in charge of Street
Cleaning Service, Borough of Richmond, New York City, made
a report upon the construction and operation of the Smith-
Siemens garbage furnace at Atlantic City, N. J., built in 1894,
which included some features of interest. The period reported
was from September i, 1901, to September I, 1902.
ANALYSIS OF GARBAGE, AUGUST, 1902.
96 Ibs. vegetable and fine animal matter 64 per cent.
19 meat, fish and bones 12
12 oyster shells, crockery, tins, etc 8
15 free water drawn off before analysis 10
9 water lost in making analysis 6
100 per cent.
Tons of garbage burned yearly 9,663 tons
Cost of labor and repairs $14,698
Cost per ton of garbage burned $i . 52
Total amount of coal used 1,728 tons
Garbage burned per ton steam coal 5.6
Tons of gas coal used 1,298
Garbage burned per ton of gas coal' 7.4
COST OF SERVICE FOR TWO YEARS, 1900-1902.
Average cost for two years of garbage burned $i .48^ per ton
Garbage burned per ton of coal (total) 2 years 6.15 tons
Garbage burned per ton of gas coal (total) 2 years 7 .70
1900 — Total amount collected 10,477 tons; cost, $11,594
1901— 9.663 12,931
Totals 20,142 tons; cost, $24.525
Average cost of collection, $1.22 per ton.
haul, 2 miles; cost per ton mile, 61 cents.
Weight of garbage per cubic yard, 1,560 Ibs.
This Smith-Siemens cremator was operated by producer-gas
generated at the plant and employed only in this work.
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 107
This disposal plant was greatly damaged in the great storm of
October, 1903, and the following year was replaced by a reduc-
tion system, operating under the Arnold process.
REPORT ON DAVIS CREMATORY, TRENTON, N. J. (1899.)
By RUDOLPH HERING, C.E., AUGUST 4-9, 1902*
Garbage unmixed with ashes, in following proportions:
Moisture 81 per cent. = 1,620 Ibs
Garbage 15 = 300
Refuse 4 = 80 "
100 per cent. = 2,000 Ibs.
Total garbage burned 188 tons
Total coal for main and auxiliary fires J 3 • 7
Total garbage burned per ton of coal 13-8
Approximate average hours per day 14. o hours
Equivalent number of days 24 hours 3.5 days
Garbage burned per square foot of grate surface per day
of 24 hours i, 080 Ibs.
Garbage burned per square foot of grate surface per hour . 45 Ibs.
Garbage burned per cell, 25 square feet, per day of 24
hours 13 . 5 tons
Percentage moisture in garbage 81 .0%
Corresponding water evaporated daily 25.5 tons
Coal required to evaporate this water on basis of 10 Ibs.
water per Ib. coal 2.5 Ibs.
Range of temperature of flue gases 600° to 1,000° Fah.
Total daily capacity (24 hours) 53 . 7 tons
The report does not include the cost of labor and fuel, but this
was unofficially reported at about 62 cents per ton.
This report of Mr. Rudolph Hering, an engineer, who had
previously made investigations of this subject in Great Britain
and Germany, was, as stated by Engineering News, "the first
thoroughgoing engineering investigation of the operations of the
American garbage crematories of which we have knowledge."
It was undertaken under instructions of a Committee of the
City Council "appointed to investigate the workings of the city
crematory, against which numerous complaints have been made,"
and a brief synopsis of the subject matter and the conclusions
reached will be of value.
The garbage proper, or house refuse, is not of a combustible
nature, containing much fruit and being almost saturated with
water. The garbage from stores, markets, etc., is collected by
• "Engineering News, New York, Sept. u, 1902.
io8 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
private parties, and much of it is very combustible, such as paper,
rags, straw, wooden boxes, barrels, etc.
The sources of the trouble were :
(1) The odors arising from the garbage when collected by the city
teams and delivered at the works. This may be abated by exercise of
more care in loading and better regulations at the furnace.
(2) Odors from ashes after burning. These arise from piles of ashes
containing unburned animal and vegetable refuse and occur because of
the furnaces not being competent to thoroughly consume the waste, and
also because of the unskillfulness of the attendants.
(3) The dust escaping from the chimney. This is due to the faulty
design of plan or to improper manipulation of dampers, or both, and can
be avoided by the construction of a dust chamber between the furnace and
the stack, and by adding properly designed dampers.
(4) Unburned particles escaping from the chimney. This is annoying
because of their charry or greasy nature, and dangerous because of the
burning particles setting fire to roofs. Unburned particles were noticed
at a distance of one-quarter, one-third and one-half miles, varying from
one-quarter to three-quarters of an inch square. The cause was incom-
plete combustion and the remedy was a dust-collecting chamber, and
dampers to be closed when charging.
(5) Odors from the stack. This is usually the most serious trouble
from garbage cremation and due largely to the design of the furnace. A
discussion of this question involves (a) the character of the material
delivered for cremation and (b) the essential parts of the furnace to
obtain complete combustion. The burning of garbage depends upon the
amount of combustible it contains and the amount of dust, chiefly of an
incombustible nature, which obstructs the free access of air, and also the
amount of moisture present.
In European cities, where the garbage and rubbish is mixed with ashes,
the combustible matters are sufficient in properly constructed furnaces to
burn the whole without the addition of fuel. In our own country it has
become the custom to separate the ashes and garbage, and the burning
becomes a more difficult matter and can only be done by adding fuel.
FUEL VALUE OF GARBAGE.
The combustible value of garbage alone is thus stated :
Taking 31 tons per day, with 81 per cent, of moisture, there would be
present 21 tons of water. Assuming that all this water must be evaporated
in the furnace, and taking 10 pounds of water evaporated by one pound of
coal, it would require 2.4 tons of coal to drive off this water. Again,
assuming that 20 per cent, of solid material in the garbage will yield
roughly six tons of dry combustible material of about equivalent value of
one-third that of coal, this is equal to 20 tons of coal, thus leaving an
average of 0.4 tons of fuel which must be added daily to consume the
garbage with its present quantity of moisture.
The amount of coal actually used per day was 2.3 tons, and it is clear
that the arrangement of the furnace or that the manner in which it is
operated is not economical. The British cell destructor, with its sloping,
drying hearth, the sloping fire grates with forced draft beneath, the com-
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. . 109
bustion chamber for mixing the gases before passing to the steam boiler
and the dampers for regulating the draft, is more efficient than the
American crematory, with its large areas of horizontal grate, resulting in
piling up the garbage in heaps, requiring laborious and careful stoking to
distribute the material, and compels a slower combustion of a larger
surface of exposed matter and the need of some secondary fire for
destroying odors.
The brick chimney (120 feet high) of this crematory, collapsed
on September 17, 1906, and in its fall damaged an adjoining
house, injuring an inmate. A special committee of investigation,
appointed by the City Council, reported October 2, 1906, that it
"believed the wreck of the chimney was due to an explosion at the
base of the stack." The chimney was replaced by one 150 feet
high, of the radial brick construction, at a cost of $4,500.
THACKERAY INCINERATOR, MONTREAL, CANADA. 1894.
In 1894 Mr. Charles Thackeray built for Montreal, Canada, an
incinerator of the English type, following closely the designs of
the Fryer destructor at Manchester, England (1886), but with
modifications and additions made by the inventor. The contract
called for the disposal of 150 tons per day — 24 hours — at a cost
not to exceed 90 cents per hour, equivalent to 14.4 cents per ton.
The chimney is 180 feet high and 7 feet internal diameter.
Natural draft is used. The approximate cost of the plant was
$50,000.
In 1902 Dr. E. Pelletier, Secretary, Superior Board of Health,
Province of Quebec, made a report upon Refuse Disposal which
includes some facts respecting the Thackeray Incinerator. *
His analysis of Household Refuse is :
In summer In winter
Kitchen wastes 65 25
Paper (combustibles) 15 10
Tins, bottles, rags, etc 10 5
Ashes ... 10 60
100% 100%
The collection is made in a mixed or unseparated state by the
city's wagons. Only the refuse of the West District is burned ;
that of the two other districts (East and Central) is tipped. The
incinerator had the same number of cells as when constructed, but
*Proceedings A. P. H. Assn., Vol. 28, 1901.
1 10 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
had been somewhat simplified by the removal or non-use of steam
jets and mechanical fans for forced draft, the steam boiler re-
moved from the main flue, the lower horizontal flue being dis-
continued, also the fourteen small supplementary cells, and the
fume cremator at the base of the stack. There was added a
screen or ash separator for removal of fine ash in winter season,
as the large amount of fine particles interfered with the com-
bustion of other matter.
From personal inspection Dr. Pelletier found that the house-
hold refuse of Montreal is auto-combustible during the summer,
when the amount of ashes is 10 to 15 per cent. Mr. Dore, the
Sanitary Engineer of the city, estimates the moisture of Montreal
garbage and refuse to be 60 per cent.
The cost of incineration at Montreal, as stated by Dr. Pelletier,
follows :
From figures furnished by the Department in charge, the quantity of
household refuse during 1901 was 17,445 loads, equivalent to 13,659 tons,
destroyed at a cost of 93^ cents per ton. However, this does not give an
exact idea of the cost of incineration, either on account of interruptions
in the running of the incinerator (repairs or an insufficient amount of
garbage), the wages of the men continuing to run just the same, or for
other reasons. It is now well established that the net cost for the in-
cineration of a ton of garbage is 39 cents per ton (note). I did not on any
of my visits detect any bad smell resulting from incineration, and every
one I have spoken to about the matter has always answered that they never
heard any complaints.
NOTE. — It is understood this is operating cost only, not including interest charges
on capital cost or depreciation. In addition to the ash separator, a picking belt for
recovery of marketable refuse is also employed, but the power is not obtained from
the incinerator to operate the screen and conveyor. — [Eo.]
THACKERAY INCINERATOR, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., 1897-8.
Following the installation at Montreal, four years later, a
private company, The Sanitary Reduction Company, of San
Francisco, Cal., bought the rights to build a Trackeray incinerator
and acquired from the city a franchise for the disposal of its
wastes for the term of fifty years.
This private company is the successor of two others organized
for this work, and has encountered many difficulties in the pros-
ecution of its work. The incinerating plant erected in 1897 con-
tinued up to April, 1906, when it was partly destroyed by earth-
quake.
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. in
From a report made to the Engineering News, May 17, 1900,
the following facts are condensed :
Number of cells 32
Daily capacity, each 45 yards, or 20 tons
Total rated capacity of plant 1,500 yards
Equivalent in weight 600 tons
Square feet grate surface per cell 96 sq. f t.
Average quantity of charge per cell 15 yards
Time required for combustion of charge 4 to 8 hours
Average amount consumed per hour per square foot of grate . 17.3 Ibs.
Average daily amount at time of report 650 yards
Equivalent in weight 260 tons
Cost of labor (23 men) per day $40.00
Average cost operating per ton .15
Approximate cost of plant $75,000.00
Amount charged for incineration per yard .25
THE WASTE COLLECTION OF SAN FRANCISCO.
The collection of city's waste in San Francisco is made under
the direction of a Scavengers' Association, which controls the
entire service, making its own charge for collection from house-
holds and delivering the refuse at the works for disposal, paying
25 cents per cubic yard to the Reduction Company. The waste
includes garbage, refuse and ashes mixed together, and is taken
at the works just as it comes.
These disposal works are the largest in this country, covering
three sides of a square of 265 feet ; the buildings are of brick with
steel corrugate roofing, and the tipping platforms and approaches
wide and convenient. The chimney was the largest of its class on
the Pacific coast, 262 feet high, 32 feet square at the base, with
a central circular shaft of 210 feet and 14 feet in internal diameter.
At the time of the earthquake the upper third of the chimney
was broken off and in falling destroyed the flues connecting with
the eastern battery of cells and so wrecked this set of cells as to
put them out of use.
These two Thackeray crematories are the only example of the
English cell destructors yet built in this country. They followed
in all main particulars the construction of the Fryer destructor,
but neither made use of the "fume cremator" which was an essen-
tial feature of the English construction. In some respects the
work of these furnaces was an advance over the methods of the
American crematories. There was no separation of the wastes, the
mixed collection of garbage, ashes and refuse being received ; the
ii2 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
high chimneys gave draught for combustion with small additional
fuel, and the operating costs were low.
Owing to the slow rate of combustion (about 17 Ibs. per sq. ft.
of grate surface) the time required for disposal compelled the
construction of a much larger plant than is now required for the
same relative quantities.
Because of the low temperatures neither plant can develop
steam power for its own uses, much less for any other purpose.
It is probable both these installations will, as have the Fryer de-
structors abroad, be replaced by other more modern and efficient
types. The city of San Francisco has passed an ordinance appro-
priating one million dollars for the waste collection equipment
and establishment of a modern destructor system for disposal.
Montreal is proceeding on the same lines, and is about sub-
stituting a more efficient destructor to develop steam power to be
employed in electric lighting work.
SUMMARY OF EARLY AMERICAN CONDITIONS.
In attempting to gather data respecting the earliest American
crematories, from which reliable reports can be had, it has been
found very difficult to record anything except the briefest outline
of the work. In the first twenty years after 1885, some twenty-
five different sompanies and firms came forward with incinerating
furnaces, warranted by the owners to destroy everything with no
trouble to the towns and with a profit for themselves and their
backers. The most extravagant claims were made, based upon
patents as yet untried, reinforced by promises to perform feats
that were opposed to all accepted natural laws of combustion.
Naturally, when put to the test they failed, and in failing they
brought discredit upon the whole subject of waste disposal by
fire.
The business of the few companies that had shown ability to
do satisfactory work was hindered and obstructed by competitors,
eager for contracts, but not at all anxious to make good, if it
involved a loss to themselves, as it mostly did. The progress was
slow, the returns small, the changes in companies many, and the
general conditions both for towns and builders became unsatis-
factory.
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 113
All of the earlier forms of furnace constructions, with one ex-
ception followed the type of furnace first made known by Andrew
Engle in 1887. This was a long rectangular open interior furnace
chamber,, floored with transverse bars of iron or fire brick. The
main fire box was placed at the front end, with a secondary fire
box at some point within the furnace or immediately before the
chimney flue. The flames and heat from the primary fires passed
over and under the waste, and were intercepted at some point by
the secondary fire which completed the combustion.
This was the type of what is known as the American crematory
as distinguished from the English destructor form.
The general conditions attending this type may be thus stated :
All of the American garbage furnaces are designated as cremators,
crematories or incinerators, following the descriptive titles used by the
builders.
Those that survived preliminary stages and can show a record of four or
five years of successful use follow the same general form of construction,
with minor differences of exterior walls of brick or steel plate, but with
the same charging and stoking methods, and the same employment of a
secondary fire.
All without exception require fuel for primary combustion of the waste
and secondary destruction of the gases.
They were built for the disposal of garbage and light refuse and some-
times included the larger animals and a small amount of night-soil.
They did not dispose of ashes or street sweepings, nor did they deal
with the general miscellaneous collection of mixed waste.
They did not employ steam boilers in connection with the crematory, and
could not guarantee steam power for any general service.
The exceptions to these general principles apply only to the form of
grates, which in one case are hollow iron tubes filled with water, and in
another case the burning chamber, instead of being open from end to end,
is divided into short cells by transverse partition walls.
ii4 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
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I2O THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
THE CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
In compiling this list (Table XL) it was the writer's purpose
to place on record the complete series, in chronological order of
construction, of the municipal garbage cremating furnaces built
in the United States and Canada since 1885. The Dominion of
Canada is included because of the almost simultaneous beginning
of the work in the two countries in 1885, and also for the reason
that two of the furnaces in use in the United States originated in
Canada. There are also included the furnaces built by American
constructors in five foreign countries — Panama (Columbia), San
Salvador, Cuba, Equador and Guatemala — as a part of the Ameri-
can constructive work in regular order.
The list is restricted to municipal furnaces — those employed
either directly by the towns, or by private contractors in municipal
disposal work — and does not comprise the large number of instal-
lations for the United States Government, or the still larger num-
ber built for public institutions and private establishments. There
are two exceptions to this — Nos. I and 20 — both the first of their
respective types.
The list also includes the crematories built at the three great
world's expositions, Chicago, 1893; St. Louis, 1904, and James-
town, 1907, but these were for temporary purposes, and not con-
sidered as permanent municipal plants either by the authorities
or the builders.
Again, to preserve the chronological order of erection, those
plants for the treatment and disposal of dry refuse are included,
though all, with two exceptions — Buffalo, N. Y., and Lowell,
Mass. — are owned and operated by private companies. In sev-
eral cases where "no reports" can be secured, the furnaces are
understood to be discontinued, and should be so accounted. In
some others where the reports are not conclusive, they are be-
lieved to be operating and noted accordingly.
Number of Installations. — The whole number of plants re-
ported upon is 208, counting each as a separate installation,
whether containing one or more furnaces. This includes some
five plants of the same type, replaced for reasons of their own
by the .same builders or designers, and also about six others now
under construction or contracted for, which are yet to pass their
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 121
final trials for acceptance, but are here classed as operating.
Those noted as experimental are also included. Several of
these were large and very costly structures, and as all were in-
tended for municipal service, they should, with justice, be com-
prised in this list.
Number of Furnaces or Cells. — This is governed by the plan
of construction. In the so-called American plan with one large
receiving chamber, they are frequently built in pairs, one on each
side of a central stack. The cell construction allows an indefinite
number, contiguous to each other, and connected with a common
chimney. Hence the increase in the number of separate furnaces
over the number of plants or installations.
Years of Installation and the Builders. — It has been stated that
the first municipal furnace for waste disposal was that at Wheel-
ing, W. Va., but this is probably not the case. It appears that
the next after Lieut. Reilly's first construction for the United
States Government at Governor's Island was that of L. P. Rider
at Allegheny, Pa., and following this was the Walliam Mann
furnace for night-soil at Montreal, Canada, both of which pre-
ceded Wheeling, W. Va. All were in the same year, and it is only
a question of the month of construction of the first four installa-
tions. Andrew Engle's first experimental furnace for night-soil
was in the same year, but his first garbage municipal furnace at
Des Moines, Iowa, came two years later. In the years 1889 to
1894, many crematories were built by the Engle Sanitary and
Cremation Company, but not until the plan of the furnace was
changed and more durable material used in 1891 did it take the
lead.
In 1892-93-94 many other builders came forward, and shortly
after the World's Fair in 1893 several large plants were built;
the Anderson and Heavey at Chicago, 111. ; the Vivarttas and
Smith-Siemens at Philadelphia, Pa., the latter at Atlantic City,
N. J., and Washington, D. C, and the Thackeray at Montreal.
Of these, the Thackeray only has survived, the others being re-
placed by reduction processes.
The Dixon Crematory Company, after its change in plan of
construction and personnel of its organization in 1894, acquired
a firm foothold in the field which has never been relinquished,
122 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
and has now the longest list of installations to its credit, the great-
est number being in towns and cities of the third and fourth class
in population.
From 1895 to 1899 six new types of furnaces were brought
out, but none of these succeeded in their first attempt, one only
surviving for future work after a radical change in its form of
construction.
The years 1899 to 1903 were the period of greatest activity,
nearly sixty installations being made of twelve different types,
seven of which proved unsatisfactory and did not continue. Near-
ly all the plants erected were of small capacity, two only being of
one hundred tons. In this period the first refuse disposal stations
were built, as well as the greatest number of installations for the
United States Government and for institutions.
During the last two years three new installations of new patents
have been built. These are the Heenan & Froude at Vancouver,
B. C., and New Brighton, N. Y.; the Meldrum destructors at
Seattle, and Schenectady under contract, and the incinerator of
the Public Service Co. at Cambridge, Mass. This last is, with
some changes, the same as installed at East New York for dry
refuse. The Bennett Crematory at Wilkes-Barre is the same as
previously built at Elmira, N. Y.
The installations of the older companies are fewer in number
than in previous years, and with less rated capacity, except in
one notable Canadian instance, which is still unaccepted by the
city after prolonged efforts on the part of the company to meet
the requirements of the contract.
Locations Indicated in the Table cover the widest possible
range of territory, from the northern limit of population to the
tropical countries of the South, and the whole width of the con-
tinent frm the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, and in five foreign
countries.
PATENTS ISSUED BY UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
The patents for apparatus to burn wet fuels began with No.
383, reissued August 15, 1856, and this was followed by a long
series of inventions to burn bagasse, mill waste, tan bark, stumps,
and many forms of combustible refuse. The first patent recorded
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 123
for cremating garbage was that of H. R. Foote, Stamford, Conn.,
January 21, 1879, No. 21,203. Mr. Foote's claims included
nearly all of the ideas that were afterwards made the subject
of separate inventions by others, but, as a whole, his scheme
was in many ways quite impracticable. The rotary cylinder form
of furnace was one of the earliest types, but, like most of the
first devices, was too elaborate and complex to come into use. The
first inventors tried to do too much, and did not clearly under-
stand the character of the material to be destroyed.
The list of patents issued in this country from 1885 up to date
includes over 160 for garbage cremating furnaces alone. Besides
these are some 75 others for methods and processes for treating,
converting, manipulating, and manufacturing municipal waste
matter, and about 25 smaller devices for household use in con-
nection with kitchen stoves, and for disposal of night-soil from
isolated dwellings.
These inventors display great ingenuity and skill in their theo-
retical apparatus, but a lamentable lack of practical knowledge of
the complex and conflicting character of the waste to be dealt
with. The patents enumerated in the table are the ones that
have undergone a practical trial under working conditions, and
of these only a limited number have stood the test of con-
tinuously successful service.
Cost of Construction. — The prices given as the costs for in-
stallation are gathered from the published reports when bids are
asked for or accepted by the towns. There is no way of determ-
ining whether they include a complete installation of building,
chimney and furnace, with all driveways, etc., or are only con-
fined to the furnace and chimney. As a rule the towns usually
buy a complete plant, but sometimes have separate contracts for
buildings, or, if in conjunction with other works, the furnace
is only a part of a general contract.
There is no standard for comparison of costs of construction
by the rated capacity of the plant that can be assumed to be
accurate, nor is there any uniformity in the prices of the same
construction by the same builders at different places, where the
conditions are similar. It is true the expense is often influenced
by difficulties in site, or local cost of freight, material, and labor,
124 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
but this does not account for the wide variation in many cases
which are substantially the same in all important features.
Operating Cost. — An attempt has been made to ascertain the
operating cost for fuel and labor per ton of garbage destroyed
at these plants, but this has been given up as impracticable. The
reports obtained were conflicting and contradictory, tending only
to mislead any seeking accurate detail. For lack of a common
standard of measurement, there was no starting point to work
from. Until there is some system brought into use for measur-
ing and tabulating returns and reports from operating plants,
with the items of quantities, time, fuel, labor, maintenance and
capital charges, continued over at least one year's period, there
cannot be any definite and serviceable details to record.
Capacity of Furnaces— -The crematories were at first rated by
the cubic yard of material consumed in one day, a day being 12
hours and the cubic yard used because it could be easily com-
puted by taking the measurement of collection carts. Later it
was necessary to provide for continuous service, and the capacity
is rated by the tons to be destroyed in 24 hours, and this is com-
monly taken as the standard, but unless there is an actual weigh-
ing of the waste in cases where accuracy is required, there is
usually little reliance to be placed on reported figures of capacity.
Discontinued Installations. — This column indicates the years
when the plants ceased to be active factors in waste disposal
work, and were discontinued, abandoned, or replaced by others.
Taking the whole number reported, 208, and deducting those
previously noted as not to be counted as municipal garbage de-
stroying stations, 20 in all, there are remaining 188 installations
built in American and Canadian towns in the past twenty-three
years. Of this number more than one-half, about 108 in all, are
permanently discontinued, leaving 80 still in use, including those
built or under contract for the year 1908.
In some cases these have been replaced by other furnaces that
are still operating ; in several instances they were retired in favor
of reduction processes, and in a very few waste disposal by cre-
mation has been abandoned and the town has reverted to its
former methods of tipping or else feeding to swine. The reasons
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 125
for these repeated failures in this department of municipal work
need not be discussed here, but will be reviewed later.
Explanatory Notes. — These must be very brief in so condensed
a table as the following, and but little in this line has been re-
corded. The division and classification of the various types and
constructions will also be attempted later.
This record, made up from statistics gathered in years past,
is necessarily incomplete in some details, but it shows in a com-
prehensive way the work of the last twenty-three years in dis-
posal of municipal waste by methods of destruction by fire in
towns on the North American continent.
Thus the list represents the achievements of some ten builders
whose furnaces to the number of two, or more, have continued in
service and the entrance in the past two years of five others who
are just beginning construction in this line. There remains some
thirty other builders whose furnaces have been permanently dis-
continued.
GARBAGE FURNACES INSTALLED FOR THE UNITED STATES GOV-
ERNMENT SINCE 1885. — TABLE XLI.
The first employment of Government furnaces devoted ex-
clusively to the disposal of offensive matter seems to have been
in the garrisons of the British Army. An American physician,
Dr. Kilvington, while Health Commissioner of Minneapolis, in a
paper read before the American Public Health Association at Mil-
waukee in 1888, described a garbage furnace seen by him at Gib-
raltar in 1865, devoted exclusively to the destruction of waste
matters. This was the simplest form of a brick oven floored
with fire-bars, having an ash pit beneath, and connected to a short
brick chimney, the refuse being charged through the doors in
front. This was perhaps the first instance of the ''hand-shovel-
fed" destructor of the British type, which has since followed this
same method of charging.
The American Army posts found the same need of sanitary dis-
posal of waste matters, and in 1885 the first American garbage
furnace was built at Governor's Island, New York Harbor, by
Lieutenant H. J. Reilly, as described and illustrated in the pre-
ceding chapter.
126 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
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DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 127
This furnace, known as the "Government Garbage Crematory,"
was installed at many stations of the Army, but has now been
abandoned at nearly all, the surviving examples being at Ft.
Sheridan, near Chicago, Forts Wadsworth and Totten, New York
Harbor, and at one or two of the smaller Army Depots.
The first departure from the Government type was made by
Col. W. Jacobs, then A. A. Q. M., U. S. A., at McPherson Bar-
racks, Atlanta, Ga., who caused to be built in 1892 an Engle
garbage cremator of a special design, under the superintendence
of the author. In this cremator (which was the distinctive term
given to all the early Engle constructions), a radical change in
form of construction from the original Engle patents was made,
which was afterwards secured by new patents and became the
regular type of Engle furnace. This first Government cremator at
Atlanta is still in use, and in the sixteen years of its service has
required less than $50 for repairs.
First Furnace for Navy Yards. — The first cremator for our
naval service was also an Engle, built at the Brooklyn Yard 4in
1895 from the designs of the author. It was removed in 1904,
as the site was included in the new dry dock location, and was
replaced in 1905 by a Morse-Boulger destructor.
These furnaces were followed by others at the various army
posts and naval stations, and are becoming a recognized part of
the equipment for the disposal of waste at all the Government
reservations, including the military camps and the equipment de-
pots of the Panama Canal Zone.
Construction and Capacity of the Furnaces. — Up to 1902 the
design of the house and furnace and the capacity was left to
the judgment of the builders who submitted proposals, but
at League Island (Phila., 1902), the Government specifications
first defined the required combustion per square foot of grate, and
the specified quantity of fuel to be burned per ton of garbage de-
stroyed. The present specifications are usually for the destruc-
tion of eight to twelve tons of garbage, containing the average
quantity of moisture (65 to 72 per cent.) in a period of from six
to ten hours, with the consumption of a guaranteed amount of
coal per ton of waste consumed. This is practically one-half the
actual capacity of the furnace, the maximum being reached only
128 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
when the stations are crowded with the ships of a great squadron,
at the army posts contain a large number of troops for a limited
period.
Since the contracts usually go to the lowest bidders, the house
construction at many of the army posts is of the cheapest char-
acter, not in harmony with the other permanent buildings of the
post. The disposal stations at the Navy Yards of brick construc-
tion are more sightly and better suited to the purpose required.
The contract prices vary widely, being controlled by the dif-
ficulties of foundation, the local cost of material, the accessibility
of the station, and consequent cost of freight and labor. As a
rule the contract includes the covering houses and approaches,
with furnace and chimney and all apparatus for operating.
After erection there have been thorough tests or trials of the
furnaces, and when accepted they have been operated under over-
sight of engineers in charge of government work, or of those in
control of the machine equipment of the institutions.
Government furnaces cover a limited period., only from 1900
to date. Once established, however, their use has been almost
without failure, removals being for reasons other than those of
furnace construction or performance. But it must be held in
mind that these government disposal plants are not called upon
to do their work for long daily periods under exacting conditions ;
and also that they have a reserve capacity of one-half of their
maximum rating, all of which tends to preserve the construction.
As government officers do not report quantities destroyed or the
cost of fuel, labor, or repairs, there is no basis for comparison
between the several types of furnaces at any point except the
cost of the installation.
THE FURNACES FOR INSTITUTIONS AND BUSINESS ESTABLISH-
MENTS.— TABLE XLII.
The need for a sanitary and convenient way for disposal of
waste matters has always been recognized by those in charge of
institutions devoted to the prevention and mitigation of human
suffering, the care of the feeble and infirm, and the control of
those mentally or criminally unable to care for themselves. These
hospitals, asylums, sanitaria, and prisons have always presented
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
129
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DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 131
the problem of dealing with waste in a larger volume than would
be produced by the same number of persons under ordinary
conditions of life, and are often at a serious disadvantage as com-
pared with the means of disposal offered by the usual municipal
agencies, the use of which they are in most cases debarred from
enjoying. Commonly this institutional waste is burned under
the boilers and heaters, always to the detriment of the boilers
and the cause of complaints from engineers and firemen, whose
regular work is interfered with. Certain kinds of hospital,
medical school and laboratory refuse cannot be disposed of in this
way, but must be removed, often at great expense.
Again, the accumulation of a large volume of refuse, inevitable
in large business establishments, becomes troublesome, and the
same difficulty arises in hotels and other places where people are
brought together for special reasons for short lengths of time.
As a rule the towns do not provide for the removal of institu-
tional or trade waste, and the burden is on those in charge of the
buildings.
Hence the development of destruction methods for institutions
and business houses by incineration in properly constructed fur-
naces has been far more rapid, more satisfactory and more sani-
tary than the development of disposal by municipal agencies.
Institutional Crematories — In Table XLII, are brought together
the American installation of garbage and refuse cremating fur-
naces other than those for municipal and government use. They
comprise a large variety of forms and methods for disposal
by incineration that are not familiarly known.
First Laboratory Furnace. — In 1886 Dr. John S. Billings, the
well-known sanitarian, then connected with Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity, of Baltimore, designed a furnace for the destruction of
small dead animals, for use in connection with the work of the
Pathological Laboratory at the University. This was a small fire-
box built alongside the main chimney of the building in the labora-
tory room, having an inclined hearth or small chamber at the left
side, with a door for receiving the bodies, and above, a second
inclined hearth, with door, which leads to a second fire-box be-
low the fire-bars.
The principal fire below consumes the bodies placed on the two
132 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
inclined hearths, the fumes and products of combustion* .passing
through the upper fire-box are consumed or deodorized before
being discharged into the chimney.
This is believed to be the first laboratory furnace brought into
use, and is still in service, but limited to the disposal of very small
animals, and the debris of bacteriological investigations that must
be burned.
First Municipal Institutional Furnaces. — Beginning with the
Engle cremator, built by the author in 1889, at the disinfecting
station, East Sixteenth street, New York City, there followed a
long series of installations for the great hospitals in New York,
Brooklyn, Boston, and Philadelphia, and many smaller places,
built mostly by one concern.
This first furnace in New York (see table XL) is a striking in-
stance of the value of such an apparatus in times of great emerg-
ency, as when the health of the city is menaced. During the
typhus fever epidemic of some ten years ago for weeks together
there were burned in this furnace many thousands of infected
articles, mattresses, bedding, clothing, furniture, etc., and in the
eighteen continuous years of its service several millions of in-
fected pieces have been destroyed with rapidity and perfect sani-
tary protection from contagion.
Taken in connection with the steam and formaldehyde dis-
infection apparatus installed by the author in the adjoining build-
ing it is one of the chief agencies in the city for sanitary protec-
tion, and the largest of its kind in the world.
New York City and Brooklyn have four installations at the
various groups of institutions, and three others in the largest
hospitals under municipal control. Boston has four furnaces in
different departments of the great City Hospital. Chicago has
a large equipment at the Cook County institutions, and Jersey
City a large crematory at the Hudson County institutions. Many
of the larger cities and towns are still without this most neces-
sary appliance for the efficient disposition of dangerous forms
of waste. It would seem that if there is any place where such a
device is useful it is certainly at the stations and hospitals where
the worst forms of infectious and contagious diseases are received
and treated. Instances are on record where the employees of the
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 133
street cleaning service have contracted disease resulting in death
from exposure to infected matter during its removal by the city
carts from the public institutions.
The First Hospital Installation was that of the New York Hos-
pital in West I7th Street, in 1891. This is a special design by the
author after the Engle pattern and the first steel case garbage
furnace construction built in this country.
This was followed by others at St. Luke's, Bellevue, Lying-in,
Mt. Sinai, German, St. Francis hospitals, and several smaller ones.
Philadelphia has furnaces at the Pennsylvania, Samaritan, Episco-
pal, Jefferson and several of the smaller hospitals, and other towns
have followed these examples.
The need of this help to efficient sanitation is universally recogr
nized by the officers in charge, but there is sometimes difficulty
in finding convenient room in the older institutions, and often a
lack of funds for construction. The latest modern hospitals
usually provide space for destructor furnaces, though not all
build them. There are few reports from these installations, but
their usefulness is so great that once they are built they are rarely
allowed to go out of commission, and there are but one or two
cases of discontinuance.
Medical Schools and Laboratories. — Following the example of
Johns Hopkins University, the medical colleges have found it
greatly to their advantage to install small powerful furnaces for
the disposal of a very refractory and objectionable form of
refuse. These special constructions in one or two cases employ
oil as fuel ; in others, gas, natural or artificial, is used with equally
good results.
All laboratories use fire for the destruction of certain sub-
stances, but for pathogenic and bacteriological work a different
and larger form of destructor is found to be indispensable. These
constructions are of special form, placed often on the upper floor
of buildings, using any available fuel, and are compact, very pow-
erful and serviceable.
Installations for Hotels. — The addition of a garbage furnace to
the machinery equipment of a great modern hotel involves but
comparatively small cost, and provides a rapid and satisfactory
way to get rid of objectionable waste — the removal of which en-
134 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
tails cost and often causes nuisance. When the usual agencies of
removal are interrupted by storms or unforeseen accidents, there
is always trouble, and the accumulation of two or three days be-
comes a serious question to deal with. The architects and en-
gineers of the latest great hotels now provide for the installation
of furnaces, and arrange for their flue connection with the smoke
flue or direct with the chimneys. The great height of these
chimney-stacks and strongly induced draft does away with the
necessity of a forced draft at the destructor. The capacity of
these furnaces, burning every form of waste matter produced, ex-
cepting only the ashes from the boiler fires, is sometimes five to
eight tons daily, as large as would be built in a town of 5,000 to
8,000 people.
The heat developed is sometimes utilized in separately attached
steam boilers employed in the minor service of the hotel, or may
be used for heating the feed water of the main battery of steam
boilers.
For apartment houses a smaller form of furnace is constructed,
and this may be fitted with coils of piping for the hot water sup-
ply of the building. All these furnaces must be provided with
approved apparatus for destroying the noxious gases thrown off,
or there may be complaints o£ nuisance.
BUSINESS INSTALLATIONS.
Business men of the present day as a general rule recognize
the value of by-products, and do not destroy refuse of any kind
until the last salable item that can be extracted is taken out.
There are many examples where the by-product to be had from
apparently worthless matter when intelligently treated, brings
large returns.
But, whatever may be the process, there still remains a last
and ultimate form of refuse that is best disposed of by incinera-
tion, and there is probably no better illustration of the usefulness
of special furnaces for destruction by fire than instances shown
in table XLII.
Under the head of trade refuse is included every class of waste
produced or remaining unsalable in trading or business establish-
ments or manufacturing industries. As a rule the removal of this
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 135
is not done by the town, though the town furnishes a place for
its deposit, and the oversight of the means for handling it.
Within the past few years it has become evident that incinera-
tion on the premises is more convenient and economical, as the
cost of a properly constructed furnace can be saved in a year
or two.
First Installation. — The Macy Department Store, New York
City, in 1902, was the first of this class of business establishments
to destroy its waste within the building. A special form of fur-
nace was designed by the author and placed in connection with
one of the steam boilers of the building.
The waste from each floor is discharged through a chute to the
receiving room, the salable parts sorted out, and the remainder,
with the refuse from the restaurants and all worthless matters, is
destroyed. This same design was afterward adopted at several
large department stores, and at various warehouses and factories
with equally good results in every case.
The waste from great railroad stations is destroyed quickly
and without offense, but demands a special form of furnace suited
to the mixed character of refuse.
This method can be employed with great advantage in a great
variety of cases when the disposal of waste is difficult to deal with
in the usual way.
In General. — Beginning in 1900 the author designed and built
many furnaces for hospitals, colleges, hotels and business estab-
lishments. In most instances these were of special form of con-
truction intended for particular purposes, and included a wide
variety of designs in their application to the disposal of every
class of waste produced by these buildings. Since then a great
number of furnaces of this character have been built, and they
have increased so rapidly that it is impossible to furnish data in
regard to them.
In addition to the styles of furnace enumerated there are a
considerable number of smaller incinerators used in the Regular
Army camps and in the cantonments of State Militia, when these
troops are assembled for annual practice manoeuvers, and in many
such places the grounds are provided with stationary crematories
136 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
of differing types, suited to temporary use, and installed by the
Government at moderate cost.
There are also several builders of still smaller incinerators
which are used in camps and the dwellings of summer residents.
These, and several other forms of small furnaces, do not properly
come under the classification of institutional furnaces, and, there-
fore, are not included in the foregoing lists.
SUCCESSFUL PRIVATE INSTALLATIONS.
Under this title are included all forms of construction that are
not limited to municipal and governmental service. Here there
is a wide range covered, a remarkably successful use of every op-
portunity, and a gratifying absence of failure as compared with
the larger and more ambitious forms.
These installations have not only been able to meet all the con-
ditions imposed, but they have maintained and extended their use-
fulness and have established a reliable means for the destruction
of every class of worthless matter.
This country has long been under the imputation of signal
failure in methods and apparatus for the treatment of public
wastes, perhaps a deserved reproach when we consider what has
been done elsewhere on similar lines of public work. But this
cannot be said to apply to cases of individual waste disposal in
institutions, in manufacturing establishments and in private busi-
nesses.
We may be behind in the branch of municipal work, owing
chiefly to causes and conditions peculiar to our country and which
do not exist abroad, but we not only lead in the variety of small
furnace designs and their adaptation to the special work required
— we have a far larger number of them in use and they are fully
as efficient and economical as any of their class built elsewhere.
It should be noted that this type of furnace construction does
not follow any foreign pattern, but that it is the logical develop-
ment along certain lines of the crude beginnings of twenty years
ago, marking each difficult progressive step by improved apparatus
and better results. Within a well-defined and limited field of
work the furnaces have been uniformly successful.
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 137
REASONS FOR MUNICIPAL FAILURES.
The large percentage of failures of installations for municipal
work has previously been briefly noted.
Of two hundred and eight the whole number built and here re-
ported, one hundred and eight, or 50 per cent., have been dis-
continued and abandoned. On the other hand, only 4 per cent,
of the total number of furnaces built for government or private
use have failed of continuance. The reasons for this striking
difference may be thus stated :
1. A lack of professional knowledge necessary for the accurate analysis
of the character of the various kinds of waste, and in lieu of this in-
formation the estimate of quantities and qualities by guesswork, without a
definite standard for reference and comparison.
2. The want of sound engineering knowledge of the principles of com-
bustion, heat and resulting gases ; mistakes in estimating the proper dimen-
sions and proportions of the working parts of the installation, and from
lack of scientific training the inability to remedy defects or correct errors.
3. Faults in design and construction arising from an apparent disin-
clination to profit by the experience of others, leading to a repetition of
futile experiments and forms of construction tried elsewhere and abandoned.
4. An overconfident opinion that a machine or process that deals suc-
cessfully with certain kinds of waste material will produce equally good
results from municipal waste.
5. The unskillful management of garbage crematories by men appointed
for reasons other than their fitness for the work. This is forcibly stated
by an authority as follows :
"The expert garbage fireman who is considered essential to success in
England is generally supplanted here by a man whose only qualification for
this position may be that he can shovel coal or pull out clinker, but gen-
erally has not the remotest knowledge or even conception of the difficulties
of burning on a large scale the most heterogeneous mass of all forms of
solid mater to be gathered from a modern community." (Transactions of
Am. Soc. Civil Engineers, Vol XXIX, p. 82.)
6. There are too few official reports that give quantities, costs and other
details to show what is being done from year to year, thereby enabling the
authorities to correct errors and improve the service. These reports, if
truthful and complete, would soon fix the responsibility for bad apparatus
and poor management, and would, moreover, be of great assistance to
other communities seeking information. But the truth should be told
without fear or favor, or there will be a misrepresentation of conditions
and a perpetuation of errors.
THE SHARE OF MUNICIPAL RESPONSIBILITY.
The responsibility for failures is not all on the side of the de-
signer or builder. The municipal authorities are themselves a
large factor of uncertainty in the general result.
When the nuisance of incompetent waste disposal — or the want
138 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
of any — becomes plainly evident, and the protests of the people
are loudly insistent, the matter is referred to a committee with in-
structions to obtain information, examine and report. Details are
asked for, and straightway a great bulk of pamphlets, plans,
reports, schemes and suggestions from all sorts of interested
parties are submitted. To deal with this mass of conflicting de-
tail, and to reduce it to any sort of intelligent order and formulate
a report, demands more technical knowledge and time than the
average official can give. The town officers and employees who
are competent to give assistance have their own departments of
duty and are not always available, for practical help in this pre-
liminary stage. They are, moreover, not anxious to offer advice
or suggestions upon a subject with which they have had little or
no experience, and certainly no technical training.
The inspection of plants operating under conditions like their
own, in towns of similar size, seems to be considered a necessary
part of the preliminary work as it is conducted at present. Junket-
ing excursions to distant places must be made at some one's ex-
pense. For town officials it is part of the "perquisites of office";
to a prospective builder who pays traveling expenses, it is an in-
vestment for a purpose and sometimes returns to him with com-
pound interest.
When the specifications are to be issued for bids the uncertainty
as to just what is really needed makes it impossible to state defi-
nite terms and conditions. Usually it is left for open proposals
from all interested parties, frequently ending with the rejection of
all, and the process is repeated until a choice is at last made.
The methods that sometimes determine this final selection do
not always procure the best results for the town. One writer has
expressed himself clearly on these questions: *
It should in justice to the builders of municipal plants be added that the
fault of most failures lies at the door of the municipal authorities, on one
or another of the following scores : Acceptance of an untried installation
designed by some local party without substantial experience or attainment
in this line of work. Contracting in good faith for an unsuitable in-
stallation, because of ignorance by the purchaser of what the conditions to
be met really are. Determination by the municipal authorities to award
work to contractors who will pay the largest sum to those who have the
power to determine who shall secure the contract.
Unfortunately, in spite of the recent outcry against graft, the affairs of
'"Garbage Crematories in America." W. M. Venable, N. Y., 1906. Jno. Wiley &
Sons.
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 139
most American cities and towns are controlled by persons who either
demand contributions from public contractors for themselves or permit
their subordinates to demand them in order to retain the services of those
subordinates. So many and so various and subtle are the methods by
which political prostitutes may cheat the people of money that few con-
tractors and few engineers are able to withstand the pressure brought to
bear upon them, if they seek to serve a public where the grafters are in
control, or even in the minority, on the city council or other public body
in control of the municipal administration.
This is a plain statement of facts which, though often difficult
to prove, can still be well substantiated in many cases. There is
probably no department of municipal service in which greater op-
portunities are afforded for doubtful and crooked work, and cer-
tainly none where it is so persistently and openly practised. It is
not an attractive nor always an agreeable branch of work, but
yet it is one that deserves more rigid attention and more honest
treatment than is commonly given it.
SHARE OF RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ADVISORY BOARDS.
Not all the blame for mismanagement and incompetency in
disposal work should attach to the financial and executive depart-
ments. The advisory boards of health, whose province should
be strictly limited to investigation, report and advice on matters
that concern public hygiene, are frequently placed in positions that
require them to select and install apparatus with which they are
either unacquainted or in the purchase of which they may be
personally interested.
While the physician is recognized as the authority upon ques-
tions that concern the prevention, discovery and treatment of
disease, whether of the individual or of the community, there is a
distinction to be made between that which relates to the profes-
sional and medical side of the subject and that which applies to
the mechanical and physical side.
Undoubtedly the whole general question can be dealt with by
the medical fraternity, but in a municipal administration there
should be separation of the advisory and executive branches of
the Health Department, as each phase of the subject requires
technical education and special training in order to achieve the
best results,
140 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
WHAT is HYGIENE AND WHAT SANITATION.
Hygiene in its widest sense is "the science that treats of the
preservation of health," and this term includes sanitation as the
means of specific, well-defined method of health preservation.
The difference has been well defined by an eminent authority,
whose services in both branches are well known : *
The sphere of hygiene is naturally separable into two distinct hemi-
spheres, one dealing directly and chiefly with individuals or masses of
individuals, the other directly and chiefly with their environments. . . .
In spite of its admitted importance, hygiene occupies only a very small
place in our medical schools, partly, I believe, because sanitation has
become so large a part of hygiene, and sanitation belongs in schools of
engineering. ... It is to-day absurd for the average well-trained
medical student to think of becoming an expert in such branches of
hygiene as water supply, sewerage, heating and ventilation, street building,
cleaning and watering, garbage collection and disposal, gas and other
forms of light, ice supply, milk supply, the abatement of nuisances, etc.
Those belong rather to the sanitary engineer, sanitary chemist and sani-
tary biologist ; to sanitation rather than hygiene. . . . As for research,
it is idle to expect the ordinary medical man to spend much time upon or
to be greatly interested in the detailed problems of water or sewerage
purification, even if he has — as he generally has not — the requisite training.
AN ENGINEERING PROBLEM.
Briefly, then, sanitation as concerned with waste disposal is an
engineering problem, and the difficulties encountered can best
be overcome when competent engineers are employed for the spe-
cial purpose.
As compared with the usual way of -conducting this work, the
engineer has many advantages that can be hardly overestimated.
An examination made by a competent man, trained in this special
line of municipal work, would proceed on this line :
The review of the municipal records — if there were any — of
the past, to know what has been done, and the preparation of a
clear and concise tabulation of this as a basis for future work, is
only the beginning. Then comes a careful study of reports,
papers and writings on this subject that may bear upon this
particular case. It must be remembered there is but little reliable
literature on this subject, foreign experience does not always
agree with our local conditions, and a good deal of ground must
be covered with relatively poor returns.
*Prof. W. T. Sedgwick, "Contributions from Sanitary Research Laboratory," Vol.
III. Mass. Institute of Technology.
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 141
Later the investigation of the various methods available is taken
up, and here the technical training in fundamental principles that
underlie the many schemes, plans, processes and sytems is abso-
lutely essential. He must be able to distinguish between the true
and the false, and to be proof against the plausible arguments,
misrepresentations and appeals brought to bear through personal,
political and financial pressure. When all this is finally threshed
out, and a well-defined plan or policy fixed upon, the report is
drawn up and the specifications prepared, which eliminate the
weak, crude, impracticable and vicious elements and state clearly
what the town desires to obtain and what conditions the tenders
must conform to; and this final report, with the diagrams and
plans, is submitted for action.
The responsibility is thereafter upon the town authorities. They
have before them a clear and accurate report, that covers every
phase of the question they must decide upon, and which is un-
biased and unpartisan, and presumed to be unconnected with any
local clique or party, and not in the interest of any particular
builder, machine, apparatus or process. The actual expense con-
nected with this work is usually less than would be incurred by
the present method of united or separate personal investigation by
the members of a committee of the Council or Board of Health.
THE INTEREST OF BOARDS OF TRADE.
This means of arriving at the facts is often undertaken by the
Boards of Trade, the Citizens' Business League, or other local
associations that act independent of the local authorities, and sub-
mit the results of their efforts in the form of recommendations or
resolutions for consideration of the City Council.
The Woman's Societies and Improvement Leagues often take a
prominent part in these movements for better conditions of clean-
liness, health and civic improvements, and especially in the con-
trol and abatement of nuisances, too often overlooked and ignored
by the town officers.
The effect of this concerted action of these representative bodies
of leading citizens, whose purpose is the good of the town gen-
erally and not the up-building of a political machine, or the pro-
motion of private interests, is always for the betterment of the
142 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
civic welfare. When their remonstrances, protests and petitions
are presented in a clear, forcible and intelligent manner, they
sometimes carry greater weight and are productive of greater
benefit than the half-hearted, hesitating and spineless official meas-
ures of the town authorities.
Public sentiment is the power behind the throne, and when this
is fairly interested in behalf of a movement there are apt to be
surprising results.
REASONS FOR SLOW PROGRESS.
Since the preparation of data for this book was begun the author
has received many letters relating to the points touched upon. One
of these points is that of the reason for the lack of progress in
disposal work in this country during the past twenty years.
Among those who have expressed themselves most forcibly is
Mr. F. K. Rhines, until recently Secretary and Engineer of the
Dixon Engineering and Construction Co., who has for many years
studied the matter from a practical standpoint, and who has had
wide experience in dealing with the various phases that are pre-
sented. His statement may be read with the respect due an hon-
est expression of experience and a desire to contribute to the so-
lution of the problem. His statement is as follows :
Without considering at present those municipal governments (by no
means as uncommon as they should be) which are controlled by political
bosses, individual or corporate, and ignoring for the moment that element
of public life, let us be thankful for the case of the honest, intelligent public
official who earnestly desires to serve the people who elected him. His
case is of interest, for in it only is found any present promise of fulfillment
of the real function of the officeholder — the service of the people.
Honest and intelligent the man may be, but how often are these ad-
mirable, but insufficient, attributes combined with the complementary
qualification of competency? The practice has so established itself through
long custom that, although we usually put a C. E. in the City Engineer's
chair, and demand a Health Officer who can show a doctor's degree, men
are set up as law-makers for their city without question as to their qualifi-
cations, provided only that they can show the required number of votes.
But honesty and intelligence are quoted too high in public life to be
lightly discarded. Let us be thankful for these, and content — for a be-
ginning. That we are still only at the beginning of many things municipal
which will be considered as elementary necessities half a century hence, is
no great wonder when it is remembered that so comparatively short a
time has elapsed since the beginning of everything in this country that we
have been obliged to face our manifold problems of civic life in the order
of their insistence.
There are scores of cities whose Mayors went swimming as boys where
the City Hall or Post Office now stands, which have had their whole civic
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 143
growth compressed into a quarter of a century, and surely they may plead
the excuse of a "busy day" if they have neglected some of the more
modern arts and principles of municipal well-being. But there are plenty
of others that were well-groomed cities before their present Mayors were
born, which still have made no pretence of establishing even a system of
public refuse collection, to say nothing of disposal, and which, apparently,
have not even commenced to awaken to a sense of civic responsibility in
the matter.
So, when many of our cities and towns have not yet recognized the fact
that there is any "garbage disposal problem," and the rank and file of the
city fathers are still far from being specialists in such familiar matters as
street paving, lighting, water works and sewerage, is it not more cause for
regret than wonderment if they are all at sea when it comes to handling
those newer departments of municipal endeavor which are still unknown,
unheard of, to so many?
But ignorance is merely an explanation — not an excuse! And it is be-
coming more inexcusable every day. If by mistakes we learn and by
failures we advance, then the past twenty years of American experience in
garbage disposal cannot be without value ; yet it would almost seem to be
so, as far as concerns the usual way of getting at the facts.
It is a distinctly American trait to yearn for first-hand experience. As
cities we are not willing to take anybody's word for anything. But in the
case in question, is it not generally true that the desire to be "shown"
arises from ignorance of the fact that there is any one whose opinion is of
value, — for whose expert advice money spent is not merely spent, but well
invested?
The most superficial survey of the experience of almost any dozen cities
in this country cannot but convince one of the haphazard nature of the
efforts put forth in this direction. When bids are invited for the con-
struction of a garbage disposal plant, not one city in a hundred can give
prospective bidders any intelligent idea of the amount, character or com-
position of the waste matter to be dealt with. Frequently it has not been
even decided whether the reduction or incineration method will be em-
ployed, where the plant will be located, what classes of waste will be
handled, whether it is desirable to attempt power production, or what
disposition is to be made of the residue. Yet these are all data to which
the bidder is entitled,— which he must have in order to design and build a
plant suited to the city's individual needs, and in order to be at all certain
of accomplishing the results sought after. Without this information, which
the city receiving proposals is rarely able to give, and which the bidder is
still more rarely able to secure for himself, the installation of any system
must be made more or less at random, and results are bound to be in the
same degree problematical.
Yet instead of securing the services of some competent consulting engi-
neer who has made a special study of refuse disposal, the average city,
when it finally does step out and determine to do something toward
cleaning up and becoming a pleasanter, decenter place to live in, goes about
the matter as if it were exploring unknown wilds. Little heed is given to
the mistakes and failures, or even the successes, of other cities — too little,
at any rate, to learn why failure or success resulted. Some energetic
Health Officer conceives the idea of inaugurating better methods of
garbage disposal, and brings the matter to the attention of the City
Council. At best an inevstigration and report are asked of the City
Engineer: or perhaps it is referred back to the Health Officer, whose
hands are already more than full, if all his duties are properly attended to,
even if he were competent to furnish the expert knowledge needed — but
more often the whole question is turned over to a committee of Council-
144 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
men who are still less qualified to solve the technical difficulties of the
problem.
Incompetent builders certainly share with incompetent officials the blame
for much that is wrong and unsatisfactory in existing conditions, — but the
former are the direct result of the latter. When competent engineers
make the necessary preliminary investigations, draw the plans, compile the
specifications and supervise the construction, none but competent builders
can do the work.
On the fingers of one hand can be counted the American cities which
have. confronted this question in a really intelligent way. In many others
tolerably satisfactory results have been attained, but chance has always
had a hand in the game and it merely happened that good luck, not bad
luck, held the trumps.
It is interesting to note that at the present time some of our most
important cities are commissioning Consulting Engineers to make reports
and recommendations in reference to refuse disposal, but this is an inno-
vation, whereas it ought to be the ordinary, everyday, matter-of-course
procedure,
CHAPTER VII.
THE AMERICAN GARBAGE CREMATORIES.
NEED FOR A BETTER CLASSIFICATION OF GARBAGE FURNACES.
There is evident need of a better classification of the terms at
present used for the description of the several classes of Ameri-
can garbage furnaces. Since there is no distinction made in the
words cremator, crematory, garbage furnace, incinerator, or
destructor, when used in connection with phrases defining crema-
tion of waste or refuse, there is a confusion and uncertainty as to
what kind or class of furnace is intended to be meant, when these
terms are used.
The titles garbage furnace and night soil furnace were used by
Rider and Mann in the two first installations. The word cremator
was adopted by the Engle Sanitary and Cremation Company and
described all their municipal furnaces. They applied the term
fire-closet to the small installations for domestic and schoolhouse
purposes.
Crematory was the term employed by the Dixon Sanitary
Crematory Company and until lately it was a part of their official
title.
When the Montreal installation was made by Mr. Charles
Thackeray, he used the "Thackeray patent incineration and crema-
tion systems" and called his refuse furnace an incinerator. This
was a misnomer, as the. furnace, copied from the "Fryer," was
properly a destructor.
The Davis Company called their furnace a garbage furnace,
and their apparatus for burning bodies a cremation furnace.
Mr. I. Smead, of Toledo, in building closets for the disposal of
night soil in school buildings, called them dry closets, but his
large furnace for municipal work was a garbage crematory.
Col. Waring, when building his furnace for dry refuse at East
Sixteenth street, New York, called it an incinerator, and this title
has been followed by Mr. H. De B. Parsons, who calls his two
New York installations for dry refuse rubbish incinerators.
i45
146 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
The author, when installing the Boston plant for dry refuse,
chose the term destructor, mainly for the purpose of a distinctive
name not previously used in this country. This was continued in
the title of the Morse-Boulger Destructor Company. This is a
furnace that burns garbage and refuse, not ashes, and the word
destructor has not the broad application as employed in British
practice.
One American author* writing on this subject has made a
classification which does not appear to give much help. He
divides the crematories into five groups :
Those where the garbage is burned by direct heat without previous
drying.
Where it is partially dried before burning.
Where it is burned on a hearth or grate by fires from other grates.
Where it is extensively dried, then stoked to another grate to be burned.
Where gases from one grate or cell are passed through others to dry the
garbage thereon.
He further proposes a sub-division of these groups with re-
spect to the garbage grates :
Solid grates of iron.
Grates of fire cjay.
Grates of hollow iron cooled by water.
Grates of hollow cast iron cooled by air.
This classification is not exact in terms, altogether too confus-
ing and unwieldly for reference, and conveys but little idea of the
constructions of our crematories. His list of patents cited illus-
trates the difficulties of these divisions, as many furnaces are
built under two or more of these groups, and some are altogether
outside this list.
The classification of this apparatus by the U. S. Patent Office
was at first made under the title "furnace for cremating garbage."
Afterwards "garbage crematory" was used, and infrequently
"furnace for incineration of garbage or night soil." The present
custom is to include everything under the title "furnace," with
a sub-division, "garbage furnaces" or "crematories," and "in-
cinerators" for the destruction of other substances.
The popular use of all the foregoing terms is combined in the
•Garbage Crematories ii\ America. Capt. W. M. Venable. Jno. Wiley & Son, N. Y.
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 147
term "garbage crematory," but this does not appear to be suffi-
ciently distinctive for the three separate types or forms now em-
ployed, since it is applied to furnaces quite unlike in construction
and for different uses.
Since the purposes, the construction, and the limitations of
the various apparatus are now much better defined than formerly,
and since there is a need for a better distinctive classification, it
seems only wise to separate them by using such terms as will
distinctively indicate the particular uses for which they are built.
PROPOSED CLASSFICATION.
Thus, a crematory would mean a furnace for burning garbage
and refuse mixed or not separated, but not ashes ; an incinerator
would mean a furnace for refuse or rubbish only, and a destructor
would imply the destruction of all classes of waste together in an
unsorted condition, following the British term and practice. If
this nomenclature were adopted, it would simplify and make the
whole subject clearer to those whose knowledge is, as yet, some-
what limited.
There would undoubtedly be opposition from some builders
who now use and claim one or another of these terms as their
own title and property, but no valid objection can be made on this
score, as each builder now constructs furnaces of different plans,
for quite different uses, under the same patents, and may, with
advantage to themselves as well as to the public, adopt a dis-
tinctive title for each, prefixing their own or the company's name
to the fusnace.
OPERATING CREMATORIES.
In attempting to describe the cremating furnaces now mostly
in use the writer has found it difficult to get accurate descriptions,
except from the patent drawings, and as each builder departs
somewhat from his original plans according to local conditions,
these drawings do not precisely represent the furnaces.
The intention is to give such descriptions — not in technical
terms — and illustrations as will enable the reader who may be
interested in the subject, to understand something of the con-
struction and operation of the various forms.
As far as possible the builder's own terms and description are
148 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
followed, and there is added some slight sketches of those who
have longest been identified with this work.
INVENTIONS OF MR. ANDREW ENGLE.
This inventor was one of the first whose devices for sanitary
work came prominently before the public. As early as 1884 he
took out a patent for an apparatus that "conveyed solid and fluid
matter through tubes to a retort in a furnace, subjected this to
heat, and conveyed the volatile matter into a superheater, con-
verting it into inflammable gas, at the same time converting the
solids remaining in the retort into charcoal."
This and another invention were purchased by a company
formed for the purpose, and were extensively exploited. Sub-
sequently, Messrs. Engle and Thompson secured a new patent
(508,511, 1893) and under the title of the Engle Crematory
Company, built furnaces at .Vancouver, Portland, O., and Topeka,
and Mr. Thompson built one at Wichita, Kan. None of these
are now operating. Mr. Engle's latest invention is "Engle's Fuel
and ^Fertilizer," "a combination of garbage, night soil and manure
with a material that renders it valuable for the purposes of fuel
or fertilizer. The product may be made in bricks with a press
and stored for use, or it may be used while green for making
fires in kilns, steam plants, or crematories. The fertilizer is equal
to bone meal."
The inventor further says : "I seek to devise means by which
the wastes may be kept from the streams at a financial compen-
sation to the town so doing. While I recognize I cannot hope
to do it all, I feel ambitious to give to the world results that
will save life and aid the world in better health and consequently
greater happiness."
Mr. Engle has for more than twenty-five years been identified
with sanitary work in manv lines, and is a student and analyst
of very consicieraole attainments. The Engle fire closet and
Engle cremator have made his name known all over this country.
Engle Sanitary and Cremation Company was formed at Des
Moines, la., early in 1886 to take over the patents of Mr. Andrew
Engle.
The officers were : J. C. Savery, president ; Jas. Callanan, treas-
urer; G. H. Warner, secretary. The Western business manager
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
149
was W. C. Smith. The Eastern business was done from a
New York office of which W. F. Morse was manager and Benja-
min Boulger constructor. This was the first company to sys-
tematically push its business, and during the sixteen years of
its work built many cremators in this country. The most suc-
cessful installation was as the World's Fair, Chicago, in 1893.
It was the first company to build abroad ; its Panama furnace
(1892) is still in active use. During the panic of 1893 tne officers
of the company suffered financial reverses and few constructions
were made thereafter. The two last ones at Grand Rapids and
Milwaukee were not under the Engle patents, though under their
name.
The success of this company and the development of this idea
FIG. 22.— THE ORIGINAL ENGLE CREMATOR.
of destroying worthless matter by fire in this country was largely
due to the unfailing financial support of Mr. James C. Savery,
the president of the Engle company. He took the keenest in-
terest in the work and was a firm believer in the benefits to be
had from improved sanitary conditions brought about largely by
these cremators.
Mr. Savery died in 1905 and his place in the business of the
company and in the progressive spirit of this line of sanitary work
has never been filled.
ENGLE CREMATOR.
The early form of the Engle cremator (Fig. 22) was a rectan-
gular brick construction whose exterior dimensions in height
and width were each about one-third of its length. There was
150 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
usually a steel chimney of 75 feet and a wooden covering house
with inclined wooden approaches and wide platform for wagons.
The interior was lined with fire brick and divided by a hori-
zontal set of grates, made at first of hollow iron pipes, and below
these a platform of fire-clay tiling.
The garbage was discharged direct from the carts through
three circular openings to the upper or first set of grate bars,
the liquid not held in suspension in the garbage passing through
to the platform where it was evaporated. At the rear end of
the cremator was the first or primary fire-box, separated from
the chimney by a damper. The secondary fire was at the front
end and below the level of the drying platform. Dampers con-
trolled the volume of gases in such a manner that the heat from
the primary fire passed over the garbage piled on the upper
grates, and under these over the platform, or under the platform,
as desired, or direct to the chimney as determined by the damper
between them.
The theory of this furnace— which is indeed the theory of its
successors and imitators — was that the gases and vapors of the
combustion of the1 waste piled up on the grates should be com-
pelled to pass ater the secondary fire before being released to
the stack. By arrangement of the dampers the second fire may
become the primary fire, and the first one in turn consume the
gases.
One of the openings for charging in the top was large enough
to admit the carcass of a horse. The evaporating hearth received
all moisture and also the ashes from the grates above ; but with
this exception, no attempt was made to dry out the moisture
before burning. The operation was without nuisance when prop-
erly conducted, and the cremator used any available fuel, gas,
coal, wood or coke. Very large quantities of night soil and satur-
ated garbage were destroyed when required, with reasonable ex-
pense for fuel and labor.
The points of weakness in this form were the grates of iron
piping, the damper of cast iron, and the tiling of the evaporating
hearth, which gave way under high temperatures when saturated
with moisture. A new form of stronger construction was finally
adopted and became the standard.
In this furnace (Fig. 23) -the same general exterior dimensions
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 151
and appearance are kept, but the interior is greatly modified.
There are two fires placed on horizontal lines at opposite ends
of the grate, which is made of a series of railroad bars, spaced
and inverted and held in this position by clips. The lower hearth
is omitted, the liquids passing into the bottom compartment, being
helped in evaporation by the hot ashes from the grates .above.
The dampers are fire-clay slabs and the interior walls of heavy
blocks of fire clay. Subsequently the iron rails of the garbage
grates were replaced by a specially fire-clay grate, and this by a
series of flat fire-brick transverse arches which are still used.
In all furnaces of this type the garbage grates are difficult to
maintain. Those of hollow pipe, even when brought through the
FIG 23.— THE LATER ENGLE CREMATOR.
furnace walls to the outside to obtain a circulation of cold air,
speedily gave way. Afterwards these grates were connected to
headers and a circulation of water kept up, but the loss of heat
and incomplete combustion of garbage in contact made it neces-
sary to discard this system. The steel railroad bars are probably
the best for iron grates and give better service than any form
of triangular hollow cast-iron bars, or of water grates where the
heat taken up by the water is a very large item of loss.
There are still some ten or twelve of the Engle cremators
operating. The largest in continuous service and the oldest in-
stallations in this line in this country are at New York, Panama,
Richmond and Norfolk, Va.
The Engle Cremator was the first in garbage disposal work
152 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
and the general features of its construction were followed by
those who same after, with such modifications as were patentable.
THE DIXON SANITARY CREMATORY COMPANY.
This organization was formed at Findlay, O., in 1893, to take
up the patents of S. W. Dixon (October, 1891, and April, 1894).
After remodeling the Engle cremator at Findlay the first crema-
tory was built at Elwood, Ind., followed by others at McKeesport,
Pa., and Atlanta, Ga. In 1898 the patents and business passed
into the hands of a new company at Toledo, O., with D. C. Shaw,
president; G. H. Breyman, vice-president, and E. J. Little, secre-
tary and treasurer. In the succeeding years this company secured
new patents and built many crematories all over this country, in-
cluding nine installations for the United States Government and
several institutional plants. This was the first company to unite
with local corporations for the collection and disposal of all
municipal waste, as at Trenton, N. J., and Oakland, Cal.
A large share of their success was due to the energy and enter-
prise of Mr. E. J. Little, who was the active manager. His im-
provements in furnace construction and methods of collection
service were of great value to his company, as also to the gen-
eral work of waste disposal for municipalities. By reason of the
long railroad journeys and the tremendous labor of oversight of
contract and construction at widely separated points, Mr. Little
died in 1905. He was succeeded by Mr. F. K. Rhines, who for
some time had been his chief assistant. Mr. Rhines was the
Secretary and Chief Engineer up to January, 1908, when he re-
tired from the association. The corporation changed its title in
1907, and is now The Dixon Engineering and Construction Com-
pany.
THE DIXON CREMATORY.
The Dixon crematory of the earlier form (Fig. 24) is an
elongated rectangular brick structure, enclosing a fire brick cham-
ber divided by horizontal transverse garbage grates into two
nearly equal compartments. There is a double fire box at the
front end, from which the heat passes over and under the gar-
bage grates, the gases uniting to pass through a flue at the rear
end to a combustion chamber fitted with a fire box, and over this
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
153
a series of staggered fire brick "stench bars," for deodorizing
and destroying the products of combustion.
The earlier forms used cast-iron bars for garbage grates, since
discarded for a more durable arch of fire-clay tile in two sections.
This furnace is charged through the openings directly from the
carts to the garbage 'grates with no attempt at preliminary drying.
The passage of the flames to the chimney is uninterrupted, except
by the stench bars, and this^ constitutes the "direct draft."
In the later forms the rectangular top is arched and rounded
to form a segment of a circle, and the exterior casing is of
t Pio»e Receiving rippr
LONGITUDINAL SECTION TriROUGM CENTER OF FURNACE
Receiving Plotter m
TRANiVCR3E JtCTlON Q TRANiVERiE
FIG. 24.— DIRECT DRAFT DIXON CREMATORY.
steel plate, braced and strengthened by angle bars. The top
charging platform is of steel plate supported on standards bolted
to the iron jacket of the furnace. The chimneys are usually of
steel, placed on the end of the crematory above the combustion
chamber.
The other form of the Dixon crematory has three important
changes of the interior construction differing from the direct
draft type as shown in Fig. 25.
The purpose of the inventors was "to provide means for dry-
ing the garbage, so that itself will serve as fuel for its own com-
154 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
bustion, and for the rapid evaporation of water and other fluids,
and for feeding to the furnace at such points and in such quanti-
FIG. 25.— RETURN DRAFT DIXON CREMATORY.
ties as may be desired, the dried or partly-dried substances to be
consumed."
The crematory is divided into three compartments, the upper
FIG. 26.— EXTERIOR OF DIXON CREMATORY, READY FOR TRANS-
PORTATION.
one called a drying chamber receives the charge of green garbage
from above, and has a series of trap doors with covers operated
by chains, through which it is passed to the destruction chamber
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 155
below. When partially or completely burned, it passes to the
third or lower evaporating chamber, from which the ashes are
withdrawn The liquids pass to the lower compartment.
The fuel boxes are at the chimney or rear end, the heat pass-
ing under the floor of the destruction chamber, and through this,
or above through the drying chamber, as may be desired.
The same arrangement of secondary fire and stench bars in
the combustion chamber of the stack is continued, or this may be
replaced by a series of horizontal fire-clay tubes, heated from
below by the primary fire box, in which the gases of combustion
are finally destroyed.
FIG. 27.— DIXON CREMATORY, FORT WAYNE, IND.
This combination of three chambers, for different purposes,
with the necessary doors and dampers, is somewhat complicated,
and needs attention to secure good results. This "return draft"
furnace is used mostly for the smaller installations, and employed
but three times in municipal work.
As stated by the manager of the Dixon company: "In all
forms of crematories built under the 'Dixon' name, there is mani-
fest a desire to adhere to the simplicity of principles which was
the key to the success of the original invention."
156 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
The work of this company has extended all over this country,
and the largest number of operating disposal plants stands to its
credit. There are two Dixon crematories in South America,
and a small furnace was built in Cuba during the Spanish-Amer-
ican war.
The company was awarded the Grand Prize for its work at
FIG. 28.— DIXON CREMATORY, LEXINGTON, KY.
the World's Fair, St. Louis, in 1904, and the Dixon crematory
was installed at the Jamestown Exposition at Norfolk, in 1907.
THE DAVIS GARBAGE FURNACE COMPANY.
The Davis Garbage Furnace was the invention of Dr. M. L.
Davis, Lancaster, Pa., October, 1891. The first installation was
at Lancaster, 1891, followed by furnaces at Reading, Pa., and
Trenton, N. J., 1899. The Reading furnace was discontinued in
1899. Others were built at Oil City and Coudersport, Pa., and
for the United States Government at Havana, now discontinued.
The Trenton furnace is the best known one of this company, and
was reported upon by Mr. Rudolph Hering (previously noted).
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 157
The Davis furnace as described by Mr. John H. Hook, secre-
tary of the company, is composed of three separate compartments
or chambers.
The Primary fire chamber for fuel to begin the work, after-
wards for the garbage dried upon the grates of the drying cham-
ber.
The Garbage drying chamber, which is charged from above
through a circular opening in the roof, and which is floored by
a movable iron grate which may be raised, or inclined toward
the primary fire box for dumping the dried charge when desired.
Beneath this inclined grate is an iron evaporating pan, which
receives the liquids from the garbage above. The evaporated
vapors pass through the grate, and, with the products of com-
FIG. 29.— DAVIS GARBAGE FURNACE.
bustion of the garbage, pass through a short flue into the third
division.
The Smoke consuming chamber is at a higher level, and so
arranged with a fuel box and ash pit below that the smoke and
gases of combustion must pass completely over this fire to reach
the flue connecting with the stack.
The furnace is a large cell with a capacity of about eight tons
per day, and two or more may be built in battery connected with
a chimney in common.
The patentee, Dr. M. L. Davis, has made several useful inven-
tions in the line of sanitary work, the Davis cremation furnace
and the Davis Hospital for Contagious Diseases being among
those best known.
158 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
THACKERAY INCINERATOR COMPANY.
The garbage and refuse furnace built at Montreal by Mr.
Charles Thackeray in 1894 was the first departure from the popu-
lar form of American crematory. He took the "Fryer" de-
structor as his model in all the essential points, except that each
cell or furnace was made independent of the others, and placed
back to back to form a battery or series of cells having a common
charging platform on top. (Fig. 30.)
Each cell is charged from the top, the garbage falling on a
short, sharply-inclined hearth of fire-brick (f) just above the fire
bars. These inclined fire grates are two sections, the upper ones
stationary (a), the lower ones are rocking grates, by the motibn
FIG. 30.— THACKERAY GARBAGE INCINERATOR.
of which the refuse is gradually moved forward and the clinkers
deposited on the dead plate are removed through the doors.
The gases and products of combustion pass through side flies
into passages between the cells and back and downward to the
smaller longitudinal flue (e), which at the end discharge into the
main central flue (c) to the chimney. There was at first a steam
boiler set in this central flue, as shown in the figure, but as this
obstructed the draft, and did not develop steam sufficient to fur-
nish a forced draft or move the rocking grates, it was removed.
The furnaces are operated by natural draft, the chimney being
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
159
180 feet heigh. Additional details of cost of construction and
operating expenses are reported in preceding chapters.
GARBAGE FURNACES OF W. F. MORSE AND BENJAMIN BOULGER.
Some time after the Engle Company had suspended business,
W. F. Morse and Benjamin Boulger, who had been connected
with this company, obtained a contract for a crematory at San
Salvador, Central America. All the material needed was sent
from New York, and Mr. Boulger installed the furnace in 1895-6
under the patent obtained by him in 1893.
Externally this furnace (Fig. 31) was of the usual form of
American crematories, but provided with an extra number of
charging holes. It was divided by a vertical bridge wall into
three compartments, one long upper chamber, with garbage grates
FIG. 31.— FIRST BOULGER CREMATOR, 1895.
continuous from end to end, and below this two smaller divisions
with grates parallel to the upper tier, but with openings for the
passage of the gases. At the chimney end the combustion cham-
ber was divided by a vertical wall for the lower half of its height.
The fire-box was at the front end, but placed outside the furnace.
The theory of this furnace was that the heat from the exterior
fuel-box should pass up through the two sets of grates of the
first compartment, then over the garbage on the grates of the
second division, and beneath these to the combustion chamber and
the chimney. A secondary fire-box was placed on the lower flue
of the second division at some point before the combustion
chamber.
But one installation of this form was made — at San Salvador,
Central America — and this is not now in operation.
In November, 1906, Mr. Boulger took out a patent (No. 835,-
160 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL or MUNICIPAL WASTE.
699) for new and useful improvements in garbage furnaces, the
construction and operation of which are thus described by the
patentee :
In feeding this destructor the drier matter is dumped preferably into the
charging hole nearest the main fire-box. The wet swill is received on two
tiers of fire-brick arches laid in rings spaced several inches apart, the whole
forming drying and burning hearths, through which the waste and fire can
readily make their way.
The iron sloping grates in the fire-box may be given an oscillating down-
ward movement. This slowly carries the waste and garbage thereon to
the lower end, where the resulting ashes and clinker may be dumped.
These sloping grates have an independent ash-pit, into which hot air is
forced by steam jet blowers, situated under the back end of the furnace.
The air passes along through the ducts under the furnace and absorbs
some of the waste heat from the bottom of same before reaching the ash-
pits. Passing up through the grates and garbage of the main fire-box, this
heated air assists in the drying and combustion process.
The heat and flames from the primary fire and sloping grates pass the
FIG. 32,— BOULGER GARBAGE CREMATORY.
length of the furnace over the garbage deposited upon the first fire-brick
hearth and return underneath them and over the second tier, igniting and
destroying all the material thereon, and finally turning down under the
second tier. At this point the secondary fire contributes its heat to the
flaming gases, which pass into the combustion chamber and expand, and
in their incandescent state are drawn against and through the fire-brick
checker work. The resulting carbondioxide is discharged into the chimney
or carried up the by-pass to the boiler.
All ashes are removed through the lower clean-out doors. The main
fire doors can be placed on the side with the other door openings to
economize floor space.
When the destructor is started and attains the necessary temperature,
little, if any, additional fuel is needed, as long as the garbage is supplied
for consumption.
This form of furnace is employed in the smaller installations,
for institutional and business purposes. For the larger sizes a
small vertical steam boiler is connected with the combustion cham-
ber and operated by the furnace heat. The power from this is
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
161
employed for a forced draft, and for rotating the oscillating iron
sloping grates. There is a small surplus of power available when
the furnace is burning at its greatest capacity.
The only municipal installation of this furnace is at Butler, Pa.
THE MORSE-BOULGER DESTRUCTOR.
In 1898-9 Mr. Morse designed and constructed the Refuse
Utilization Station at Boston, Mass., and here for the first time
was built that form of furnace that afterwards came to be known
as the Morse-Boulger Destructor.
In this Boston furnace the original horizontal garbage grates
of the early Engle pattern were used, but the front end of the
FIG. 33,— MORSE-BOULGER DESTRUCTOR.
upper tier was inclined sharply down to the fire-box. These
grates were parallel arches of fire-clay brick with spaces for
passage of ashes.
The secondary fire was in the lower flue, over which all prod-
ucts of primary combustion passed, the light particles and fine
dust being detained by perforated vertical walls. There is also
a 6o-h.p. vertical boiler on the top of the rear end, operated by
the furnace heat, but having its own fire-box. The plant has been
in continuous work for ten years, and is fully described and illus-
trated in Chapter II.
Though this Boston furnace was for dry refuse, the forms of
grates and position of fires made it well adapted for the dis-
posal of garbage. It was improved upon, and many installations
162 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
for institutions and other private purposes were made by Morse
& Boulger up to 1904.
The Boston plant was duplicated with many improvements, at
Buffalo, and a large destructor was built at Manila, P. I., with a
steam boiler for obtaining forced draft. This was the first in-
stance of the application of blast under ash pits in American
disposal work.
In 1902 the business of Morse & Boulger was capitalized under
the title of the Morse-Boulger Destructor Company, and a new
patent taken out in 1904, This company held the American rights
FIG. 34.— CREMATORY OF THE MUNICIPAL ENGINEERING COMPANY.
for the Meldrum Brothers' Destructors, of Manchester, England,
but did no work under these patents. Mr. Morse retired in 1904,
and the business has since been continued by Mr. Boulger as
President, Treasurer and Manager, with a nominal Board of
Directors. The control of the Meldrum Destructors was assumed
by Mr. Morse.
THE MUNICIPAL ENGINEERING COMPANY.
The Municipal Engineering Company, of New York, was or-
ganized in 1901 by Messrs. F. Brown, Lyon, C. McFarland and
Fred P. Smith. Shortly afterward, Col. Willard Young became
a stockholder and president. The crematories erected by this
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 163
company under the patents of F. P. Smith were at Long Branch,
N. J. (the only municipal plant), and at Forts Leavenworth,
Moultrie, Brady, Slocum, and at Governor's Island, New York
Harbor. All these furnaces were of small size.
Fig. 34 is a longitudinal section of the crematory of this com-
pany. The exterior walls, as a rule, are of steel plates lined
with fire-brick, the general design and dimensions corresponding
to the plan of the American crematories. The primary fire-box
(2) at the front is a series of hollow cast-iron bars (4), arranged
to discharge the air heated by passing through these above and
behind the grate. The garbage grates are also of this same con-
struction of hollow bars. They are placed in a series of steps,
ascending from the primary fire, and separated by narrow, arched
bridge walls of fire-brick (7).
Below these grates is a shallow iron evaporating pan (12),
which catches the drippings from the wet material on the grates
above. There are dampers (14-15) behind each set of grates,
which lead to the chimney, and below the evaporating pan is a
passage (13) open to the chimney, but controlled by a damper
(16).
There are doors for fuel boxes and for stoking the garbage
from the highest grate downward to the fire-box, where it
furnishes fuel for drying and burning the successive charges.
By the intelligent operation of the dampers at proper intervals,
the air and heat are drawn through the garbage on the grates,
carrying off the fumes and gases direct to the chimney; or by
closing the dampers the gases are directed downward beneath the
evaporating pan through the lower passage.
All of this interior construction, except the bridge walls and
lining, is of cast-iron, the special features being the hollow grate
bars, through which a current of air is induced by the stack
draft, preserving the bars from giving way and providing heated
air for combustion. This company was the assignee of six
patents of Mr. F. P. Smith for various forms of furnaces for
waste materials, but no others than the one described were built.
164 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
STANDARD CONSTRUCTION Co. AND MR. W. B. WRIGHT OK
CHICAGO.
In 1899 Mr. W. B. Wright erected under patent No. 575,088.
1897, an incinerator for the garbage and refuse of the group of
institutions of Chicago at the "Bridewell."
This invention (Fig. 35) is known as the Wright Garbage
Incinerating Furnace, and follows in its general plans the cell
type of the English dectructors. It is practically two cells placed
back to back, having a charging port (2) in common. The gar-
bage falls upon a sharply inclined fire-brick hearth, having its
surface serrated or notched to form shallow gutters or steps (7) ;
the purpose being to separate the liquids, draining these off at
the sides, and to break up the masses of packed garbage in their
descent to the fire-box.
The grates of the fuel-box (13) are inclined from back to
front and have over them an arch of fire-brick (9) deflecting the
FIG. 35,— THE WRIGHT GARBAGE 1NCINERATORY FURNACE.
flames from the fuel-box downward to the garbage below, and
also by the radiated heat above the arch assist in the combustion
of the gases passing through the flue (10) downward between the
walls of the furnaces and backward to the main central flue ( 1 1 )
leading to the chimney. There is provided a hinged iron plat-
form or plate (17) between the fire-bars and the foot of the in-
clined drying hearth, for removal of ashes, and a similar arrange-
ment at the front end of the grates, where coal is employed for
fuel. This furnace may be fired by any oil or gas, through
burners above the fuel box.
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 165
There is also provided a forced draft of steam or air under
the fire-bars, and a special set of dumping grates for the clinkers
and ashes. The construction of this incinerator is always upon
the double-cell principle. Though both cells are recorded as one
furnace, each may be separately operated. In the experimental
furnace erected for a trial of this system a steam boiler was
placed in connection with the main flue, and about seventy-five
horsepower was developed and maintained. This experimental
furnace was not continued. The special features of this in-
cinerator are the serrated surface of the drying hearth, which
retains the liquids and decomposes the garbage; the high tem-
perature and consequently complete destruction of the waste, and
the cell form of construction, which permits of the use of a
greater or lesser number of furnaces, according to the seasonal
collection of waste.
The only example of this incinerator now operating is at the
''Bridewell," Chicago, in use since 1899, having a rated capacity
of thirty tons per day.
The construction of the Wright garbage incinerating furnaces
is in the control of the Standard Construction Company, Chi-
cago, 111.
NATIONAL EQUIPMENT COMPANY AND THE BRANCH INCIN-
ERATOR.
Mr. Joseph G. Branch, M.E., St. Louis, Mo., has brought out
many valuable inventions in various lines of mechanical equip-
ments and apparatus for industrial uses. He is also the patentee
of the Branch garbage incinerator (patented November 21, 1905),
a furnace for the disposal of garbage and refuse. This may be
built in several sizes and combinations, but all follow the same
type of construction.
The incinerator is of a single unit or furnace, in exterior
dimensions and appearance similar to the general form of the
American crematories. The furnaces are inclosed in a steel ex-
terior casing strengthened by stays and tie rods in the usual man-
ner. There are three charging ports on the top for garbage and
one large circular opening for carcasses. The chimney is at the
rear end, connected by flues with the furnaces, or placed beyond
the battery of boilers if these are employed. There are two fire-
i66 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
boxes, one above the other, with the usual fire bars and ash pit.
The garbage charged through the ports in the top is received
in a V-shaped basket formed of hollow water grates connected
on the upper ends to headers, on the sides of the incinerating
chamber, and tapped by threaded screw joints at the lower ends
into a single large header placed in the middle line of the cham-
ber. The headers and the water grates form a circulating water
system, intended for heating feed water for the boilers when
FIG. 36.— BRANCH GARBAGE INCINERATOR.
used. Below this garbage grate is an iron evaporating pan to
receive the liquids. At the sides of the incinerator are two chutes
of steel which receive very wet portions of waste and are con-
nected at their lower ends with the evaporating pan, forming a
part of the lower hearth. Doors are provided for firing the two
fuel boxes, stoking the garbage in the central chamber and for
removing ashes.
The secondary fire for destroying gases is omitted. There
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 167
is an offset or break in the rear of the furnace, by means of
which the unconsumed gases from the upper and cooler compart-
ment are brought down into the hotter and larger furnace com-
partment below, where they are mingled and consumed before
being discharged into the chimney or under the boilers, when
these are used.
The advantages claimed for this incinerator are: no odors or
dust, no sorting or handling of waste, no auxiliary furnace or
checkerwork needed, no firebrick for garbage grates, no uneven
distribution of heat in the furnace, the fewest number of threaded
joints of piping exposed to the fire, no water jackets or stay
bolts, a complete and positive circulation through water grates
and ease of access at all times. When the units are arranged in
pairs the increased length of travel given to the heated gases
insure better combustion and higher temperature under the
boilers.
Since the invention of this incinerator only one experimental
plant has been put into operation, and no municipal plants are
yet built. There are as yet no records of experimental trials, and
but little is known as to the powers of the incinerator in the
actual municipal disposal work.
CHAPTER VIII.
AMERICAN GARBAGE CREMATORIES— Continued.
AMERICAN GARBAGE CREMATOR Co. AND MR. SAMUEL G. BROWN,
BOSTON.
Early in 1893 the City Council of Boston, Mass., appointed a
committee to examine into the subject of garbage disposal with
instructions to report upon the methods in use elsewhere and
their adaptability for that city. This committee held meetings
at which several of the representatives of reduction and crema-
tion companies were present, and described their systems and
apparatus. Afterwards the committee made an extensive tour
for the inspection of these methods as employed in other cities.
For the purpose of demonstrating the efficiency of the furnace
of the American Garbage Cremator Company, of Boston, Mr. S.
G. Brown designed and erected an experimental plant upon the
city's ground at Albany street, which was operated for some time
in March and April, 1893.
FIG. 37.— THE BROWN GARBAGE CREMATOR.
The Brown Cremator, Fig. 37, was 28^ feet long, 9 feet wide
and 6y2 feet high. The exterior casing, of steel plates, was
bound together with buckstays and tie rods. The interior was
lined with fire brick with a flat arched roof of two parallel arches
of fire brick with air space. The furnace was divided by a
longitudinal horizontal iron grate, the bars of which were A-
shaped, hollow, triangular sections 10 inches high. The hollow
spaces of these bars were filled with a refractory metallic com-
168
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 169
position, the secret of the inventor. Below this grate a longi-
tudinal bridge wall divided the lower compartment into two equal
chambers, or long flues, which connected with the chimney.
At the rear end, on the same plane with the grates, was a
brick chamber that contained the oil burner for generating heat.
This burner consisted of three concentric pipes, the innermost, of
small dimensions, carrying steam ; the second conveying the oil,
and the third larger outer one containing hot gases drawn from
the lower heated flues of the chimney.
The simultaneous discharge from these pipes converted the oil
to gas, and, mixing this with the hot gases from the flues, formed
a new combustible gas, which was assisted by transverse currents
of heated air from the air spaces of the roof and sides of the
furnace.
By the force of the blast, this was driven over a transverse
bridge wall onto the garbage piled upon the grates, and, passing
the length of the furnace, was returned through the lower flues
to the chimney. The blast was maintained by a blower driven
by a separate small steam boiler fired with coal.
The operation of this furnace — the first to attempt the de-
struction of garbage by liquid fuel — attracted attention, and was
tested by the City Engineers, and temperatures were recorded by
Professors Holman and Wendell of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
At the final trial, April 25, 1893, the following reports were
tabulated by the city authorities :
TEST OF BROWN'S CREMATOR, BOSTON, APRIL 25, 1893.
Time occupied 10 hours
Garbage consumed 19 \ tons
Garbage consumed per hour 1.95 tons
Area of garbage grates 60 square feet
Quantity consumed per square feet grate per hour 65 pounds
Oil consumed, 10 hours 323 gallons
Oil consumed per hour 32.3 gallons
Coal used in steam boiler 400 pounds
Labor (i engineer, i stoker, 2 laborers), per hour $1.00
Total cost per hour, labor and fuel $2.39
Cost per ton garbage consumed $1.22
Weight of ash residuum 1085 pounds
Weight of ash per ton garbage 55 pounds
Temperature near bridge wall, first trial 2580° Fah.
Temperature near bridge wall, second trial 2460° Fah.
Temperature outer end of furnace 1850° Fah.
Temperature opening in top of furnace 1760° Fah.
Temperature flue gases 1680° Fah.
170 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
So far as known this was the only official report of garbage
disposal by liquid fuels where the temperatures were accurately
recorded. The operation of the furnace was at a higher cost than
similar work at the Chicago Exposition by an Engle Cremator,
where the expense for Tabor and fuel was 63 cents per ton.
The Brown Cremator was built at Wilmington, Del. (1894),
with the double exterior water-jacket casing, the first recorded
instance of this form in American practice.
Because of the expense of operation, using oil as fuel, this
crematory was dicontinued in 1897. The Brown cremator was
built at Troy, N. Y., and Washington, D. C., but all are now
discontinued. Petroleum is an ideal fuel for garbage disposal
work, but too expensive for use unless at the points where the
oil is procured direct from the ground.
In 1900, Mr. Brown took out patents for a cremator of nearly
similar construction, using coal as fuel, but there are no records
of installations in this form. The American Garbage Cremator
Company did not continue the Brown furnaces after the Wash-
ington, D. C., installation.
BROWNLEE GARBAGE FURNACE.
In 1891, Mr. Alex. Brownlee, of Dallas, Tex., formerly a
representative of the Engle Company, procured a patent, No.
448,115, for a garbage furnace, under which he built several
furnaces in Texas. Subsequently, in 1895, he took out another
patent for an improved form of this crematory, the chief installa-
tion being at West New Brighton, Saten Island, N. Y.
This furnace, Fig. 38, follows closely the form and construc-
tion of the Engle cremator, being almost exactly identical in
exterior dimensions and differing slightly in interior arrangement.
There is the large upper combustion chamber (B), charged
through circular opening in the roof (D), the transverse longi-
tudinal garbage grates (C), and the fireboxes (H) at each end
of the grates. Below the grates is an enclosed pit (G), filled for
half its depth with sand to catch and retain the liquids dripping
through the garbage grate, and provided with drainage pipes.
Below this sand box is a lower flue (I), at the end of which
is the passage to the chimney (I1). The third fire for consuming
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
171
the gases is at some point in this flue or outside at the chimney
connection.
The grate bars (C) are hollow iron pipes, supported in their
middle line by a larger pipe, the whole system of piping being
connected with an exterior tank or boiler (F)? which provides for
a continuous water circulation through all the grates exposed to
the fire.
The flames and heat from the main firebox (H1) pass over
the garbage, are reinforced at the second firebox (H2), and pass
under trie grates and over the sand pit, thence through the open-
ing (I) to the flues (I1), and over the third firebox to the
chimney. The usual doors for stoking and ash removal are
provided.
FIG. 38.— THE BROWNLEE GARBAGE FURNACE.
In practical operation of this crematory it was found hard
to secure the passage of the smoke through the tortuous flues
to the chimney, and still more difficult to obtain the temperature
for perfect combustion because of the loss of heat taken up by the
water grates. In one instance the furnace was discontinued by
legal proceedings because of nuisance from the stack caused by
incomplete combustion. There is now but one example of the
Brownlee crematory operating, and this has been radically changed
in construction from the plans and inventions of the original
builders.
172 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
BRIDGEPORT BOILER WORKS, AND MR. H? B. SMITH OF BRIDGE-
PORT, CONN.
This invention is another example of a garbage furnace with
water grates for receiving the garbage and of alternate action
in passing the heat from one to the other of the chambers. The
crematory was first built at Waterbury, Conn., in 1901, and has
been intermittently used since then. The largest installation made
by the Bridgeport Boiler Works, who were the builders under the
patents of Mr. H. B. Smith, was at Newport News, Va., in 1902.
The crematory (Fig. 39) comprises two seperate chambers,
connected by a flue or opening for the passage of the gases, from
FIG. 39.— CREMATORY OF H. B. SMITH, BRIDGEPORT, CONN.
one to the other alternately. In each chamber is suspended a
cage or basket made of hollow iron piping, with larger pipes at the
top and bottom. This basket receives the garbage through cir-
cular opening in the roof. The cages are set away from the
walls to form a passage to permit the passage of the flames around
and over the cages and their charges of garbage, and their final
exit through the opening (26) into the second chamber, where,
after passing around and over the baskets, the gases descend
through the second fire-box (20) to the lower flue (26) to the
chimney. The pipes of each set of baskets are connected with
headers and these with a water tank or exterior boiler, which
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 173
maintains a circulation of water through the system of piping.
There are provided doors (35) for stoking or stirring the garbage,
and a series of iron rods (18) between the lower tier of garbage
pipes, which may be drawn, permitting the dried charge of
garbage to fall into the fire-box (13) and be consumed.
The theory of this furnace is the alternate firing of the cham-
bers, the heating and drying of the charge of garbage by the
iron pipes of the basket, and the combustion of the waste without
the need of a secondary stench-cremating fire.
The installation at Newport News did not fulfill the conditions
of the contract and was not accepted by the city. No other ex-
amples of the H. B. Smith furnace, except at Waterbury and
Newport News, have been built.
WATER GRATES.
In addition to the furnaces already described (Decarie, Branch,
Brown, Brownlee and Smith), there are some seven or eight
others which include water bars as an important part of the
construction. These are mostly examples of patents, only one or
two having reached the stage of experimental construction.
Besides those, six or seven other inventions have been brought
out for small water heaters and refuse consumers, using this
prinicple of water grates. For the disposal of small amounts of
dry combustible refuse this form of small furnace is used in many
installations, but they are not so successful when wet masses of
garbage are to be burned, since the maintenance of the tempera-
ture to destroy the garbage requires large amounts of fuel, and
there is no provision for consuming the smoke and gases of com-
bustion, threatening a discharge of noxious fumes from the
chimney.
The Cragin, Dube, Long, and other refuse burners and water
heaters are used in apartment houses and dwellings, and in a
limited way are quite successful, but this method is distinctly
confined to individual small installations for private work, and in
no sense can be considered as a plant for municipal service.
Several of these water heaters have the double water jacket con-
nected with the hollow pipe grate, forming a circulatory system
for the protection of the parts, but owing to the loss of heat taken
up by the water their power as garbage burners is very limited.
174 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OE MUNICIPAL WASTE.
SMITH-SIEMENS GARBAGE FURNACE AND MR. M. V. SMITH OF
PITTSBURG.
One of the earliest furnaces for garbage and night-soil dis-
posal was that invented by Mr. M. V. Smith in 1885, at Wheeling,
W. Va. The history of the first furnace of this type has been
briefly alluded to.
The subsequent installations of Mr. Smith were in many
particulars different from the early forms, and as built at Phila-
delphia and Atlantic City it was one of the most interesting and,
in a way, successful attempts to cremate larger amounts of
garbage than had been heretofore deal with.
FIG. 40.— SECTION.
FIG. 40.— SMITH-SIEMENS GARBAGE FURNACE, PLAN.
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 175
The Smith-Siemens garbage furnace (Fig. 40) was an imitation
or modification of the Siemens process for attaining high tem-
peratures in the work of iron manufacture. . There are three
distinct constructions, which together formed the complete ap-
paratus.
These were (Fig. 40, plan) (a-b) the two garbage furnaces,
the two regenerators (d-e), and the gas producer (f). Each
of these separate constructions consisted of a steel exterior cir-
cular wall, which was lined with fire brick, and all were con-
nected by a system of flues, controlled by dampers. The garbage
chamber is charged through the roof, the waste falling on the
bottom, and forms a conical pile. There are doors, through which
the mass may be stirred, and at the bottom is a discharge spout
(a1), which is opened for drawing of the liquids and afterward the
slag, or residual products, from the chamber.
The regenerator chambers (d-e) are filled with checker work
of fire brick and provided with flues (d^e1) leading downward,
so as to throw the flames directly upon the mass of garbage in the
chamber (a). From the base of each regenerator is an air flue
(d2-e2), connecting into a common chamber, which is provided
with a reversible valve. These flues are also connected with the
escape flue (i), which leads to the stack or chimney (L).
The producer (f) is provided with charging ports, through
which the coal is passed for conversion into gas, and also has a
garbage port which may receive waste for conversion into gas.
There are valves and dampers to regulate and cut off the flow of
gas and air, the purpose being to produce the gas for combustion
from the garbage itself when the proper temperatures are reached.
The operation is begun by starting a fire in the gas producer,
and as soon as gas is generated it is fed through the main gas
flue (n) to the distributing chamber and by the flues (T1) is
carried to one of the garbage chambers (a1). On its passage it
receives the air from the regenerator and combustion takes place
within the garbage chamber. From the chamber (a1) the heat
passes into the adjoining chamber (a) to the second regenerator
(d) and from this through the air flue to the stack.
When the garbage in the first chamber is consumed the action
is reversed, the gas then flowing through the ducts from the
producer to the furnace (a), thence to the second furnace, which
176 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
has meanwhile received a fresh charge, and through the first
regenerator (e) to the chimney. It is claimed that when the
highest temperatures are reached the garbage alone will produce
the gas for its own combustion, with little or no assistance from
the producer, but this seems to occur only when the garbage is
comparatively dry and contains little mosture. During the opera-
tion of this furnace in Philadelphia and Atlantic City the repairs
necessary for maintaining the complicated apparatus, exposed to
very high temperatures, were made at a very considerable cost.
SEABOARD GARBAGE CREMATOR Co. AND MR. A. VIVARTTAS, NEW
YORK CITY.
One of the early furnaces for disposal of waste was invented
by Mr. Aloha Vivarttas, of New York, who in 1887 built a large
plant at East Seventeenth street, New York, under the style and
title of the Seaboard Garbage Furnace Company, Patent No.
390,922, October, 1888.
This was the first furnace of its kind in New York City and
was intended for the disposal of all classes of waste then col-
lected together — ashes, garbage and refuse — which was then
dumped at sea.
The furnace of Mr. Vivarttas, Fig. 41, was very high in pro-
portion to the length and width, the exterior walls of the usual
construction, the interior of fire clay, brick, and tiles. The top
charging ports (a1) discharge into small chambers inclined from
the middle line to the furnace walls, and terminating in a chute
(a3) controlled by a sliding fire clay dumper (H2). This upper
chamber is then discharged upon a lower drying hearth (D1),
inclined at a sharp angle in the opposite direction from the one
above. Thus there was formed an interior drying and burning
chamber (B) of large capacity, into which all the smaller cham-
bers above discharge, and in which the final combustion was
made. The sides of this middle chamber (B), inclined to the
center, led the ashes and residuals of combustion down to a
throat (D1) or narrow flue, floored with water grates, below
which the ashes are removed.
The two fire-boxes (F F1) are supplied with coal, the heat
passing under the inclined hearth of the burning chamber and
through narrow passages behind the smaller charging chambers,
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
177
and then downward through the four downtakes (B1) to the
chimney, by underground passages. In this New York installa-
tion there was also a conveyor for receiving the mixed refuse and
ashes and passing this through a water bath to separate the
heavy and lighter portions before charging into the furnace.
FIG. 41.— VIVARTTAS GARBAGE FURNACE.
But the conditions attending this disposal of mixed waste by
fire were not then well understood. It was found impossible to
produce and maintain combustion in the central burning chamber,
there was poor provision for the removal of residuals, the furnace
construction was too weak to stand the strain, and after many
178 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
vain efforts to continue operation the attempt was abandoned in
1888.
Subsequently Mr. S. R. Smith, of Plainfield, N. J., became
manager for this company and installed plants in Philadelphia,
Plainfield, Scranton, and Fort Wayne, Ind. Three of these were
in service for two to three years, but at this time none are operat-
ing.
DECARIE MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
The Decarie Incinerator was the invention of Mr. F. L. De-
carie, of Montreal, Canada, in 1897. The original invention,
described in U. S. Patent No. 596,421, was probably the most
complicated apparatus yet devised for the destruction of munici-
pal waste. There is no record of this ever having been used in
the original form. About June, 1901, Mr. Decarie applied for
another patent which was issued January 12, 1904, No. 749,269.
This is the basis of the present form of this incinerator, though
many changes are made in the latest constructions.
Two forms of furnaces were included in this plant, alike in
exterior dimensions but differing in interior details. The first
is an incinerating chamber, with interior length about twice
its width and height. These exterior walls are of brick built and
stayed in the usual manner. The floor of this chamber is a series
of heavy firegrates, supported on bearing bars, with an ash-pit
beneath, the bottom of which is a shallow double- jacketed iron
pan, holding water.
The walls of the incinerating chamber support a shallow rect-
angular iron box or "steam generator," covering all the roof of
the chamber. Above this box is another of a larger capacity, also
of iron, and provided on the top with four charging ports, with
covers. One large charging hole extends through the drying
chamber and the steam generator to the incinerating chamber
below; the others do not connect with the incinerating chamber,
but discharge into the drying chamber only. This generator is
made after the usual boiler construction, with a multiplicity of
stay-bolts and provided with pipes for steam and water supply.
The garbage grates are a series of hollow pipes connected at
their upper ends by screw-threaded joints tapped into the bottom
plate of the generator. The grates describe a curve or incline
to the middle of the lower part of the incinerating chamber,
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
179
where they are connected with one large header, just above the
fire bars. These grates form a basket to hold the garbage
charged through the generator, but are placed on the sides. The
circulating system includes the steam generator, the water grates,
the headers, and the double steel outer water-jacket, which is
sometimes used instead of the brick walls, the purpose of this
FIG. 42.— THE DECARIE GARBAGE INCINERATOR.
water system being to preserve the iron parts from destruction
by the heat from the fires below. In some constructions the roof
of the furnace is of fire-brick, and the generator is replaced by
two large headers at the upper corners of the chamber.
In the other form described in the patent, the brick construc-
tion for the exterior walls is replaced by a double steel casing,
secured by many hundreds of stay-bolts and connected with the
water circulating system.
A later form of construction is shown by Fig. 42, and is
similar in exterior dimensions to those previously noted, with
180 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
some interior changes. Here the steam generator is made deeper
and occupies all the space above the incinerating chamber, leaving
out the drying chamber altogether. The charging holes on top
extend completely through the generator, but are placed on the
sides. On the outside of the sides and ends are smaller charging
chutes, for very wet material, the liquids from which are con-
ducted to the evaporating pan under the ash-pit.
The garbage grates are inclined from the middle line of the
steam generator, where their upper ends are tapped into the
bottom sheet, to the headers along the sides of the chamber.
FIG. 43.— THE DECARIE FUME CREMATOR.
There is a union or connection in these pipes and a short level
section of piping just before the connection with the headers.
These grates, inclined from the middle of the generator to the
furnace walls, from a basket of iron pipes, enclosing a triangular
space, which receives the garbage charged through the holes
above. All the parts that will admit of it are of hollow iron
spaces with water circulation, somewhat resembling a magnified
locomotive steam boiler. The partially dried garbage which is
confined within the suspending basket, may be mechanically stoked
down into the fires below by bars thrust through the stoke-holes
in the walls of the furnace at various points. To reach the inner
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
181
surfaces of the basket the rakes must be thrust through doors
on the opposite sides of the furnace, or through the larger doors
at the front and rear ends. There are upwards of forty doors
and openings of various sizes in each incinerator and fume
cremator of 50 tons capacity.
To consume the gases and products of combustion there is,
in the latest forms, a "fume cremator" (Fig. 43), placed between
the incinerator and the chimney. This is a separate brick chamber
enclosed in steel plate with many doors for removal of ashes,
FIG. 44.— THE LATEST DECARIE INCINERATOR.
supply of fuel and water. The gases from the incinerator first
pass through a perforated brick partition, then into a descending
flue floored with a water tank, then between two fuel boxes,
are then deflected upwards by the bridge well and downward
by the hanging wall, passing over the surface of the two water
tanks and through the curtain, or scrubber, of water or steam
from the perforated pipes to the chimney. This complicated
1 82 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
arrangement of walls and water tanks is necessary to arrest the
flying particles of paper and dust, and to reheat and reburn the
carbon in the smoke and gasses of the combustion products from
the incinerator.
The latest form of the Decarie incinerator is wholly of an all-
steel water- jacketed design, with double shell throughout, and
water-jacketed crown and steam space. The arrangement of the
charging hoppers permits dry rubbish to be charged in front,
the heavy ordinary garbage to be charged through the top hop-
pers, and the storage of very wet material in the side hoppers,
which are provided with facilities for draining off the liquids
before discharging on to the upper grates. The evaporating pan
below the fire bars is for the disposal of these liquids by steam
jets turned into the evaporating steel pan, the vapors passing
up through the fire bars. There is also what is termed an ex-
tension fuel grate placed at the front, provided with two grates
constituting an up-and-down draft fire-box, which may, on oc-
casion, assist in the more rapid evaporation of the liquids. The
gas consuming chamber is connected with the main garbage
chamber by heavy continuous steel construction, and forms a part
of the complete incinerator, instead of being a separate construc-
tion, as previously used.
DUNDON IRON WORKS, OF SAN FRANCISCO, AND THE DUNDON
GARBAGE INCINERATOR, AT SACRAMENTO, CAL. .
In 1905 a plant was erected at Sacramento, Cal., by the Dundon
Iron Works, of San Francisco. The original designs were fur-
nished by the Mildrum Bros., of England, but these were changed
in many essential features, and it was built quite different from
the plans of the patentees. It was claimed that this furnace
failed to meet the conditions of the contract, and it was not ac-
cepted by the city. No other installation of the Dundon Excelsior
Garbage Incinerator has as yet been made.
BENNETT GARBAGE CREMATORY, ELMIRA, N. Y., AND WILKES-
BARRE, PENN.
The Bennett Garbage Disposal Company is capitalized under
the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, and collects and disposes of
street sweepings, garbage, ashes and refuse, junk, dead animals
and other waste matters. Its capital is $35,000. This company
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 183
has been given franchises at Elmira and Wilkes-Barre for terms
of ten years. At Wilkes-Barre the collections are to be made
from the household in garbage cans of a uniform size to be
furnished by the company, transported upon special platform
wagons. The company has certain protective rights against com-
petitors for collection, and gets its remuneration from the house-
holder at a rate fixed by ordinance. The householder pays 15
cents per can, and the disposal of larger amounts is subject to
special prices and discounts.
The disposal stations as described by Mr. Bennett will consist
of modern fireproof buildings designed to meet the most dis-
criminating laws of sanitation in the handling and disposal of
the various kinds of garbage, with entire freedom from objection-
able odors of any kind/'
SANITARY ENGINEERING COMPANY.
This corporation in 1904 acquired the property and patents of
the Municipal Engineering Company, the principal stockholders
being Col. Young, Mr. F. Nevins and Capt. Wm. M. Venable.
They secured a patent (830,027, September 4, 1906) for an
"improvement .in crematories, in which garbage or refuse is
burned on grates with an updraft, either with or without previous
drying."
In exterior dimensions and construction this furnace (Fig. 45)
was nearly the same as the other, though the exterior walls may
be of brick construction if desired. The garbage is charged
through the ports (4) and is received on the iron drying floor
formed of a series of hollow triangular cast-iron grates (11-12-
13). Beneath these are a number of fire-boxes (5), separated by
bridge walls of fire brick extending below to the bottom of the
furnace to form ash pits.
A flue or passage (10) connects with a secondary chamber for
combustion of the gases (9), above which is a space (19) for
receiving the heated air generated in the hollow grates of the
drying floor and the air spaces at the sides of the lining. The
chimney is connected with the secondary consuming chamber,
which in the larger construction is supplied with a fuel grate.
Doors are provided for the fires and ash pits and for stoking
the garbage on the drying floor. The grates may be rotated
184 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
from the outside of the casing to assist in the stoking and drying
process.
The operation of this crematory is somewhat complicated,
depending upon the passage of the currents of air heated by
viv y iwyi v.,vi>y.»viv v
FIG. 45.— THE CREMATORY OF THE SANITARY ENGINEERING CO.
passing through the hollow grates, and their introduction into the
space (19) above the secondary combustion chamber, from which
they are passed through the openings (20) to the upper consum-
ing chamber. The special features are the hollow prismatic air-
cooled grates, forming the drying floor, and below, the indepen-
dent fire-boxes, for the partially dried garbage and for fuel to
complete combustion. The only construction of this furnace is at
Fort Barancas, Fla. No municipal plant has yet been built under
this patent.
GARBAGE CREMATORY OF MESSRS. LEWIS & KITCHEN AND FRED
P. SMITH, OF CHICAGO.
The inventions of Mr. F. P. Smith for the disposal of municipal
waste are marked by versatility and bold designs. There are
several forms of fire closets, incinerators and furnaces under his
patents, some of which have been built by the United States
Government and by private contractors. In 1904, as engineer
for Messrs. Lewis & Kitchen, he designed and built at Fort Sam
Houston, Texas, a new form of crematory, which was also in-
stalled at Fort Dupont, Del., 1906, and which is described in the
Engineering World, Chicago, as follows (Fig. 46) :
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
Garbage and refuse is dumped from sanitary carts upon a steel platform,
whence it is thrown upon the garbage grates above the incinerating fires.
When the garbage is dried and is partially burned upon the upper grates
of clay, it is stoked to the lower grates for final combustion and to become
the fuel for the drying of the succeeding charges of wet garbage. Fumes
are destroyed and dust is arrested in the chamber at the base of the
chimney. Air for combustion is heated before admission to the furnace
by heavily flanged castings, which form the sides of the fire-boxes and the
evaporating floors.
FIG. 46.— PLAN OF SMITH CREMATORY OF LEWIS & KITCHEN.
The exterior is constructed of cast-iron sections with heavily reinforced
flanges. The lining is of fire clay bricks with molded refractory clay
blocks for the openings of doors and garbage hoppers. The garbage grates
are of refractory fire brick.
This description does not clearly explain the construction or
work of this furnace.
Fig. 47, of a crematory of larger capacity, shows more clearly
the plan. The outer wall is of sectional cast iron flanged divi-
sions, held by bolts and presumed to be rigid and strong enough to
hold the thrust of the fire pressure. The interior lining is of
sections of fire-clay tile, corresponding in size to the exterior
casing, and having an air space next to this. The grates are heavy
blocks of fire-clay, spaced to permit passage of garbage, and
carried by projection of the interior lining. These bars are 10 x
10 inches in cross section and 6 feet in length, weighing upwards
of 500 pounds each. The arrangement in two horizontal planes
i86 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
at different heights, with intervals between, is a novel departure
from the usual methods.
. The lower division of the furnace is a series of cast-iron
evaporating platforms, alternating with transverse fuel-boxes,
and so placed below the garbage grates to receive the partly dried
waste, the liquid falling upon the evaporating surfaces.
The secondary fire is placed in the combustion chamber at
the base of the stack. The exterior casing is pierced at intervals
for air inlets, and the doors are arranged for stoking and firing
FIG. 47.— LONGITUDINAL SECTION, F. P. SMITH CREMATORY.
in the usual way. The larger sizes have four charging ports, one
being large enough for a large carcass.
The operation of this crematory is somewhat complicated. By
reason of the longitudinal division wall the crematory is divided
into two furnaces, alike in construction, and so arranged with
connecting flues and dampers that the heat from fuel-boxes may
be directed over either upper compartment and return above or
below the adjoining compartment, passing finally through the
common combustion chamber to the chimney. This action is
assisted by the currents of heated air from the hollow fire-grates,
and from a special heating device placed under the evaporating
platforms.
The constructions described in Figs. 46 and 47 were those
employed by Mr. Smith up to 1906. During this time no munici-
pal plant was built by Messrs. Lewis & Kitchen under the Smith
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
i87
patents, but four or five small crematories for government use
were installed at several army posts.
The next installations showed a radical change in the use of
material for the inner linings and grates. The cast-iron evaporat-
ing surfaces were abandoned, the double form of furnace changed
for a single unit which was made longer and wider than before,
and in which the garbage grates were made of heavy blocks of
fire clay and the iron evaporating surfaces replaced by the hollow
cast-iron revolving bars. The name incinerator was used to de-
scribe the furnace as distinguished from the term garbage crema-
tory previously employed.
Fig. 48 — the longitudinal section of one of the latest incinera-
tors— shows the present construction. The furnace is charged
FIG. 48.— LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF LATEST SMITH INCINERATOR.
through side ports on the top, the carts dumping the loads
through large openings directly to the upper tier of garbage
grates, which is called "the primary garbage grate." When the
charge is dried out it is stoked through open passages and around
the ends of this upper grate to the "secondary garbage grate,"
where final combustion is made. There are four principal fire-
boxes for fuel, and two secondary boxes floored with revolving
hollow cast-iron bars, called the clinkering grates.
The theory of the combustion is that the heat generated from
fuel in the two fire-boxes at either end of the furnace (Nos. i
and 2) must first pass over the clinkering grates, then upwards
around the ends of the upper grates, meeting in the two openings
or passages through this upper grate and passing downward
along the upper side of the secondary grate and turning again
downward, pass over the fire-box No. 3 on its way to the chimney
1 88 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
flue placed below the level of the floor. The heat from the second
left hand fire-box (No. 4) is added to the other two boxes when
required.
The division of the upper grate into two unequal parts is for
the purpose of burning a small amount of waste on the left
hand division, when the whole area of the furnace is not needed
for so small a quantity. The arrows show the direction of the
gases from the primary fires. To distinguish the fire grates, these
are numbered i, 2, 3, and 4; the clinkering grates lettered A
and B.
The stoking or moving of the charge is done through five doors
on the upper grate, six doors on the lower tier and two doors
on the floor line. Stoking may also be done through the charging
ports from the top of the furnace.
The Interior Walls of this incinerator are formed of heavy
sections of fire clay, the dimensions of each corresponding to the
sections of cast-iron which form the exterior shell of the furnace.
These sections of fire clay and iron must be of the same dimen-
sions to permit the unbolting and removal of the cast-iron section,
and then the removal of the interior fire-clay section to take out
any one of the garbage grates which may have been broken.
These garbage grates are blocks of fire clay 6 to 8 feet long
and 8 by 10 inches in cross section. They are not arched, but
depend for their strength upon their size and thickness. Because
of their dimensions and weight (each grate bar weighing 400 to
500 Ibs. ) they cannot be replaced when broken except by removing
the top of the furnace or a cast-iron section of the sides and the
corresponding interior fire-clay section of the wall, which will
give an opening through which the broken grate bars of the lower
tier may be withdrawn and new ones substituted.
The Fig. 48 shows the construction of the garbage grates to
have eight exposed edges over which the heat must pass, turning
a right angle in each case, and also over which the charge of
garbage when dried on the primary or upper grate must be
stoked down to the secondary grate or to the clinker boxes.
There are then eight hanging fire-brick bars unsupported on one
side, over which liquids, metals and incombustible matters must
pass, besides being exposed to action of slice bars and rakes used
to move the dried charge.
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
iBg
This construction provides for a series of blocks of fire clay
of heavy cross section, placed side by side horizintally from
one wall to the other across the furnace, forming a platform 16
FIG. 49.— CROSS-SECTION SMITH INCINERATOR.
FIG. 49.— EXTERIOR SMITH INCINERATOR.
feet long and 6 feet wide, which is to carry a weight of five tons
of garbage with the lower surface exposed to a temperature of
1,500 degrees or upwards. This same construction is repeated in
the secondary garbage grate with greater risk, as these grates are
directly over the two fire-boxes, 3 and 4. Fig. 49.
190 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
The upper surface of the grates which receive the charge of
garbage direct from the collection carts must, at times, be covered
with saturated garbage containing 60 to 70 per cent, of water.
If night-soil be charged into the furnace the liquid contained
may be as high as 80 to 90 per cent. At the same time there must
be a high temperature on the secondary grate, which radiates its
heat to the under side of the grate above. If this be the case, there
will be a condition of liquid saturation and consequent contrac-
tion of the upper surface, and an expansion of the lower surface
of the same bar or block caused by the high heats of the secondary
grate. Heretofore it has been found very difficult to maintain
garbage grate of double fire-clay blocks of short length dove-
tailed together in the middle and arched to support the weight
of the garbage charged from above.
If fire-clay bars can be maintained in such a case as this and
be found durable and efficient, it will be an advance in the art
of using fire clay garbage grates such as has not been attained
by any previous builders. The stability of this form of con-
struction depends upon the garbage grates being able to maintain
their place under all conditions of unequal and varying tempera-
ture, and also be able to support the weight of five to eight tons
of garbage received for one charge.
The latest incinerators of this type are at Hattiesburg, Miss.,
Oak Park, 111., and at the U. S. Naval Training Station, New-
port, R. I.
The construction of the F. P. Smith crematories is carried on
by the engineering firm of Lewis & Kitchen, Chicago, 111.
PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY, OF NEW YORK.
In October, 1907, the city of Cambridge, Mass., advertised for
bids for a refuse disposal plant to burn sixty tons of house ashes
and refuse per day, no garbage being included. Upon a second
advertisement the contract for the construction of the plant was
awarded to a New York corporation under the title of the Public
Service Company, at the price of $25,975. The plant included
a brick building 60 x 65 feet, a radial brick stack 125 feet high,
and a cremating furnace following the same lines of construction
as that adopted at the refuse incinerator of the Railway Traffic
Company, of Brooklyn. The special features of this construction
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 191
include a long fire-box which is charged through four openings
on the top of the furnace. About two feet above the fire-bars
is a series of horizontal water-tube grates which receive the refuse
thrown from above. There is a longitudinal fire brick bridge
wall dividing the furnace into two equal cells, both of which are
connected with the common combustion chamber. The rear
end of the fire grates are inclined sharply upward, and behind
them is placed a dust-receiving chamber to allow the settlement
of light particles of unburned matter. From the combustion
chamber the gases pass into a Sterling water-tube boiler of 200
h.p. There is provided a fan driven by the steam power from
the boiler, which conveys a current of air into the ash-pit under
.the fire bars. The provisions of the contract call for the disposal
of 60 tons of mixed ashes and refuse per day. At the first trial
of the incinerator it was found impossible to consume this quan-
tity within the require time. Subsequently, the collection service
was changed, and a smaller amount of ashes brought for disposal.
At the present time the city is reported to have accepted the plant.
The power development from the amount of refuse burned at
present is only sufficient for the operation of the plant itself.
MORSE DESTRUCTOR FURNACE AND THE UNIVERSAL DESTRUCTOR
COMPANY.
In 1906 Mr. W. F. Morse obtained patents for certain new and
useful improvements in garbage furnaces. In exterior propor-
tions this invention follows closely those of the American type of
furnace, as previously described. The Morse Destructor Furnace
(Fig. 50) is charged from the top through circular holes with
sliding fire clay covers. When desired it may also be fed through
the large front doors.
The interior arrangement provides for a primary fire-box (6)
of greater or lesser dimensions, according to the material to be
burned, with fire-bars inclined from *-°ar to front. Behind the
fire-bars are two drying and burning platforms of fire brick
arches, arranged in an inclined position, the upper tier (i) be-
ginning at the fire-bars (6) and gradually rising nearly to the
arch of the furnace roof.
Below this is a second platform, or closed curtain arch (n),
that forms a flue (12) for the passage of the smoke and gases,
192 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
and as this becomes incandescent it radiates the heat to the under
side of the grates above, greatly aiding to dry out the moisture
and increasing the combustion.
Underneath this platform is an expanding chamber (9) tri-
angular in shape, extending from the partition or bridge wall of
the fuel box (13) to the curtain wall (21), which encloses the
FIG. 50.— THE MORSE DESTRUCTOR FURNACE.
combustion chamber (18) and the secondary fire-box (17).
Above the secondary fire-box in the combustion chamber is a
series of transverse arched partitions perforated to admit free
passage of the gasses.
Below the floor of the expanding chamber (10) is a hot-air
conduit. Through the cold-air inlets at the rear end of the
furnace air is drawn by the action of the stack draft, or by a
system of steam jet blowers into the space beneath the floor of the
furnace. This air in its slow passage is raised in temperature
by the radiated heat through the bottom of the furnace, and
when brought under the bars of the primary fire-box the tem-
perature is increased to upwards of 150° F. The blowers are
connected with a steam jet from the boiler, which gives increased
combustion in the material on the fire-bars above.
The addition of this regenerating system of heating the air
brought under the fire-bars of the primary fire is a means of in-
creasing combustion not before recognized in American practice.
This heated air may be increased to any desired pressure by
means of the fan or steam jet, upon the well-known principle of
the English destructors, and any proportions of mixed waste,
garbage, ashes and refuse may be destroyed without change in the
apparatus except by increasing the blast.
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 193
The sloping platform, which gradually diminishes the area
of the combustion grates, causes a more intimate contact with
the heat, and greatly aids in the downward movement of the
garbage to the fire-grate to form additional fuel. The delay
of the gases in the expanding chamber permits the deposit of
fine dust, which is withdrawn through doors on the bottom.
At the top of this furnace above the combustion chamber, or
at the side or back of this, may be placed a steam boiler of the
vertical or water-tube type having its own independent fire-box,
and so connected with the furnace by a system of flues and
dampers that it may be operated altogether by the crematory, or
partly or entirely by the heat from its own fuel box. By enlarg-
ing or diminishing the area of either the primary fire or of the
sloping garbage grilles the destructor may consume a larger
proportion of either refuse or garbage as conditions may require.
There is no iron surface exposed to the direct attack of the
heat except the upper surface of the fire-bars of the primary
and secondary fires. It is believed that the simplicity of con-
struction, and the few essential elements, make it almost im-
possible to get out of order or to be destroyed by high tempera-
tures unless by gross carelessness.
This destructor may be built in many forms and dimensions
suited to the different kinds of waste and differing conditions
of service.
The present installations of the Morse Destructor are at the
Government post, new Fort Lyon, Col., the Hudson Terminal
Building, New York, with special installations at Loeser's Depart-
ment Store. Brooklyn, in conjunction with two i5O-h.p. B. & W.
steam boilers, and are so arranged that the power from one or
both boilers may be utilized as desired.
The Universal Destructor Company is the American repre-
sentative and agent of Meldrum Brothers, Ltd., of Manchester,
England, and controls the installation of the Morse Destructors
and Meldrum Simplex Destructors and the Beaman and Deas
Destructors in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Central
American States and Cuba. The Meldrum Destructors now oper-
ating in this territory are described and illustrated in the chapter
on British destructors in America.
CHAPTER IX.
AMERICAN GARBAGE CREMATORIES— Continued.
CALORIFIC VALUES OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
PORTABLE OR TRAVELING GARBAGE CREMATORIES.
The idea of a garbage cremator that should come to the prem-
ises, and not only take away, but destroy at once all useless matter,
has been the dream of inventors. If such an apparatus could be
made to work quickly, efficiently and without objectionable noise,
odors, smoke or dust, there would be many advantages in its
favor as against the prevailing methods of removal by collection
carts. Some of the American cities have experimented with this
form of garbage and refuse destroyer, but so far as known none
are now employing a portable traveling furnace as a part of
their disposal work.
The first American Portable Garbage Incinerator appears to
have been invented in 1895 by H. C. Fellenbaum, of Philadelphia.
Patent 546,396, September, 1895. "The purpose of the inventor
was threefold, to provide a compact, efficient incinerator which
shall do its work without noise or noxious fumes, to so construct
that it may be drawn or propelled to permit of the destruction
as it is collected or while the apparatus is in motion, and to ar-
range the various parts of the apparatus so they shall be pro-
tected from injury by burning, bending or warping." There is
a fire box of large capacity lined with firebrick. Above this are
horizontal tubes forming a steam boiler, and above this, on the
outside of the boiler casing, an engine connected with the steam
pipes of the boiler. At the front end of the boiler tubes is a
sloping platform of water pipes arranged to pass liquid to a
chamber below. Above this platform is a set of circular revolv-
ing cutters or knives, rotated by the engine, and above these
knives is the hopper or bin for receiving the garbage. There is
a hollow tube of large size extending through the length of the
194
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 195
machine, which contains a screw to move the finely divided par-
ticles of garbage after passing the knives, drying the garbage in
its passage and dropping it into the fire box to serve as fuel.
The smokestack is at the front end, and may be telescopic, to
permit its being raised above windows of adjoining houses.
The incinerator is presumed to generate steam for operating the
cutting knives, for driving the conveyor, and for power for its
own locomotion. Oil burners are placed in the fire box to begin
the work or raising the initial steam ; thereafter the dried garbage
continues the operation. The front chamber below the boiler is
a smoke box, in which all gaseous products are consumed or
deodorized before passing to the stack.
This incinerator is a remarkably ingenious theoretical attempt
to combine in a small compass all the various machinery and
methods for chopping, drying and burning the garbage, for pro-
ducing steam power for its own uses, and for destroying the
products of combustion in such a way as not to produce nuisance.
In practical use there are still some points to be dealt with, and
it is possible that the claims for its continuous successful oper-
ation might not be realized. There is no record of trials or actual
work performed.
The Apparatus for Treating and Cremating Garbage of Mr.
Oscar D. McClellan, Philadelphia, patents Nos. 558,974-5-6-7,
April, 1896, include several novel and ingenious arrangements for
the treatment of garbage by a tapering screw to press out the
moisture, its drying for fuel, and the operation of a powerful
vertical tubular boiler. The later patents describe another method
of drying the garbage, the vaporizing of the moisture and the
development of steam power for the work. These methods are
described at great length, and seem to cover several theoretically
successful ways of dealing with the waste, but there is, so far as
known, no reports or records of the apparatus being in experi-
mental or actual service.
The Traveling Garbage Crematory of Mr. Chas. J . de Berard,
of Chicago, patent 581,686, May, 1897, was brought into actual
use in Chicago in 1897-8. The purpose of the inventor was to
provide means for the disposal of garbage, both dry and wet, of
suitable construction and size, to be mounted upon wheels, and
196 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
to be drawn through streets and alleys. The crematory, Fig.
51, is a circular iron shell, 8 ft. long, 5 ft. in diameter. The lower
part of this shell is divided transversely by the bridge wall (7)
into two compartments (8-9), and above the first compartment
(8) are placed grate bars (10) forming the primary fire box
( 1 1 ) . Above this primary fire box is a horizontal diaphragm
(12), strengthened by bars and flanges (13) to prevent warping.
Below the primary fire box is an ash pit with door (15). Above
the second compartment (9) is a second set of grate bars (17),
inclined from front to rear, with a door (18) for moving the
dried material from the floor (12). There is an ash pit below
these grates with a door (19) for removal of ashes. The smoke
FIG. 51.— THE DE BERARD PORTABLE CREMATORY.
pipe is directly above the last burning chamber of the bars (17).
There are oil tanks (23-24) with openings into the spaces above
the fire bars for assisting combustion. The garbage is charged
through the hopper (21), which is controlled by a slide valve
(22).
In operating this crematory the refuse and combustible matter
is charged into the primary fire box, and furnishes fuel for dry-
ing the charge of wet garbage placed upon the drying hearth (12)
above. When this charge is sufficiently dry to ignite it is pushed
or pulled forward to the secondary chamber (17), and the com-
bustion assisted by oil until it is reduced to ashes. All offensive
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 197
odors are driven off while the garbage remains on the floor (12),
and these mingle with the flames from the burning material on the
bars (17) and are intercepted and consumed on their passage
to the stack. This Berard crematory was used in Chicago for
several months, and from the reports and criticisms of the daily
press was successful in its work. It was discontinued early in
1898 and has not been employed since. Since there was no
lining of fire brick the iron shell must have been injured or de-
stroyed after a short time. It is also doubtful if the methods for
destroying the gases were altogether successful in this most im-
portant point of a portable furnace.
The Inventions of Mr. Isaac D. Smead and Smead's Traveling
Crematory. — The inventions of Mr. Isaac D. Smead, of Toledo,
now of Cincinnati, are among the most numerous in the line of
sanitary appliances which deal with excrement and similar wastes.
The Smead Dry Closet (patented 1891-2) was formerly in use
at a great number of isolated buildings — mostly school houses —
and is still employed in places where no sewerage facilities are
accessible. The Smead Combined Crematory and Heating Sys-
tem (patent 691,328, May, 1902), is an apparatus for consuming
garbage and refuse matter and applying the heat for the circula-
tion of water for heating buildings. It is intended for uses of
large buildings, is operated by using coal, and is ingenious and
elaborately complicated in the arrangement of the working parts.
The Smead Garbage Crematory (1902) was an amplification
and extension of the ideas contained in the heater, and was ex-
perimentally tried on a large scale at Toledo. There is no record
of the continuance of this crematory.
The Smead Traveling Crematory, Fig. 52, is Mr. Smead's latest
contribution to the long list of patents standing in his name.
This first portable crematory was built for experimental purposes
at Springfield, Ohio, in September, 1905, where several trials
were made dealing with the usual garbage and refuse collection.
At a public exhibition, at which the city officials were present, a
severe test was made with very wet garbage, which, according to
the published reports, was quite successful. Subsequently the
machine was brought back to the makers to be "tractionized" or
made self-propelling. A second trial was made in February,
198 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
1906, but the city did not then purchase the crematory. Since
then this crematory has been improved in several ways, and is
FIG. 52.— THE SMEAD TRAVELING CREMATORY.
now offered for the disposal of all classes of garbage, refuse and
rubbish in competition with the other forms of stationary furnaces.
PORTABLE RUBBISH INCINERATOR OF THE STREET CLEANING
DEPARTMENT OF NEW YORK CITY.
The people of New York City pay but little attention to the
ordinances forbidding the throwing of litter and refuse into the
streets. What becomes of the newspaper, the parcel wrapper,
the paper fruit bag, and the banana, orange and fruit rinds, no-
body knows or cares, once they are thrown aside into the gutter.
The cans for deposit of refuse are infrequent, being mostly placed
at the park entrances and walks, and at the wider street inter-
sections are not always available. The quantity of this refuse
scattered about the streets is enormous in bulk and is one of the
chief sources of trouble to the Department, as it must be swept
up and held until the daily collection of the street cart.
The idea of burning this on the spot has long been entertained,
but no serious attempt was made until February of last year, when
there was brought into service a small portable furnace, described
as follows by the. inventor :
The portable refuse destructors are formed from two wornout street
cans, making a furnace by superimposing one on another. The lower one
has a grate introduced above the bottom just far enough to leave a space
for an ash-pit. The sides of the can are perforated to allow of the
admission of air necessary for the combustion. The upper can is inverted
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 199
and fits to the lower, forming a dome, which prevents the escape of the
fire in the lower one. This furnace is placed on the ordinary can carrier
now in use by the street cleaners and is fed by them as they patrol their
beat, and the operation of disposal is continuous and effective. The re-
sultant ash is placed in the ordinary street cans. When not in use these
furnaces are stored at the sections, and the carrier is used for its original
function. The cans used measure 18 inches across the top and are from
16 to 21 inches high. The grate is placed 10 inches above the bottom.
The perforations are in three rows around the can and alcove the grate,
the top hole being 10 inches above the grate. The feed door is 8 x 10
inches. The capacity of the furnace is about two cartloads of rubbish per
day, and the resultant ash about one pailful. As the material is on hand,
the cost is only for labor, being the wages of two men at $4.00 per day, or
$8.00 — that is, $1.00 per furnace. The advantages of these portable de-
structors are obvious, as they clean up the rubbish that would otherwise
be mixed in with the street sweepings and ashes. They also handle the
litter on the street surface, and when the man has reached the end of his
route there remains to be handled but a small quantity of ash. The first
one of these furnaces was put in operation on Saturday, February 16. At
this writing there are about twenty-five at work. The reports from the
district superintendents, the section foremen and also from the men who
handle them are favorable, and it appears that this is a reasonable proposi-
tion and one that will save considerable trouble and add very largely to
the sanitary state of the work of this Department.
In the practical use of this portable incinerator some points of
difficulty developed, which will probably cause its discontinuance
in the present form. The furnace will keep up combustion with-
out serious emission of smoke if it be fed continuously with small
pieces of light paper, but will not burn fruit rinds or wood. When
there is a large quantity of paper charged at once then there is
smoke followed by flames and sparks from the top of the upper
can. The expense of collection and slow feeding is greater than
that of the old method of sweeping and removal by carts. The
slight thickness of iron soon warps and gives way under the heat
and is not worth the trouble and cost of repairs. Since nothing
but light paper and cardboard can be burned there is left a large
amount of other refuse, which must be swept up and cared for
in the usual way, making double work for the sweepers. During
the strike of the cart drivers of the Department in 1907 these
incinerators were of very considerable service, but could deal
with only a small fraction of the total street refuse. Of the
twenty-five built there are but few left at work, the number is not
increased, and at this writing the Department had decided not to
continue their manufacture or use in this form.
2OO THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
THE PORTABLE FURNACES OF THE ENGLISH DESTRUCTOR
BUILDERS.
The construction of portable furnaces has been carried on by
the English builders, following in their main details one general
form, but each builder adding such special features as are com-
mon to their own standard destructors.
The Meldrum Simplex Portable Destructor (Fig. 53) is per-
haps one of the best examples, being specially designed for mili-
tary camps and for sparsely settled communities, where the cost
of refuse collection and .haulage to a central station would be
excessive.
The destructor is a steel cylinder mounted on wheels and pro-
vided with large doors at the rear end for light refuse with a
tj-
FIG. 53.— THE MELDRUM PORTABLE DESTRUCTOR.
smaller door on the side for wet offal. The grate surface of the
fire box is as large as possible and there is provision for obtaining
forced draft from the steam boiler. High temperatures are
maintained, and there is a special apparatus for destroying the
fumes of all combustion, as in the standard Meldrum furnaces.
The Horsfall Destructor Company also manufactures a portable
destructor for use in districts too thinly populated to justify the
use of a destructor of the usual type, also for military camps and
similar purposes. This portable destructor consists of three
pieces, destructor proper, the boiler and the smoke box containing
a dust-catching arrangement. It is built on the well-known prin-
ciple of the Horsfall Destructor, and may be relied upon to con-
sume miscellaneous rubbish economically and without nuisance.
The boiler is of the locomotive type, and supplies steam for the
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
201
blowers, and is provided with a junction to which can be coupled
the steam pipe of an engine for doing any useful work, such as
FIG. 54.— THE HORSFALL PORTABLE DESTRUCTOR.
driving a mortar mill or a small lighting plant, or a steam dis-
infector may be connected. This destructor may be easily re-
moved from place to place by horses or by traction engine, and
will readily burn six tons or more of refuse every 24 hours.
There are two sizes manufactured, with capacity of 500 and
1000 Ib. per hour, respectively, being the usual mixed, unsorted
waste collections.
There is no record of the use of these portable furnaces con-
tinuously in municipal disposal work. Their chief purpose is the
destruction of large amounts of light refuse produced by the
temporary presence of a considerable number of persons, where
the cost of the regular service would be too great. In times of
epidemic, when the occasion might arise for the prompt and ef-
fectual destruction of dangerous matters, a powerful portable fur-
202 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
nace would be of great help to the sanitary authorities. Since
there is a boiler, raised to any desired pressure, there would al-
ways be a current of steam at high temperature to assist in the
disinfection work, so necessary in times of emergency.
PORTABLE FURNACE STILL EXPERIMENTAL.
There is undoubtedly a place for a portable furnace, and with-
in its powers it will be a useful adjunct to the other methods of
municipal waste disposal. But it does not seem to have passed
the first experimental stages of construction. Those that have
been tried here have developed inefficiency in some essntial point,
or prhaps too much has been expected of thm and too great claims
made for their work. To burn large quantities of wet garbage in
a traveling furnace with a chimney necessarily low, and to dis-
charge the smoke and gases incompletely destroyed into the air
on a crowded street would manifestly be an unwise proceeding.
Even the best and most powerful forms of furnaces are not
always at their highest efficiency, and with the varying, uncertain
amount and character of usual city waste, the results of portable
furnace work would be exceedingly doubtful.
THE CALORIFIC VALUE OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
In determining the most suitable forms of cremating furnaces
for the disposal of waste by fire it becomes desirable to ascertain
the calorific value of the waste in mixed and separated collec-
tions of the usual and average composition in American towns.
It is only within the past two years that reports upon this
point have been available, and in only one town have they been
prepared with the aid of scientific laboratory tests. The theo-
retical values obtained through the medium of a calorimeter have
been checked by practical trials made with various classes of
municipal waste, extended over the period of a year. The
average of each experiment may be accepted as representing
approximately the calorific value of waste in American towns
where conditions are similar, making, of course, whatever allow-
ance is necessary for exceptional proportions of any waste
constituent.
The following table has been made by the author from the
reports of Mr. J. T. Fetherston upon the municipal wastes of
West New Brighton, Staten Island, N. Y. :
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
203
sqj 'asnpj 'aScqaeS 'saqsc
1 Jlr- v « l>.>>v.mt,>-. 1(369 UO)
»uo ill jnp-A juo.i 4 pjAint'.i
*S
0000
i»50
- M
8.-^ 2
IW 8
M
< W
,oS
H C6
^
^
2«
as
n u
0
ii
2O4 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
Assuming these figures as correctly representing the accurate
and theoretical values, in the table following they are extended
to cover the various collections of mixed waste, and expressed
in equivalent coal values.
In all these tables the author has used the word "refuse" to
mean the dry combustible light waste, and employed the word
"rubbish" to mean the residuum left of incombustibles, after
sorting out the marketable and combustible portions. Rubbish
properly includes the glass, metals, tins, crockery, and generally
all unburnable matter.
TABLE XLIV.— THEORETICAL CALORIFIC VALUES OF AMERICAN
CITY WASTE, IN EQUIVALENT COAL.
Combined waste : -i i
I i
i ,
Separated waste:
f i ton ashes, garbage, refuse and rubbish 480 Ibs. coal
garbage, refuse and rubbish 502 '
ashes, refuse and rubbish 532 '
i " ashes 487 '
i ' garbage , 363 '
i ' refuse 1,298 '
i " rubbish. .
It must be noted that these equivalent coal values are theo-
retical results only — since the determinations are based upon
laboratory tests, and the ratios calculated from these.
These theoretical results are to be considered as indicating the
amount of heat units, but do not show the actual product of
power developed by the burning waste.
TABLE XLV.— CALORIFIC VALUE PER POUND OF WASTE FOR DIF-
FERENT PERIODS.
Calorific
Power of
Moisture
Ash.
Combus-
PERIOD
Combus-
Per
Per
tible
Remarks
tible,
Cent.
Cent.
Per Cent.
B. T. U.
Spring
4,747
14.03
50.06
35-9i
Computed results
based on average
Summer. . .
3,477
28.86
39-74
31 .40
figures for corre-
sponding periods,
Autumn, . .
3,833
27 .74
39-74
32-52
except that aver-
^ age calorific values
Winter. . .
4.358
13.11
52.72
34-17
for summer com-
ponents were used
Year
4,274
19-74
46.03
34-23
in arriving at Sep-
tember results.
September
3,265
35.83
33 -69
30.48
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 205
The actual measurements of heat values of unseparated city
waste, according to the observations and deductions of several
experts, are shown in the table XLV :
Mr. Hering gives the following estimate of calorific values of
the waste of Milwaukee as collected:
Garbage (as collected) 1.500 B. T. U. per pound
Rubbish and ashes mixed S,ooo
Manure 2 ,000
These computations vary according to the different constituents
of waste, and its physical conditions as containing more or less
water. They agree in one point only, that the actual heat units
per pound of waste is sufficient to continue combustion, and if
taken together in mixed collections require no additional fuel for
combustion. But the conditions of combustion are those of
forced draft or of a chimney draft of equivalent power.
THE CALORIFIC VALUE OF ASHES.
In examining these calculations there are some unexpected
and surprising results. For instance, the fuel value contained
in ashes seems to be far greater than has been supposed. House-
hold ashes are known to have from 25 to 35 per cent, of unburned
coal mixed with' cinder and slate, and also contains nearly 40 per
cent, of finely burned ash. This ash has not been held to pos-
sess any heat value, and under the usual furnace conditions with
natural draft does not develop power. But when treated by
itself it contains a considerable proportion of combustibles. This
is illustrated by laboratory tests made in July last, with samples
of steam-boiler ashes from the plant of one of the largest manu-
facturing works in this country, where the daily output of ash is
from twenty-five to thirty tons. All of the boilers are fired by
mechanical stokers of various patterns. All use the same semi-
bituminous coal.
TABLE XLVI.— LABORATORY ANALYSIS OF STEAM ASHES.
Moisture o. 54 per cent.
Ash 51.42 " "
Total combustible 48.04 " "
Calorific power 7,737 B- T. U.
Following the same line of calculations as in previous tables,
it would appear that one ton of these ashes has a theoretical
equivalent coal value of 1,100 pounds. Assuming the combusti-
206 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
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GAS AND
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From
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DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 207
bles according to another determination at 5,000 B. T. U., the
coal equivalent would be 768 pounds. These results seem to be
unexplainable except upon the supposition that a large propor-
tion of the fine coaldust falls through the grates and is removed
with the ash, clinker, and cinders.
The table (XLVII) by Mr. Welton gives the range of the theo-
retical values of the three classes of waste; at New Brighton, as
actually collected, and on the basis of a dry sample. The cam-
parison made with the kinds of coal shows the approximate
calorific value of the waste.
With respect to the foregoing table Mr. Welton says :
To those who are not familiar with the calorific values of the staple
fuels, such as anthracite and bituminous coals, it may appear that no great
confidence should be placed in the results of these tests on material which
would naturally be expected to vary widely in character. As a matter of
fact, the experiments have shown a uniformity of character in the material
which is all the more remarkable in that it was not anticipated. Indeed,
now, when all the data are at hand, the conclusion might easily be drawn
that in the instances where the largest variations in calorific values per
pound of combustible occur, this variation is more likely to be due to the
difficulty of obtaining representative samples from the collections than
from actual differences in character.
Moreover, few who have had no occasion to study the mater of analyses
and calorific tests of coal are aware of the variation in fuel value of its
combustible portion or what is known as "pure coal."
THE CALORIFIC VALUES OF OTHER WASTE.
The subject of the disposal of many forms of waste matter
other than municipal refuse is attracting attention all over the
world. Abroad, the large industrial corporations which have
trade waste or a large output of steam-boiler ashes are taking up
the question of their economical disposal. At several places in
England, where the colliery waste will frequently spontaneously
ignite, causing much trouble, it has been demonstrated that these
fuels of low calorific value and a high percentage of incom-
bustibles can be profitably consumed. Similarly in shipyards,
railway shops, and large manufacturing concerns where there are
large quantities of wood chips, shavings, sawdust, paper, cinders,
and ordinary works refuse, the saving in fuel when burned in a
specially designed plant has warranted the outlay for equipment
208 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
and overcome the difficulty of disposing of these waste materials.
The following table gives the approximate calometric values of
some waste matters that can be advantageously consumed :
TABLE XLVIII.— CALORIFIC VALUES OF WASTE MATERIALS.
CLASS OF MATERIAL
Lbs. Water per
Lb. Fuel From
and at 212° Fah.
COLLIERY REFUSE
Lbs. Water per
Lb. Fuel From
and at 2 12° Fah.
Cotton waste
Sugar refuse
Newspaper
4-i
2-35
6.85
Fine washings . . . .
Pond settlings ....
Shale pickings ....
10.20 tO 5-01
10.3 to 12.04
4.45; to 9.62
Tissue paper
6 2
Fine coke dust. . .
0.4
Brown paper
Wood chips, wet
dry
5-6 .
3-5
8.2
A 8
Screen pickings. . .
Tank settlings ....
Coke and coal dust
8.05 to 13.
5-75
10.2
Shoddy refuse
4 . o
r 2
Peat dry
10 62
Cider refuse, wet ....
dry. . . .
Spent tan bark, dry . .
wet .
I .9
8-4
5-46
T> -84
wet
Straw, dry
wet
Sawdust
7-65
6-5
5-6
C. I
The value of some forms of industrial waste is shown in the
following report of a test made in January, 1908 :
XLIX.— RESULTS OF TESTS CARRIED OUT BY MESSRS. HARLAND &
WOLFF, BELFAST, IRELAND, ON A 3-GRATE (75 SQ. FT.) MEL-
DRUM SIMPLEX DESTRUCTOR INSTALLED FOR BURNING
THE REFUSE COLLECTED IN THEIR SHIPBUILDING
YARDS AND SHOPS, JANUARY 21, 1908.
Hrs. Mins.
(1) TOTAL DURATION OF TEST 10 20
Less for meals i 40 Hrs. Mins.
Net duration of test - 8 40
(2) FUEL CONSUMED: Tons Cwt. Qrs.
General rubbish 14 18 o
Sawdust, shavings and lighter
stuff. . 9 I2 °
Gross
24 i
[O O
Less iron, wood
, etc., sorted out
i
0 0
Tons
Cwt.
Qrs.
FUEL BURNT PER
HOUR. .
Tons
2T,
Cwt.
IO
Tons
=2 .71
(3)
Hrs. Mins.
8 40
(4) TOTAL WATER EVAPORATED DURING TEST (weighed) 102,933 Ibs.
(5) WATER EVAPORATED PER HOUR. . 102,933 Ibs. =11,890 Ibs.
Hrs.
8
Mins.
40
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS.
209
(6) WATER EVAPORATED PER LB. OF FUEL (actual) r-955 Ibs.
(7) TEMPERATURES:
Gases leaving boiler 540° F.
Temperature of steam leaving superheater 650° F
Temperatuie of steam at laige separator 410° F.
Temperature of steam at No. 2 Engine 400° F.
NOTE. — Temperature of saturated steam at our working boiler pressure
of 200 Ibs. per square inch=388° F.
(i) The normal evaporation of the Scotch Marine boilers in our Generat-
ing Station is 10,300 Ibs. of saturated steam per hour.
(Signed) HARLAND & WOLFF, Limited.
E. W.
As illustrating the power to be had from refuse coal waste,
there is appended the details of a trial made at the North Naviga-
tion Collieries, South Wales, on two Meldrum Simplex Colliery
Destructor Furnaces, coupled to two Lancashire boilers, 30 feet
long by 8 feet 6 inches diameter, consuming coke oven breeze
and pond settlings, with evaporation from cold feed water.
DURATION OF TEST
8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
12 noon to 4:30 p.m.
Fuel used
Water evaporated per hour
Total water evaporated
Temperature feed water . . .
atmosphere. .
Steam pressure
C. breeze and P. settlings.
1,872 gals
C. breeze and P.
settlings.
1,620 gals.
7,400 gals.
40° Fahr.
45° Fahr.
125 Ibs.
Two furnaces cleaned
during test.
1,872 gals
40° Fahr
4S° Fahr
125 Ibs
Fire
Clean at start
The utilization of trade waste in developing steam power in
private business establishments is rapidly coming to the front in
this country. Not only does the incineration produce power, but
it also provides a practical way of getting rid of forms of worth-
less matter which are frequently troublesome to deal with and
costly to convey away from the works. Every manufacturing
company has to deal with this problem in a greater or lesser
degree, and the examples of this method of disposal reported
from foreign factories are being followed by American manu-
cio THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
facturers. The installation of a Meldrum destructor at the great
works of the General Electric Company, at Schenectady, N. Y.,
will turn all the waste matter of the plant into steam to be utilized
in the premises. The same means is to be employed in a large
department store in New York City, and a hotel in New York is
about to install two separate destructors, each with steam boilers
for obtaining power from the combustion of the refuse of the
building.
In each one of these instances a special form of powerful
destructor furnace, with forced draft and air regenerating ap-
paratus, is employed. The usual form of American crematory
cannot deal with such problems, since up to the present time only
one or two constructions have been able to produce boiler power
more than barely sufficient for the needs of the furnace itself.
SURVEY OF AMERICAN CREMATING METHODS.
With this chapter the history of American crematory furnaces
down to October, 1908, is brought to a conclusion. Those that
have been built in the United States and Canada in 1907-8,
with few exceptions, are either of an improved American type
under American patents, or of the British type, which has now
acquired a foothold in this country in four or five installations.
These are separated and taken up later as a distinct advance from
the cremators and incinerators of the preceding descriptions.
Did space permit, there might be added an account of many
attempts made in the past to construct and operate garbage
cremating disposal works, some of which were costly and in-
genious experiments that barely failed of success. Others that
simply implied stupidity and ignorance in the fundamental prin-
ciples of the art, and. still others that were built for the sole pur-
pose of making a show to secure a contract.
Undoubtedly there will be still brought forward many forms
of furnaces for this work that are destined to fail, and some that
may achieve a success that will be permanent. The field is a
wide one, the opportunities many, the necessity undeniable and
the rewards great in promise.
But it must be remembered that with the experience of past
years behind them, with the assistance of expert engineers who
are now turning attention to this neglected branch of municipal
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 211
service, and with a better knowledge of what the several com-
munities really need, the municipalities are not disposed to
accept offers of furnace builders unless there be positive and
reliable evidence of the capacity, durability, efficiency and sanitary
operation of the forms of furnaces offered.
This evidence should not consist of the profuse and glittering
statements of prospective builders, even though they be sup-
ported by flowery newspaper accounts of a trial made at the
instance of and in the interests of the builder, nor the telegrams
of a far distant city official whose knowledge comes solely from
an employee whose place depends upon putting the most favorable
aspect upon what is really a lamentable failure, or at best only a
partial success.
Nothing but an official record of costs and results over a period
of at least one year should be accepted, and this should be verified
by the personal inspection and unbiased report of a competent
engineer of their own city, or from one whose knowledge of this
branch of work includes experience and study of all the various
forms universally used.
Only by a thorough, exhaustive examination of all the points
involved can the town authorities be certain that they are securing
the best and the most suitable apparatus for the particular work
they want done.
DIFFERENCES IN FORMS OF FURNACE CONSTRUCTION.
When considering and comparing the various forms of Ameri-
can garbage cremating furnaces, it will be seen that they may be
divided broadly into two general classes or groups, the members
of each group having many points in common, similar methods
in operation, and all arrive at practically the same results in their
general work. In each class there are some minor subdivisions,
but none that depart widely from the distinguishing type.
The first class or group have the following distinctive points:
1. They are the crematories and incinerators that burn only garbage
and refuse upon long horizontal garbage grate bars, either in single or
double arrangement, and charge the waste through circular or rectangular
openings in the roof.
2. They deposit the garbage upon the largest area of surface that the
plan of the furnace will permit, piling up the largest quantity possible to
charge without stopping the passage of the flames. In one form of fur-
212 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
nace these bars are of hollow iron inclined from the middle line to the
sides instead of being horizontal.
3. The heat is not utilized for operating a steam boiler, nor does the
construction permit the use of a boiler with any certainty of obtaining
power.
4. They consume the waste by heat applied from fuel boxes at one end,
one side, or below the grates, and pass. the heat over and under the masses
of garbage, since it is practically impossible to force the passage of flame
or heat through thick masses of wet household garbage by chimney draft.
5. For the purpose of stoking or stirring the garbage there must be a
series of doors on the line of the grates, and below a second series for
removing ashes. These doors admit large volumes of cold air, which must
be heated to the temperature of the furnace interior before combustion can
continue.
6. This operation of stoking causes moisture and unburned garbage to
pass through the grates into the lower compartment, where it is slowly
dried out until in a condition to burn. The evaporation from this moisture
is not completed or destroyed until the secondary fire is brought to bear,
and then only when this fire is at a temperature of 1,500° or above.
7. There is an average low temperature in all parts of the furnace
except immediately adjoining or above the fuel box. The presence of
moisture in masses of household waste over which the flames and heat
pass to the chimney, the continual admission of volumes of cold air reduce
the temperatures until the smoke and gases are not destroyed. In one
experiment where an electrical pyrometer recorded the temperature the
heat immediately behind the fuel box was 1,500 degrees, but decreased for
each four feet of the garbage grate 300 degrees, finally leaving the burning
chamber at 600 degrees in the shape of smoke and watery vapors taken up
but not consumed. In one instance the sides and top of the furnace are
double jacketed steel plates, with which are connected all the water grate
bars for sustaining the garbage. This to some extent maintains the con-
struction, but lowers the temperature, as the heat is absorbed by the sur-
rounding water surfaces.
8. There is always an imperative need for a secondary or smoke-
consuming fire in the furnace itself or in immediate conjunction to reheat
and reburn the incomplete combustion.
9. And it follows that fuel must be used in greater or lesser amounts to
keep up the initial heat of the furnace fire and maintain the smoke and
gas-consuming temperatures of the secondary fire.
Conditions Necessary to Success. — When crematories are re-
quired to burn garbage and refuse (excluding ashes) in the usual
proportions as collected in American towns, and when these
wastes are separately collected and brought to the crematory to
be destroyed by natural draft, the work of combustion is not
performed in the most efficient way.
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 213
The conditions of success of burning wet fuels, as stated by
Prof. R. H. Thurston, are "the surrounding of the mass so com-
pletely with heated surfaces and with burning fuel that it may be
rapidly dried, and then so arranging the apparatus that the rapid-
ity of combustion be precisely equal to and never exceed the
rapidity of desiccation." How far these conditions are met in
the construction and arrangement of cremators and incinerators
can be easily seen by inspection of the previous plans and
descriptions.
When garbage and refuse, separately collected, are brought to
an incinerator, or crematory, and charged separately into the
furnace, what then takes place is further described by Prof.
Thurston: "When this rapidity of combustion is exceeded the
dry portion is consumed completely, leaving the uncovered mass
of wet fuel, which refuses to burn." This is precisely what
happens when large volumes of dry rubbish are burned with an
excessive amount of cold air, and the heat is rapidly carried to
the chimney, leaving the wet mass of garbage on the grates. Coal
or other fuel must then be added to continue the combustion.
These imperfect conditions in crematories are inseparable from
the very nature of the construction. Natural chimney draft,
operating with equal force in all parts of the interior and drawing
cold air in through the many doors and other openings, does
not exert the same power for combustion of material upon a grate
as does a forced draft powerfully applied under the limited area
of the burning fire surface. In the one case the fire is at one end
of a long series of grates piled with wet material, over which the
heat is drawn by chimney draft. In the other case the heat is
increased by forced draft below each grate to such an extent that
the waste is consumed without other fuel. The calorific elements
of the waste are utilized, combustion is accomplished in shorter
time and at far higher temperature than in the first example.
The second group of crematories used in American disposal
work is composed of those whose construction follows the cell
type and are largely imitations of the British cell destructors of
an early date.
They are built with partitions or divisions between the fuel
grates, and with sloping drying hearths to receive the initial
214 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
charges of waste. They proceed by stoking down the waste when
partially dried to the first division of the fire bars, and complete
the combustion on the second or lower set of bars, withdrawing
the ashes through the front clinkering doors. Additional fuel
is supplied to the second set of fire bars when needed. The
smoke and gases from the furnace pass through side flues to one
main flue and thence to the chimney. No fume cremator or
secondary fire-box is employed.
The heat in this large main flue is not sufficient to raise steam
in a boiler, and no forced draft can be obtained from the com-
bustion of the waste. The chimneys are necessarily of extreme
height, since the unconsumed smoke and gases must be dis-
charged at a high altitude to avoid cause for complaints of
nuisance.
The rate of combustion per square foot of grate surface is low,
and a long time is required to consume a charge by natural draft.
This compels a greater number of cells, with a corresponding
increase in the cost of the plant in order to destroy a given
quantity per day.
CREMATORS AND DESTRUCTORS COMPARED.
The differences pointed out between the cremators and de-
structors, and the comparison of the results of the work of each,
are obviously in favor of the destructor system of disposal.
This statement is made, not with the purpose of unfair
criticism or harshly condemning the work of the past years of
American furnace builders. The author has been identified with
a large number of these crematory installations in many varied
forms, and knows at what cost of money, time and earnest effort
they have been built and operated. But taking the record of the
years past and comparing the results accomplished with the ex-
pected and promised returns, it must be admitted that there is a
failure to achieve anything more than a partial success. The
future of this work as at present carried on does not offer an
encouraging outlook, and it seems absolutely necessary that a
change be made, and some better form of apparatus be brought
into service. The experience of other countries should be brought
to our aid, now that we know the conditions of the American
communities are almost identical with those existing abroad,
DISPOSAL BY CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS. 215
where successful methods of destroyal of municipal refuse by
fire are in use.
In the past two years there have been four destructors installed
that have met the guarantees made for their performance, and
proved their ability to deal with the municipal waste of the
country precisely as is done by other destructors in more than
three hundred installations in other parts of the world.
This has led to the thorough examination of the subject by
engineers sent from this side, and in four cases these destructor
methods have been adopted by American and Canadian cities.
Other citfes are engaging competent engineers to examine and
report upon their own requirements with the intention of adopt-
ing that method which may be most suitable for them.
All this means progress; it means the application of the best
engineering talent obtainable and the permanent establishment
of durable and successful methods ; and let us hope, it also means
the end of the crooked and doubtful ways of obtaining conces-
sions and contracts that react alike upon the builders and the
towns and are a reproach and a menace to all who are connected
with this work.
PART III.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR
SYSTEMS.
CHAPTER X.
HIGH TEMPERATURE REFUSE DESTRUCTORS.
Mr. W. Francis Goodrich, the well-known English writer on
destructors and their work, gives the following three classes into
which refuse destructors may be divided :
First, the original type of low temperature and slow combustion cells,
with which little, if any, use was made of the escaping gases for power
production.
Second, destructors provided with artificial draft, and, therefore, more
efficient as destructors, by reason of the higher temperature obtained, and
greater destroying capacity, but which only provide power for work pur-
poses or clinker utilization, and
Third, destructors of modern types providing the maximum amount of
power available from the refuse, and available for the generation of
electricity, for pumping sewage, for gas works or other municipal purposes
for which power is required.
Mr. Goodrich further says :
With the early type of destructor of the low temperature, slow com-
bustion type, boilers were but rarely installed, and no attempt whatever
was made to develop power. The low temperature gases were useless for
steam raising purposes, very frequently not being sufficiently high in tem-
perature to avoid nuisance.
The residuum or clinker was soft and objectionable, having no com-
mercial value, it being impossible to produce a good, serviceable vitreous
clinker unless a high temperature be reached and maintained in the cell.
The above description of results obtained by the early forms
cf the British destructor may be applied to the present forms of
crematories and incinerators used in this country, without the
change of a single word. That this description was true of the
first installations in England is agreed to by all writers who have
published accounts of the work of destructors abroad. That it
is true of the results obtained by prevailing methods and apparatus
in this country will be equally obvious to anyone who will note
the beginning, progress and present state of disposal of municipal
waste by fire.
216
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 217
We are practically at the point in this country that they were
in England when the ufume cremator," or secondary fire, was
established as a necessary accessory to the furnace.
If, after experience of more than twenty years and the con-
struction of nearly two hundred different furnaces by more than
fifty different builders, we have not succeeded in evolving a
satisfactory and efficient means of consuming wet fuels, despite
the repeated attemps made to do so by means of inadequate
apparatus, it would ssem that it is high time for a change in
methods in one direction or another. Either let us give up the
question as one impossible to deal with, bring forward some new
furnace of more powerful design than its predecessors, or adopt
the methods and apparatus which have been proved to be satis-
factory in nearly parallel conditions.
The foregoing characterizes our present position in waste dis-
posal work. A point has been reached where to go back means
defeat, and to go on with the appliances of to-day means simply
a continuation of past results. The alternative is to bring the ex-
periences of other nations to the aid of American communities
and achieve an advance that will be radical and permanent.
American Conditions. — When considering the situation here as
compared with that of English towns we must take into account
the varying nature and proportions of the waste with which we
have to deal, and we must also accept the conditions imposed by
the communities which ask help in the matter.
The English method of procedure is to collect all kinds of mu-
nicipal waste (except night-soil) in one receptacle with no separa-
tion, and to burn this mixed mass at one operation, utilizing the
power when practicable, or allowing it to go to waste, when
necessary. There is no attempt to separate the wastes, nor in any
place, except in a limited way in some of the largest cities is any
effort made to recover anything for market. Probably this is
because the population is more economical in habit and less waste-
ful than that of the American communities.
But here the conditions are somewhat different. Unless there
is a practical and unmistakably evident way in which power
derived from the combustion of its waste can be employed a town
does not usually elect to dispose of its waste by the use of a
destructor. Garbage is burned, refuse or rubbish is now also
218 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
being burned, but ashes are conveyed to dumps or used for mak-
ing land and roads.
The separation of garbage from other forms of waste is rightly
considered a necessary step to secure sanitation in the household ;
it is also a convenience to the towns, because where this system
obtains, garbage can be handled by itself, apart from the volume
of ashes which forms the largest portion of town waste. Hence
the need of furnaces that deal with garbage alone, or garbage in
conjunction with rubbish, ashes being entirely eliminated. The
crematories do this by using coal to burn wet masses of garbage
by itself; also by the building of larger furnaces to receive the
rubbish, employing it as fuel as far as possible. Because of the
limited draft obtained through the chimney there is slow com-
bustion and low temperature, causing frequent objection on the
score of nuisance.
Manifestly, an improved means of disposal by fire must deal
with conditions as they are, and must be prepared to destroy the
separated waste when it is not mixed with large amounts of ash.
These are the conditions confronting the engineers that have
the special cases of various cities in hand, whose specifications for
the construction of disposal plants contain precisely this feature,
the cremation of garbage and rubbish that is practically without
the admixture of ashes.
The preceding tables of calorific values of American wastes
prove that waste is auto-combustible when fired under favorable
conditions. The reports of operating destructors in this country
show that waste containing the largest proportions of wet garbage
mixed with rubbish is destroyed without fuel, with steam develop-
men of reasonable power.
As far as we have gone the results have been satisfactory, not
perhaps equal to all that was expected, but still up to the standard
set by the makers of the destructors, and in every case, so far,
exceeding the guaranteed capacity and power development.
This practically fills the description by Mr. Goodrich of the
destructor operating as a destructor, and destroying a greater
quantity at a higher temperature than can be done by furnaces
without the special features of a destructor. This authority says :
No real progress was made until it was clearly recognized that the old
system of low temperature working was wrong, and that it must be super-
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 219
seded by artificial draft. With the introduction of forced combustion and
high temperature working, complaints concerning nuisance ceased. The
cremator having fulfilled its purpose, was but rarely heard of and was no
longer adopted. . . . Instead of the slow, low temperature distillation
of the gases, or cooking of the material, the fires were new made vigorous
and the temperature high; the clinker, previously soft, offensive and
worthless, was now vitreous and serviceable, and not only was nuisance
prevented, but the destroying capacity of a plant of given size was
doubled, a large and constant volume of hot gases passing through the
boiler to the chimney.
Destructors in American Practice. — When the destructors are
required to furnish power for works purpose only, that is, for
forced draft for the furnace, and for driving mortar mills and
crushing machines for preparing the clinker for tile or bricks, the
boilers are smaller than when power is to be developed for electric
lighting. An example of this is at Vancouver, B. C, where the
destructor deals with the garbage, refuse and a limited quantity of
ashes having a low calorific value. Here the boiler is 65 horse-
power instead of the usual 200 horsepower commonly installed
with a 5o-ton destructor.
At Seattle, Wash., and at New Brighton, N. Y., the destructors
are at present operated for disposal only, no use being made of
the power, although each of these installations has a 200 horse-
power B. & W. boiler, with all accessories. The purpose is to
employ power at these plants later on.
A good example of the advantages of an installation for dis-
posal only, and the subsequent utilization of the power for the
production of revenue, is at Prahran, Australia, where at first the
power was not employed, but was subsequently found to be of
sufficient value to nearly defray the operating expenses of the
plant. (See Chapter XI, Prahran Destructor.)
DESTRUCTORS OF MAXIMUM POWER.
The third classification made by Mr. Goodrich, of destructors of
the modern type providing the maximum amount of power,
available for many municipal purposes, is well illustrated in
American practice by the work of the Meldrum Simplex Destruc-
tor at Westmount, Canada.
This combined electrical and refuse disposal station was de-
signed for the utilization of the steam power to be had from the
22o THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTF
waste as auxiliary to the regular boiler equipment of the station.
The reports for two years show that the disposal of the town's
refuse in an unseparated condition is perfectly done ; that the
steam power has an annual value of $5,000, and that the operat-
ing expenses are brought down to a figure lower than the average
cost of disposal at any other place of corresponding size. There
is besides an annual decrease of the previous cost of collection
and transportation expenses, due to the central location of the
plant.
These successful examples of disposal by the destructor system
have been noted by many engineers, and several of the large cities
are preparing specifications for the installation of destructors to
dispose of the waste, and are considering means for the use of the
derived power. It is no longer an experiment, but an accom-
plished fact that American city waste can be destroyed with
absolute sanitary protection, with a certainty of obtaining results
in efficiency and a durability of construction heretofore im-
possible.
The Two Types of Destructors. — The prevailing forms of Brit-
ish destructors in present use are broadly divided into two groups
or classes, differing in forms of construction and in means of
utilizing the heat obtained from the combustion of the waste.
First, group, the Cell Destructors follow the original cell, or separate
burning chamber type.
Second group, the Continuous Grate furnaces, with burning chamber
common to all the grates. The whole list of destructors operating by
high temperatures can be classed in these two types, and it seems desirable
to give brief descriptions of these in order that a clear idea may be formed
of their relative value when applied to the disposal of American municipal
waste.
THE CELL DESTRUCTOR.
The Cell Destructor. — Figs 55-59, consists of two or more cells
completely isolated from each other, but discharging into a
common combustion chamber. This construction of cells in pairs
is together called a unit. Each is charged, fired and clinkered by
itself. One cell cannot be of assistance to its neighbor, except so
far as the gases from both commingle after leaving the cells. The
arrangement of the cells may be side by side or back to back, or
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 221
built in rows, with a combustion chamber or large flue common
to all, but for the utilization of heat to produce steam power there
are usually one or more units of two cells with a boiler common
to both. Some makers place the cells on each side of the boiler.
Others arrange them in rows with the main flue beneath. These
arrangements, though apparently different, are for the same pur-
pose— insuring the destruction of the gases from fresh charges
of waste, so that these in turn shall be made to pas over hot
surfaces or be mixed with hot gases.
Each cell has a fire bar area of at least 25 square feet, where
the actual combustion takes place, and at the back of the bars a
FIG. 55.— THE FIRST FRYER CELL DESTRUCTOR.
sloping, drying hearth of fire brick, upon which the fresh charge
is received. The area of this hearth varies with the style of
destructor, and may be made larger or smaller, according to the
character of waste consumed. This hearth is usually inclined at
an angle of 25° to the horizontal, but may be varied as desired.
The fire bars, as a rule, are heavy, solid cast or wrought iron
plates, set edgeways with very narrow spacing to admit the steam
or air blast from beneath and not permit the passage of clinker or
ashes. Some makers use a short rocking grate at the front of the
furnace with larger stationary bars behind.
The Air Supply to the Cells. — The ash pits of all forms of
destructors are closed air-tight and made capable of sustaining
222 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
pressure, and the air for combustion is delivered to the ash pits
below the grates, passing up through the waste upon the fire bars.
Each ash pit is thus divided from its neighbor, and in each the
forced draft may be applied or discontinued at will. This, of
course, is when forced draft by steam or air is a part of the partic-
ular construction.
The air supply is one of the most important points in connection
with the cremation of municipal waste. With a limited supply
the combustion is delayed and temperatures are low. With a too
abundant volume, the available fuel is consumed to heat the air,
which leaves the furnace too rapidly to destroy the waste.
In cell destructors a pressure of one-half to one inch water
gauge, equivalent to 2.6 to 5.2 pounds per square foot of grate is
EEB
FIG. 56.— THE SEAMAN & DEAS CELL DESTRUCTOR.
the most desirable medium. While a certain quantity of air is
necessary for the combustion, and while this varies according to
the calorific value of the material destroyed, if a larger volume
at greater pressure be supplied, there arise different conditions
which materially affect perfect combustion. With the oxygen of
the atmosphere is mixed four times its weight of nitrogen, a gas
perfectly inert for assisting combustion, but having its own
specific ability to absorb heat.
The surplus volume of oxygen not actually required for com-
bustion, united to the correspondingly larger volume of nitrogen,
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 223
rapidly takes up the available heat, and the whole uncombined
volume is carried off to the chimney, lowering the temperature
of the burning mass upon the grates. Hence the admission of a
larger volume of air than is actually needed for combustion is as
detrimental to successful work as is the limitation of the air
supply.
Heating the Air Supply. — The heating of the air supply is
another important consideration as affecting the rapidity of com-
bustion. When air at atmospheric temperature enters a furnace
it must be raised to the temperature of the incandescent carbon
in the fuel with which it is to combine before it can aid com-
FIG. 57.— THE HORSFALL CELL DESTRUCTOR.
bustion, hence a certain amount of heat that has been generated
is delivered to the incoming air, and the temperature of the burn-
ing mass is lowered to that extent. For the ordinary refuse-
burning furnace, this means a loss of efficiency and an increased
quantity of fuel. For destructors with forced draft that must
maintain high temperatures, this is a more serious matter, and in
the most efficient destructors there are arrangements for heating
the air supply. In one destructor of the cell type the air is made
to pass through flues alongside the main chimney flue, and
thence to the furnace through iron boxes built into the sides of
the furnace at the level of the grates, But most destructor^
224 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
of this type do not provide for heating the air, but force it at the
temperature of the outside air by fans or steam jets into the ash
pit-and up through the fire bars. Whatever be the means for ob-
taining the forced pressure of air supply under the fire bars, the
result is the same in all methods, a continuous current of air, which
is at all times under control and may be increased or diminished
according to the conditions required, and the character and
amount of waste charged into the furnaces at different periods of
FIG. 58.— THE WARNER CELL DESTRUCTOR.
time. This is especially desirable when destroying bodies of
animals.
Utilization of the Heat Generated. — In all installations of the
best destructors, the heat generated by the combustion of refuse
is utilized in one or another way. The general use is for generat-
ing steam in a boiler, the power from which is employed, first for
the operation of the destructor itself and the surplus for any work
where it can be used to advantage.
The type of boiler is commongly a water-tube so placed behind
the combustion chamber that the gases pass directly to the tubes
with no loss of heat. A Lancashire boiler with large flues is
frequently employed on account of the heat stored in the volume
of water. The horizontal multi-tublar boiler of large size set
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 225
in the main flue to the chimney was formerly used, but now
discontinued as an obstruction to the free passage of the gases.
The best efficiency of a destructor demands that the tempera-
ture from the combustion of refuse shall be at least 1,500° Fahr.
This is the point at which all injurious organisms in the waste and
the inflammable gaseous carbon compounds resulting from im-
perfect combustion are destroyed. A lower temperature would
permit these to pass through the boiler and chimney flues and be
distributed from the chimney top through the surrounding air. A
higher temperature, 1,800° to 2,500°, not only gives better boiler
efficiency, but also positively insures destruction of all noxious
gaseous and organic elements. Hence the efforts of all destructor
FIG. 59.— THE STERLING DOUBLE CELL DESTRUCTOR.
builders are directed to the production and maintenance of the
highest possible temperature within the furnace and in the com-
bustion chamber or flues immediately adjoining. This naturally
leads to the development of the greatest boiler efficiency and the
use of this power for returning a revenue in some form to the
advantage of the town.
But it must always be noted and remembered that the first con-
sideration is the disposal of objectionable matters. This is the
purpose of a destructor — the main object of its installation.
Whatever power may be obtained is a side issue, a by-product, to
be utilized if possible ; if not, then to be ignored until an oppor-
tunity offers.
If this power, obtained from waste that would cost large sums
to dispose of in other ways, can be employed, then the town is
226 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
so much to the good. If it cannot be at once profitably employed,
the waste is still disposed of at no greater cost and with the
certainty of perfectly sanitary destruction, and permits the even-
tual use of the power and the clinker.
UTILIZATION OF HEAT FOR AIR SUPPLY TO THE FURNACE.
After the gases have passed the boiler there is still a large
amount of heat remaining in them which should be utilized. In
practical service the cell form of destructor has heretofore been
unable to conserve this heat for its subsequent use. In one form
only has this been tried, and the results claimed are equal to the
best designs of the continuous grate destructor, which are better
adapted for this purpose, but no results from actual practice have
yet been reported.
Manifestly the heating of the air supply is a gain to the general
efficiency of combustion too important to be ignored. When the
air is raised to 350° to 400° Fahr. before being supplied to the
grates, there is a corresponding gain in the time and the force of
combustion upon the grates. The method .of air delivery is by two
different forms of apparatus.
The cell destructors, as a rule, use a fan driven by a motor,
delivering the air at atmospheric temperature under the ash pits
at any required pressure. In this case the temperatures of the
current are those of the volume entering at the fan and but slightly
above this at the grates, and the air has to be heated to the fur-
nace temperature to continue the combustion.
In the continuous grate system the gases from the boiler are
drawn by the chimney draft down through a series of iron pipes,
entering at an average of 691° and leaving these pipes at 359°
Fahr. The difference between these figures represents the tem-
perature of the current of air drawn between the rows of pipes
and by steam jets forced into each ash pit and up through the fire
bars.
This is the regenerator system of the continuous grate destruc-
tors which deliver the air for combustion at 350° to 400° instead
of at 70° to 80° as furnished by the fan system. There is an
obvious advantage by this means not obtained in the other cases,
and the most recent plants of all types generally adopt the steam
forced draft.
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 227
THE SECOND GROUP OF DESTRUCTORS.
Continuous Grate with one Burning Chamber. — The destruc-
tors built upon this principle (Figs. 60-65) differ from the cell
construction in several particulars. Instead of separate and dis-
tinct cells isolated one from the other, there is one long chamber
common to all the grates, but divided below the grates into sepa-
rate ash pits.
There may be a number of grates, each of approximately 25
square feet of surface, arranged side by side, and offering a con-
tinuous area of burning surface the whole length of the series,
Sectional Plan.
FIG. 60.— THE MELDRUM CONTINUOUS GRATE DESTRUCTOR.
which may be two, three, four, five or six, as the conditions
require.
Since each grate has its own ash pit and its separate forced air
supply, each may be operated separately, precisely as is done in
the single cell, with no interference or interruption with the work
of its neighbor. As the grates are charged periodically, there
is always one or more at the highest point of temperature in full
working, while the adjoining one is being supplied with green
material. Thus, there is no loss of time or temperature in the
immediate destruction of smoke and gases thrown off from the
fresh charge, since the active grates supply the heat necessary
228 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
to continue the combustion and maintain the average tempera-
ture in the combustion chamber.
The continuous grate is better adapted to the various forms of
feeding or charging of the waste, since it may be charged from
the top through the roof, from the back through charging doors,
or from the front through the larger clinker doors.
Choice between these various methods depends largely upon
the character of the waste — the purpose for which the power is
used, or the location of the several working parts of the destruc-
tor. In each case the arrangement may be made to conform to
the special conditions, and any well-designed destructor may be
adapted to the site.
FIG. 61.— THE MELDRUM CONTINUOUS GRATE WITH BOILER. (LONGI-
TUDINAL SECTION.)
Regenerator System of Heating Air for Combustion. — The
first practical application of air regeneration to the destructor
practice was in connection with a continuous grate destructor of
the Meldrum type, at Darwen, in 1897. The use of this system
has in effect changed and revolutionized the art and made it
possible to destroy waste of low calorific value, and obtain a
higher temperature with a corresponding increase in rapidity of
combustion and boiler efficiency. By this method of drawing
the air for combustion through the series of pipes comprised in
the "regenerator," aided by the action of the steam jet blower,
the exhaust heat from the boiler flues heretofore wasted has been
saved, and the saving brought to the aid of the furnace.
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 229
The method of supplying this heated air after its passage be-
tween the vertical tubes of the regenerator is by means of steam
jets. Underneath each of the grates in the enclosed ash pit is
placed a short tube of cast iron which is connected at one end
with a small pipe direct from the boiler — the other end, expanded
in area, terminating under the middle of the fire bars. The
steam, in its passage through the blower, carries a volume of
heated air from the hot air duct, which is forced up between the
grates and through the mass of material thereon. Thus the air
for combustion is supplied at a temperature of nearly 300° above
Cross Section
FIG. 62.— THE MELDRUM CONTINUOUS GRATE.
the normal temperature of the current which would be supplied
by a fan blast.
Nor is this the only advantage of the steam jet system. In
passing upward through the bed of fire upon the grates, the steam
is decomposed and "water gas" is formed, consisting of hydrogen
and carbon monoxide. Both of these gases are burned when
they enter the main chamber, increasing the temperature at that
point where it is most wanted, while the oxygen, which is set
free by the decomposition in the early stage of this process, assists
the combustion of the refuse.
Again, the formation of water gas in the bed of incandescent
fuel on the grate greatly assists in the removal of the clinker,
230 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
*
and in some instances exhaust steam is admitted under the grates
for this purpose. The under side of the clinker thus formed has
a clean and vitreous appearance, leaving the fire bars with com-
parative ease, making the work of clinkering less arduous and
prolonging the life of the fire bars.
The Chimney and Dust Prevention. — High chimneys are not
wanted in connection with forced draft destructor installations.
If the chimney be of small diameter and of unusual height, the
gases, in their passage, acquire a considerable velocity and carry
with them a larger proportion of dust. On their arrival at the
FIG. 63.— THE MELDRUM GRATES WITH LANCASHIRE BOILER.
top, the spreading of the gases issuing from the confined area
lowers their velocity, precipitating the dust on the ground and
and buildings in the neighborhood. But with a chimney of lower
height and larger internal area, the ascent of the gases is slower
and the velocity at the top no greater than in the interior, and
the dust precipitation is minimized. There are several devices
for intercepting the dust on its way to the chimney. In one de-
structor installation there is a brick chamber, or "dust catcher,"
immediately before the chimney, comprising two concentric cir-
cular chambers with an annular space between. The gases enter
the outer chamber, and in passing around this acquire a whirling,
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 231
circular motion. The centrifugal force imparted causes the dust,
as the heavier substance, to move to the outer wall, the lighter
gases passing into the inner chamber and thence up the chimney.
Th'*s device has been employed in a few installations.
A better method is an expanding settling chamber interposed
FIG. 64.— THE HEENAN & FROUDE CONTINUOUS GRATE DESTRUCTOR.
(PLAN AND SECTIONS.)
in the path of the gases, delaying their passage and causing a
deposit of the dust after their velocity has been much reduced.
This is an important feature in the continuous grate type of
destructor.
Delivery of the Waste to the Destructor. — There are several
232 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
methods of delivering the waste, dependent largely upon the
special character of the material to be destroyed.
The destructors, as a rule, deal with mixed or unsorted waste —
the miscellaneous collection as it comes in the city carts. The
proportions of each class, garbage, ashes and refuse or rubbish,
to which may also be added street-sweepings and the carcasses
of animals, are dependent upon many varied conditions, only to
be determined by special survey or inspection. Some of the
more common conditions attending the usual collections of Amer-
ican municipal waste have been alluded to in previous chapters,
and so far as can now be done, the proportions of each class have
been defined.
Following the practice of those towns where these various
FIG. 65.— THE HEENAN & FROUDE CONTINUOUS GRATE DESTRUCTOR.
forms of destructors are used, and employing the same method
of a mixed, unsorted collection of the wastes, it may be positively
stated that the American municipal waste can be destroyed suc-
cessfully with apparatus similar to that used abroad.
Not only can American municipal waste be burned economi-
cally with no noxious results, but there can be obtained power
from this waste, in exact proportion to the calorific value of the
waste.
But when the several classes of American municipal wastes
are separated at the houses and the garbage, ashes and refuse are
separately collected and brought either singly or together to the
destructor, the means of disposal must be adapted to the charac-
ter of the waste to be consumed. Here lies one of the chief
points of advantage of the high temperature destructor systems.
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 233
The furnace may be so designed as to cremate one class or kind
of waste and yet be capable of consuming other kinds or classes
without change in construction and with only changes in method
of charging and operating. The addition of power supplied by
its own boiler provides an accessory impossible to furnaces not
equipped with this aid.
In most American towns the custom is to separate, in the
households,, the garbage from the refuse and ashes and bring
this to the crematory for destruction.
This led to the introduction, at first., of a special form of cre-
matory to burn garbage only, and in the older forms of furnaces
this is all they can accomplish. Subsequently the rubbish and
refuse upon the dumps became objectionable and the crematories
were enlarged in area to burn this also. The bodies of the
smaller animals are included and very infrequently the carcasses
of the larger animals must be destroyed.
As the quantities of garbage, rubbish and animals increase, the
crematories must be made of larger capacity. Because of their
operation by slow natural chimney draft, the rate of combustion
cannot be increased, and the installations must be made of larger
size, or more numerous, which, of course, means greater expense
to the tcwns.
If the cost of operating were lowered with the proportional
increase in size, there would be some reason for this, but this is
not the case, for the larger the plant, the more men needed to
work it, with a corresponding increase in the payroll, to which
is added the larger amounts of fuel.
An illustration of this is one incinerator, which in 1902 began
its work by the installation of a plant costing $31,000 which de-
stroyed 100 tons daily, followed in 1904 with a plant having a
capacity of 120 tons at a cost of $70,000, and in 1907 a plant of
140 tons capacity was contracted for at a cost of $126,000. The
reported cost of operating, for fuel and labor at this latest plant
is more than double that at the first installation.
Since the practice of many American towns is to make sepa-
rate collections of the wastes, and since this requires the destruc-
tion of these separately, the destructor builders have now de-
signed the apparatus to meet this demand. For the disposal of
234 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
very wet substances there is a drying hearth of greater or less
area, which receives the charge of fresh garbage and by its
radiated heat united to the high temperature of the radiant heat
of the destruction chamber, the moisture is driven off and com-
bustion begins almost at once.
This change in the forms of destructors has been noted and
provided for in the designs of the builders in this country. There
are many instances of destructors dealing with the most refrac-
tory classes of wet refuse, like sewage sludge and wet trade waste,
with nearly the same efficient results as though there was present
a greater calorific value. The development of steam power is
not so large, but the destruction is equally efficient and the results
quite as free from offensive odors and gases.
The method of supplying the waste to destructors is then
determined by the character of the material. If it be wet and
difficult to handle, the charging may be done by special cars or
chutes direct to the drying hearth. If more free from moisture,
there is provision for tipping into receiving hoppers or storage bins
that will retain a day's collection without nuisance. Should these
wastes be comparatively dry and homogeneous in character, they
may be fed by hand firing as coal is fed to a furnace. Thus the
means of feeding the waste, and the construction or arrangement
of the destructor is governed largely by the special conditions of
each case, insuring economy of labor and expense, and producing
the best results in efficiency.
The Disposal of Residuums. — It has been noted previously that
the ash of American crematories is not in a perfectly vitrified
form. There is present a considerable proportion of organic
matter, mixed with fine ash from substances that burn more freely,
and with the debris and fragments of incombustible matter which
the low temperatures of the crematory cannot affect. This ash
has little or no value, except as a surface fertilizer for top dress-
ing, and therefore must be removed to dumps.
But the clinker or hard vitreous matter from the combustion at
high temperatures of a destructor is residuum of quite another
character. The anaylsis of the two ashes given previously shows
clearly the difference. The value of clinker when thoroughly
calcined, lies chiefly in its ready use as foundation for roads, walks,
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 235
and all forms of municipal service where concrete is employed.
It is also used in many kinds of private contract work, where
broken stone is costly or unattainable. It is also found to be
suitable for the covering for sewage filter beds and is used for
under drains. It may be ground up for mortar or mixed with
cement, formed into slabs or bricks or in many ways and forms
used in various industrial enterprises. A market can nearly
always be found for this destructor product, and it is an important
asset in the accounts of all waste disposal work.
The Quantities of Waste Consumed. — The early forms of cell
destructors destroyed daily from five to eight tons of refuse per
cell, or about twenty-two pounds per square foot of grate area per
hour, but these are now mostly changed or improved by the addi-
tion of forced draft, and their power for combustion greatly
increased.
The continuous grate destructors burn from twelve to twenty
tons per grate daily, contingent upon the character of the waste,
the average being fifteen tons. This is at the rate of fifty-six
pounds per square foot of grate per hour, and may perhaps be
taken as the average destroyed for these forms of grates. This
is exceeded in some of the later types of destructors, where the
amounts run from sixty- four to one hundred and three pounds per
square foot of grate area. The work of an English destructor
in this country, burning American mixed waste, was 58.7 pounds
per square foot of grate per hour.
THE LOCATION OF THE PLANTS.
This is the most important, often the most difficult point to
determine in a proposed refuse disposal station. Since the re-
peated failures in this country of crematories and incinerators
because of nuisance, there is prevalent an idea that all waste-
consuming plants must necessarily be offensive in their operation ;
thus the authorities nearly always meet with opposition no matter
where they select a site, ending sometimes in abandonment of
th* scheme.
Economy in the collection service demands that the location
shall be central with respect to the collection district, as this
reduces the haul to the shortest distance ; also that the road grades
236 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
for the loaded teams shall not be too steep. As the average cost
of hauling one ton of garbage one mile is from 60 to 80 cents,
according to the number of horses and men employed, the saving
in distance of transportation is an important consideration.
In most American towns there is no site at the geographical
center that would permit the establishment of a refuse disposal
station except in the neighborhood of dwellings, and in this case
the cost of ground is frequently excessive, and the opposition of
property-holders very strenuous. Usually a point (preferably on
the northern side of a thickly populated district) can be had,
where the collection carts will not be so much in evidence, and
where the work can be done with lessened chances for complaints.
When a suitable location can be found within reasonable distance,
the objections and arguments against it should be carefully stated
and fully considered. Opposition for sentimental reasons or
through ignorance of the facts involved should not be allowed
to outweigh the mature judgment of those best acquainted with
the subject.
NUISANCES DEPENDENT UPON TEMPERATURES.
The discharge of offensive gases from a chimney of a refuse
disposal plant is caused by incomplete combustion of organic
matter. Ths gases thrown off are oxygen, O, nitrogen, N, car-
bonic acid, CO2, carbon monoxide, CO, and water vapor or
steam. In theoretically perfect combustion the carbon monoxide
burns by uniting with oxygen, leaving the nitrogen — which is inert
and incombustible — to be discharged from the chimney. But, in
practice, this perfect combustion is rarely reached, hence the
proportion of the empyreumatic gases, present in larger or
smaller amounts, that are capable of being burned but still are not
destroyed, must be taken as an evidence of the character of the
work.
A competent authority says : "On heating organic compounds,
decomposition takes place which is known as destructive distilla-
tion. Many of the resulting gaseous compounds have a more or
less objectionable odor. When such an admixture of gases is
exposed to a higher temperature — which has been fixed at 1,500°
Fahr. as the safety point — they are themselves dissociated or de-
composed, and the resulting simple gases are without odor."
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 237
Another writer says : "It may be stated as an absolute principle,
that the destruction of organisms must be done within the furnace
itself. If any of the gases are allowed to escape, with the
organisms in suspension, the destructor ceases to be of any value
if it does not become an actual source of danger."
This is perhaps an extreme view of the case, but it emphasizes
the fact that the temperature must in the first place be high
enough to destroy all forms of organic life, and that once begun
the work must go on to the end at a temperature at or above the
point of safety.
GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH TEMPERATURES.
It is in the particular feature of temperatures that destructors
with forced draft differ so widely from the usual form of crema-
tory and incinerator used in this country. The evolution of the
modern destructor from the early cell type was comparatively
slow until the introduction of forced draft. For years the cells
continued to burn small quantities by natural draft with repeated
complaints of nuisance. The introduction of the "fume cremator"
by Mr. Chas. Jones, of Baling, England, was a step in the right
direction and materially advanced the work. This was a wide
"fuel box," placed in the main flue of the chimney outside the
cells, or sometimes in a detached chamber, and was kept supplied
with coke or good coal. All the gases of combustion from the
cells were made to pass over this live fire. •
It was not until 1897, when this method was abandoned in
favor of a powerful forced draft under the fire-bars, that real
progress was made. At the present time all destructor builders
guarantee a positive temperature maintained within the furnace,
and, as a rule, fifteen hundred degrees in the combustion chamber
is the point below which the temperature must not fall. One set
of specifications issued by an English city provides, "that the
general arrangement of the grates and flues shall be such that the
whole of the gases generated in the process of combustion shall
be submitted to a temperature of not less than 2,000° Fahr. for
a sufficient time to allow the noxious germs to be destroyed."
The reports of the trials and continuous operation of the
destructors abroad, now invariably contain accurate and extended
238 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
data of the temperatures in various parts of the destructor and
flues. These serve a double purpose, since they show the absolute
destruction of offensive gases to the entire satisfaction of the town
authorities, and also, by comparison of the temperatures taken at
the same points in the several installations of the builder, it is
possible to detect a failure of any part to come up to the general
standard.
These temperatures range from 1,500° to 2,800° Fahr. A
table made by a well-known engineer of twenty-six towns with
installations of six different makers, shows the average tempera-
tures in the combustion chambers immediately before the boilers
to be 1,900°, and at the base of the chimney 600° Fahr. Some de-
structors, fitted with economizers, feed-water and super-heaters,
obtain a still greater heat, instances being recorded of the fusing
of wrought iron in the combustion chambers at a temperature of
3,000° Fahr.
HIGH TEMPERATURES NOT ATTAINED IN AMERICAN PRACTICE.
In American practice this requirement of temperature is seldom
or never made in specifications drawn up by municipalities, nor is
it brought prominently forward by the furnace builders. What-
ever form of "fume cremator" or "smoke-consumer" the builders
may propose is assumed to afford sufficient protection for the
town. Hence the result of the work of the crematory or incin-
erator so far as relates to the destruction of obnoxious gases
is often unsatisfactory. Smoke is unconsumed carbon, and
when discharged from a garbage crematory loaded with the un-
consumed gases from the destructive distillation of the organic
matter at low temperatures, these gases will invariably cause
nuisance in their gradual descent to the ground.
Any one desirous of obtaining data upon the temperatures of the
American crematories, would have to experiment for himself. In
all the years this work has been going on there has been but one
accurate report that can be quoted. This is by Professors Holman
and Wendel upon the Brown Crematory, Boston, Mass., 1893, and
is the only one, so far as known, that gives anything of value as
regards temperatures. In this case the trial was made to deter-
mine the quantities and cost of burning the garbage with oil as
fuel ; the temperatures were a secondary consideration.
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 239
In the same year the work of the Engle Crematories at the
World's Fair, Chicago, Hi., for six months established the fact
that high temperatures could be maintained by oil fuel, with a
forced draft, with a combustion chamber of large size and a 50*
foot chimney. Unfortunately there was no official report of this
published until long afterward, and there were never technical and
authoritative reports from competent engineers that would have
directed attention to this most successful work, and perhaps have
brought about better designed furnaces and more efficient results
in the subsequent installations of American crematories.
It is largely because of this particular feature of low tempera-
tures that the garbage cremating furnaces in this country fail of
success. Formerly, and but few years ago, it was held by all the
furnace builders that high temperatures were not necessary except
at the fire-box, and this erroneous idea is still advocated by many.
They rely upon a secondary fire, placed under some division of the
garbage grates, or at the rear end of the main chamber, or in a
small compartment cut off from the main chamber by a division
wall, or else in a separate and detached chamber not a part of the
furnace. There is no combustion chamber in the true meaning of
the term; all these substitutes are merely secondary furnaces for
reheating the incomplete products of combustion from the furnace
proper, and all, without exception, must use extra fuel.
A reference to the preceding descriptions of American crema-
tories will make it clear that this principle of this second fire is
a necessary part of all the various types of American crematories
and incinerators.
There are many points in which the cremator and the destructor
vary widely, but in none is there so wide a divergence as in the
means for producing and maintaining a high temperature neces-
sary to destroy the offensive gases. From a personal experience
in the construction and operation of both, the author is of the
opinion that that will be the most successful furnace which can
develop the temperature necessary to destroy municipal waste and,
at the same time and with the same operation, consume the offen-
sive products of combustion thrown off by the waste within the
furnace itself.
240 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
OPERATION WITHOUT NUISANCE.
The operating works of the British destructors seem to be al-
most completely free from complaints of nuisance from the chim-
neys. From an extended examination of the statements made by
the local engineers, surveyors and superintendents in charge of
these plants, it appears that there are practically no complaints on
the score of noxious odors from the waste, either in the process of
charging or in its combustion in the furnace.
In some instances notes are made of the fine dust in the charg-
ing rooms when the fires are clinkered, but the later installations
are provided with a system of ventilating ducts connected with the
the air supply to the grates, which in a large degree remove this
objectionable feature. Probably the most reliable accounts on this
point of nuisance in the work of these destructors is from those
American engineers who in the past two years have had oppor-
tunities to inspect closely the English installations.
One observer in visiting destructors in f6ur London boroughs
where the plants were almost completely surrounded by dwell-
ings, found the dust at one point, Shoreditch, very annoying,
"but no odors were noted, and the chimney was free from smoke."
At Wandsworth "the plant was in a generally clean condition and
only a small amount of light smoke was visible at the chimney
top." At Westminster "no odor was noticed and but little of light
smoke was coming from the chimney." At Battersea "there
were no indications of nuisance of any sort in Or about the de-
structor, and the chimney top was free from smoke." (From
"Notes on British Refuse Destructors," by M. N. Baker, Associate
Editor, Engineering News, New York.)
Another experienced engineer says : "In our country odors
from such works have been complained of in many instances, and
a number of crematories have been abandoned as nuisances. In
England, however, such has not been the case. Furnace ex-
tensions are built every year. Complaints are rare. In Hamburg,
Germany, where is the largest garbage plant in existence, this is
giving no offense, although adjoining a built up section of the
city." (Mr. Rodolf Hering, in Proc. Anier. Soc. Civil Eng., Vol.
29, No. i.)
The conditions attending the work of an English destructor in
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 241
this country, burning the mixed waste of the town of Westmount,
Canada, a surburb of Montreal, are stated in the Report of th?
Consulting Engineers to the City Council at Westmount, upon
the Combined Refuse Disposal and Electric Lighting Station.
"The first piece of apparatus put into operation was the refuse
destructor, which was tested May 5, 1906. Since that time the
destructor has been in continual operation, successfully destroying
with absolutely no smell or smoke, whatever has been brought,
varying in quantity from fifty tons per day down to five tons." —
Ross & Holgate, Consulting Engineers, Montreal, Jan. i, 1907.
BRITISH DESTRUCTORS IN AMERICA.
The first installation of a British destructor for the disposal of
American municipal waste was at Westmount, a surburb of Mon-
treal, P. Q., where a Meldrum Simplex Destructor was erected in
1906. This was followed in 1907 by a Heenan and Froude de-
structor at Vancouver, B. C. The success of these two installa-
tions in Canada led to a thorough personal examination of the
destructor systems of England by the City Engineer of Seattle,
Wash., Mr. R. H. Thomson, and by Mr. J. T. Fetherston, Street
Cleaning Commissioner of the Borough of Richmond, New York
City.
The city of Seattle accepted the tenders of Messrs. Meldrum
Brothers, Manchester, and a destructor was installed by them
which went into operation in January, 1907, and was transferred
to the city in February.
The tenders of Messrs. Heenan and Froude were accepted by
the Borough of Richmond, and a destructor installed in 1907
began work in March, 1908, and was accepted by the borough in
May.
These four installations are at present the only ones operating,
though contracts have been closed for a Meldrum Destructor at
Schenectady, N. Y., for the General Electric Company's special
service, and at Buffalo, N. Y., for a Heenan and Froude destructor
for the disposal of light refuse. The following reports give the
results of the work to date :
242 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
WESTMOUNT (MONTREAL), P. Q. MELDRUM SIMPLEX DE-
STRUCTOR.
The town of Westmount is a suburb of the City of Montreal,
having its own municipal government, and being in all respects
an independent borough, though really included in the area of
Montreal. The population of the borough is 15,000, residential
in character, with few factories or manufacturing works. In
1904 the authorities began an investigation of existing means for
disposal, and received from Mr. F. L. Fellowes, borough en-
gineer, an exhaustive report, giving full details of collection
service, quantity and character of wastes, estimated costs for im-
proved system, and recommending the use of a parcel of land
owned by the borough at St. Catherine's street and Rose avenue,
for the erection of a combined electric lighting and refuse disposal
station.
The most modern and best approved types of generators,
boilers and destructors were recommended, the whole equipment
to be of the highest class, with provisions for additions to the
plant for future extension of the lighting service. With this
report were submitted plans and estimates for the installation
of the various units of power, including a Meldrum Simplex
Refuse Destructor suited to the work required.
The authorities called into consultation Messrs. Ross & Hoi-
gate, Engineers, Montreal, and with them contracted for the
building of the plant, specifying that the Meldrum Destructor
should be furnished ; contracts for which were made by the
author in behalf of the Meldrum Company.
The excavations for the foundations were begun in October,
and the work was continued through the winter of 1905-6,
under the many difficulties attending the construction of brick-
work in Canadian winter climate. The large brick building
containing the Meldrum Destructor and Boilers, with the Alphons
Custodis stack, 150 feet high, were finished about the first of
April.
Upon the completion of the plant in May, 1906, the official
test was conducted by Messrs. Ross & Holgate, Engineers, the
results of which are shown in the following report:
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 243
TABLE L.— OFFICIAL TEST WESTMOUNT DESTRUCTOR, MAY 3, 1906.
Duration of test 8 hrs. 32 min.
Number of cells 3
Total grate area 7 5 sq. ft.
B. & W. Boiler, heating surface 2,197 sq. ft.
Refuse consumed (composition of waste material) :
Garbage, manure and leaves 1 5%
Ashes and unburnt (anthracite) coal, cinders, etc 65%
Iron, wood, bottles, tins, leather, etc 5%
Refuse, including paper, branches, old furniture, etc 15%
Total 100%
WEIGHTS.
Unscreened refuse, rubbish, garbage, manure, etc 38,090 Ibs.
Tins, etc., not burned 540
Net amount consumed 37>55° Ibs.
Refuse consumed per hour 4,402
Refuse consumed per hour per sq. ft. of grate 58.7
Weight of clinker remaining after combustion 15, 880
Percentage of clinker and ashes to refuse consumed 42.1%
WATER EVAPORATION.
Total water evaporated 41,991 Ibs.
Water evaporated per hour, actual 4,920
from and at 2 12° F 5,97°
pound of refuse, actual 1.12
of refuse, from and at 212° F. 1.36
Water evaporated per pound of refuse from and at 212° F.
and per sq. ft. of total heating surface per hour 2.72 "
PRESSURES AND TEMPERATURES.
Temperature of the outside air, average 55° F.
Barometric pressure, average 29.5 ins.
Average steam pressure ' 123. 5 Ibs. sq. in.
pressure in ash pits 1.74 ins.
vacuum at chimney base 9-16 in.
temperature of combustion chamber (by Watkins
heat recorders) over 1,994° F.
Highest temperature of combustion chamber over 2,318° F.
(Copper melted in i| minutes — wrought iron was also fused.)
Lowest temperature in combustion chamber 1,742° F.
Average temperature of air entering regenerator 75° F.
" leaving regenerator 206° F.
" gases entering regenerator 427.5° F.
Average temperature of gases leaving regenerator 333-7° F.
Average temperature of feed water 47° F.
GAS ANALYSIS.
Percentage of CO2 average of six readings 10 .9%
highest reading 13.6%
" " lowest reading (clinkering fires) 4-5%
TIMES.
Time taken to clinker one grate io£ min.
between clinkerings 2 hrs. 48
Times each fire was clinkered Three
244 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
DISPOSAL OF \\~ASTJE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 245
FIG. 67.— REFUSE HOPPER AND CHARGING HOLES, WESTMOUNT
DESTRUCTOR.
FIG. 68.— FRONT OF DESTRUCTOR, WESTMOUNT.
246 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
The destructor forms one part of a combined Electrical Light-
ing and Refuse Disposal Plant used to supply electric power for
lighting the town. The surplus steam from the destructor boiler
is utilized as auxiliary to the regular boiler plant, and at times
FIG. 69.— BABCOCK-WILCOX 200-H.P. BOILER CONNECTED WITH
DESTRUCTOR, WESTMOUNT.
has been sufficient to furnish all the power required for the
electric lighting of the whole district. The operation of the
destructor for two years past is thus reported by the engineers,
Messrs. Ross & Holgate:
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 247
The quantities and seasonal variations in composition of West-
mount waste are approximately as follows :
TABLE LI.— OPERATING COSTS, WESTMOUNT DESTRUCTOR, FOR
TWO YEARS.
Quantity 1906 — 8 months — over 3,000 tons
1907 — 12 — about 8,000
COMPOSITION.
Items Summer. Winter.
Garbage 60% 20% (including
Ashes 20% 70% much fine
Refuse 20% 10% dust.)
Daily quantity destroyed, Summer, 15-20 tons
Winter, 30-40
Estimated coal equivalent per ton of waste (average) 580.
(Coal cost at $5.00 per ton)
Total return in cash credited to Destructor, 1906 $3,090.00
1907 4,636 .00
Total net operating costs and fixed charges, 1907, including
interest 4%, depreciation 4% and sinking fund i%
(after crediting sale of steam to electrical plant) 6,055.00
Total net operating costs and fixed charges per ton, 1907,
after crediting sale of steam 75C.
Total net operating costs, 1907, after crediting sale of steam. 2,423 .00
Total net operating costs per ton, 1907, after crediting sale
of steam .30
Temperature in combustion chamber 1500°— 2ooo°F.
Hours of operation, Summer, 7 A.M. to 7 P.M.
Winter, 7 A.M. to 7 P.M.
Because of the unusually large percentage of absolutely value-
less fine dust-like ash mixed with this refuse, especially in win-
ter, due to the great number of sifting furnaces installed in
Westmount houses, and also because of the much higher rate
of wages paid for operators, the cost per ton is higher than the
average figures from English destructor service, but with the
fine ash screened out (as is now contemplated) much larger
quantities of refuse can be handled, and far better results ob-
tained ; the cost of operation per ton could also be much reduced
if the refuse were fed to the destructor furnaces as fast as it
would burn, instead of being fed comparatively slowly as at
present.
It will be clear that a destructor plant operated for power,
with small amounts of waste, will be more expensive in its work
than the same plant operated for disposal only, for then the
248 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
conditions of labor are changed and a smaller number of men
at less wages are employed. The regular supply of the waste in
the largest amounts is a most important factor in this calcula-
tion. During several months when the quantities approached
Sectional Plan.
FIG. 70.— PLAN, MELDRUM DESTRUCTOR, WESTMOUNT.
something near the capacity of the destructor, the net cost of
operating were 7 cents, 15 -cents, and 27 cents per ton, instead
of 30 cents. When power is not to be utilized a destructor can
Cross Section
FIG. 71.— CROSS-SECTION, MELDRUM DESTRUCTOR, WESTMOUNT.
be operated as cheaply as any crematory or incinerator of the
same relative capacity.
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 249
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON. THE MELDRUM SIMPLEX DESTRUCTOR.
In 1896 Mr. Reginald H. Thomson, City Engineer of Seattle,
Wash., was instructed to visit American and foreign cities and
examine their methods of sewage disposal, and those used for
the collection and disposal of refuse and garbage, together with
FIG. 72.— EXTERIOR, MELDRUM DESTRUCTOR, SEATTLE, WASH.
the cost of maintenance, with a view to the adoption in Seattle
of plans for these purposes. He undertook an extended journey,
visiting the chief refuse disposal plants in the United States,
250 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
and spending nearly four months investigating the systems of
disposal in use in British and European cities.
In his report he says: "After mature reflection upon all the
information gained, I am clearly of the opinion that the best
refuse destructor in service at the present time is that made by
Messrs. Meldrum Brothers, of Manchester, of the accumulative
heat type heretofore described. * * * Under all of the ex-
isting circumstances I have unhesitatingly recommended to the
City of Seattle the erection of this plant, and have heretofore
FIG. 73.— FRONT OF DESTRUCTOR PLANT, SEATTLE, WASH.
submitted to your honorable body an estimate of its probable
cost."
This report was adopted by the city government and a contract
was made with Meldrum Brothers, Manchester, England, for a
four-grate destructor embodying some special features; the
destructor and regenerator only to be built by Meldrum Brothers,
and the boiler foundation, enclosing building, chimney, ap-
proaches and platform to be built by the city. Under this con-
tract the iron and a large part of the fire brick were prepared
in England and brought by ship to Seattle. Construction of the
plant was begun in November, 1907, and finished in January,
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 251
1908. The fires were started immediately, and the plant has
been in operation from January 27; and after a preliminary
trial of thirty days the plant was taken over by the city.
This destructor is of the Meldrum Simplex type known as
the "continuous grate" as distinguished from the cell system,
which is of single cells or chambers acting in pairs. Photographs
herewith give a clear idea of the exterior of the house, both
front and rear, and of the front and one end of the destructor.
There are two inclined approaches of broad timber planking
which lead to the hopper on the front of the house where wagons
tip their loads into the receiving bin below.
The chimney is of reinforced concrete construction 80 feet
FIG. 74.— THE MELDRUM DESTRUCTOR, SEATTLE, WASH.
high. The house, which was built by the city, is of corrugated
iron construction, with an adjoining smaller office building which
contains the weigh-beam for platform scales which loads coming
to the destructor pass over, the weights thus obtained being
recorded.
252 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
This is the first plant of its kind erected in the United States,
and it includes the most up-to-date arrangements of the special
ventilating ducts, of the offal hearth for burning very wet ma-
terial, and the carcass cremation through special charging hole,
all of which are entirely new ideas first introduced abroad by
the Meldrum Company and included in this installation by re-
quest of Mr. Thomson.
TABLE LIL— CITY OF SEATTLE. REFUSE DESTRUCTOR NO. 1.
REPORT FOR MONTH ENDING JUNE 30, 1908.
TWENTY-SIX DAYS' ACTUAL OPERATION.
REFUSE DESTROYED
Ash Manure Garbage Rubbish
Percent 37-8% 18.7% 22.2% 21.3%
Tons burned 666.6% 329-2% 39° •«% 378.0%
Total tons refuse consumed 1,764.0 tons = 3,528,000 Ibs.
Average daily consumption 67 .846 " = 135,692
Total water evaporated 437,890 gals. = 3,650,075 '
Average daily evaporation 16,842 = 140,372
Pounds of water evaporated per pound of refuse burned i .035 '
Average horse-power per hour evaporated from and at 212° F. 200 H. P.
Wages as per pay roll $1,248 . 2 5
Cost of burning per ton .71
Total number of loads consumed i , 500
Average number of loads per day 57-7
Average weight of loads 2 ,3 56 Ibs.
AVERAGE TEMPERATURES FROM DAILY READINGS
F.
CO
Ave. Temp, of
Atmosphere at
Time of Reading
62.5° F.
Ave. Temp, of
Combustion
Chamber
2369.° F.
Ave. Temp, at A%let%
Base of Stack genera
537° F- 86.3°
Ave. Temp, of
Outlet from
Regenerator
313- 6° F.
Ave. Gain 'in
Temp, in the
Regenerator
227. 3° F.
Ave. Gas Analysis
Daily Samples
CO., 0
8-3% 9-i%
from
AVERAGE WATER GAUGE, FROM DAILY READINGS
Water gauge readings at base of stack without forced draft, 5-8 inch.
Water gauge readings back pressure of ashpit door, No. i grate, i 1-8 inch.
The destructor has a Babcock & Wilcox water tube boiler of
200 horse-power. At the present time this power is not utilized,
but it is expected that it will be employed in the municipal service
at a later date.
Reckoning this power at the average value in Seattle of $50
per horse-power per annum if this be placed to the credit of the
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 253
station the operating cost will be reduced to approximately 28
cents per ton. This corresponds very closely with the cost of
operating at Westmount, where the net operating costs are 30
cents per ton.
MELDRUM SIMPLEX DESTRUCTOR, SCHENECTADY, N. Y.
The latest installation of the Meldum destructor is now under
construction at the works of the Edison General Electric Co.,
Schenectady, N. Y., by the Universal Destructor Company of
New York City, agents for the Meldrum Brothers in the United
States and Canada.
In the course of business this company — one of the largest
industrial organizations in the United States, whose works cover
130 acres of ground, with 15,000 employees — there is produced
a large amount of refuse of various sorts from the different
departments of the works. The removal and disposal of this
has heretofore been a matter of some difficulty, and a contract
was made with the Universal Destructor Company to install .a
Meldrum destructor of three grates in connection with a 250
horse-power Babcock & Wilcox boiler. The quantity of garbage
which comes from the restaurants being small, the plant was
primarily designed for the disposal of the combustible refuse,
including wood, shavings, sawdust, sweepings from the shops
with a great amount of box material, barrels, etc., which could
not be profitably treated in any other way. The debris and
leavings from every department of the works is to be all brought
to this destructor.
The area of the grates is somewhat larger than in the or-
dinary Meldrum two-grate destructors, and there will be in-
cluded an extra charging hole for the reception of sawdust and
shavings brought over by conveyor from the carpenter shops.
The charging is all done from the top, with the exception of
long pieces of wood, for which a special door in the end is
provided.
It is expected that the heat realized from twenty or thirty
tons per day of the material to be destroyed in these works will
be equal to the evaporation of two to three pounds of water to
one pound of waste consumed. This ratio of evaporation has
been obtained by other Meldrum destructors at the Dock Yard
254 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
Works in Chatham, England, and the great ship building estab-
lishment of Messrs. Harlan & Wolff, Belfast, where a similar
kind of material is brought for disposal. This is the first in-
stance of the utilization of the British destructor system for
private business purposes in the United States, and its operation
FIG. 75.— HEENAN & FROUDE DESTRUCTOR, VANCOUVER, B. C.
will be watched with a great deal of interest by other business
corporations where the same trouble in the disposal of their
waste and refuse are encountered.
HEENAN & FROUDE REFUSE DESTRUCTOR, VANCOUVER, B. C.
The city of Vancouver, B. C. (population 60,000), contracted
in October, 1906, with the Heenan & Froude Destructor Com-
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 255
pany, of Manchester, England, for a refuse destructor of 40
tons capacity, with covering house, chimney and accessories.
(Fig. 75.) The plant went into operation in November, 1907.
The following report, condensed from the official reports for
five months (January I to May 31, 1908), gives the details of the
working of this plant:
TABLE LIU. — REPORT OF OPERATION, HEENAN & FROUDE DE-
STRUCTOR, VANCOUVER, B. C.
EST.MATED CoLLECTION CosT PER ToN
Household garbage. 82 % (a) $1.55 not deducting revenue
Trade refuse 12 % (b) 1.15 deducting revenue.
Decayed fruit and vegetables 3 %
Manure i . 5% Average Number of Animals
Meat and fish offal i % Horses 14
Sawdust 5% Dogs 27
Cows l
100%
APPARENT VALUE AS A FUEL
From residential quarters very good, about one-half ashes; business
sections good; light refuse. Chinese and Japanese section poor,
large percentage vegetable.
No fuel of any kind used except what is contained in refuse.
LOCATION:
Central; 200 feet from main street, and with buildings on three
sides.
TYPE AND DESCRIPTION:
Heenan and Froude.
One unit. Three cells. 6sH.P.,'B&W. Boiler. Combustion cham-
ber. Chimney 120 feet (circular). Fan draft. Heated air.
Partial exhaust to chimney.
RATED CAPACITY:
50 tons (2,000 pounds) per 24 hours.
APPURTENANCES:
Fan engine. Feed pump and steam injector. 65 H. P. B. & W.
boiler. Washington-Lyons steam disinfector (single cradle).
Two disinfecting rooms. Brick building. Cement floors.
POWER UTILIZED FOR:
Fan engine and feed pump. Steam disinfector. Installation of
electric plant — 500 lights, under consideration.
COST OF CONSTRUCTION:
(a) Building $11, 500 . oo
Extras 4-543-30
(6) Chimney 3 ,900 . oo
(c) Destructor plant, with boiler and accessories, in-
cludings team disinfector 2 1 ,2 50 . oo
(d) Complete $4 1 , 1 93 . 30
256 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
TABLE LIN.— (Continued.)
COST OF OPERATION: Per Ton of Refuse Destroyed —
(a) 46 cents per ton, deducting revenue.
(6) 56 not deducting revenue.
(c) 91 counting in interest and sinking fund.
STAFF:
1 engineer at $8 5 . oo per month
2 firemen — qualified engineers " 75.00 '
4 firemen " 70 . oo "
i dumpman " 60 . oo "
Above, except dumpman, work 8-hour shift.
REFUSE BURNED: Per Man Per Hour —
i . 04 tons (6 men — 8 hours each) .
SPECIAL NOTES ON PLANT:
Combustion chamber for incinerating dead animals.
Storage Hopper — capacity 30 tons — brick sides — cement floor — with
swill hopper and steam jet. Well lighted and roomy. Driveway
for teams with dead animals for combustion chamber.
OPERATION OF PLANT: Feeding and Stoking —
Back-hand feed. Stoking through clinkering doors. Clinkering —
from front of furnace into hand barrows.
Character of clinker — 33% of refuse destroyed. Very hard, black,
well burned.
GENERAL NOTES:
Destructor operated chiefly to incinerate decaying vegetable and
animal matter formerly hauled to general dumping ground.
Approximate temperature of main flue and combustion chamber
i , 500° to 2 ,000° F. (vide Electric Pyrometer Jan. 27,1 908— 1,765° F) .
Forced draft 5ii°-6oo° F.
REPORTED EVAPORATION:
.52 pounds of water per pound of refuse. (£ pound of water to
i pound of refuse.)
NUISANCES:
None.
UTILIZATION OF BY-PRODUCTS:
Clinker — reclaiming tide lands west side of incinerator. Under ex-
periment as road bottoming
Flue dust — used with clinker for binding and rendering surfaces
smooth.
Tins, etc., at present no value — hauled to dump.
HEENAN & FROUDE DESTRUCTOR, WEST NEW BRIGHTON, N. Y.
In December, 1906, the Borough of Richmond, Staten Island,
one of the subdivisions of Greater New York, contracted with
the Heenan & Froude Destructor Company of England for the
installation of a destructor at West New Brighton having a
capacity of 60 tons in 24 hours of mixed municipal waste'.
Under the terms of this contract the company furnished the
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 257
destructor and boiler, the city providing foundations, chimney
and covering house, all of reinforced concrete construction.
The plant was finished for preliminary test in March, was
officially tested in May, and accepted by the city in June, 1908.
The following description of the destructor is furnished by the
builders :
The parts being all plainly marked in the figure, it will be easy for those
interested to follow the details on the plan. The rubbish is dumped into a
FIG. 76.— HEENAN & FROUDE DESTRUCTOR, NEW BRIGHTON, N. Y.
hopper back of the grate cells, large enough to hold one day's collection.
From here it is fed to the special grates of the furnace. Each cell has a
reverberatory type arched roof and a separate feeding door. Each also
has its own clinkering door on the opposite side from the feed door, while
the individual grates are partially separated by low iron ridges. Apart
from this all the cells together form one furnace chamber, in that the
gases from the further cells pass through those nearer the dust settling or
combustion chamber, and consequently over the burning fuel which they
contain. The reason why the refuse is shovelled into the cells by hand
instead of being dumped directly into them is that, in order to secure
258 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
complete combustion, a reasonable amount of selection should be practiced,
preventing, for instance, a whole load of wet, raw garbage coming into one
cell while its neighbor had perhaps nothing but paper and dry rubbish in
it. Some care in stoking must be exercised to secure good results.
The success of the Heenan Destructor is largely due tc the complete
arrangements for perfect combustion. Forced draught is used to accelerate
and regulate burning; and is furnished by a fan and engine, so as to be
under complete control. Each ash-pit is separately enclosed, so that air
pressure may be carried higher in the grate most recently fired. The air
heated to several hundred degrees F. is driven through valves in the ash-
pits, and thence through the grates and fuel. The reverberatory arches
also greatly facilitate the burning of poor fuel by reflecting back the heat
upon their own grates and those adjoining. By this means an average
temperature of 2,000° F. can be maintained in the cells with ordinary
refuse.
When the refuse has been completely burned it forms a hard vitreous
clinker, which is broken up with steel slice bars and drawn out of the
clinkering doors on the opposite side of the cell from the feed doors.
FIG. 77.— FRONT OF DESTRUCTOR, NEW BRIGHTON, N. Y.
Here it drops into wheelbarrows or through clinker traps to mechanical
conveyors for removal from the plant.
The hot and burning gases from the cells next pass through the dust
settling or combustion chamber, where the usual temperature is maintained
at about 1,800° F. Here combustion is completed, and all smoke, smells
and combustible particles consumed, so that when the gases pass under the
boiler in the next compartment all flame has disappeared. As all objec-
tionable matter, whether solid or gaseous, is subjected to this temperature,
no further decomposition and consequent nuisance can result. Carcasses
of dead animals may be dropped into this chamber whole, and in an in-
credibly short time they will have been completely consumed, leaving but a
handful of ashes. Another function of this chamber is to remove from
the flue gas all non-combustible dust, by settling. Passing through the
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 259
boiler, the heat of the gases generates steam, at the rate of one or two
pounds of water evaporated for every pound of refuse consumed.
Next the gases pass through the air heater, where all available heat units
are delivered to the air blown through the cells as forced draught. Thus
heat otherwise wasted is re-delivered to the furnace to facilitate combus-
tion. The average temperature of the forced draught should be about
300° F. Finally, the expended waste gases escape through the flue to
the chimney.
A high speed, completely enclosed steam engine is used to drive the
blower for the forced draught. The steam taken from the boiler for this
purpose does not exceed about 5 per cent, of the total steam generated.
The air for the forced draught is drawn from the feeding and clinkering
FIG. 78.— PLAN AND SECTIONS OF DESTRUCTOR, NEW BRIGHTON, N. Y.
rooms, thus removing all the dust or smells that may be liberated in this
part of the plant and preventing their escape into the open.
The following extract from the advance sheets of the official
report made to Hon. George Cromwell, President of Richmond
Borough, by Mr. J. T. Fetherston, Superintendent of Street
Cleaning, gives additional details of this plan. Table No. LIV
is a summary of the official tests of the West New Brighton
Refuse Destructor:
The summary in the table gives a number of features which may prove
of interest to those concerned in the disposal of refuse. Of course, the
trials indicate the capabilities of the furnace under the conditions existing,
260 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
and undoubtedly the results obtained in such a trial are rather better than
may be expected in ordinary practice. The operating force engaged in
the work at the plant during the trials consisted of one steam engineman
and four stokers or firemen. Three of these men were employees of the
local bureau who had never before worked about any steam raising plant
and had never had any experience in high temperature work. They had re-
ceived only two months' training in the work about the furnace. Undoubt-
edly, with more experienced men, even better results could be obtained
than those indicated in the summary of the tests.
After the furnace had satisfactorily met the conditions and requirements
of the contract and specifications, it was accepted, and on May 2ist it was
taken over by the city. It has continued to satisfactorily dispose of mixed
refuse during the trying period when the garbage contained was very high,
and bids fair to satisfactorily perform its duty in the future, though, of
course, until the plant has been operated for at least one year its short-
comings and reasons therefor will not be known.
COSTS ;
The capital costs of the plant were as follows:
Land (100' x 300') $5,000
Foundations, building, chimney, runway, retain-
ing wall, etc. . , 39,5oo
Furnaces, boiler, etc 23,995
There are perhaps more inquiries made concerning costs of disposal at
the new plant than any other factor connected with it. In every case it
has been stated that until the plant has been operating continuously
throughout a refuse cycle, which really covers a period of one year, it will
not be possible to give any reliable cost data regarding maintenance
charges. There are still many factors concerning the more effective dis-
posal of mixed refuse at the new plant, such as the benefit derived from
the heat abstracted from the clinker in the cooling chamber, the ordinary
amount of power produced under average operating conditions, the best
utilization of such power and the most economical treatment of the other
by-products, including clinker, tins, dust, etc. No decision has yet been
made regarding the use of the by-products, and it is deemed prudent to
postpone such a decision till sufficient information has been secured to
wisely determine the most economical use of the by-products.
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 261
TABLE LIV.— SUMMARY OF OFFICIAL TESTS, WEST NEW BRIGHTON.
Test
No.
Date of
Test
1908
REFUSE BURNED
Descrip-
tion
Composition,
Character
Total
Refuse
Han-
dled
Tons
Refuse
Burned
Tons
*8
May 6
September
Mixture
as per
Specifica-
tions
Components
Garbage
Fine Ash
Coal & Cinders . .
Clinker
Glass, Metal, etc.
Rubbish
Total...
46.6
21 .7
7.7
0.6
8.5
14-9
100. O
Lbs.
19.875
9,255
3,284
256
3,625
6,355
20.802
52.0
42,650
May 8
Refuse as
Collected
Wet from rain; Sample dried
gave 38% moisture
16.315
16.145
May 13
February
Mixture
as per
Specifica-
tions
Components
Ashes
Garbage
Rubbish
Glass, Metal, etc.
Total. . .
79-5
it. 8
5-3
3-4
Lbs.
31,88!
4,732
2,125
1,364
20.051
19.827
49.6
40,102
May 15
Refuse as
Collected
Wet from rain of previous
17.43°
17.235
62.7
5 May 16 Refuse as Relatively dry, representative
Collected material
23.847 23-673 59-2
RESIDUAL
EVAPORATION PER LB.
REFUSE BURNED
Test
No.
Clink-
r.Lbs.
Ashes,
Lbs.
Dust
(Ap-
prox.)
Lbs.
Tins,
etc.,
Not
Fired,
Lbs.
Total
Lbs.
Per-
centage
of
Original
Refuse
Gross
Actual
Lbs.
Gross
Equiv.
From
and at
212° F.,
Lbs.
Net
Useful
Steam
for Pow'r
from &
at 2i2°F.
10,93°
787
426
1,046
13,189
3°-9
1.41
1.31
8,390
787
326
340
9,843
30.2
1.03
1.25
1.16
11,460
1,978
448
14.293
35-6
1-33
12,965
669
389
14,372
0.91
17,344
19,083
I .02
I . 12
C02
Test
No.
TEMPERATURES IN °FAHR.
COMBUSTION
CHAMBER
P rt
go
I
17.0
6.0
1,846
1,526
48.5
306
55
137-4
16.5
,526
380
287
55
133-2
8.4
6.0
1,637
1,382
364
83.9
268
12.4
17.6
8.6
1,698
'.526
397
50.6
288
54
136.4
12.3
5 12. 9 16.3 7.6 1,792 1,940 1,634 - • • •
8.a
is The
The agent of Heenan & Froude Destructor in the United States
Power Specialty Company, in Broadway, New York.
CHAPTER XI.
BRITISH DESTRUCTORS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
SPECIAL ARTICLE.
BY W. FRANCIS GOODRICH, A.I.MECH.E., F.I.S.E.
Having in mind the splendid services which Colonel Morse
has rendered in the cause of sanitary reform for many years past,
I gladly respond to his invitation to present the existing situation
in the United Kingdom, British Colonies and Europe, in so far
as the final and sanitary disposal of refuse is concerned.
Thirty years have passed since the late Mr. Alfred Fryer
erected the first furnaces for burning refuse, coining the term
destructor, which is now universally understood in all countries
as the only satisfactory means to an end, the sanitary desideratum
— disposal by fire.
While in America from the Atlantic to the Pacific during the
past twenty years not much real progress has been made, it is
possible to record in Great Britain steady and consistent progress,
with but very few failures. I shall be well within the mark
if I say that less than ten destructors have been pulled down or
abandoned in Great Britain during the past thirty years. The
earliest destructors erected in this country are still in daily use
in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Hull and other cities, and
although they suffer by comparison with modern installations in
these same cities, yet in fairness it must be said that they have
done, and continue to do, that work for which they were erected.
Those American writers who have attributed the progress
which has been made in Great Britain to the fact that refuse dis-
posal has been treated as an engineering problem may rest assured
that they are correct. For many years past a few well-known en-
gineering firms in England have devoted very close attention to
those combustion problems and other problems involved in the de-
signing and erection of destructor furnaces of the highest all-
262
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 263
264 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
round efficiency, with the result that finality in the essential prin-
ciples has now been reached, and the only possible improvements
in the future will be in details affecting the labor cost for opera-
tion, the clinkering process, and the profitable treatment of the
residuals. Those who have closely followed the progress in final
and sanitary refuse disposal in Great Britain will agree that the
demonstration of the fuel value of refuse has been a potent factor
making for the sanitary ideal. While there must ever be a con-
stant striving after the highest efficiency in sanitation, yet it
would be idle to pretend that nearly 250 municipalities in Great
Britain, would at this time have had destructors in operation had
the power aspect not been so clearly and conclusively demon-
strated.
Many worthy councilors with but a very hazy notion of sanitary
necessities have been fascinated with the possibilities of power
production ; to their credit it must be said that they have grasped
the economic aspect, and realizing that the sanitary ideal could
be reached without any material addition to the rates they have,
in not a few instances, led the municipal engineer instead of being
led by him.
I have already observed that some 250 municipalities in the
United Kingdom now have destructors in operation ; in about
130 cities and towns the destructors are either combined with
electricity works, sewage works, water works, or other municipal
undertakings, providing power which would otherwise involve a
definite expenditure for coal, gas or oil, as the case may be.
Fig. 78 illustrates the first six destructor cells erected in Great
Britain, these being the original Fryer cells erected at the Water
street depot of Manchester Corporation in 1876.
Still in daily use it is interesting to add that within the past
three years Meldrum's forced draught and grates have been
added to this battery of cells at this depot, materially increasing
the temperature and destroying capacity.
Fig. 79 will serve to convey to the reader what has been ac-
complished in the thirty years which have passed since the late
Mr. Alfred Fryer erected his first destructor cells.
This diagram will serve to show (i) the total number of in-
stallations, (2) the number of plants erected by each maker, (3)
destructors combined with sewage works, (4) with electricity
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 265
works and (5) with water works, as also the proportion of idle
or semi-idle plants (i.e. ), destructors from which the power is
either only partially utilized for works purposes, or allowed to
go to waste.
While the proportion under the latter category may seem high
it must be remembered that many of these plants are old, being
erected long before the power aspect of refuse disposal had re-
ceived any serious consideration.
Any contribution concerning the present position of refuse dis-
posal in Great Britain would be incomplete without some reference
y
- ?<«&««? inM.fffefr.M^ftb*.
I. ™ " " "S*r •»
Q - JS,t conM*** with n>wrr PlanT,
FIG. 80.— DIAGRAM— THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS WITH BRITISH
DESTRUCTORS.
to the main combinations of destructor and power plant, which
have played an important part in the later development of British
refuse destructors. We will, therefore, briefly review the com-
binations of destructors with sewage works, electricity works and
water works.
DESTRUCTORS COMBINED WITH SEWAGE WORKS.
This desirable combination has found much favor, and at the
present time some forty-five installations are in operation in
266 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
various parts of England and Wales, while many similar works
are projected.
In not a few towns the sewage works are so located that the
combination is an impossible one because of the cost of haulage.
This obstacle, as also the fact that at many sewage works gas
engines or oil engines are employed, has operated against the
more extensive adoption of destructors, and, to some extent, will
continue so to do. To utilize the available power from the solid
refuse of a community to pump its liquid refuse — the sewage, and
further to utilize the residual clinker from the solid refuse for the
bacterial treatment of the sewage, appeals to many as an ideal
combination — as indeed it is.
To the Cathedral City of Hereford belongs the credit of in-
stalling the first destructor in conjunction with a sewage works.
This destructor of the Meldrum front-fed type has now been at
work daily since 1897. About one and one-half million gallons
of sewage is pumped to a height of 36 ft. in a ten-hour day, the
total cost of the destructor installation was about £1,200, and a
coal bill of about £400 per annum has been entirely saved, not one
pound of coal having been burned since the destructor com-
menced work, the total cost of repairs and maintenance during
nine years has been £34 only. Ten tons of refuse are burned
daily and, in addition to pumping, steam is also provided for
operating sludge presses, lime mixers and other auxiliary plants.
The vexed question as to whether or not it is possible for a
destructor to be operated as a financially reproductive undertaking
has been clearly disposed of in so far as combined sewage and
destructor works are concerned.
In fact, they have exceeded all expectations in most cities
where an account has been kept of operation and other data of the
plant. In America there is no doubt as to their success, while in
Europe and other countries each year generally shows an increase
in saving when properly managed. There should be little hesi-
tancy on the part of wide-awake municipalities in adopting this
plan, judging from the results which have so far been attained.
The following table, No. LII, clearly sets forth what has been
done at twelve combined works. It will be observed that in no
less than seven towns a net annual surplus in relief of the rates is
shown after meeting all capital and standing charges.
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 267
Capital Cost of Destructor and
Steam- Raising Plant
£1,200 exclusive of boilers and chimney
£12,600 including buildings and chimney
£4,500 exclusive of boilers and chimney
£4,510 including buildings and chimney
£800 exclusive of boilers and chimney
£6.310 excluding chimney only
£5.000 excluding chimney and one boiler
£2 400 including building and chimney
£4.000 including building and chimney
£6,000 including buildings and chimney
£6,800 including buildings and chimney
£4.600 excluding one boiler and chimney
Labor Cost
Per Ton of
Refuse
Destroyed
(^TJ M « M • f>00 OO M M M
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268 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
The following interesting figures are available from Eccles for
the past year, these being extracted from the annual report of
the Medical Officer of Health, Dr. W. M. Hamilton, M.D.,
D.P.H. :
TABLE LVII.— REPORT ON ECCLES DESTRUCTOR.
Total weight of refuse destroyed 10,975 tons
Average weight of refuse destroyed daily 29.79
Labor cost per ton of refuse destroyed njd.
Total water evaporated 20,429 360 Ibs
Daily evaporation 66,550
Average evaporation throughout the whole year per Ib. of
refuse destroyed i .002 '
H.P. developed continuously at 20 Ibs. per H.P 138 H.P.
Total weight of clinker. 3,464 tons 12 cwts.
Percentage 32 .57
Revenue from " ^433 is. 46..
FIG. 81.— PLAN AND SECTIONS, MELDRUM DESTRUCTOR, WITH
LANCASHIRE BOILER, WATFORD.
"The pumping and treatment of the sewage of the borough
has been carried on without intermission the whole year through.
The destructors (Meldrum's front-fed type) have also been in
continuous .operation. The whole of the steam required for the
pumping engines has been evaporated by the refuse destroyed in
the destructors."
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 269
THE WATFORD DESTRUCTOR AND SEWAGE PLANT.
One of the most successful combined sewage and destructor
works is that of the Watford Urban District Council, situated
about 17 miles north of London.
Here a Meldrum front-fed regenerative destructor deals with
an average of about 27 tons of refuse daily, working continuously
for about 150 hours per week. Steam is supplied at a pressure of
1 20 pounds to Worthington pumps and air compressor engines.
FIG. 82.— DIAGRAM— ONE DAY'S RECORD OF STEAM PRESSURE,
WATFORD.
About one million gallons of sewage is pumped every 24 hours to
a height of 84 feet, while an additional half million gallons is
dealt with by the air compressors and ejector plant.
The destructor was started on March 31, 1904, and the forego-
ing figures (Table LVI) covering the first two years of working,
are perhaps without parallel among combined works of the kind.
270 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
After meeting all capital and standing charges, there remains a
net surplus in relief of the rates of about £150 per annum.
Fig. 8 1 illustrates the general arrangement of the destructor
plant at Watford; it will be observed that in addition to steam
generation the hot gases after passing the boiler are further
utilized for heating the air for combustion in a Meldrum re-
generator and also for heating the boiler feed water in a Greens
economizer, the temperatures being respectively about 300° F.
and 250° F., the heating surfaces of the boiler, regenerator and
economizer reducing the temperature of the gases from an average
of 1, 800° F. in the combustion chamber before the boiler, to
about 400° F. at the chimney base.
Fig. 82 is reproduced from steam pressure recorder diagrams
and clearly shows how steadily the pressure is maintained through-
out one day's ordinary work. The diagrams of a week's work are
almost exactly identical with this.
CLINKER FOR FILTER BEDS.
The value of destructor clinker for bacteria beds has now been
clearly established and there is an enormous and constant de-
mand for large quantities all over the country.
It is no exaggeration to say that in good vitreous clinker has
been found the most suitable material yet discovered. At Alder-
shot Urban District Council Sewage Works some beds made up
with destructor clinker over five years since are still in use with
the original material, while at these works, coke which was
previously used has disintegrated, and after being removed as
useless it has been passed through the destructor with refuse,
emerging therefrom as a useful clinker to be again used in a
changed form for the same duty.
A year since, when the writer was invited to give evidence
before the Royal Commission on Sewage Disposal concerning
the cremation of sludge, he was also requested to lay before the
Commissioners some evidence regarding the combination of de-
structors with sewage works.
Some very exhaustive tables prepared by the writer for this
purpose will be found in the next report of this Commission, and
to those especially interested in combined destructor and sewage
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 271
works these tables should be exceedingly useful, bringing to-
gether a mass of facts and figures in concise form.
What the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Sewage
Disposal will be concerning this combination remains to be seen ;
it has been facetiously suggested that ere their labors are com-
plete every sewage works will be a combined undertaking.
DESTRUCTORS COMBINED WITH ELECTRICITY WORKS.
During the past ten years some 70 municipal authorities have
adopted this combination, generally speaking, with very satisfac-
tory results. While the production of electric light from refuse
has held many Councillors with a peculiar fascination, it never
has appealed to the Electrical Engineer, and although many are
now disposed to adopt a more friendly attitude towards the com-
bination, it is no exaggeration to state that the progress which
has been made is, on the whole, not due to the Electrical Engineer,
but rather in spite of him.
Electricity works are usually centrally located and their position
offers an ideal site for the destructor from the point of view of
haulage costs. As the cost of refuse collection and haulage has
nothing whatever to do with the electricity department, the Elec-
trical Engineer cannot be induced to consider this factor — an all-
important factor from the ratepayers' point of view.
The view of the Electrical Engineer has been purely depart-
mental or personal ; he does not want the destructor ; why should
he have it? The question of cartage costs or power utilization,
both of vital importance to the ratepayers, do not, as a rule, appeal
to him, although he is their servant.
While this narrow and illogical view has not been without its
effect in thwarting the adoption of destructors in combination
with electricity undertakings, yet very satisfactory progress has
been made. It is not possible to include figures such as those in
Table No. LI I or similar to those available and here included in
connection with combined destructor and sewage works, not be-
cause the destructor is minus a satisfactory financial side, but
rather because accounts are not kept in that clear and separate
form which is so desirable with every municipal undertaking.
While a steady pumping load is undoubtedly the better load for
a destructor, yet the work which is being done both at lighting
272 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
and power stations, as also at traction stations, is very satis-
factory, and perfectly justifies the combination of destructors and
the fullest possible utilization of the power.
At the present time about 4,500 tons of refuse are being des-
troyed daily at such works, the electrical output per ton of refuse
destroyed varying from 25 to 100 Board of Trade units. The
highest recorded results are set forth in Table No. LVIII and may
with advantage be compared with the recent results obtained at
Westmount, Montreal, which are also included.
TABLE LVIII.— SOME RECENT RESULTS IN POWER PRODUCTION AT
COMBINED ELECTRICITY AND DESTRUCTOR WORKS.
Water Evap-
Electrical
orated
Board of
WORKS
Duration of
Per Ib. of
Trade
Test
Refuse from
Units per
and at 212
Ton of
F. Ibs.
Refuse
Stoke-on-Trent
1 5 hours
2.6
108.1
Nelson
8 max'm
2-35
"
5 weeks avg.
2 12
104
Todmorden
ii hours
2 .09
Burnley
i ord'y week
2 .OO
Bangor
7 J hours
.08
*Cambuslang
6 "
02
Q7
t Woolwich
24
.917
IOO
Preston
9"
7
100 24
^Westmount
Temperature of combustion chamber at start 7SO°F. feed water 460°F.
•j-Test conducted by the National Boiler Insurance Co. Ltd.
PRESTON COMBINED ELECTRIC TRACTION AND DESTRUCTOR
WORKS.
The Combined Electric Traction and Destructor Works at Pres-
ton are among the most interesting and convincing in Great
Britain. Here for the past eighteen months the entire traction
service of this important town has been operated from the town's
refuse alone, not excluding Sundays and holidays.
Some thirty cars are in operation for about seventeen hours
daily over about nineteen miles of track, and as much at £1,000
per week has been taken in fares. About 21,000 Board of Trade
units are generated every week from refuse alone, or an average
of about 60 units per ton of refuse destroyed.
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 273
The destructor plant comprises 4.4 grate Meldrum front-fed
regenerative destructors, total capacity about 250 tons daily, 4.30
x 8 ft. Lancashire boilers for 200 pounds pressure, regenerators,
and Greens economizers. A special feature of this installation is
the special offal charging arrangement and also the unique pro-
vision made for cremating large carcasses without handling.
At Swansea (South Wales) a five-cell back fed Horsfall de-
structor is combined with a sub-station and provides power for
traction purposes. During a recent test an evaporation of 1.20
pounds of water per pound of refuse was obtained, about 60 tons
of refuse is destroyed daily and an electrical output of 32 units
per ton of refuse destroyed has been obtained.
This plant can, however, scarcely be compared with that at
Preston, as although the weight of refuse destroyed daily is
similar at Swansea, coal firing is there arranged for in connection
with the destructor boiler, while the track at Swansea is only 4^2
miles (route length) as compared with over 19 miles at Preston.
ELECTRIC LIGHTING AND DESTRUCTOR WORKS AT STOKE-ON-
TRENT.
It has already been observed that at Preston the whole of the
power required for the operation of the electric traction service
is provided from refuse alone. At Stoke-on-Trent it is possible
to record over a period of nearly two years a similar result in
connection with a combined lighting station; from about thirty
tons of refuse daily sufficient steam is produced to supply all de-
mands for public and private lighting, no coal whatever being
used, in fact no coal-fired boilers are installed. The destructor
and power plant which is similar (although smaller) than that at
Preston is illustrated in Fig. 83, while Fig. 84 illustrates the
large plant of twelve grates of the Meldrum type combined with
three 250 h.p. Babcock & Wilcox steam boilers, at the Borough
of Woolwich, London.
Nothing can be quite so convincing either among combined
sewage or electricity works as those few works where no coal
whatever is burned, and wrhere no supplementary coal-fired boilers
are installed ; where refuse is relied upon as the only fuel, there
can be no criticism, and such instances afford a very conclusive
answer to those who still doubt the fuel value of refuse.
274 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
The latest combined electricity and destructor works is that at
H. M. Royal Dockyard, Chatham; the destructor is of the Mel-
FIG. 83.— DESTRUCTOR AT STOKE-ON-TRENT, ENGLAND.
FIG. 84.— DESTRUCTORS AT BOROUGH OF WOOLWICH, CITY OF
LONDON, ENGLAND.
drum regenerative front- fed type and will deal with about three
tons of refuse per hour for eight hours daily, supplying steam at
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 275
200 pounds pressure to the adjoining main generating station re-
cently constructed by the Admiralty.
In thus deciding to utilize a large quantity of refuse, the British
Admiralty have followed the lead of many municipal authorities.
The results at Chatham Dockyard, owing to the character of the
refuse, will, in all probability, be far better than anything yet re-
corded in connection with combined undertakings.
DESTRUCTORS COMBINED WITH WATER WORKS — SHEERNESS.
Among destructors combined with water works, the most suc-
cessful example in this country is that at Sheerness, a plant which
has been inspected and was favorably commented upon by some
few American engineers. Here for three years past the destructor
has shown a net surplus in relief of the rates of over £400 per
annum, the total cost of repairs and maintenance being less than
£10.
The destructor is of the Meldrum regenerative front fed type,
and deals with about fourteen tons of refuse daily; the total cost
of the plant, excluding the chimney only, was £3,600.
Only two other works of this kind are in operation, a small
plant at Hunstanton and a large plant at Blackburn. It is a com-
bination which does not attract, owing to fear of contamination,
but in cases where the reservoirs are not located at the pumping
station or where covered reservoirs are used, with a well-designed
destructor plant no trouble need be feared.
While the water works at Sheerness are in a very central posi-
tion, water works as a rule are even further removed from in-
habited areas than are sewage works, and for this reason, if for no
other, the erection of destructors at water works will be limited.
CLINKER UTILIZATION.
Having destroyed, or rather changed, the nature of the refuse,
we now have, according to the season of the year and other con-
ditions, from 22% to 35% of vitreous clinker, free from organic
matter and useful for many purposes. In so far as this country
is concerned the writer is still firmly convinced that where a good
vitreous "commercial" clinker is produced there is not, nor has
there ever been a "clinker problem." Where an unsatisfactory
clinker is produced, due either to an inefficient destructor or ineffi-
276 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
cient handling of a good destructor, the authorities can only blame
themselves if they are faced with what they are pleased to term a
problem, and have to pay to get rid of a useless material.
Whether their choice of a destructor was at fault or, on the
other hand, whether their management is loose, they are to blame.
In a few cases of this kind the clinker is a source of trouble and
expense, but these are isolated cases, fe.w and far between. Gener-
ally speaking, clinker is a good asset, and in many cases it is a very
material source of revenue.
Whether plant of any kind be installed or not for treatment of
the clinker must always be determined by the local conditions.
It is, for instance, a sheer waste of public money to install a
plant of any kind if the clinker can be sold at a good price as it
comes from the destructor.
At the destructor works of the Metropolitan Borough of
Wandsworth, London, all the clinker is thus sold just as it comes
from the destructor at is. 9d. per cubic yard, and so great is the
demand for it that all day long it is being shoveled into carts
long before it is cold.
At Watford Destructor Works, all clinker is similarly sold at
is. 8d. per ton on the ground just outside the works. Under such
circumstances it would be folly to incur a large expenditure for
brickmaking plant, or even the moderate expenditure involved in
the purchase of a mortar mill or a crushing and screening plant ;
their products are not wanted, while the untreated clinker is,
and the revenue is accordingly a net one.
In many towns there is a great demand for destructor clinker
mortar, and at the present time over 300 mortar mills are in daily
operation at such works ; in every case there is a net profit, while
the mortar is considered by some to be too good for ordinary
building purposes.
Where clinker can be utilized for bacteria beds, or where it
can be best sold graded, crushing and screening plants have been
installed. Some twenty-five works in this country now have crush-
ing and screening plants in operation.
The utilization of clinker for bacteria beds has already been
referred to; the sale of clinker for this purpose or its utilization
instead of coke, coke breeze, ballast and other media is in many
cases a source of considerable revenue.
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 277
Some twenty municipalities are now operating clinker paving
flag plants with excellent results ; given a good clinker, very dur-
able flags are produced at a saving to the ratepayers. Naturally
the most convincing figures in this connection are those from the
larger towns and cities, where the demand is such that the plant
can be operated continuously. Clinker brick-making plants have
now been installed in some half dozen towns in England and
very fine bricks are being produced.
The manufacture of mortar, paving flags and bricks from
clinker has met with much opposition in this country from those
who are generally opposed to municipal trading. Such opposition
is perhaps the most convincing testimony as to its success.
It is contended that mortar must not be made and sold by a
municipality in competition with a ratepayer, that a local authority
should not even be permitted to make paving flags or bricks, be-
cause by so doing established industries are threatened. The
height of absurdity has perhaps been reached when those who
manufacture and sell carbolic powder protest against the use of
flue dust as a base for carbolic powder, although the municipality
purchases the carbolic acid.
Hampered thus on every hand, remarkable progress has been
made, and greater progress will undoubtedly be recorded in the
near future.
CONTINENTAL PROGRESS.
On the Continent refuse disposal is now engaging the atten-
tion of many municipa1 authorities and, in spite of the activity of
German engineers, British destructors are likely to be extensively
adopted. The Herbertz destructor, designed to some extent on the
lines of the most successful British types, has been adopted at
Fiume, Austria, and very satisfactory results are reported, but
there is no reason to suppose that this destructor can show such
efficiency as may be obtained with British destructors properly
adapted for dealing with the varying refuse of Continental coun-
tries. The Horsfall Destructor at Hamburg (Bullerdeich) which
has been considerably altered during the past few years, is re-
ported to give much satisfaction. Destructors of the same type
have been erected in Zurich and Brussels. Russia can now boast
of two destructors, one at Czarskoe Selo, the other a small ex-
278 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
perimentary plant at St. Petersburg, both of the Horsfall type,
and curiously enough, after years of contemplation, both de-
structors were erected during the past year, when that unhappy
country was in the throes of revolution.
At Fredericksburg (Denmark) a destructor of British make
has been erected, but at present there is no sign of further prog-
ress in Scandinavian municipalities.
During the present year the first destructors to be adopted in
France will be erected in Paris, comprising three distinct in-
stallations of the Meldrum patent regenerative top-fed type.
Each of the three works will be equipped with 3.4 grate de-
structors, Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 9.4 grate plants in all, hav-
ing a combined total destroying capacity of between 500 and 600
tons daily.
The town of St. Etienne has ordered three Meldrum destructors
having a total capacity of over 200 tons per day.
Holland, Greece and Turkey cannot report progress at present ;
in the former country British destructors are now being con-
sidered for some of the most important municipalities. In Greece
there is not a whisper of sanitary refuse disposal. Turkey is
equally apathetic; the dogs of Constantinople, ever multiplying,
continue to account for the garbage of this interesting and his-
toric city whose authorities at present seem quite content to avail
themselves of the services of these willing and unpaid scavengers
for all time.
What has been accomplished in Great Britain has not been
without its effect upon municipal engineers in Continental Europe ;
there are abundant signs on every hand that when the present un-
satisfactory methods of refuse disposal no longer satisfy, British
destructors will be favored as offering a definite solution of what
must everywhere become a serious problem.
PROGRESS IN THE EAST.
In Cairo a four-cell Horsfall destructor was erected about two
years ago. Alexandria, the Egyptian city of scarcely less im-
portance, has recently decided to adopt a British destructor.
Further east, in India, but little progress can be reported.
A Baker destructor has been erected in Calcutta, which plant deals
with about 130 tons daily. At Karachi, in the Punjab, are
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 279
two Warner destructors, erected some few years ago, now op-
erating.
At Singapore (Straits Settlements) a four-cell Horsfall de-
structor will be erected during the present year.
Nothing has yet been done in Japan, but coincidently with the
advance of Western civilization there will surely be a decided de-
mand for sanitary improvement. In China, notoriously dirty, no
progress can be recorded; even in the important cities of Hong
Kong and Shanghai disposal by fire has yet to be adopted. It is,
however, but fair to add that the garbage of the latter city is in
constant demand for manurial purposes.
Kipling has said that "East is East and West is West, and never
the twain shall meet." In final sanitary refuse disposal they cer-
tainly will meet; with advancing civilization and a growing de-
mand for sanitary reform there is not the slightest doubt that the
time is coming when the ideal of the West will be the ideal of the
East.
PROGRESS IN AUSTRALASIA.
In Australasia progress is somewhat slow, but interesting- de-
velopments may be looked for during the next few years. The
important municipalities of Australia have moved very cautiously,
notwithstanding the constant trouble arising from the tipping of
refuse. In Sydney is a six-cell Warner destructor erected four
years ago ; a new plant of greater capacity was projected two
years since, but tenders have not yet been accepted. A Manlove
destructor was erected in Melbourne (South) several years ago,
and the authorities of this important Victorian city are likely to
erect a modern plant in the near future. The municipality of
Perth have recently decided to erect a Horsfall destructor; other
cities such as Adelaide, Brisbane and Newcastle continue to con-
template cremation as the only way out of an ever-increasing
difficulty.
At Toowoomba, near Brisbane, a Meldrum destructor of the
Beaman & Deas type was erected about three years ago, specially
arranged for the cremation of refuse and excreta. Annandale
and Leichardt, two small townships on the outskirts of Sydney,
have a Meldrum regenerative front-fed destructor, which deals
with the refuse of both towns, some 25 tons daily.
280 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
New Zealand has, perhaps, a better record than Australia,
viewed from the standpoint of modern British practice. At Christ-
church a Meldrum Beaman & Deas destructor was erected about
FIG. 85.— DESTRUCTOR AT ANNAN DALE, AUSTRALIA.
FIG. 86.— DESTRUCTOR AT CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND.
four years ago in combination with the municipal electricity
works (Fig. 86). The city of Auckland also has erected a three-
grate Meldrum regenerative top-fed destructor in conjunction
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 281
with the electricity works. This plant has been in operation
for some few months past and, like the Christchurch plant, with
very satisfactory results.
Wellington has a destructor of the Fryer type, erected several
years ago ; a modern destructor of British make has recently been
decided upon and will be erected in the near future.
SOUTH AFRICA.
At East London and Durban (Natal) destructors of the Warner
"Perfectus" type were erected some years ago, and these, the
first destructors in South Africa, required the use of coal as a
FIG. 87.— MELDRUM DESTRUCTOR, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA.
supplementary fuel. Within the past two years a Horsfall three-
cell destructor has been erected in- Durban, a plant of the same
type and size at Bloemfontein, and a two-cell Horsfall destructor
at Lorenzo Marques.
At Kalk Bay (Muizenberg), "the Brighton of Cape Colony,"
is a Meldrum two-grate plant which is operated in combination
with a large generating and main drainage works. Johannesburg
has three four-grate Meldrum patent regenerative top-fed de-
282 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
structors, which deal with nearly 200 tons of refuse daily; here,
as at Kalk Bay, the power is fully utilized. It is worthy of note
that the clinker at Johannesburg is a source of revenue, large
quantities having been sent even as far as Bloemfontein sewage
works for the bacteria beds there. The municipality of Pretoria
has recently decided to install a Meldrum regenerative top-fed de-
structor to dispose of some 40 tons of refuse daily. The plant will
have a capacity of 60 tons daily.
THE GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF DESTRUCTORS.
It will now be clear that the British refuse destructor is an
established success, in many countries. The many foreign and
colonial installations are shown in the following table (No. LIX),
and it must be obvious that the experience gained in the treatment
of a great variety of waste in a number of countries has placed
the leading makers of destructors in England in a very strong
position.
It is but fair to argue that those destructors which are success-
fully dealing with a variety of waste in tropical and other coun-
tries could be readily adapted to the requirements of American
municipalities and in the treatment of the waste of such munici-
palities a useful experience would be brought to bear upon the
problem.
There are obvious difficulties to be faced in connection with the
choice of the site ; there ever will be ; ignorance has always to be
combated, but those who have the interests of the ratepayers at
heart must be prepared for opposition. With well over 100 de-
structors in operation on central sites in the United Kingdom,
very few complaints have been made.
Needless to add to insure such a result the destructor must be
well designed, contained within suitable buildings, efficiently
operated and carefully supervised. Under favorable conditions it
should then be, if not actually self-supporting, at any rate such
a small charge upon the rates as would pass unnoticed by the
intelligent citizen who realizes to the full the great sanitary gain.
The method of disposal by fire may be accepted as the most
satisfactory and universal way of dealing with all forms of worth-
less matter, and it is interesting to note that the beginning of the
movement in the United States and Canada is announced by the
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 283
installation of four British destructors, all of which have been
entirely successful in their performance. A contract has also been
recently closed for another. At the present writing the American
towns are asking for additional information regarding the opera-
tion and capacity of these destructors. With the better knowledge
of the efficiency and capacity of these furnaces as applied to
American conditions there will undoubtedly be an expansion of
this business such as has attended the growth in Great Britain
and the Colonies, and the continental countries within the last
six years.
TABLE LIX.— BRITISH REFUSE DESTRUCTORS THROUGHOUT THE
WORLD.
MAKER
Great BritairJ
and Ireland
Continental
Countries
Australasia
o
li
**
1:1
w^
South
America
S
0}
w
1
Canada
V)
•oi
S3
•a co
fa
CQ
3
8
Meldrum Bros. . .
77
6
7
4
2
2
i
2
101
Horsfall Des. Co.
60
7
2
5
2
2
78
Manlove, Elliott
&Co
63
i
2
i
2
69
H e e n a n &
Froude
35
2
I
i
I
40
Goddard, Massey
& Warner
28
I
2
I
32
Hughes & Stir-
ling Co
7
o
8
Jos. Baker &
/
Sons
1
2
I
4
332
NOTE — Tnis paper was written by Mr. Goodrich in 1906, and all statements refer to
the conditions at the end of that year.
The table LIX is compiled by the author from available data — ED.
PRAHRAN, AUSTRALIA. THE MELDRUM SIMPLEX DESTRUCTOR
AT PRAHRAN.
In 1907, Mr. W. Calder, City Engineer of Prahran, Australia,
was instructed to proceed to England and examine the several
types of refuse destructors in view of an installation for the city
of Prahran. After inspecting a very large number of installations
he contracted for a Meldrum Simplex Destructor with some
284 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
special features of the latest design. This destructor was built
in the latter part of 1907, and has been in operation since the
spring of this year. It is probable that Australian conditions are
very much more similiar to our own than they are to those of
England, and the reports that followed the first operation of this
destructor will be of interest to all American readers.
Prahran has 40,000 population and is to some extent a residen-
tial suburb of Melbourne. All the refuse of the town was pre-
viously dumped, after being hauled a long distance, which disposal
created objectionable nuisance. The recent composition of the
refuse we have no record of, but in 1900 that of Melbourne and
Prahran was reported to be as follows:
COMPOSITION OF TOWN'S REFUSE.
Melbourne
Prahran
Cinders, coke and ashes
26 < t;
AT. 08
Sweepings, fine dust, sand, etc
42 .81
26.23
Vegetable matter, garden refuse, etc
Paper, wood, straw, combustibles
14.31
• ••-''• n-57
17-57
9-25
Rubbish, glass, iron, incombustibles, etc
4.76
3.87
100 .00
100 .00
The plant just completed comprises two independent units of
two grates or cells each, and two Babcock & Wilcox boilers, each
of 200 horse-power. The enclosing structure is all of brick with a
brick chimney, 135 feet high, and the tipping floor is reached by
a ramp, a substantially built incline of earth between two retain-
ing walls. The advantage of the two independent units is the
opportunity offered to clean the flues and furnaces without any
cessation of destruction and resultant accumulation of refuse,
which would be very objectionable in this residential locality.
The amount of refuse destroyed is about thirty tons per day.
In the summer season this is of less calorific value than in winter,
because of the large proportion of vegetables, garden refuse, tree
cuttings, etc. One unit operating 24 hours usually disposes of all
the refuse. It was originally intended to heat the air used in com-
bustion by passing it over the hot clinkers, and the plant was de-
signed to permit of this. A short trial, however, indicated that
little benefit was derived from this and it has been discontinued.
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 285
The clinkers are now carried directly to the yard, where they are
crushed and used for the paving of roads and footpaths.
A local paper remarks concerning the surroundings : "Trees,
flowers and shrubs are being planted, and the place in time should
present an attractive appearance to the eye, especially to passengers
FIG. 88.— THE MELDRUM DESTRUCTOR, PRAHRAN, AUSTRALIA.
who travel on the Hawkburn railway line. The site of the de-
structor is in the center of the city, surrounded by dwellings, where
any nuisance or failure in its proper working would be a serious
matter."
The following report of the operation of the destructor during
a test made in May, 1908, is furnished by Mr. Calder :
TABLE LX.— PRAHRAN REFUSE DESTRUCTOR TEST, MAY 21, 1908.
BOILERS:
Time of test 9:45 a.m. to 10:15 p.m.
Duration of test 1 1% hours.
Weather conditions, etc Fine. Wind North to Northwest.
Number of Cells 2
Total Grate Area 50 square feet.
One Babcock-Wilcox Heating Surface 1,426 square feet.
286 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
TABLE LX.— (Continued.)
REPUSB:
Nature of Refuse House and Garden Refuse.
Amount of Moisture contained in Refuse 42.86%
Total Weight of Refuse delivered 21 T. 10 C. i Q. 14 Ibs.
as fired 20 13 o 4
" Tins, bottles, etc 17 i jo
" Refuse destroyed per hour i 13 0 5
" sq. ft. per hr 74.016 Ibs.
WATER:
Total weight of water evaporated 47,067.5 Ibs.
per hour 3,765.4 "
Water evaporated per pound of refuse 1.019 Ibs.
from and at
212 degrees 1.188 "
CLINKER:
Total weight of clinker 5 T. o C. 3 Q. 21 Ibs.
Proportion of clinker to refuse fired 24.4%
Total weight of ash from ashpits 9 C. o Q. 7 Ibs.
Proportion of ash to refuse fired 2.19%
STEAM PRESSURE:
Steam Gauge — Average 172.3
Highest 185
Lowest ..115
Ashpit Draught — Average (No. i) .69" (No. 2) 1.35"
TEMPERATURE:
Combustion Chamber Copper melted 3 times.
Maximum (Watkin's Recorder) 2, 174 degrees.
Before Regenerator — Average , . . . 694.08
After Regenerator 55i-5
Hot Air Conduit 347-6 "
Building 62 "
Feed Water 82.1
For the utilization of the power developed by the destructor a
contract has been made with the Electric Lighting & Traction
Company, which is a private corporation, and from which the
city receives payment for the surplus electricity at a price based
upon the present rate paid by the company for fuel for the opera-
tion of their own works. The power developed during the day
by the destructor is sent through the high tension main of the
electricity works, passing through a meter for measurement. It
is estimated that this will bring in a revenue of £600 per annum.
The city council has ordered an additional cell for one of the
plants, and when this is installed the working force will be reduced
to two shifts of five men instead of six men in the twenty-four
hours, as formerly.
There is also a use found for the clinker, which is crushed and
made into paving slabs to be used in municipal work. The illus-
trations herewith show a mortar mill and crushing and grinding
machine with screen for separating the fine dust from the
clinker. It is expected that when all these revenues are put
together the cost of operation of the destructor will be brought
down to less than £20 per annum. At the present time the ex-
penditure in working the plant amounts to about £920 per year.
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 287
This will be reduced to £900 when the new grate is at work, and
the cost of maintenance greatly reduced.
This plant is an illustration of what can be done by a modern
destructor of the best type when operated under the care of an ex-
FIG. 89.— MORTAR MILL AND CLINKER SEPARATOR, PRAHRAN,
AUSTRALIA.
perienced city engineer, and from which revenue can be had not
only through the power but also from the by-products by prac-
tical utilization. The conditions in Prahran are very much like
those in an ordinary northern American town, and there is every
reason to believe that similar results can be obtained here by using
the same methods.
REFUSE DESTRUCTORS IN PARIS.
The Meldrum Destructors in Paris. — As previously noted Paris
had for centuries disposed of all its refuse for agricultural pur-
poses, but early in 1907 a contract was made for the installation
of three destructor plants in different parts of the city, which
should have a combined capacity of 700 tons daily.
288 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
FIG. 90.— MELDRUM DESTRUCTORS, PARIS.
DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY BRITISH DESTRUCTOR SYSTEMS. 289
These destructors are of the standard Meldrum top-feed type, in
three installations at Issy-le-Moulineaux, Romainviile and St.
Ouen. Each plant comprises three units of four grates, making a
total of 36 grates, or cells. Babcock & Wilcox boilers are used.
The accompanying illustration gives an excellent idea ot the
construction of the stations, and of the method of charging the
destructors, by means of conveyor belts which bring the refuse to
chutes connected with the charging holes of each destructor.
In 1906 the total number of British destructors operating
throughout the world was estimated at 282. Since then the in*
crease, as shown in the preceding table, is estimated at 50, making
the total 332. These figures are given as an indication of the
growth of the destructor system in almost every country in the
world. Besides the makers named there are some four or five
other baildtrs in Germany and Italy of furnaces which follow
very closely the lines of the British destructors. Undoubtedly
there are many other furnace builders whose acquaintance we
have not vet made.
PART IV.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION AND
EXTRACTION PROCESSES.
CHAPTER XII.
THE PROCESSES OF REDUCTION AND EXTRACTION IN THE U. S.
The movement for the improvement of sanitary conditions in
American towns actively began in 1887. While there were already
in existence many State medical associations which dealt with
public hygiene as particular phases of epidemics were reported by
the members, prior to this year, no general attention was paid
to the subject of municipal sanitation as- represented by the sani-
tary treatment of city wastes.
The leading national societies, the American Medical Associa-
tion, the Mississippi Valley Sanitary Society and the Association
of American Railroad Surgeons, did not concern themselves with
prevention of diseases that might arise from unsanitary waste
disposal methods. The health officers of towns and cities were
struggling with the difficulties that arose, but without the knowl-
edge of suitable methods and apparatus for improving conditions,
they were content to follow precedents and dispose of waste by the
easiest available means.
The first steps for general improvement were taken by the
American Public Health Association, when, in 1887, at the meet-
ing in Milwaukee, there was read a series of papers describing the
work of certain garbage crematories in Wheeling, Des Moines,
Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Montreal, by which city refuse of
every kind was destroyed by fire. This led to the appointment of
a special committee to investigate and report on the subject, and
this committee has been continued for nearly twenty years.
Papers published in the official reports of the association tabulated
the progress of the work, definitely defined the constituents of
waste, and from time to time gave statistics from many cities
290
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 291
and towns, advocating impartial consideration of the subject with
a view to the improvement of sanitary conditions. These reports
gave descriptions of methods and apparatus, and generally in-
cluded an indication of the approximate costs.
But in 1888-89 the subject came more prominently to the front,
through an epidemic of yellow fever in Florida, which awakened
widespread interest in the practical question of protection by
quarantine, and the necessity for controlling the progress and
finally stamping out the cause of the plague. Among the ques-
tions pertinent to the subject was that of the disposal of city waste,
a serious. problem in the affected communities in which there was
no sewerage system, nor any method, except the most primitive,
for disposing of household refuse.
The demand for the safe and instant disposal of dangerous
matter was met by the erection of cremating furnaces in which
night-soil, garbage, dead animals and combustible refuse were
destroyed. At Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Tampa, Fla., Bruns-
wick, Savannah, Atlanta, Ga., and Birmingham, Ala., the most
dangerous forms of waste were consumed by Engle cremators,
which were invaluable aids in restoring confidence in the effi-
cient administration of the Health Departments. All these installa-
tions, with one exception, were made after the design and under
the supervision of the author. While none were of large capacity
and all were hastily built with the material at hand, they were all
on the whole quite satisfactory in operation, and for temporary
service admirably answered the purpose. The subsequent growth
and progress of this means of waste disposal by incineration has
been previously described.
THE REDUCTION AND EXTRACTION METHODS FOR THE TREAT-
MENT OF GARBAGE.
The reports upon crematory work published by the engineering
press and in the papers of the American Public Health Associa-
tion gave- some idea of the composition and relative quantities of
American city waste. It was observed that the garbage was larger
in amount in this country than in English towns, where the work
of disposal by fire had been carried on for several previous years.
The reports of experiments made in European cities established
the fact that this item of waste contained a certain proportion of
292 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
grease or oil that was valuable for many uses, and that there re-
mained, after this oil was extracted, a residuum that could be still
further utilized.
THE MERZ PROCESS OF REDUCTION.
In 1886 the "Merz" process, first experimentally known in
Vienna, Austria, was introduced into America by Mr. H. A.
Fleischman, who in May of that year organized, at Buffalo, a
company "to manufacture grease and fertilizer from city refuse."
The contract with the city of Buffalo provided that the city should
collect the garbage, separated from all other refuse, and deliver the
same at the company's works.
The statement made by Mr. Fleischman before the committee of
the Boston City Council in March, 1893, gives a concise account
of the first "Merz" Extraction Process. Mr. Fleischman said :
We put up the first plant in the city of Buffalo, and I thought there
would be a barrel of money in it; and I went before the city council and
said, "Gentlemen, I will take your garbage for nothing. I do not want
any compensation for it." We put up the first plant, gentlemen. Our
company and our friends invested $55,000 and we received the garbage
for a year and a half, and after this time we found out we had lost
$18,000, and the people who had invested their money in the garbage busi-
ness thought they had better buy some other stock than garbage stock.
Finally we closed it up voluntarily.
Now, gentlemen, if all you would know the trouble we had, the in-
junctions that came in by the dozen : before we built a plant, anybody
would be tired of going into the garbage business. Well, after the plant
was closed for about a year, about five different parties came there and
made a bid. 'The cremation parties and other parties had some scheme
to put it on the ground and put some chemicals on it.
Finally the people of Buffalo were satisfied and thought we had lost
our money, and they gave us a contract for two years, $20,000 a year,
and our stockholders were delighted. We have worked that plant for
two years. . . . We get the common garbage from the city, and after
two years' work, we didn't make much money — we made in two years
$5,460.
Finally we went into another competition. The two years were out—
the city advertised again. . . . The Sanitary Committee of the City of
Buffalo unanimously accepted my bid of $125,000 for five years.
This second plant of the Buffalo Reduction Company was
built at Checktowaga, outside the city limits, about six and one-
half miles from City Hall.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 293
The construction and operation of the original plant cannot be
accurately described, owing to the numerous changes that have
been made, but the following description of the second plant,
which information was obtained by a personal inspection of the
works in 1892, is believed to be correct.
The city garbage carts deliver their loads upon an upper plat-
form where the tins and other foreign substances are recovered
by hand. The garbage is then charged into horizontal tanks or
digesters of about 6,000 pounds capacity. Extending through
these digesters is a hollow shaft with projecting arms which is
rotated by power, steam at high pressure being forced through
the shaft and arms. These cylindrical digesters are jacketed to
prevent the radiation of heat. The cooking process continues for
from six to eight hours, during which the bulk of the^ garbage
is reduced 65 per cent, by the escape of water which is allowed to
drain from the digesters. The remaining 35 per cent, of matter is
removed to closed steel tanks which are then flooded with naphtha.
This fluid holding the grease or oil is then removed by presses and
the residuum or "tankage" dried in rotary cylinders and ground
for fertilizer. The separation of the grease and water is then
complete, and the naphtha, with a loss of 15 per cent, to 20 per
cent, is recovered and used again. The oil obtained by this process
is a dense, semi-liquid brown or black mixture containing many
impurities and a considerable percentage of naphtha. It is
barrelled and sent to market in this crude form. The quantity, is
about 3 per cent, of the total amount of garbage treated, equivalent
to approximately 60 pounds per ton of garbage.
There is required 250 horse-power of steam and the continuous
labor of twelve or fifteen men to carry on the work. With the
exception of a storage house and the chimney stack the con-
struction is wholly of wood.
In 1890 this company made several experimental attempts to
manufacture a fertilizer from night-soil by means of a huge rotary
drying cylinder, but the process was so offensive and expensive,
and the results so uncertain that the attempts were abandoned.
The company continued the work of garbage disposal up to
September 30, 1900, when the works were almost entirely des-
troyed by fire. Pending the reconstruction of the plant, the com-
pany demanded and obtained a change in the contract whereby
294 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
they received a somewhat larger amount of money, with additional
yearly increase.
When this contract expired, the Board of Works advertised for
bids. . As stated by Mr. Drake, chairman of the board :
The reduction works that had been enjoying the contract for $35,000
per year put in a bid for $45,000 a year. There were three bids, however,
the lowest being for $15,000, and after weeks of delay and a bitter fight,
the contract was let to the lowest bidders. Within three days thereafter
the highest bidder, the reduction works, came with the successful con-
tractor and asked the board to consent to the transfer of the contract
to the reduction works; and to-day (September, 1899) they are reducing
the garbage for $15,000 per year, the former cost being $35,000.
The present contract, dating from June, 1903, is with the Buffalo
Sanitary Company, which has the contract for the collection and
disposal oT the city garbage, refuse and ashes. The treatment of
twenty-five thousand tons per year is performed for the sum of
about $18,000, the reduction company receiving all the product of
the work. This is a rate of 61.2 cents for disposal only. The
company makes collections and delivers at the works. This con-
tract expires in 1909, when it is probable that some other method
which will be less expensive will be used for transportation and
treatment.
THE NEW MERZ PROCESS.
When rebuilding the Buffalo works after the destruction by
fire, many changes and alterations were made, and later on more
improvements were introduced.
The present Merz process as carried on at Checktowaga is thus
described by a competent authority:
The building contains three large ovens, in each of which are
six revolving cylindrical dryers. These are 48 inches in diameter,
13 feet long, inclined, and supplied with hard coal grates, 15 square
feet in area. The heated gases pass around the dryers and are
then drawn through them by mechanical contrivances. Outside
the building is a cooling tank, 7 feet diameter, 10 feet high,
furnished with a i^-inch water spray pipe and drain, and a large
vertical discharge fan 78 inches in diameter, of 25,000 cubic feet
capacity, speed 280 revolutions per minute. The fan is connected
with a steel stack 80 feet high by 5% feet in diameter. The re-
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 295
maining apparatus includes four 125 horse-power boilers, four
grease extractors, two engines and an electrical generator.
The garbage is dumped into a large hopper and taken by con-
veyor to the second floor where it is ground into pieces of one
cubic inch. It then passes through the same breeching that con-
veys the gases to the cooling tower, into the rotary dryers where
it remains for one hour and a quarter. During this time it slowly
passes the length of the dryers, subjected to the heat all around the
cylinders ; the hot gases are also returned through the dryers and
brought into direct contact with the garbage. All animal life
is now destroyed and a large part of the moisture driven off.
The garbage is then conveyed to the Merz Grease Extractors and
the grease removed by a solvent of benzine. The tankage is
ground and stored for market and the grease separated from the
naphtha, which is recovered with about 15 per cent. loss. These
gases discharged in the drying process deposit a large amount of
watery vapor in the cooling tower and are sucked into the stack,
passing over a furnace in the bottom of the stack which destroys
any remaining offensive odors. Although the plant has reduced
as much as 175 tons per day, with 80 per cent, of moisture,
equivalent to 140 tons of water, the gases discharged from the
top of the stack were odorless and almost invisible.
The amount of garbage handled varies from 50 tons per day in
February to 140 tons in September. To reduce this amount of
garbage the plant consumes about ten tons of coal per day for the
steam boilers which furnish power to operate the plant, and for
the heating and evaporating of the naphtha, and four tons of coal
per day to heat the rotary dryers, also 100,000 gallons of water per
day for steam and condensing purposes, and about 50 gallons of
naphtha per day to replenish losses.
This is the method at present in use, a radical departure from
the former method of reduction by steam to pulp before applying
the solvent, and is the result of experiments extending for a num-
ber of years.
It will be noted that the great difficulty in reduction methods
has been that of drawing off the moisture contained in garbage,
which averages nearly 85 per cent. When this is separated by
steaming there is at one stage of the process a volume of water
that it is almost impossible to dispose of except through sewers.
296 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
This procedure invariably gives rise to nuisance, as the water
contains the most offensive and most quickly putrefying elements
of the garbage. The evaporation of the water at a temperature
sufficiently high to vaporize it would avoid the after difficulties of
dealing with this waste, and would deliver the residual in con-
dition to be treated by the solvent without loss of the valuable
volatile elements of ammonia and phosphate, which would re-
main in the tankage after the solvent had carried out the grease.
From the first, complaints of the operation of this plant have
been received. During the summer of 1904 a strong effort for its
discontinuance was made by the authorities of Checktowaga, but
without avail, the argument of the city being that the work was one
of necessity and that no other means of disposal was available.
Milwaukee. — The Merz process was introduced at Milwaukee,
Wis., in 1888, a local company capitalized at $500,000 having been
formed to take over the patents and do the work. This company
obtained a contract for three years and erected its works in the
city limits upon ground in the neighborhood of fertilizer factories
at a cost of $100,000.
The city paid $15,000 per year for disposal, collecting the
garbage for delivery to the company. The same apparatus as that
installed in the first Buffalo plant was used, although the quantity
of garbage was small, being about 50 tons per day.
Complaints of nuisance were made from the beginning and con-
tinued for the duration of the plant's operation. The Health
Officer, Dr. Wingate, says in one report:
In the summer of 1891, it became evident, to the Health Department that
the plant was being overworked, the water supply was not sufficient for
condensing the gases properly; the building had become shaky and the
machinery was not working properly; offensive gases were escaping and
creating a nuisance, and not from the fault of the process, but from the
location, construction and management of the plant, it was deemed ad-
visable to close the plant a few months before the expiration of the
contract.
In June, 1892, the city contracted for five years with the Wis-
consin Rendering Company for the disposal of garbage and dead
animals.
The collection was to be made by the company in steel air-tight
tanks and conveyed without nuisance either by boat or on cars to
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 297
the plant, which was located at Bartels, about fourteen miles out-
side the city limits. The collections were made three times per
week in summer and twice a week in winter from residences, and
daily from hotels and restaurants. Dead animals were removed
upon notification to the company. The city was to pay for collec-
tion, transportation and disposal, the sum of $68,000 for the first
year and a yearly increase of $2,000 per year for five years, when a
new contract could be made or the works purchased by the city.
The amounts in 1890 were 15,000 tons per year or about 48 tons
per day, with 15,943 small dead animals and 660 dead horses.
This is about $4.53 per ton for collection and disposal or approx-
imately 26 cents per capita. At the expiration of this contract
it was not renewed.
Milwaukee's experience in the various methods of waste dis-
posal covers all the stages of progress known to this country. In
the earliest years, and until it became impracticable, the garbage
was dumped at convenient places adjacent to the city limits. In
1887-8 the first crematory furnace was built by Mr. Forrestal, a
contractor. This was a crude form of the English Beehive de-
structor, using coal as fuel and destroying a part of the garbage.
In 1887-8, the Engle Sanitary and Construction Company, of
Des Moines, Iowa, installed a cremator of small capacity which
operated for a few months. This was acquired by the Merz Re-
duction Company and was discontinued when in 1888 they obtained
their contract for disposal by reduction.
After the suspension of the contract with the Wisconsin Ren-
dering Company in 1897, the city authorities went back for nearly
two years to the old system of dumping, but in 1902, compelled
by increasing public dissatisfaction with prevailing methods to
effect a change, they contracted with the Engle Sanitary and
Cremation Company for two large furnaces, each rated at 100
tons daily capacity. These were built under the patents and the
supervision of Robert Robinson, associated at that time with the
Engle Company, and were placed upon an island in the river in
an effort to avoid complaints of nuisance. The city paid $12,500
for the right to build under the patents and the sum of $29,160 was
appropriated for special machinery required in construction. The
ultimate cost for the construction and equipment of the crematories
was upward of $80,000.
298 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
The contract provided for a maximum cost for operating, but
the plant being under political control, a large number of un-
necessary employees found easy berths. The fuel expense was
large, making the cost of operation excessive. Many expensive
repairs to the furnace were made, and these, taken with the cost
of transportation by water, which was necessary because of the
isolated situation of the plant, made the cost of operation consider-
ably larger than that of any other garbage crematory in the
United States. This plant is still operating, pending the adoption
of other methods.
REPORT OF MR. RUDOLPH HERING.
In 1907 the city authorities commissioned Mr. Rudolph Hering
to make an examination of the present conditions and to formulate
a report upon the costs of collection of the varied classes of city
waste and the methods by which they should be disposed of in a
manner most sanitary and advantageous to the city.
An excerpt from Mr. Hering's report is made as follows.
(Condensed from the Municipal Sanitary Engineer, February 12,
1908):
The engineer considers at length both reduction and incinera-
tion systems. His final conclusion is, that, since reduction works
have invariably been offensive they should be located outside the
city, other large places having placed these at a distance of five
to fifteen miles from the populous districts. On the other hand,
there have been no complaints from the present crematory, and in
some instances similar plants have been operated in built-up sec-
tions without serious nuisance — it was, therefore, concluded that
an incinerating plant of the best type could be placed within the
city limits.
During 1906 the cost of collections and disposal by the crema-
tory was — taking the year through:
Total public collection ...................... 38,212 tons
Total private collection ...................... 263
Total dead animals .......................... 75 '
38,550 tons
Cost of collection, per ton ................................... $i .
Cost of disposal, per ton .................................... 1-35%
Largest quantity — September — in tons ........................ 3,9^9
Smallest quantity — February — in tons ........................ 2,368
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 299
The cost of hauling per ton mile obtained from an average of
seventeen representative districts was :
Average distance for each collection daily 7.2 miles
Each load averaged .796 ton 1,594 Ibs.
Average for each collector, 2 loads per day, 3,184 Ibs., or... 1.592 tons
On a basis of $2.50 per day, the cost of collecting per man
employed was 22C. per ton-mile, or 1.58 for teams only.
Mixed loads of ashes and rubbish measuring 2.5 cubic yards
weighed 2,601 Ibs., or, per yard 1,040 Ibs.
Dry material, 2.5 cubic yards weighed 2,425 Ibs., or, per yard.. 970 Ibs.
Ashes alone, 2.5 yards weighed 3,025 pounds per yard 1,210 Ibs.
Rubbish alone, 2.5 yards weighed 1,625 Ibs. per yard 650 Ibs.
In connection with the burning of ashes mixed with garbage,
he argues as follows :
If coal is worth $3.75 per ton, then, as the amount of coal in domestic
ashes can be safely taken at 20 per cent, of the whole, the fuel value of a
ton of ashes in an incinerator which is kept at a temperature of at least
1,200 degrees F., when all coal would be consumed, is worth 75 cents.
If we reckon the expense of hauling at 25 cents per ton mile, it would
pay to haul such ashes three miles. On the other hand, there is a fill value
to ashes, but this is maintained after complete incineration. And there is
the expense of a larger grate area for adding ashes to the incinerator,
which must also be considered in the cost estimate.
If rubbish is burned, then, as it has a calorific value in American cities
of about one-fifth that of coal, and if coal is worth $3.75 a ton, we can
value a ton of rubbish also at $0.75, and it will pay to haul it as far as
the ashes, if it were not a sanitary requirement to destroy it by fire even
at a greater cost.
If garbage is burned with other refuse, separation is not customary,
and, at first glance, seems to have no advantage. In my opinion, how-
ever, garbage should continue to be separately collected and delivered.
As garbage should at some seasons be collected daily, while the other
refuse can be collected at longer intervals, there is an advantage in limiting
the more frequent service to the single material which requires rapid
delivery. There is also the advantage of expelling some of the free water
of the garbage (according to Prof. Sommer, about 9 per cent), by the
pressure of its own weight. There is also the advantage of evaporating
an additional amount of water at the works, as done at your furnace at
present, in a more economical manner than if garbage, rubbish and ashes
were at once mixed. In the latter case, the water is at once absorbed and
only slowly evaporated, perhaps not until this is done by the fuel con-
tained in the refuse, which should be utilized rather for maintaining the
highest practicable degree of heat in the furnace.
Whether the collection is of garbage or of other refuse if the roads
are good and if the collection is mainly down-hill, as in Milwaukee, it
will be cheaper to have double teams with two men than single teams
with one man. The tare weight of a double team wagon is not nearly
twice that of a single team wagon, and the saving of weight can be utilized
for an additional amount of refuse to be hauled by the same team. There
is further economy in the fact that two men together can collect more
rapidly than two men singly.
It is hardly necessary to state in this city that the collection of all classes
of refuse is better done by city employees than by contract. There may
300 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
be exceptional conditions where this is not so, but the exclusive Custom
in Europe and the experience of most of the best managed public works
in our own country have amply indicated that, ordinarily, where a
question of nuisance is concerned and where the convenience and comfort
of the people is first considered, the contract system has, as a rule, not
given the same degree of satisfaction as municipal operation.
Concerning the utilization of the heat, Mr. Hering states :
From the examinations that have been made, it is safe to guarantee a
pound of steam per pound of refuse during the fruit season, when the
degree of moisture in the refuse is greatest, and i*4 pounds of steam per
pound for refuse in the winter, when the discarded coal in ashes is
greatest. . . The practicability of utilizing the resulting heat has been
amply demonstrated by experience in many cities. It has been used to
operate the plant, to furnish power for pumping, for repair shops, for
breaking and grinding clinkers, and chiefly for driving dynamos for
electric lighting.
He estimates the investment cost of plants as follows :
1. Reduction of 150 tons of garbage $225,000
Incineration of 100 tons of rubbish 89,000
Total for 250 tons refuse $314,000
2. Incineration of all refuse, 450 tons 3O7>ooo
3. Incineration of 300 tons 200,000
The operation costs, including interest and depreciation, are estimated
as follows:
Per Day Per Ton
1. Reduction of 150 tons of garbage $55-oo $0.37
Incineration of 100 tons of rubbish 37.73 -33
Total cost for 250 tons rubbish $92-73 $O-37
2. Incineration of all refuse, 450 tons 47-53 -H
3. Incineration of 300 tons of refuse 79-01 .26
From this summary it will be seen that the reduction project is the
more expensive one. The larger of the two incineration works is cheaper
per ton of material burned than the smaller one, due to the fact that
practically no ashes would be hauled to the latter and therefore no value
is derived from the heating power of the unburned coal contained therein,
which is found to be considerable, but which could be utilized as the
area of grate surface available at the plant would be increased.
Preliminary to the report of Mr. Hering, an investigation was
made by Prof. R. E. W. Sommer upon the constituents of garbage
that brought out some facts which, though not altogether new,
were stated in a more definite form than had been previously done.
The method of proceeding is interesting and one that can be
easily followed by any place which desires to obtain similar in-
formation.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 301
In order to obtain an average sample the city was divided into five
districts, according to the wealth of the population. It was ascertained
how many team loads were collected during the same length of time (one
month) in each of these five districts. When the teams arrived, Sep-
tember 9, 1907, there were taken as many unit measures (garbage cans)
of the garbage of each of the five districts as the district gave teams
within the same time. The garbage was poured upon a sloping hard floor
and well mixed with a spade.
In order to determine the amount of liquid which is pressed out by
the own weight of the garbage, a weighed quantity of the mixed garbage
was filled into a barrel having a double perforated bottom and allowed to
stand for twenty-four hours, and the liquid which was drained off was
weighed.
The larger quantity of the mixed garbage was piled up and quartered
down, just as miners do in order to obtain an average sample of ore.
After each quartering the garbage was comminuted with knives and
the quartering and comminution continued until twenty-five pounds of
garbage were obtained. The liquid pressed out by these processes ran
down the sloping floor and was collected, measured and each time cal-
culated in the right proportion. The remaining twenty-five pounds of
mixed comminuted wet garbage was brought to the chemical laboratory.
Here the quartering was continued until about two pounds were obtained.
The approximate two pounds were accurately weighed and heated on
a water bath for some days, until they appeared dry, and the drying
process continued in a drying oven at 105 degrees C. until constant
weight. The loss of weight plus the weight of the liquid (proportionately
calculated for two pounds) which was squeezed out by the process of
comminution gave the total amount of water.
The dry garbage was poured in an iron mortar and gave a coarse,
brownish-black powder, somewhat resembling ground coffee. The chem-
ical analysis was made with this powder.
Since one pound of dry garbage gave 4,522 B.T.U. and the
22 pounds of dry matter in the 100 pounds of wet garbage gave
99,484 B.T.U., it was concluded that after the 9.33 per cent of
free water had been removed by its own pressure, garbage should
burn itself under perfect conditions with no additional fuel.
These examinations of the garbage constituents are exceedingly
valuable for the general information of other communities where
the same methods can be used and the results obtained in the same
manner.
Comparison of the reports of Prof. Sommer with those of Mr.
B. F. Welton on garbage from West New Brighton, NV Y., and
302 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
expressing the results in equivalents of coal, will make the matter
clearer to lay readers.
TABLE LXI.— EQUIVALENT COAL IN ONE TON OF GARBAGE, DEDUCT-
ING FREE WATER DRAINED BY NATURAL MEANS.
bfl
>s^
c
^ a
•
|||
Per Cent.
Drained
Per Cent
Water
Remaini
Per Cen
Pounds i
Water
Solids
^ TJ
PQ ^
.p
|L
11
•30
cr
W
Milwaukee .
78
9-2 •}
68 67
I 3 74 62 6
New Brighton.
73.26
9-33
66.43
1,328,672
>;>•*•*
4,274
2,872,128
* 1 1
220
Coal is assumed at 13.000 B. T. U. per pound.
If we assume that 9 pounds of water to be evaporated by one
pound coal under the best conditions, then the evaporation of
1,328 pounds of water would require 147 pounds coal, leaving
70 pounds for loss. This would mean an efficiency of about
68 per cent, in the furnace necessary to do the work, which
might be taken as the standard of efficiency required from the
furnace when garbage alone is to be destroyed. With coal at
$3.75 per ton, the value of this fuel would be about 46 1-2 cents
per ton, or about 1-9 of the coal value of fuel.
These conditions apply when separated garbage unmixed with
other matters is dealt with. When refuse or rubbish is burned
with garbage the conditions are far more favorable.
Dry refuse (rubbish, as termed by the engineer) contains a
coal equivalent of approximately 1,298 pounds coal per ton of
refuse, and if this be added in the same proportions as are usually
collected, and burned without sorting, the evaporation power will
approximate 500 pounds of coal per ton of mixed garbage and
rubbish.
It would seem that the estimates of power to be developed are
well within the mark, and that the combustion will be done with-
out other fuel than the garbage and refuse of the usual collections.
When the collections contain ashes and manure mixed with
garbage and refuse, the evaporation is still greater. For com-
parison with the actual work done under these conditions, ref-
erence is made to the report from the Meldrum Destructor at
Westmount.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION.
303
TABLE LXII.— AVERAGE DAILY QUANTITY, IN TONS, OF GARBAGE
FROM THE WHOLE CITY OF MILWAUKEE, AND OF ASHES AND
RUBBISH FROM WARDS 1 TO 7, INCLUSIVE, COL-
LECTED EACH MONTH DURING THE YEAR 1906.
The quantity of manure shown is figured to give a total daily quantity
of refuse of 300 tons.
MONTH
QUANTITY
TONS PER 24 HOURS
Garbage
Ashes and
Rubbish
Manure
Total
January
95
91
no
93
116
161
156
170
J53
133
114
92
197
170
170
io5
150
124
IO2
IO4
IO2
114
142
171
8
39
20
102
34
15
42
26
45
53
44
37
300
300
300
300
300
300
300
300
300
300
300
300
February
March
April
May. . ,
T j
June
July
A ' '
August
September
October
November
December
NOTES: — Garbage weighs 1,200 pounds per cu. yd.
Ashes and rubbish mixed weigh about 1,040 pounds per cu. yd.
Manure weighs 970 pounds per cu. yd.
TABLE LXIII.— PERCENTAGE OF GARBAGE, ASHES AND RUBBISH
AND MANURE IN THE AVERAGE DAILY QUANTITY OF REFUSE
FOR EACH MONTH AS COLLECTED IN THE YEAR 1906.
MONTH
Garbage
Per Cent.
Ashes and
Rubbish
Per Cent.
Manure
Per Cent.
Total
Per Cent.
January
•JI 7
6< 6
2 . 7
IOO
February . ......
"*O 3,
S6 7
I 7, .O
IOO
March
6^ -6
7,6 .7
D« /
e6 .7
6.6
IOO
April
"*T .O
•? ^ .0
34 -O
IOO
May
38.7
So .0
1 1 • 1
IOO
June
C7 .7
41 • 3
c .0
IOO
Tulv
^2 O
74 o
14 o
IOO
J ; •/
August
<;6 7
7,4. 7
8.6
IOO
September
October
51.0
44 3
34-o
38 .0
15.0
17.7
IOO
IOO
November . .
2 *
38 .0
47 - 3
14 . 7
IOO
December
3O . 7
^7 .0
12 . 7
IOO
The calorific value of these materials as collected may be taken
as follows:
Garbage (as collected) 1,500 B. T. U. per pound
Rubbish and ashes mixed 5,000 B. T. U.
Manure 2,000 B. T. U. "
304 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
The preceding report made by Mr. Rudolph Hering to the City
Council of Milwaukee was filed in January, 1907. The council
deferred action until October, 1908, when, after due preparation,
specifications were prepared calling for tenders for the Erection
and Completion of a Refuse Incinerator.
This movement for a better system of waste treatment in Mil-
waukee is due largely to the efforts of Dr. H. A. Bading, Com-
missioner of Health. From the date of his appointment in 1906
he has earnestly advocated this much needed improvement which
now seems likely to be brought to a satisfactory conclusion.
THE CHICAGO MERZ REDUCTION PLANTS.
The sanitary work of Chicago, 111., as connected with waste
collection and disposal, has from the first been until within two
years in a condition of chronic negligence and resulting con-
stant complaint.
Within a radius of from six to eight miles from the city were
a series of great pits or excavations made by removing clay for
bricks used in building the city. After the layers of clay were
removed to a depth of from twenty to sixty feet these pits were
filled with mixed refuse of all kinds, and have for years been the
only means of waste disposal. The clay was used to make bricks
to build the city, the city filled the pits with refuse and then built
houses thereon, and the process was repeated until the hauls have
become so long and the cost of transportation so great as to
compel other courses. During all these years many efforts have
been made to establish better means of disposal. The crematories
built by Anderson, Heavey, and others, proved inadequate. A
traveling crematory was tried and abandoned. The practical ex-
ample of the destruction of the refuse and sewage sludge of the
World's Fair in 1893 by the Engle crematories with entire sani-
tary success and at a moderate cost was permitted to pass without
notice, and even when these furnaces were offered free to the
city, on condition of their removal and re-erection on the city's
ground, this was declined without thanks.
The collection service has always been by contract. Either a
definite territory or ward has been let for a specified time at a
given price, or the carts have been hired from contractors and the
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 305
collections made by the city employees. In either way it is a most
expensive, unsanitary and unsatisfactory work, a striking example,
of the power of contractors who own their plant to compel
the city to accept their terms for poor work.
This whole subject has been examined and reported on, and
recommendations for municipal service have been made by com-
petent men trained in the work, all without avail. The influence
of the contractor has been stronger than any consideration of
economy, decency or sanitation.
The Merz Reduction Process was established at Chicago
in 1888, the first city to adopt this method after the in-
stallation made in Buffalo. The contract was made with the
city by a stock company organized by owners of the Merz
patents, and a large plant was built, at a cost of $100,000, at a
remote point near the boundary line of the city. The city was to
pay at the rate of 50 cents per ton for all garbage treated, and to
collect and deliver the garbage at the works. This payment was
found to be insufficient to produce a revenue. The garbage was
mixed with a large amount of foreign matter impossible to com-
pletely separate at the works, while the city did not enforce the
ordinance for separation at the houses.
No details of the working of this plant are to be had, but it
is known that an experiment made for a short time showed that
under prevailing conditions the plant could not be made to pro-
duce a revenue. The work was discontinued, and shortly after-
wards the buildings were destroyed by fire.
The Second Merz Plant. — Up to 1906 the garbage had been
dumped with the other forms of waste. In that year the city
contracted for the separate treatment of this with the Chicago
Reduction Company, a corporation formed to receive the garbage
from the city teams at one central station and to treat it for the
recovery of the grease and tankage.
The garbage, separated by the householders from other sub-
stances, is collected by the city, and taken direct to the plant from
nearby localities, or to three shipping docks on the north and
south branches of the Chicago River. The collections are made
in 600 steel boxes on racks, or wagon bodies, holding four. cubic
yards each, watertight, with sectional lifting lids, concealing two-
306 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
thirds of the contents while loading. The boxes are lifted from
the wagon bodies to the decks of three scows for transportation by
water to the reduction plant. One of these scows has power,
and serves the double purpose of a lighter and a tug for the
others.
The garbage collection service of the city does not include that
from the hotels, boarding-houses, restaurants, commission and
market houses, all of which is collected by private contractors.
There are still about twenty-five tons of household garbage
dumped with the ashes and refuse in remote districts. About 300
tons are daily (except Sundays) delivered to the reduction plant.
The plant is located at Iron and 39th streets, four and three-
quarter miles to the southwest of the center of the city, with a
frontage of 380 feet on the Chicago River. There is a railroad
connection with the belt line encircling the city, and also with the
street car lines.
The grounds cover three and one-half acres, of which the re-
ceiving dock occupies an area 120 by 80 feet. The buildings are
the receiving building, milling or grinding building, boiler house,
naphtha storage building, naphtha extra extraction building,
dryer building, shops and office, occupying altogether 30,860
square feet of ground, or about three-quarters of an acre.
The boxes of garbage are discharged into concrete hoppers out-
side the receiving house, and are then cleansed and sterilized
and returned to the scows.
From the hoppers bucket elevators lift the garbage to the upper
floor of the receiving building where foreign matter is removed
by hand picking.
The subsequent processes of crushing, drying, extraction of
grease in percolating tanks flooded with naphtha, separation of
grease from the naphtha, which is recovered and returned to the
storage tanks, and the barreling of the grease for market are suc-
cessive steps of the work as previously described in the Buffalo
plant. There appears to be a more thorough treatment of the
tankage than in other plants, as this is reported to contain less
than ten per cent, of moisture and one per cent, of grease when
ready for sale. The grease is sold for the manufacture of cheap
grades of soap and candles, and the tankage to jobbers for a
filler or base in compounding fertilizers.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 307
The sanitary conditions of the plant are described as excellent.
As far as possible the process is automatic. The floors are con-
crete, well supplied with water for flushing. The day's collec-
tion of garbage is disposed of promptly. The location of the
works is immediately adjoining the packing house district, where
the odors (though believed to be so disposed of at the plant as to
be not perceptible should they escape) cannot be distinguished
from various odors emanating from the stock yards.
The contract with the city, which went into effect on Novem-
ber i, 1906, for a period of five years, provides among other
things, that the city shall have the right to purchase the plant at
the end of that time, that the city shall deliver all garbage collected
free of cost to the company at its plant, the delivery shall be made
in metal boxes constructed for dumping, and that these shall be
sterilized at the expense of the company, that the garbage shall be
disposed of by reduction, and that the company shall receive the
sum of $47,500 per year for five years, provided that the work be
performed in strict compliance with the specifications of the con-
tract.
On the basis of 300 tons per day, the present quantity treated,
for 300 working days the cost for disposal is 52.77 cents per ton.
No figures are obtainable as to the costs of operating the works
or of the percentages of grease and tankage obtained from the
garbage.
A serious explosion occurred in these works on May I, 1908,
which is thus reported in the public press :
NAPHTHA BLOWUP.
CHICAGO, May 2. — The desolate district back of the stock yards on the
"bank of Bubbly Creek" was visited last night by an accident in which
at least one man was killed, five seriously injured and eight reported miss-
ing. The police believe the eight may have lost their lives in the accident.
The cause of the disaster was the explosion of a large tank of naphtha
in the plant of the Chicago Reduction Company, the concern which handles
the city's garbage.
The roof of the four-story brick and concrete building soared sky-
ward, and the inhabitants of the sparsely settled neighborhood were terri-
fied by a terrific flash and roar. There was a rain of burning naphtha
which rendered "Bubbly Creek" a river of flames. Fragments of con-
crete torn from the steel framework were precipitated for blocks around ;
freight cars were blown from tracks, and the big plant was a blazing
308 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
mass of ruins within a few minutes. Andrew Marcullus, 30 years old, who
was working at the vat, is the man known to have perished.
In 1892 and 1893 several forms of garbage crematories were
brought out in Chicago. One of these, known as the Heavey
crematory, operated by liquid fuel, and as far as its limited capac-
ity went appeared to be efficient. But the cost of the petroleum for
fuel, and the difficulties of consuming the waste owing to its
mixed character made the operating cost excessive, and the
crematory was abandoned after six months' trial.
A large and elaborate construction was the Anderson incinerat-
ing furnace. This was built on the principle of a long narrow
brick furnace with perforated walls through which flames from a
series of oil burners were directed upon masses of garbage placed
upon cars and slowly carried the length of the furnace. By in-
direct draft the smoke and gases were gathered at one end of the
long construction, and air for the purpose of combustion admitted
through small openings on a level with the top of the garbage
cars.
It was expected that the high temperature combined with the
slow rate of progress of the cars would completely calcine the
garbage. A special form of poker, uniting a moveable steam
jet with a stirring implement was used to turn over the heaps of
garbage and expose fresh surfaces to the action of the flames.
The result of the first week's trial was the destruction of the cars
and of the interior walls of the furnace, the garbage masses pass-
ing through the ordeal comparatively unburned. This crema-
tory was abandoned shortly after the first experiments.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE MERZ PROCESS. — Continued. THE SIMONIN PROCESS.
St. Paul. — The Merz reduction process was introduced in St.
Paul, Minn., in 1889 by an offer on the part of Mr. H. A.
Fleischman, proprietor of the United States patents, to construct
a plant of 60 tons daily capacity upon the flats below the town
within the city limits. The price of the plant was to be $100,000
and it was to be operated by the company at a cost of $15,000
per year to the city, all by-products to be the property of the
company. This cost was then at the rate of 83 cents a ton ; col-
lection and delivery of the garbage to be made by the city. The
fate of this plant is thus graphically described by a competent
authority :
This investment proved to be a very unfortunate speculation for stock-
holders. The price on the fertilizer and grease product dropped so there
was no money in shipping it and the company undertook to carry on a
sort of rendering establishment for rendering dead animals, etc. As the
plant was located on the flats near the river, the rendering became an
intolerable nuisance; in fact, I lived on the bluff at least a mile and a
half from the plant, and when they were operating it the stench was
fearful, so the matter was brought before the Common Council, and they
were forbidden to use it for rendering purposes.
With the rendering cut off, I understood they were running at a loss,
and after a while the whole thing providentially burned down and we
have not had in St. Paul a rendering plant since.
The methods of disposal that have obtained and are now in
use in St. Paul are those ancient ones of feeding garbage to
swine and tipping the ashes and refuse.
These methods are set forth by the health officials as being
those most sanitary, efficient and economical, and they are vigor-
ously advocated to the exclusion of all others.
Denver, Col — In 1889 a company built a plant, called the
Sanitary and Fertilizer Works, for the reduction of garbage,
dead animals and other offal and converting them into com-
309
310 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
mercial fertilizers and to grease for soap and lubricants, under
the Merz system. The only available account of this plant states
that "the plant was a money-maker, but the land upon which
it stood ultimately became so valuable, and the original owners
had done so well in the enterprise, that on being offered a large
profit on the realty, they disposed of it and retired from the
business."
This somewhat surprising statement comes from a source
identified with several unsuccessful attempts to install reduc-
tion processes and must be taken with a large leeway for ac-
curacy. The facts appear to be that the plant was built under
the same conditions as other Merz plants in Buffalo, Milwaukee,
and Detroit ; that it duly went into operation, but continued only
for a short time ; the works being given up, were either removed
or destroyed.
Had this been a successful plant with remuneration as claimed
by the first quoted authority, the chances for its continuance must
have been sufficiently good for its perpetuation. That it did
not continue was owing probably to the same unfortunate com-
bination of conditions that terminated the career of all the
earlier plants built under this process.
Since the demise of this plant, the city has resisted all efforts
made for sanitary progress, and continues to feed the garbage
to swine and dump its refuse and ashes upon unoccupied ground.
Paterson, N. J. — A modified and imperfect form of the Merz
reduction process has been employed here for some years. In
1894 a contract was let by the city to the Paterson Sanitary
Company for the disposal of ashes and garbage at $34,300 per
annum. This company erected works south of the city on the
Passaic River, calculated to destroy 50 tons daily. The plant
was partly destroyed by fire two years after construction, but
it was rebuilt and the work continued on a modified scale. It
is believed that the process of grease extraction is not carried to
the full extent, but that a portion of the by-products are re-
covered, the tankage being sold at low prices. The revenue of
the company was derived from the high price paid for the work
by the city, and not. from the value of the manufactured
products.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 311
St. Louis, Mo. — This city was one of the three first places
to acquire a Merz reduction process plant. In 1889 tne c*tv
received bids through the Department of Health for the sani-
tary disposal of the garbage either by incineration or reduction
to the amount of 100 tons daily. The bids for cremation were
at the rate of $1.00, and for reduction at $1.80 per ton. The
contract for 10 years was awarded to the St. Louis Sanitary
Reduction Company at $1.80 per ton for disposal only.
In 1891, the first plant was put at 22nd Street, following the
general construction of the first Buffalo plant, and specially
treating the dead animals as well as small amounts of garbage.
In 1892-3, the second and largest plant was built at 28th
Street and St. Louis Avenue, in the southern part of the city
near the river. This was a very extensive and costly installation,
comprising a building 250 feet long, 80 feet wide and two
stories in height.
The general construction and arrangement of apparatus in
this plant was much the same as in the first Buffalo installation,
with probably some modification of the dryers, which were of
an improved pattern, perfected by Mr. George Wiselogel, then
Mechanical Engineer of Construction in the employ of the
Merz Company.
The quantity of garbage treated at this plant has never been
made public. In 1902, the Health Officer reported 43,000 tons
treated from April to October — seven months. In 1893, Mr.
H. A. Fleischman stated that the company received at the rate
of $800,000 for 10 years' contract, and that the tankage brought
$6.80 per ton.
The city reports give no statement of amounts, nor any except
the most general costs for collection and disposal. This con-
tract was terminated about November, 1904, but a temporary
contract at somewhat lower figures was continued for two
years, pending some action to be taken by the City Council
upon the whole subject.
In 1906, the Public Sanitation Committee of the Civic Im-
provement League of St. Louis published a report upon "The
Disposal of Municipal Waste" after an extended investigation
312 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
covering a period of three years. The estimated quantities and
the cost of collection and disposal were tabulated as follows :
Amount of garbage per year 70,000 tons
Cost of collection at $1.67 per ton (actual rate) $116,900
Cost of disposal at $1.00 per ton (dumped rate) 70,000
Estimated Total Amount Combined Waste
Garbage 1 5% : 70,000 tons
Rubbish 10% 46,660 '
Ashes 75% 349,95° "
Total quantity 466,610 tons
The report reviewed briefly the various systems in use for
disposal elsewhere; gave some slight idea of the values of waste
in sorting for market ; compared the systems of incineration and
reduction, and gave a comparative cost of each as applied to
St. Louis, showing that "by these estimates, based upon ex-
perience of other cities, St. Louis can collect and dispose of
her garbage by reduction and her rubbish by burning for $100,000
less than by attempting to dispose of it collectively by the
incineration process within the city limits." They also add, "if
the .disposal (not the collection) can be more economically and
efficiently done by contract, then .the franchise should provide
for purchase of the plants whenever the city is in a position
to assume control."
The recommendations of this committee provide for separate
receptacles for garbage, ashes and rubbish, — the householders to
make separation, daily collections of garbage in summer, special
steel collection carts and receiving stations, transportation by
steam or electric road to places of final disposal, the erection of
a garbage plant outside the city limits, the sale of marketable
parts of rubbish, the erection of destructors for generation of
power for heating and lighting public buildings, and the sale
of manure and street sweepings to farmers.
During the latter part of the time covered by this investiga-
tion the garbage was taken to an island in the Mississippi river
below the city and fed to swine, the rubbish and sweepings being
dumped into the river from special scows. The reported quan-
tity thus dumped overboard in 1906 was 171,000 loads. The
ashes were used for fill on low grounds.
For some time after the report of the committee of the
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 313
Civic League was made no action was taken by the city author-
ities. In January, 1907, the Board of Public Improvements
received contingent or preliminary proposals from five different
companies. Two of these were for reduction, two for incinera-
tion, and one for continuing the hog feeding on Chesley Island.
All were rejected. Subsequently, in December, 1907, new adver-
tisements appeared calling for proposals for a reduction plant,
and provided a set of specifications under which tenders were
to be received. Briefly, these were as follows:
Garbage is defined as all organic matter and small dead animals, and
all other refuse of vegetable or animal foodstuffs, collected by the city
garbage collection wagons, and may contain some foreign substance.
The collection made by the city wagons is to be delivered at
the loading stations. These stations must be within defined local-
ities, must each have a capacity of 300 tons a day, to be fire-
proof and be kept in a strictly sanitary condition, with suitable
approaches, unloading platforms and roadways. The garbage
of each day to be removed before midnight by the contractor
and in such a manner that it will not give offensive odors.
The reduction plant shall be located not less than one mile
outside the city limits, upon property comprising five acres of
ground, upon one of the railroads, or above the flood limit if
on a river. The buildings must be of fire-proof construction,
the plant to be fully completed within twelve months of con-
tract, and to have a capacity of 400 tons per day.
Hydro-carbon solvents shall not be used in the process of reduction of
said garbage matter, and no process shall be used that is not continuous
and does not confine the garbage from exposure to the air from the time
the garbage is placed in the conveyor until it is completely and finally
reduced. Nor shall the products nor the process of handling or dispos-
ing of this garbage be productive of offensive odors.
A penalty of $10 per ton is to be assessed against the con-
tractor for each and every ton of garbage tendered by the city
or its agents which he does not accept or treat as provided for
by the contract. Ten thousand dollars is to be deposited and
maintained, from which sum the penalties are to be paid. The
term of this contract is for ten years, the work to begin within
one year after approval of bond and contract by the Council.
The contract was awarded to the Sf. Louis Standard Reduc-
314 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
tion Company in February, 1908, at the price of 27 cents per
ton. This company includes capitalists who own or control the
Flynn process of reduction used in Pittsburg, and are now
reported as trying to secure ground, but find difficulty in secur-
ing a desirable location owing to the usual opposition to such
plants.
In commenting upon these specifications, one leading engineer-
ing journal makes these pertinent observations:
It may be said that, since the city is possibly to purchase this plant,
it is perfectly proper that it should specify beforehand any of its essen-
tial features which it may desire to. But the exclusion of hydro-carbon
solvents and the provision for continuous treatment would exclude bids
from certain companies. Even though those having this matter in charge
may, from their investigations have concluded the processes which they
have excluded possess undesirable features, such information could be
used as well after bids were received as before, and it cannot be cer-
tainly known beforehand that these clauses might not exclude other
processes, unknown at present to the authorities, which might other-
wise have met with their approval. We believe the better plan in all
such applications is to carefully define the results to be obtained — in this
case presumably disposal without creating a nuisance — and then use such
knowledge and judgment as is available in determining which of the
various propositions is most likely to meet these requirements.
It will be interesting to note the working out of the specifica-
tions, especially in the point of allowing foreign matters to be
gathered with the garbage, and requiring the contractor, under
penalty, to accept the collected load from the city. This is one
of the chief points of difficulty in reduction work, only to be
overcome by strict ordinance, defining the possible admixture
of foreign substances within certain proportions and by the aid
of the police and the courts, enforcing this.
Unless the proportions are settled at first, there is no standard
fixed, and it will be hard for the collector to judge what he
shall admit and what reject, and worse for the contractor, for he
cannot afford to haul to the works and sort out the worthless
matter for 27 cents per ton.
Columbus, Ohio. — A reduction plant employing the Merz
process was installed in Columbus, Ohio, in 1896. The ten-
year contract given by the city to the Columbus Sanitary
Company was for the collection and disposal of garbage and
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 315
dead animals at the price of $15,800 per year. In 1904, the
amount of garbage collected and treated was 16,221 tons, the
cost to the company being reported as $20,000. Assuming a
population of 160,000 the cost of collection and disposal is less
than 10 cents per capita, much lower than in other cities of
the same size.
Before the expiration of the contract, the Columbus Sanitary
Company found itself in difficulties, as the payments from the
city and the revenue from by-products did not afford a profit,
but, on the contrary, the operation of the plant is reported to
have resulted in a yearly deficit of $5,000.
While no accurate description of the works is available, they
are believed to have been similar in construction and operation
to those of the early Merz methods in Buffalo and St. Louis.
The conditions early in 1906 are thus described:
The company collects the garbage in iron wagon bodies, and hauls
it to a loading switch on the T. & O. R. R. at West Mound Street, where
the iron tanks containing the garbage are removed from the wagons
and loaded on flat cars. Each morning these are hauled to the works of
the Sanitary Company, located on the west bank of Alum Creek, four
and a half miles southeast of the Capitol. Dead animals are hauled in
wagons to the works. There is no thorough collection made at present,
as any increase over present quantities would mean a net loss to the
company. This condition of affairs is unsatisfactory. The collections are
irregular, the intervals between them long, the routes are not well-defined,
and the householders are forced to employ private scavengers to remove
the garbage. No attempt is made to collect from restaurants and hotels.
Commission houses, tradesmen, etc., haul and dump their own waste, aside
from that which is thrown carelessly into the streets and alleys. The
city collects the waste from the public markets.
The conditions at the reduction works have given cause for complaint,
partly through odors emanating from the digestors and the tankage, but
mainly from the pollution of Alum Creek, into which greasy water is
discharged. Owing to the breakdown of the drier it has been impossible
to dry the tankage and make it suitable for shipment to fertilizer works,
and during the last season it has been allowed to accumulate in a large
pile just south of the works. Aside from its unsightliness, this accumula-
tion of the tankage cannot be said to be a nuisance.
In 1905, Mr. Rudolph Hering made a survey of the conditions
in Columbus and submitted a short report advising the collec-
tion of garbage and rubbish and its disposal at a general station
316 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
by cremation. The estimated cost of a garbage and rubbish
crematory and building was $100,000 to $125,000. No system
for the collection or treatment of ashes was suggested, except
that they be used for rilling. The output of ashes in Columbus
is relatively small because of the use of natural gas. Subse-
quently, in January, 1906, Mr. J. H. Gregory, Assistant Chief
Engineer of the Board of Public Service Works of Columbus,
reported in detail upon the methods in use, the quantities of
waste, the approximate cost to the householders for imperfect
scavenger service, together with detailed engineering estimates
for providing the city with a complete plant for the collection and
disposal of each class of refuse.
The following excerpts from a synopsis of Mr. Gregory's
report are taken from the Engineering News of March 15, 1906,
Vol. LV:
The chief points included in his recommendations are that the city col-
lect the garbage, rubbish and dead animals by its own employees and
equipment; that it build a crematory for disposal of collected material;
that the collection of night-soil be continued by scavengers, to be disposed
of in connection with the new sewage works; that street sweepings be
continued to be dumped on low ground ; that municipal collection and dis-
posal of ashes be postponed, and that municipal collection and disposal of
stable refuse is neither desirable nor warranted.
TABLE LXIV.— COLLECTION STATISTICS, COLUMBUS, O.
The populations and the tonnage of various wastes, both estimated, for
1905 and for future years are given as follows:
Periods !905 J9°7 1910 ^915 1920
Population..... 160,000 176,000 202,000 254,000 326,000
Ashes. .. (tons). 64,000 70400 80,000 101,000 128,000
Garbage. 17,600 19,400 22,200 27,900 35,200
Rubbish. " 8,000 8,800 10,100 12,700 16,000
Manure. . " 45.000 47,000 50,000 55,000 60,000
Night-soil 3,900 4,500 5,000 5,600 6,000
Carcasses 350 380 420 470 500
Mr. Gregory's estimate of the cost of construction is based upon per-
manent fireproof plants to include crematories having a capacity of 175
tons per day of twenty-four hours, with chimney and building to con-
tain a plant of 250 tons capacity, together with all the necessary equip-
ment for the collection of garbage and refuse, and a building for the dis-
posal of night-soil, including all expense for operation, maintenance and
fixed charges. These items may be thus condensed:
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 317
TABLE LXV.— SUMMARIZED ESTIMATES OF CONSTRUCTION AND
OPERATING EXPENSES.
CONSTRUCTION
First Cost:
For collection of garbage and rubbish $116,050
For disposal of garbage and rubbish 168,300
For disposal of night soil 5, 500
Total $289,850
OPERATING EXPENSES.— 1907
Fixed Charges :
Collection of garbage and rubbish :
Interest ; $4,642
Sinking fund '. 3,897
8,539
Disposal of garbage and rubbish:
Interest $6,732
Sinking fund 5,652
12,384
Disposal of night soil:
Interest $220
Sinking fund 185
405
Total interest • $11,594
Total sinking fund 9,734
Total fixed charges $21,328 $21,328
Maintenance and Operation:
Collection of garbage and rubbish '. . $53,720
Disposal of garbage and rubbish 32,020
Disposal of night-soil 1,200
86,940
Total cost, collection of garbage and rubbish $62,259
Total cost, disposal of garbage and rubbish 44,404
Total cost, disposal of night-soil 1,605
Total operating expenses $108,268 $108,268
Operating Expenses Per Capita for Collection and Disposal of Garbage
and Rubbish and Disposal of Night-Soil in 1907.
Maintenance
Fixed and
Charges Operation Total
Collection of garbage and rubbish $o .049 $0.305 $o .354
Disposal of garbage and rubbish "o .070 o . 182 o .252
Total $0.119. $0.487 $0.606
Disposal of night-soil o .002 o .007 o .009
Grand total $0.121 $o . 494 $0.615
Operating Expenses Per Ton for Collection and Disposal of Garbage
and Rubbish in 1907.
318 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
•Maintenance
Fixed and
Charges Operation Total
Collection of garbage and rubbish. $o .303 $i .905 $2 .208
Disposal of garbage and rubbish o .439 i . 135 i . 574
Total $0.743 $3.040 $3.782
Operating Expenses Per Cubic Foot for Disposal of Night-Soil in 1907.
Maintenance
Fixed and
Charges Operation Total
Disposal of night-soil $0.0032 $0.0093 $0.0125
Cremation, in theory and practice, is discussed at some length in the
report. The absence of coal ashes at Columbus, as in other cities in the
natural gas district, gives the refuse a distinctive character. The garbage
and dead animals in the refuse delivered to a crematory in Columbus would
be from 65 to 70 per cent, of the total, instead of 8 per cent., as in Eng-
land, and
70 to 75 per cent, of the garbage will be water, and the calorific value of
the remainder will be so low that the garbage cannot be consumed without
previous drying or the addition of fuel.
Then follow other data to show how different is the material brought to
English furnaces from that td be expected in Columbus, after which Mr.
Gregory says :
The calorific value of the combined refuse, garbage, dead animals and
rubbish of which a crematory in Columbus must dispose will not average
above 2,000 B.T.U. per pound of refuse, and the total amount of water,
the free water and that liberated by the breaking up of the carbon-
hydrates, etc., will amount to about 0.8 Ib. per pound of refuse. The pro-
portion of water will run much higher than this in the summer months,
and the calorific value will be correspondingly reduced. In burning this
low class of fuel a larger percentage of excess of air will be required
than with a good fuel, and it is probable that more than 100 per cent,
excess of air will be required rather than less with 100 per cent, excess
of air, with perfect combustion and with no allowance for losses by
radiation, etc., the maximum furnace temperature possible is 1,100 degrees
F. By extracting 25 per cent, of the water before burning, the theoretical
temperature would be increased to 1,450 degrees F., which is still much
below that temperature to which it is desirable to heat the gases to prevent
any possible emanation of noxious fumes.
I am firmly, therefore, of the opinion that additional fuel must be
burned in order to reach the desired furnace temperatures, providing that
the garbage is not previously dried out by the waste heat from the furnace
gases, the expense of which treatment might be greater than the cost of
additional fuel.
The evaporative power of English town refuse is quoted (from Dawson)
as from 2 pounds of water evaporated from a 212 degrees F. per pound of
refuse fuel, for "screened ash pit refuse," to i pound and even 0.75 pound
inferior "unscreened ash pit refuse." These are not the net evaporative
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 319
efficiencies available for power production in English furnaces, since from
the figures given must be deducted about 0.125 pound of steam for forced
draft. In the New York furnaces for rubbish, only, evaporation on test,
with fan blast, did not exceed il/2 pounds of water to i pound of refuse.
At Columbus, even after adding to the refuse the fuel which it appears
will be necessary to get a sufficiently high temperature for combustion of
the refuse, Mr. Gregory thinks "it is unlikely that an evaporation of more
than 0.5 pound of steam per pound of refuse can be obtained."
In reviewing and approving Mr. Gregory's report, Mr. Hering stated
that in designing garbage furnaces for Columbus provision should be
made for operation with and without drying the garbage preliminary to
burning, thus making it possible to defer the decision whether fuel should
be used to dry the garbage or to burn it. Likewise the decision as to
heat utilization, beyond that for works purposes, may be postponed. Heat
utilization, if practiced at Columbus, would be "but a secondary considera-
tion," and could not be expected "to reduce the expense otherwise neces-
sary for burning garbage."
A separate collection of garbage and rubbish at Columbus is advisable,
because if dumped in the same wagon the rubbish would absorb much
water which might be drained off from the garbage alone, before putting
the latter on the fires. Moreover, different types of carts can be used ad-
vantageously for garbage and for rubbish, and the latter need not be
collected so often as the former. It is possible, also, that refuse sorting
may prove advisable at Columbus, if refuse and garbage are collected
separately.
As to the apparently high cost of garbage and refuse disposal at Co-
lumbus, shown by the estimates, it must be remembered that much of the
similar work elsewhere is imperfectly done and is generally less compre-
hensive there, and that the data and estimates for Columbus are unusually
complete.
Mr. Hering suggests that the city prepare a design for furnaces, "in
accordance with the best knowledge and practice," and that in view of the
large and successful experience of European cities with the burning of
city refuse both American and the more prominent English firms building
such furnaces be given an opportunity to submit designs and bids, "as
well as bids to supervise the operation for one year, guaranteeing the
results to be obtained thereby." In view of the unsuccessful results ob-
tained with many American furnaces heretofore, the need for great care
in the Columbus designs is apparent. It will also be necessary to employ
a high grade of operators when the furnaces are put in use.
In examining this report it would seem that the estimates
for specified capacity of the crematory and the enclosing build-
ings are needlessly large.
The actual quantities estimated for 1907, the first year when
the plant would be available, are 19,200 tons of garbage and
320 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
8,000 tons of refuse, or about 85 tons to be burned in a furnace
of 175 tons capacity enclosed in a building of 250 tons capacity.
Undoubtedly the quantities would increase considerably, but the
maximum would only be reached after fifteen years, and, in
the meanwhile, the maintenance and capital charges compound-
ing each year are a heavy tax to pay upon unused equipment.
The charges for engineering service also appear to be very
great, considering that the plant is charged with superintendence
supposed to be sufficient for carrying on the work successfully.
The calculation as to the calorific value of waste and the
resultant steam power to be had is too low. At that time
(Jan., 1907) there was no plant in the country of the English
destructor type, as the Westmount Destructor did not begin
work until May, 1907, so that there was no standard for meas-
urement for American Engineers except the reports and opinions
of British Engineers, and the deductions to be made from these
for American work on similar lines.
Since then the four destructor plants operating under Amer-
ican conditions have proved that not only no fuel is needed, but
that the evaporation of water instead of being .05 Ibs. is nearly
1.33 Ibs. of steam per pound of refuse destroyed.
The New York test of burning rubbish only in incinerators
'is hardly comparable with destructor work when the design
and construction of the New York incinerators are taken into
account.
Mr. Gregory's reference to the recently completed reduction
plant at Toledo, which was found to be "conducted with re-
markable freedom from any objectionable features," is not par-
ticularly fortunate, as these works were closed in July, 1907,
for reasons of nuisance and inability to do the work in a
manner satisfactory either to its stockholders or to the city
authorities.
The marketable values of rubbish were not considered, as all
of the combustible matter was to be burned. The estimated
quantity of 8,000 tons per year seems to be too small. In any
place where natural gas is used in the households the light
refuse is greater in amount than in other places where coal is
the usual fuel, ard, therefore, the quantity in Columbus would
appear to be greater than the amount given. The value of at
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 321
least 60 per cent of this refuse which can be recovered for sale
without serious objections, would, if saved, give a return in
cash nearly equal to half the cost of operating the plant.
As Columbus was the first city of the United States to under-
take a thorough examination of conditions and to report upon
an engineering basis with the assistance of skilled experts, it is
interesting to note the concluding and expected results.
This report was submitted early in 1906, and on December 6,
1906, was approved by the Board of Public Service. Shortly
after, this Board was retired from office for adequate reasons,
and a new Board was installed. A resolution was offered pro-
viding for action by the Common Council to advertise for bids
for the plant, but this resolution was not passed. Opposition was
made to the plans and estimates on the ground that no oppor-
tunity was offered for tenders for any' means other than crema-
tion. Later, in January, 1908, the city advertised for bids for
the disposal of garbage by reduction methods only, but received
none that were acceptable.
In May, 1908, revised forms of specifications for tenders for
reduction works were again issued by the city calling for bids
on June 24th.
These specifications are written with the advantage of the
knowledge gained in noting the operation of the present reduc-
tion plant and the experience acquired in the two previous un-
successful efforts to obtain bids. Briefly stated, they contained
the following details:
The contractor is to design, construct and deliver complete reduction
works, which will dispose of garbage and dead animals, with the emis-
sion of no offensive odors or gases, or other obnoxious wastes, solid or
liquid, except those which are inseparable from the handling of raw
garbage or dead animals, and from the finished products of reduction
under the best and more favorable methods now employed, and without
the pollution of the Scioto River.
The prices are to be stated separately for material and for
labor, and the total (this is a requirement of the State law).
The bidder must specify the amount of labor and the quantity
of coal used to reduce one ton of garbage and animals. He
must give a list of operating reduction plants similar to the
one proposed, with capacity of works, amount of garbage yearly
322 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
disposed of, and reasons for discontinuance of plant, if not
now at work. A bond in the sum of fifty per cent, of the
amount of the contract will be required for faithful perform-
ance of contract.
The specifications provide in detail for the plans for design
and construction of the buildings, the capacity to be one hun-
dred tons in twenty-four hours, with provision for increase to
one hundred and fifty tons, the machinery and equipment to be
in units of suitable size to permit economical operation with
small amount of material, and to provide for repairs. All gases
are to be discharged through furnaces and all tank water evap-
orated. Provision is made for storage of grease and tankage
to avoid spontaneous combustion, naphtha to be stored in steel
tanks placed not less than one hundred feet from the buildings.
There must be suitable means for separation of tins, bottles,
etc., and for sterilization by steam of rooms for receiving and
storing the garbage.
The waste is to be handled by machinery ; the power obtained
from generators driven by the steam from the boiler of the
plant; all work is to be done, where practicable, by this same
electrical power. The buildings are technically specified in every
part of construction at great length and detail.
The test shall be a trial of sixty days by the contractor at
periods to be fixed by the Engineer of the city to determine
the capacity and efficiency of the works.
To determine the fulfillment of labor and fuel quantities, the
works are to be operated four weeks continuously, during which
time accurate measurements of quantities and conditions of gar-
bage, the hours of labor on all classes of the work, the weight
of coal and all the factors for making up the cost of operation
per man-hour, and for fuel, are to be noted.
The total number of man-hours of labor and the total weight of coal
shall be divided by the total number of tons of garbage and dead animals
treated, to find the man-hours of labor and the weight of coal, respec-
ively, required for the reduction of one ton of garbage and dead animals.
If the results of this test fail to fulfill the requirements of
the contract a penalty is provided of $1,000 for each one-tenth
(o.i) man-hour ton by which the cost shall exceed the guar-
antee, and $50 for each pound of coal per ton by which the
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 323
guaranteed amount is exceeded, provided that for a maximum
of two man-hours per ton, or two hundred pounds of coal per
ton in excess of the contract requirements, the works will be
rejected.
These specifications are the most comprehensive, exact and
stringent that have yet been drawn up for reduction work. If
a contract had been secured, it might have determined many
questions of capacity, quantities, values and costs that now are
not accurately known.
There was no award of contract on the bids received under
these specifications. The city is now preparing specifications for
its own reduction plant to be built by arrangements with the
companies or persons controlling the designs and apparatus to
be employed.
THE SIMONIN PROCESS OF EXTRACTION.
Providence, R. I. — The Simonin process for the disposal of
garbage was first presented by I. M. Simonin, of Philadelphia,
Pa., who had large works for the manufacture of fertilizer in
that city. In 1888, active work connected with the reduction
process was begun by Mr. I. M. Simonin, who, in 1890, built his
first extraction plant in Providence, R. I. The works were
placed on ground in the southern part of the town, near the rail-
way, and conveniently located for short transportation of
garbage.
The buildings were of wood, and the operating power was
generated by two loo-horsepower boilers separated from the
main works. The garbage collected by a city contractor was
received upon a concrete floor, where the cans and rubbish were
removed and the water permitted to escape by sewer to the
river near by. The garbage was then placed in shallow iron
pans and these in successive tiers in wire baskets which were
run upon trucks into a horizontal cylinder 18 feet long and 6
feet diameter, and sealed. The cylinder was then charged
with naphtha and left for some hours, or until the solvent had
penetrated to every part of the garbage. The naphtha was then
vaporized by steam introduced in coils of pipe and carried with
part of the water to a condenser where separation was made
324 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
and the naphtha recovered. The grease and water was drawn
off at the bottom of the extractor and separated by settling tanks.
In the operation of the Simonin reduction system this process
is repeated with successive charges of garbage, until the naphtha
becomes surcharged and concentrated. It is then forced into the
settling tanks and again recovered for use. After the extraction
process is completed the tankage is steamed until all trace of
naphtha is removed, and it is then carried to another building
where it is ground and screened.
For one charge the duration of the process is about four
hours and a half for extraction and four hours for steaming,
which, added to the time consumed by the settling and prepara-
tion of tankage, occupies from 32 to 36 hours.
The works comprised two steam boilers, six extractors, two
settling tanks, two stills, and a small separated building for
naphtha. The tankage shows five to fifteen per cent, of bone
phosphate, three to six per cent, of ammonia, and one per cent,
of phosphate. It was very dry and found a ready sale.
The actual cost for operating this plant were estimated to be
equivalent to 15% cents per capita per annum of the population
of the city, and this amount has since been assumed as the cost
of disposal, and continued to subsequent contractors.
The Providence works were built and operated by a company
comprised of local capitalists. Their operation continued for
about three years. Nothing was paid by the city for the dis-
posal of this garbage but the collection was made at the cities
expense by contractors. During this time many complaints of
nuisance were received and in 1893 tne removal of the works
was judged necessary. No reports in regard to the financial
standing of the company are obtainable, and there are no reliable
records of the quantities and values of the grease and tankage.
The Simonin process is one of extraction of the grease by
powerful solvents, with no preliminary process of maceration or
steaming to break down the fiber of the animal and vegetable
matter. Thus the method requires a longer time for each step,
and a large quantity of solvent, all of which renders the work
costly. Necessarily a large volume of gaseous products accom-
pany each stage of the process, requiring special care to prevent
explosions and resultant disasters. The products of grease and
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 325
tankage retain a considerable percentage of naphtha, which dim-
inishes their marketable value.
In 1894, the city of Providence returned to its former method
of garbage disposal. A contract was yearly made with local
parties who provide garbage wagons of approved type, and make
daily collections for a part of the city, bi-weekly and tri-weekly
collections for the remainder. The garbage is carried outside
of city limits and fed to swine. The argument in favor of feed-
ing to swine is ably stated by one of the foremost sanitarians
of New England.
(Dr. C. H. Chapin, Providence, R. L, Proceedings A. P. H.
Association, Vol. XXVIII, 1902:)
For ten years or more the removal (at Providence) was in open
dump carts — a method which caused much nuisance along the road.
Nearly one-half of the quantity was sold to farmers at 25 cents per cubic
yard and transferred to their wagons in the city, a practice which was
very objectionable, and afterwards stopped. The collections are now
made in water-tight wagons, kept covered in transit and unloaded only
at the place of feeding. On the large farm where most of the garbage
of Providence is fed to swine, the land is divided into woodland and
open, where the swine roam at will, having plenty of room. The garbage
is scattered about on the ground, and is consumed so quickly and thor-
oughly that very little odor arises, and as the feeding grounds are away
from roads or dwellings, little nuisance results.
In considering garbage disposal (as distinct from its collection), it is
seen that for the last fifty years it has never cost the city a cent, but,
instead, has at times been a considerable factor in lessening the cost to
the city of the collection.
The cost to the city for collection and removal for the past thirteen
years has been 15^ cents per capita per annum, which, I am sure, does
little if any more than pay the contractor for collecting.
(Quotations of collection costs per capita per annum in twelve
New England towns, prior to 1889, are as follows: Boston, 20
cents ; Cambridge, 29 cents ; Brockton, 19 cents ; Lynn, 19 cents ;
Fitchburg, 9 cents; Haverhill, 7 cents; Portland, 10 cents;
Holyoke, 2 cents; New Haven, 5 cents; Lawrence, 10 cents;
Somerville, 25 cents; Worcester, 15 cents. This cost was (in
1901) reduced by the sale of garbage fed pork in Worcester to
4 cents, and Brockton to 8 cents. In Lynn, Lowell, Brockton,
Somerville, Cambridge, Springfield, a considerable revenue is
326 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
derived from the sale of garbage, and formerly this was the case
in Boston.)
There is no doubt that the value of the grease and fertilizer ingre-
dients of garbage is from two to three dollars per ton, but, unfortunately,
no one has yet found an economical way to reduce it. The food value of
garbage is probably much less, but this value can be utilized. Garbage
can be fed to swine at a profit, and thus the net cost of its collection can
be much reduced. Health Officers and Engineers have, almost without
exception, opposed this, the only method by which garbage can be disposed
of without cost.
The general public is also, to a considerable extent, prejudiced against
feeding garbage to swine, and the writer formerly shared this prejudice,
but has been led to modify his views.
The objections to feeding garbage to swine are made upon
two grounds.
First — It creates a nuisance. It is indeed true that this practice does,
as a rule, create a nuisance; but so does every other method of garbage
disposal. The writer has seen crematories and reduction works which
were every bit as bad as any hog farm. The only difference is that the
reduction works cost money, while the hog farm yields a profit.
The writer then quotes instances of nuisance caused by the
first reduction plant in Boston, and the crematories in Trenton,
N. J., and Montreal, Canada, and continues :
There can be no doubt that there are many cities near which there is
land available for raising swine, and where the business can be done with
very little or no nuisance and with profit.
If attention be given to transportation and feeding, and the best methods
are employed, this can be done. Slipshod methods will result in nuisance
and failure. Of course, very many cities are so situated that feeding to
swine cannot be done, and other and more expensive methods must be
adopted.
Second— It is claimed that the feeding of swine with garbage is danger-
ous to health. It is said that the pork is likely to be diseased, and the
disease be transmitted to human beings. Practically the only disease likely
to be transmitted is trichinosis, but this is a rare disease, and can be
avoided by avoiding raw pork. * * * Considering the rarity of this
disease and the ease with which it may be avoided, this supposed danger
does not deserve further consideration.
The pork is said to be of poor quality and to bring a low price in the
market. As a matter of fact, garbage-fed pork is not as hard as corn-
fed pork, and often brings a little less in Eastern markets. But no evi-
dence has ever been adduced to show that this pork is in any way un-
wholesome. It is not unlikely that by better methods of feeding, perhaps
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 327
by cooking the garbage and skimming the grease, or by getting fresher
garbage by daily collections, the pork might be much improved.
Probably the chief reason that the feeding of garbage to swine is ob-
jected to is that the filth theory of disease continues to exert so much in-
fluence. We have been so long told that filth and foul odors are the cause
of sickness that it seems to be very hard for the public, and even alleged
sanitarians, to give up the idea. Because garbage smells bad and hog
pens smell bad, they are supposed to be unwholesome. This is pure fic-
tion. There is no reason whatever to suppose that sickness ever comes
from such causes. It makes no difference to the health of the town how
its garbage is disposed of or how it is collected, or, in fact, whether it
is collected at all. It is not a question of health, but one of comfort.
Garbage removal work is not for the Department of Health, but for the
Department of Public Works. What is needed is the advise of engineers,
not of medical men. Garbage should be collected with the least public
nuisance, and disposed of with the least possible nuisance. But it should
be done with some regard for economy. It would, in Providence, cost
many thousands of dollars more each year to dispose of garbage in any
other way than by feeding to swine, and there is no reason to believe the
method would be any more satisfactory to the citizens, and would certainly
have no effect upon the public health.
These arguments for the disposal of municipal garbage by
feeding to swine have been given at length because of their in-
fluence upon this subject from the standpoint of economy as
against the more vital question of sanitation.
There are probably very few sanitarians who would agree to
the proposition, that the presence of filth and the odors from
decaying animal and vegetable matters make no difference with
the health of a community, and there are still fewer persons who
would accept the dictum that it makes no particular difference
to health conditions if garbage is ever collected at all.
That it is a question of individual comfort is indisputable,
and as health depends very largely upon agreeable and salubrious
surroundings, personal comfort becomes a large factor of this
equation, and this of itself is one of the strongest elements for
a treatment that should induce a more comfortable and hence
a more healthful state in the community.
Hog feeding by contract or by municipal agency may not be
more offensive than a poorly designed and operated reduction or
cremation system, but unless it can be made better than the other
means, it has no right to continue even though it be at less cost.
Things that do not go forward in sanitary movements are
328 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
things that are left behind, and while swine feeding may be a
temporary measure for economy's sake, it cannot be held to be
inoffensive, healthful or comfortable for the people. Nor should
it become a permanent continuous occupation of any American
municipality.
Sentimental Opposition. — There is one objection frequently
encountered by those who deal with the garbage disposal prob-
lem, and which may be called "sentimental opposition." It is a
stumbling block in the path of progress invariably placed by
those who are ignorant of facts, and who oppose everything con-
nected with the disposal of waste, on general principles. Their
attitude is thus described by one who has had a long and stenu-
ous experience as Health Commissioner in a large city:
' It is my opinion that there are one or two disposal systems that are all
that is claimed for them. But I would earnestly advise that while you
may claim for them everything in sight, if you are thinking of locating one
in your respective location — just go a little way out of town with it.
Why is this? My experience has taught me that the nomenclature is
wrong. You attach the word "garbage" to a brand new, empty, covered
wagon, allow it to stand in a street in a thickly populated district, and I
firmly believe that in a very short time a large percentage of that adja-
cent population would be under medical treatment or threatened with some
dreadful pestilential disease* the air would be full of petitions to the
Health Department, injunctions, threats, etc. This is not overdrawn, for
I have witnessed just such a performance as I have described. So, until
the names can be changed, dispose of your garbage and refuse material
on the outside.
• -Cincinnati, Ohio. — This city has contributed but little toward
the solution of the problem of general waste disposal, but in
dealing with the garbage, their experience has been not unlike
others where the early and experimental methods have failed
and been succeeded later by more successful ones.
From the first the organic waste was thrown into the Ohio
River, as is still done with the sewage, but in 1872 a contract
was made by which the garbage and dead animals were taken on
boats three miles below the city limits. This defined garbage as
"vegetable garbage" or kitchen offals unmixed with ashes, and
"animal garbage" as soap grease, slaughter house offal and dead
animals. The contractor paid householders for the soap grease,
and for the carcasses of animals, according to the then market
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 329
prices for live stock. The price paid was $15,000 per year and
included the collection.
«*•
This contract was renewed after ten years, with the Cincin-
nati Desiccating Company, but the price paid was $2,500 per
year, not including collection. During this period much of the
vegetable garbage was dumped into the Ohio River until this
was prohibited by the U. S. Government.
In 1892, a ten-year contract was granted to I. M. Simonin for
the disposition of the vegetable garbage in a manner, scientific
and sanitary, and not injurious to health and comfort. By the
terms of the contract, the city was to pay $25,000 per year for
the disposal, the vegetable garbage was to be collected by the
city and delivered at the Company's boat at the foot of Main
street, but the Street Cleaning Department that did the hauling
found it much easier to haul the garbage mixed with ashes to
the dump than to haul the long distances to the river. In con-
sequence of this the Simonin Company, instead of 35,000 tons
per year, got less than 15,000 tons.
The works of the Simonin reduction process were built about
five miles below the city and were fitted up with much the same
equipment as the plant at Providence, R. I.
Shortly after granting the contract for the disposal of the
vegetable garbage, the city entered into an agreement with the /
Jones Fertilizer Company, for ten years from July, 1893, f°r tne \*
collection and disposal of the animal garbage, by which the con-
tractor was to make no charge for removal of dead animals
and receive no pay for the privilege of doing so. Both these
means of disposal continued in force until 1902, when the city
advertised for bids for the combined service for five years for
the vegetable garbage from June, 1902, and for four years for
the Jones contract from July, 1903. Proposals were accepted
from another reduction company and the Simonin Company dis-
continued its work and disposed of its plant.
The work of the Simonin Company was conducted at a disad-
vantage because of the relatively small amount received from the
city's carts and the admixture of ashes and foreign substances, the
cost and difficulties of transportation by water on a swiftly mov-
ing river with ice obstructions in winter and floods in spring,
330 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
and more than all the absence of the animal matters, which were
the property of another company.
The quantities received were in 1898 reported by Chapin to be
15,000 tons — that were disposed of at a cost of $1.62 per ton.
New Orleans. — The third and last plant built under the
Simonin patents was in New Orleans, La., in the summer of
1894. This was a costly and elaborate installation, designed with
the benefit of all the experience derived from observation of the
working of the previous plants, and it was expected to produce
far better results. But the city ordinances for the separation of
garbage from foreign matters were inadequate or else were not
enforced. After a few months of unsuccessful efforts the con-
tract was abandoned at great loss to the investors. The city
resumed its former method of disposal by dumping into the
Mississippi River, a method which prevails to this day.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE ARNOLD PROCESS IN BOSTON AND NEW YORK.
The first plant of the Arnold process for municipal service
was at Boston, Mass., in 1895. This was located at Mt. Vernon
Street, Ward 20, Dorchester, and comprised an engine house
50 x 40 feet, and main building 120 feet square. The construc-
tion was from the plans of Mr. C. Edgerton of Philadelphia,
Pa. The contract was taken by the New England Construction
Company, operating under the Arnold process, and was for a
period of ten years, the city granting the land rent free, deliver-
ing the garbage daily, and paying $2,500 yearly and 25 cents per
ton on all quantities above 20 tons per day. The plant began
work in January, 1895, and in February was notified to abate
nuisance of odors from digestors, and the offensive water from
condensers which was discharged into the sewers. The nuisance
continued, and on March 2ist the license was- revoked, and
subsequently the plant discontinued.
The second Boston plant under the Arnold process was built
by the New England Sanitary Product Company in 1898, at
the Cow Pasture, a point of land one-half mile wide and one
mile long, extending into Boston Harbor from the town of
Dorchester. There is, within a radius of two miles, a popu-
lation of 50,000 to 75,000, and as this plant represented the im-
proved methods of the Arnold process, a particular description
is added. This was written when the question of renewal of
the plant was under consideration.
The works cost, to erect and equip, upwards of $300,000 —
the ground being city property, 200 x 120 feet. The buildings
were 120 x 80 feet, containing digestors, boilers, engines, settling
tanks, etc. The machinery comprised a 200 horse-power engine,
engine for pumps, conveyors, presses, condensing pump, etc.
Twenty-five men are employed during the day and four at night,
besides ten on scows.
The city collects the garbage from a population of about
33*
332 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
400,000 and dumps it at Fort Hill wharf, through openings in
the platform, into scows lying below. These scows are owned
and operated by the Garbage Reduction Company. The scows
are towed to the works and, by conveyor, the garbage is carried
to the upper story of the digestor room. These digesters are
thirty-two in number, in two rows of sixteen each, and further
divided into eight sections of four each. Each section contributes
to a single receiving tank. The digesters have a capacity of
eight tons each, are conical at the lower end and are fed by
the traveling conveyor from the scows. After being rilled, steam
is admitted at about 60 Ibs. pressure, the cooking process con-
tinued from ten to fourteen hours, according to the season and
the character of the garbage, when the steam is shut off and
four hours allowed for the contents to cool.
The digesters are dumped into the receiving tank below.
The contents consist of solid matter with five or six inches of
water lying above it and the oil or grease floating on the water.
The receiving tanks drain into gutters, and the solid matter is
passed through a rotary pressing machine, the Edgerton press.
The pressure is controlled by lo-ton springs, allowing the pas-
sage of cans, bricks, stove lids, etc., without injury to the press.
The liquids and grease pressed out pass to the gutters. The
water and grease run along the gutter to the grease room, deposit-
ing more or less sand, dirt and finely divided parts of the
tankage.
In the grease room the water and fats pass through a series
of square catch-basins, connected by openings in the lower part
of the partitions between them, which results in the accumula-
tion of oil or grease on the surface of the water in each basin.
This oil is skimmed out by hand with long scoops into a receiver
and pumped to sedimentation tanks on the floor above, from
which it is drawn down into a large iron tank furnished with
a depression along the centre of the bottom, where the water
and sediment may collect.
The oil or grease is piped off into barrels from a point a
few inches above the bottom of the tank. It is a slightly turbid,
dark brown liquid, and without any offensive smell. The water
remaining in the catch-basins escapes into the sea. The pressed
solid matter, known as tankage, is carried by the conveyors to
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 333
the engine room, where it is burned in the furnaces under the
boilers.
The weight of a cubic foot of garbage is from 45 to 56 pounds,
or a maximum of i^ tons for each 56 cubic feet. The garbage
contains from 7 to 10 per cent, of foreign matters, and the
quantities are from 140 to 150 tons daily. The yield of grease
is 2 per cent, and the tankage 10 to 12 per cent.
The tankage used as fuel to the amount of 35 to 40 tons
daily is said to replace about five tons of coal, and must, there-
fore, be worth about 50 cents per ton as fuel.
Measure for Suppressing Odors. — The steam from the di-
gestors is conveyed by pipes to a Buckley condenser, where it
meets with a current of sea water and is carried off into a "hot
well," whence part of the odor is carried by the water into
the sea.
Part, however, escapes from the hot well and is conducted
to a Bunsen burner at the foot of the chimney, where it is in-
tended that it should be consumed. The odors from the digesters
and grease room are collected by means of hoods arranged one
over each press. These hoods lead by vertical pipes into a ^
horizontal pipe furnished with exhaust fans, and the odors are
thus carried to the furnaces and there supposed to be destroyed.
While the liquids are running from the receiving tanks and
presses, the gutters are covered with iron plates.
In and about the buildings, a strong caramel odor is detected
continuously during operation and is derived probably from
the tankage after dumping the digestors. This odor naturally
escapes by open doors and windows and is distributed by the
wind. The well-known raw garbage odor is also noticed when
the scows are being unloaded, but its range is very limited.
The third and most objectionable odor is traced to the chimneys
of the plant. It is not observed near the plant, but is carried
to a distance by the winds and on a cloudy day is especially
likely to be carried downward to the ground level, where it is
extremely offensive. There were complaints of odors from this
plant early in 1899, and hearings were held in June and July
of that year. The evidence went to show that the odor com-
plained of. was distinct from the sewage pumping station and
to the gas works; both of which were near the garbage plant.
334 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
In the spring of 1900 there were renewed complaints and
hearings, and a second exhaustive investigation by the Board
of Health led to a second formal declaration that the garbage
plant constituted a nuisance, and in August an effort was made
to abate it as a nuisance under the provisions of the contract.
The matter was taken to the courts, and finally settled by
the removal of the plant to Spectacle Island, about three miles
further down Boston harbor. By the terms of the contract, the
city paid $140,000 to the company for the costs of removal.
THE SEMET-SOLVAY PROCESS FOR RECOVERY OF AMMONIA FROM
GARBAGE TANKAGE.
The use of by-product ovens as means of recovering ammonia
from garbage was the idea of Dr. Bruno Terne, U. S. Pat.
619,055, while chemist of the Sanitary Product Company of New
York, which controls the garbage reduction process in use at
New York, Philadelphia and Boston. He saw an opportunity
to utilize the solid and liquid residuum to better advantage than
previously possible, and for obtaining from them a large part
of their nitrogen in the more available form of ammonium
sulphate, or crude liquor.
The project was brought to the notice of the Semet-Solvay
Company of Syracuse, N. Y., and tests were made by them
of twenty tons of pressed tankage in their coke ovens at Syra-
cuse. These tests showed that from one ton of tankage con-
taining 40 per cent, of water, there were obtained approximately
164 pounds of ammonia, reckoned as sulphate, 488 pounds of
carbonized tankage, and 4,000 cubic feet of gas of about 300
B. T. U., together with a small quantity of tar. On the basis
of these results, the construction of a coke oven plant to work
in conjunction with the garbage reduction plant at Boston was
undertaken.
The reduction plant was installed at the extremity of Old
Harbor Point, Dorchester. The building was brick, 120 feet
square, divided by a partition wall into two equal parts. One
part contained the digesters, thirty-two in number, and con-
veyors, and was open to the roof. The other portion, having
a second story, contained, on the lower floor, the evaporators,
boilers and engines.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 335
The coke ovens, condensing and washing plant, ammonia
concentrator, and dryers, were placed in a wooden mill con-
struction, 45 x 54 feet, immediately adjoining the main building.
The by-product coke ovens were in a construction off this ell,
54 x 45 feet, enclosed in a steel frame with galvanized iron
covering. There was a saparate steel chimney for the coking
plant, 80 feet high, 4 feet diameter. The coke ovens were of
the Semet-Solvay type — seven in number, 30 feet long, 7 feet
high, 1 8 inches wide; a long narrow high chamber with charging
hole on the top, the sides of the chambers lined with fire brick,
with double walls forming flues through which the heat and
flame from the gas burners passed. These flames and heat
completely enclosed the ovens and finally passed beneath them
to the smoke stack. There were doors at each end of each oven,
lined with fire brick, one set of which was raised by hydraulic
power.
The gas evolved in the operation of coking, was, in the
Syracuse test, about sufficient in calorific power to supply the
heat, but for starting, and to bridge over any irregularity in
supply, two gas producers were installed. The dry tankage
was charged into the ovens through the openings on top and
leveled off to uniform heights.
The residue from the carbonization or coking process, was
a light granular substance, somewhat resembling ground coffee,
only darker in color. It was withdrawn from the ovens by a
mechanical extractor, consisting of a scraper bucket conveyor,
traveling on a steel beam, 40 feet long. This was carried on
a frame running on wheels.
The carbonized charge was received in a car and by elevator
raised to the floor above, where it was screened and mixed with
the requisite portion of "stick" before passing through the An-
derson dryer, emerging in its final form as a fertilizer base.
The gas from the retorts or ovens was passed through a
water-sealed hydraulic main, placed on top of the ovens, and
then through a pair of tubular surface condensers cooled with
sea water, to the exhauster, which forced it through a compart-
ment washer, where the ammonia was removed by absorption
in water.
The exit gas from the washer was led to the oven burners :
336 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
and the ammoniacal liquor, after passing through a gravity tar
separator, was collected in storage tanks. From these it was
pumped to the concentrator feeding tank as required.
The ammonia concentrator was of the tower pattern, consist-
ing of a dozen or more flanged cylindrical cast-iron plates, 40
inches in diameter, bolted one on top of the other. Each con-
tained a baffle-plate of the mushroom type covering an outlet in
the middle so as to form a water seal. The live steam admitted
at the bottom of the column forced its way up through the
water seals which were maintained by the weak liquor fed into
the top of the column and passing from section to section, the
ammonia being drawn off as the liquor passed down.
The gaseous ammonia and steam passing up through the
column were cooled by contact with a series of pipes enclosed
in a continuation of the tower, at the same time heating the
weak incoming liquor, and passed over to the final condensing
worm, where they were condensed, passing thence to the storage
tanks in the form of crude strong liquor.
Apparatus for the manufacture of sulphate of ammonia was
also provided on the upper floor of the condensing house. This
comprised lead-lined saturating tanks, acid tanks, drainage bins
and piping. Storage tanks for acids were on the ground floor
near the water front, and an air compressor and auxiliary tank
were provided to lift the acid to the saturators.
The plant was started in November, 1898, and continued
until February, 1899, when, with the reduction works, it was
partially destroyed by fire.
Mr. Terne says: "The difficulties unavoidably attendant upon
the working out of a new process prevented the immediate
realization of the results obtained in the preliminary experiments,
but there is no doubt that they would have been fully reached
had not the disaster intervened."
When the reduction plant was removed, by order of the
courts, and rebuilt at Spectacle Island, three miles further down
the harbor, the ammonia saving process plant was not included.
No apparatus of this kind for garbage or tankage treatment is
now in use.
The Third Boston Plant. — The removal and establishment
of the reduction plant under the Arnold system from Cow
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 337
Pasture, Dorchester Point, to Spectacle Island, on the Boston
harbor, about three miles further down, was made in the year
1906. The works erected included a house enclosing sixteen
digesters on the upper story, beneath which were the four
rotary presses, and connected with these were the gutters which
received the water and grease and conducted them to the set-
tling basins. The garbage was taken from the scows by a
traveling conveyor, and by means of a chute placed in each
digester, according to the quantity required.
Besides the rotary presses, a powerful hydraulic press is also
used for the final recovery of grease and water from the finely
divided portions of tankage gathered from the gutters.
At the time of the examination by the writer, in 1907, the
plant was handling upwards of 100 tons per day in an efficient
manner. The tankage at this time was burned under the boilers,
as no process had been established for its treatment and manu-
facture as a fertilizer, but it was understood that additional
works were being constructed about three hundred yards away
from this building, which would receive the tankage, recover the
15 per cent, of grease which it contained, and manufacture the
residuum for the fertilizer market.
Subsequently, in the summer of 1907, many complaints were
made against the works on the score of offensive odors carried
to nearby dwellings in the summer, since Spectacle Island is
nearly surrounded by the seaside residences of Boston people.
In every direction except one, if the winds were favorable, these
odors would be carried long distances, and would become highly
offensive. Under the contract with the city the company has
still one and one-half years for its contract to be continued.
General Disposal Work in Boston. — Before the establishment
of the reduction plants in Boston, the garbage of the city was
separated by the households, then was delivered to contractors,
who carried it long distances in the country for feeding to
animals. In 1893 and 1894, the city derived a revenue of $20,000
from this source, but conveyance by steam cars was objected
to on the score of nuisance, and the handling of garbage at
the various depots where it was sold to the farmers for feed
was exceedingly offensive. This practice of selling the garbage
was abandoned as soon as the reduction plant was established,
338 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
and only in some portions of the outlying suburbs, as at Brigh-
ton, Roxbury, Dorchester, etc., is the garbage now disposed
of in this way.
Light Refuse.— In 1888 and 1889, at the request of the Board
of Health, tenders for contract were asked for by the city for
the construction of a refuse disposal plant upon city property
adjoining Fort Hill Wharf. After some delay a contract was
granted to the Refuse Utilization Company, a corporation
formed for the purpose, which erected a plant and received all
the light refuse and rubbish collected from an area of about
ninety miles of streets, and containing approximately 200,000
people. The city by this contract paid $5,500 per year, and
furnished the grounds for the company free of rent.
Since the plant is in the hands of a private company, which
has jealously guarded its commercial work, no exact informa-
tion is obtainable as to the value of the product recovered for
market, or the cost of doing the work. The operation of the
plant was described and illustrated in a previous chapter.
In the year 1907, the Mayor appointed a commission to con-
sider the general question of the collection and disposal of the
municipal refuse of the city. This commission comprised Prof.
Sedgwick of the Boston Institute of Technology, Mr. X. H.
Goodnough, Chief Engineer of the Massachusetts State Board
of Health, and Mr. Wm. Jackson, City Engineer of Boston. This
Commission has been for some months obtaining data and
visiting all the principal installations throughout the country
and is about to formulate a general plan for some economical
collection service in the city proper, and also in adjoining wards,
which include Dorchester, Roxbury, West Roxbury, Jamaica
Plains, New Brighton and East Boston. This plan will in-
clude complete methods for the collection and the disposal of
the general refuse by methods and systems suitable for each
individual case.
It is understood also that the recommendation has been made
for the construction of an enlarged and perfected utilization y
plant to be built in the place of the present plant at Fort Hill
Wharf, and to be operated for the benefit of the city instead
of a contracting company.
The preliminary report of collections, quantities, proportions
\
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 339
and present methods of disposal, by Mr. X. H. Goodnough, is
condensed in Chap. VII.
EARLY METHODS OF WASTE DISPOSAL IN NEW YORK CITY.
In tracing the development of the methods of garbage dis-
posal by the reduction processes in New York City, it will be
of interest to briefly outline the earlier history of the subject,
with some account of the attempts to better the sanitary con-
ditions, as carried on under the advice and suggestions of ad-
visory boards by the successive Commisisoners and Superin-
tendents of Street Cleaning Service.
The organization of the street cleaning service as a separate
branch of the administration work dates from the year 1881,
prior to which time the collection and disposal of waste was
done by contractors under the direction of the Police De-
partment.
The city acquired teams, built or rented stables, organized
the force for cleaning the streets, for the collection of house-
hold wastes, procured scows, and tugs for towing these outside
the harbor limits.
The practice was to dump overboard, nominally at a point
below Sandy Hook, but as a matter of fact the scows were
unloaded at any place where it could be done without observa-
tion by the officers of the Government in charge of the care of
the harbor.
For several years this service for collection and disposal was
continued with great complaints from the citizens for unsatis-
factory collection and with repeated protests from the property-
holders on the shores of Long Island and New Jersey. After
ten years of complaint and remonstrances an Advisory Com-
mission was appointed to inquire into the defects of this method
and recommend some better system.
This Commission, appointed by Mayor Grant in 1891, in-
cluded Messrs. Morris K. Jessup, Thatcher M. Adams, Prof.
C. F. Chandler, D. H. King and Gen. F. V. Greene. The
report was devoted chiefly to the collection of the wastes, and
established some principles -defining the character and treat-
ment of general refuse, which became a basis for after Com-
missions to extend and amplify. It was reported that street
340 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
sweepings were not of enough value to pay the work of trans-
portation; that garbage, when kept separated, is valuable for
fertilizer or for feeding swine ; that coal ashes, when free of
other matters, make good filling, and that these three forms of
wastes, when mixed, lose their pecuniary value, unless for filling
behind bulkheads, or on land remote from dwellings.
The Commission also found that the Department of Street
Cleaning was badly managed; that the laborers were inefficient
and held their places by political influence ; that the plant of the
Department was insufficient and poorly located; that the manner
of disposal of refuse was unsatisfactory ; that the co-operation of
the other departments of the city — Police Justices, Health and
Police — was largely lacking, and that the management of the
Department required men experienced in .the control of trans-
portation means and executive capacity of a high order.
The practical effect of this report was the reorganization of
the Department by Legislative enactment in 1892, with increased
appropriations, but little real progress in improving the condi-
tions. There was still the appointment of officers and force
for political purposes, the work of the Department being a
secondary consideration.
Later, in 1892, the inquiries into this subject were continued
by Messrs. Theo. F. Meyers, the Comptroller, and Edw. P.
Parker of the Board of Estimates. They took firm ground
^against sea-dumping, and strongly recommended cremation as
the best means for disposal, but as it might be some time before
a cremation system suitable for the city's needs became avail-
able, they advocated the deposit of the waste to make ground
about Riker's Island. The adoption of this method a year later
gave rise to a nuisance of offensive- odors, and subsequent legis-
lative action prohibiting the dumping of mixed refuse, contain-
ing garbage, at Riker's Island.
This was followed in 1894 by the appointment by Mayor
Gilroy of a second Advisory Committee, composed of ex-Mayor
Franklin Edson, Thomas L. James, Lt. Comr. D. Delehanty,
U. S. N., Hon. Chas. G. Wilson, President of the Board of
Health, and Mr. W. S. Andrews, Commissioner of Street
Cleaning.
The members of this Board, in person and by representatives.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 341
made an extended examination of all methods in use for gar-
bage disposal in this country, one member visiting Europe for
a survey of the means there used.
They did not find cremation methods altogether satisfactory,
as no plant of any considerable size was then in operation. They
also reported that reduction processes were "thoroughly sani-
tary, and although not free from offense, can doubtless be made
so." The Board declared that light refuse could not be deposited
at sea at a less distance than 200 miles from the harbor with-
out contaminating the shores.
To obtain some data for further recommendations the Board
invited proposals or plans for final disposal of the waste of
New York.
There were seventy different plans submitted. Of these forty- ^
nine were considered practicable, and were classified as follows :
Eighteen proposed to burn all the waste, six to burn garbage
only, two others had a separation process with utilization of
the valuable parts and burning the rest, seven advocated reduc-
tion, four would employ self-dumping boat for long sea convey-
ance, and twelve were included under miscellaneous or unde-
fined plans. Leaving aside the miscellaneous list, twenty-six
were in favor of cremation, seven of reduction and four of
continuing sea-dumping. Many of those who presented plans
were afforded an opportunity to explain to the Board in detail
what they proposed and the results to be expected.
The author's contribution to the literature of the Advisory
Board was contained in a small pamphlet advocating the dis-
position by fire by two alternative methods :
First — By several plants placed upon wharves at different points, from
ten to twelve in number, at which the putrescible organic waste would be
destroyed in furnaces of approved design, the power developed by this
combustion to be employed for sorting out the marketable parts of the
refuse and for conveying and loading the residuum remaining and the
great bulk of household ashes into scows for conveyance to Riker's Island.
Second — The disposal of the garbage at Riker's Island by establishing a
large cremating plant for destroying the putrescible matter, the power
derived therefrom to be used for conveying and distributing the ashes of
the city for making new ground.
The pamphlet gave a short account of the English destruc-
342 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
tors, their capacity, cost of operating expenses, of construction
and other details of some fifty installations, out of about 125
then in use in Great Britain. There was added a compara-
tive cost for a plant to be established in New York for similar
work, with some indication as to the saving in annual cost to
the city, as against the disposal of the garbage only, by reduc-
tion, or the continued disposal by conveyance in self -dumping
steam lighters at sea.
Mayor Gilroy's Advisory Board finally recommended:
That dumping into the harbor or its tributary waters should cease.
That the householders should be requested to separate kitchen garbage
from the ashes and other house refuse.
That the collection should be made in iron vessels with tight covers.
That the daily garbage collections should be delivered into storage bins
or self-dumping propelled boats of approved type.
That the garbage should be disposed of by reduction, and the city should
invite bids from companies controlling these systems.
That a separate collection should be made of other refuse not other-
wise provided for, which should be taken to Riker's Island, or elsewhere,
and that the conveyance of this should be by self-propelled boats to be
constructed and owned by the city.
If there was any market value to street sweepings for fertilizers, they
should be sold if worth more than for filling purposes.
This last named recommendation of the Advisory Board,
which was adopted and followed out by the city authorities,
committed the city to one particular method that treated only
one-twelfth of all the refuse, as against the cremation system
that disposed of the whole. It established a monopoly by con-
tract, which has been perpetuated, and from which the city
has since never been able to free itself. It further denied the
right of competition by any form of disposal by cremation'
means, and offered no opportunity to show what might be done
by the use of apparatus that was entirely successful in other
great cities of the world. /
While condemning the dumping at sea, it still recommended
this be carried on at greatly increased cost for transportation
with no guarantee that it would be any more successful than
in the past.
At that time there were only three reduction and extraction
companies at work. The quantities of garbage treated by these
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 343
were insignificant compared with the amounts to be handled
here. Several plants had failed or been closed by reason of
nuisance, and the whole work in this direction was largely ex-
perimental and undetermined. This unwise recommendation of
a body of estimable gentlemen, acting upon information, and
not upon practical engineering knowledge or any previous ac-
quaintance with the questions, did much to delay the progress
of the general question of a satisfactory disposal of the com-
munal waste of American towns.
INVESTIGATION AND EXPERIMENTS OF COL. GEO. E. WARING,
IN NEW YORK CITY, UPON GARBAGE TREATMENT, BY THE
METHODS OF EXTRACTION AND REDUCTION IN 1895.
When Col. Waring became Commissioner of Street Cleaning
of New York City, in January, 1895, tne wastes of the city were
towed to sea and thrown overboard. This had been the practice
for years, one that is both wasteful and objectionable, but no bet-
ter means had been found available. In 1895, Col. Waring made
.inquiries into the methods in use in all civilized countries for
waste disposal, visiting Europe himself for this purpose, besides
carrying on an exhaustive survey by competent assistants in this
country.
The claims made for sanitary treatment and economy in the
disposal of garbage when separated from other forms of refuse
were brought strongly to his attention, resulting in an invita-
tion to the various companies engaged in this work to present in-
formal bids naming the prices at which they would be will-
ing to receive and dispose of the garbage of the city.
Twenty-six answers were received. The average cost per
ton from those proposing to destroy by incineration was 90
cents, and the average for utilization by the several extraction
and reduction means was 55 cents per ton, but of all these bid-
ders only one-half were believed to be sufficiently experienced
and responsible to make offers which would be acceptable to
the city. Under these circumstances, it was thought advisable
to make an independent investigation of the various methods,
and a series of examinations was proposed in the city's behalf
which should include the cost of operation, the value of the
commercial products, and the adaptability of each process to
344 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
the needs of the city. This invitation was accepted by several
companies, and in the summer of 1895 more than 3,000 tons
of garbage in the cities of New York, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Phila-
delphia and St. Louis were treated by different methods under
the supervision of the inspectors appointed by Col. Waring.
These trials of apparatus took place as follows :
Merz Universal Extractor and Construction
Co . Buffalo June
Merz Universal Extractor and Construction
Co St. Louis July
The Sanative Refuse Co., Process No. i . . . .New York August
At these three plants, the grease was extracted by the use of
hydro-carbon solvents, and the remaining solids converted into
fertilizer base.
The Preston Process Brooklyn, N. Y. . July
The Bridgeport Utilization Co., (Holthaus
Process) Bridgeport February
The American Incinerating Co. (Arnold
Process) Philadelphia July
At these three plants, the grease was extracted by cooking
and mechanical pressure and the solids made into fertilizers.
The Sanative Refuse Co., Process No. 2
(Pierce) New York September
The American Reduction Co Brooklyn May
Both of these companies made the garbage into complete
fertilizer, but the first extracted the grease by solvents, while
the second used acid.
In method No. I of the Sanative Refuse Company, the raw
garbage was placed in steel tanks and covered with naphtha,
the tanks then being tightly closed and heated by steam. After
five hours of this cooking in naphtha, the liquid was run off
and its constitutents separated, while the tankage was taken out
and dried. From New York summer garbage this method ex-
tracted an average of 2.4 per cent, of grease and left the wet
tankage almost odorless. The process was rather wasteful of
naphtha, but most satisfactory from the sanitary standpoint.
Method No. 2 of the Sanative Refuse Company completed
the utilization process by making the tankage into a finished
fertilizer.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 345
The American Reduction Company made a complete fertilizer
by cooking the garbage in dilute acid and then adding the
other necessary ingredients, drying and grinding.
The Standard Construction and Utilization Company, Phila-
delphia, August. — This company did the preliminary cooking
in steam jacketed digesters, the grease afterwards being recov-
ered by pressing and separated by flotation and skimming.
The information obtained by the Department was in the
nature of confidential communications, and so far as is known
has never been made public, but from the subsequent action
taken, it would appear that some of the processes either did
not comply with the requirements of the city or were unable
to offer advantageous terms for the work.
This inquiry touched on many important facts in connection
with the subject, dealing with the seasonal variation in char-
acter and quantities, the system of collection by contract or
by city agency, the admixture of foreign matters when treatment
by extraction or reduction is to be used, the quantities of water
present as affecting results in manufacturing, the destruction
of noxious gases by condensation or cremation, and the use of
disinfectants in collection work.
The report also included a general description of the ap-
paratus employed in each process of extraction or reduction,
with a brief account of the final means of drying, grinding and
preparing for market, used by all the companies.
The selling value of a ton of summer garbage was thus
stated :
Grease, 40 Ibs at 30. $i .20
Tankage —
Ammonia, 13 ' " 8c. i .04
Phosphoric Acid, 13 ' %> " ic. .13
Potash, 3 ' " 3^c. . 10
$2.47
Appended to, or included in, Col. Waring's reports were ex-
aminations made by his assistants upon the disposal of gar-
bage from the hotels of New York, not a part of the city's
work, but taken by private collectors and fed to animals outside
the citv.
Garbage grease, its quantity, uses and value, was also con-
346 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
sidered, as well as the fertilizer trade in general and the prob-
able effect of a large new supply that might « result from the
general adoption of these new methods. There was also an
estimate of the junk trade in marketable parts of the city's refuse
collected by cartmen throughout the town.
All these facts, concisely put, gathered in one small volume,
form a history of what was then the situation, the possibilities,
and to some extent a prophecy of the future work to be done
in this line of waste collection and disposal such as has not
been repeated in this country.
The thoroughness which characterized all of Col. War-
ing's municipal work, and the able assistance of Messrs. M.
Craven, H. Hill and C. H. Koyl, together united to give definite
form and a fixed method to what had, up to then, been uncer-
tain and indefinite, in the investigation of the proper methods
of disposal of municipal waste.
BEGINNING OF GARBAGE REDUCTION IN NEW YORK.
Pending the close of the examination of the possibilities of
the reduction method, Col. Waring issued advertisements call-
ing for bids for the disposal of the combined city waste by any
method that could be shown to be sanitary and efficient. Sev- /
eral bids were received in December, 1895, but these upon exam-
ination appeared to be deficient and they were rejected.
The next advertisement, February, 1896, asked for bids for
the disposal of garbage only. The replies received were all con-
sidered unsatisfactory, and they were rejected. In March an-
other call was made for tenders for garbage, and also for the
disposition of ashes and street sweepings. The bids received
for the disposal of ashes and street sweepings were rejected.
The proposal of the Merz Extracting Company in the sum of
$90,000 per year was accepted by the Commissioner, but was
not accepted by the Board of Estimate. Subsequently, in June;
the bid of the Sanitary Utilization Company of New York was
approved by this Board, and the company was granted the con-
tract for a term of five years at the annual rate of $89,990, to
date from August I, 1896. It will be noted that this price was
$10 less than that tendered by the Merz Company. The contract
price included furnishing scows for the transportation of the
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 347
garbage and its final disposition in an unobjectionable manner.
The quantity for the old city of New York, now the Borough
of Manhattan, was estimated at 500 tons per day for 313 work-
ing days, or about 156,500 tons per year. This was at the rate
of approximately 575^ cents per ton for transportation and dis-
posal.
"Garbage" was defined as meaning the refuse of all organic
nature, not including street sweepings, collected by the city carts
or by duly authorized private carts, and delivered at the dumps
or other places of final disposition, and containing not more than
10 per cent, by weight of other refuse.
In November, 1896, the city of Brooklyn granted a contract
for five years for the collection, transportation and disposal of
the city garbage by the Brooklyn Sanitary Utilization Company,
one of the provisions being that the company should receive the
garbage at its plant up to May, 1897, after which there should
be ready a separate plant for the disposal of the Brooklyn gar-
bage. The quantity of garbage was estimated at 250 tons per
day. The maximum capacity of the new Brooklyn plant was to
be 500 tons per day.
THE BARREN ISLAND REDUCTION PLANT.
The New York Sanitary Utilization Company was formed by
capitalists from Philadelphia who controlled the Arnold process
of garbage reduction under a corporation known as the American
Sanitary Product Company. This is the parent company that
controls or is interested in all the various companies operating
under the patents of this process in Philadelphia, New York,
Brooklyn, Boston, Baltimore, Washington, Newark, and Atlantic
City.
The combined plants for New York and Brooklyn were built
in 1895-6 at Barren Island, a small island at the mouth of Jamaica
Bay, on Rockaway Inlet, in the rear of Rockaway Beach. The
distance of this location from the City Hall in New York City
is twelve miles by land, and about twenty by water.
The garbage is dumped by the city's collection carts into the
company's scows at five wharfs, three on the North and two
on the East River. The average towing distance from New
York is twenty-two miles, and about eighteen miles from Brook-
348 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
lyn. The scows carry an average of 300 tons of garbage, and
one tug tows two scows.
The quantities collected in tons for three years were as follows :
Manhattan and
New York Bronx Brooklvn Total
1897 1898 1899 1899 1899
158,500 142,400 151,600 104,000 255,600
Quantities per day 500 tons 455 tons 484 tons 333 tons 817 tons
Cost per ton 570. 640. 590.
The scows were formerly unloaded by buckets and scoops, dis-
charging into a hopper from which the garbage was carried by
a conveyor to the digestors. The present method is by stationary
conveyors or continuous steel troughs, with connected scrapers or
drags, carried on sprocket chains, the scows being moved forward
as they are unloaded. Over each digester are sliding doors in
the bottom of the troughs which are connected with a funnel and
feed pipe with a swivel joint, so that each digester may be fed
in turn. The digestors are of the usual type, vertical steel cylin-
ders, holding about eight tons, of ^-inch steel plate strongly riv-
eted, dome shaped at the top, with conical lower ends for deliv-
ery of the cooked garbage into receiving tanks.
Every four digestors are connected with one tank also made
of steel plates 14^ feet long, 12 feet 6 inches wide, 7 feet high,
having a bottom sloping each way to the center.
An opening is provided at the bottom for discharging the cooked
garbage by means of a pipe into cars where it is built up with
wooden racks and gunny sacks into layers and run beneath the
screw presses. There are sixteen presses, operated at a pressure
of 100 pounds per square inch on the press screw head, or platen.
When this process is completed the cars are run to the end of
the building, the tankage lifted to the second floor and then shov-
elled into the dryers.
There are twelve driers, each about 14 feet long and 5 inches
in diameter, placed horizontally, carrying a charge of three tons.
These driers are jacketed with live steam at 75 pounds pressure,
and are provided with rotating blades on a center shaft to keep
the tankage stirred up.
From the driers the tankage is discharged into cross conveyors
leading to the screens. These are the usual type of rotary screens,
and deliver the tankage in condition for bagging for market.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 349
After the bones are picked out the tailings are burned or are
used for filling.
Going back to the operation of the presses, the liquids from
the pressed garbage fall into a system of drains beneath the press-
room floor which carries the hot water and the grease from the
presses into a series of shallow tanks with partitions extending
only part way to the bottom. By continued circulation and move-
ment in these basins the grease in cooling separates from the
water, is removed by skimming, and finally goes into the barrels
for shipment. In the evaporation process a form of vacuum pan
is used. The final product, known as "stick," a heavy, dense body
of fluid substances, is mixed with the highly dried tankage to
form a superior grade of fertilizer.
Provisions for the prevention of nuisances incidental to the
various processes. are an important part of the whole when such
enormous quantities of material are handled. In hot weather a
deodorant known as "electrozone" was used. This is a product
of hypo-chlorite of sodium evolved from sea water by powerful
electrical currents, and is applied to lessen the odors from the
green garbage in the scows. The scows are washed down after
each trip and sprinkled with chloride of lime.
The free steam and gases in the digester house are exhausted
by an immense fan and are drawn into a long scrubber through
which about 3,500 gallons of sea water are forced by pumps. The
gases from the digestors, driers and evaporators are passed
through spiral jet condensers; in these the gases and a jet of
cold water fall together about 30 feet into a receiving tank. Un-
condensed gases were formerly passed to the chimneys, entering
at the rear of the boiler, but as the temperature of 600° was not
sufficient to deodorize or consume these they are now discharged
under water at some distance from the works.
The machinery equipment includes seventeen steam boilers of
250 horsepower each, four Corliss engines of 150 horsepower
each, two smaller engines, two air compressors, three dynamos
for lighting, several pumps for lifting water, and fans for ven-
tilation.
The Brooklyn plant is practically a duplicate of the New York
plant. More digestors are to be added to make up a total of one
hundred and twelve, which will give the whole plant a capacity
350 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
for the treatment of 1,500 tons per day. (Description condensed
from the Engineering News of February i, 1900.)
THE SANITARY SIDE OF THE MATTER.
The history of the Barren Island plant is one of strenuous
effort to maintain its position against the determined opposition .
of the surrounding population while at the same time embarrassed
by a series of misfortunes and accidents which were beyond the
power of the company to foresee. During the summer months
there are probably three-fourths of a million people residing
within a radius of three miles from the island, with free range
for the winds which at this season blow mainly from the direc-
tion of the south and southwest. While there are in the locality
three other plants of a similar nature — P. White Sons, for dead
animals ; E. I. McKeever, for animals ; E. Frank Coe Fertilizer
Co. — it was claimed that the nauseous odors were chiefly due to
the reduction works.
The people complained to the Board of Health, but met with
no encouragement. They appealed to the Legislature in 1899,
and a bill was passed and vetoed by the Governor on the ground
that six months was too short a time for the Street Cleaning
Department to provide other means of disposal. The Legislature
of 1900 caused a hearing to be held at which arguments were
presented resulting in the passage of a bill, which was vetoed by
Mayor Van Wyck, and was repassed by the Legislature and
signed by Governor Roosevelt, who at that time clearly stated
the aim and purpose of this action.
On the 2Oth of April, 1900, he said:
The city authorities should have presented a better plan for the dis-
posal of the garbage to the last Legislature, but, instead, they hang back
and make no effort to solve the Barren Island problem. That's the reason
why these bills were passed. The city authorities evidently prefer to allow
the present disposal contractors to profit by the existing methods than take
the measures necessary to abate the nuisance and protect the public health.
If I sign this bill it will be because they will be compelled to do something
which otherwise they would not do in the public interest.
The bill allowed twelve months from the time that it became a
law, April, 1900, for the securing of other means of disposal, but
provided that the Board of Health of the city might extend the
operation of the time to include the then existing contracts up
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 351
to August i, 1901. The Garbage Company took the matter to
the courts, where, after long delay, the act was declared uncon-
stitutional.
Under the contracts with New York City and Brooklyn the
Sanitary Utilization Company carried on its work at Barren
Island until 1901, when the term of the first contract with New
York expired. In March a fire which originated in the storage
house destroyed a large amount of manufactured stock and the
buildings in which it was kept. The loss was said to be $50,000.
Complaints of nuisance from odors continued, but the operation
of the works was uninterrupted. The company made great
efforts to install every form of ventilating and preventive ap-
paratus that might be of service, and took all possible precautions
to stop the odors. On April 16, 1903, another fire greatly dam-
aged the New York plant, the losses being reported at $100,000.
For a short time a part of the garbage was dumped at sea until
repairs could be made to the works.
THE RETIREMENT OF COLONEL WARING AS COMMISSIONER.
In 1897 tne citY government changed politically. Tammany
again came into power, and on January i, 1898, Mr. Percy Nagle
replaced Colonel Waring as Commissioner of Street Cleaning.
The three years of the administration of the Department of
Street Cleaning under Colonel Waring were years of earnest and
continued effort to establish a system of efficient and economical
work in all branches of the service. He first reorganized the
personnel of the department, then repaired and increased the
equipment for street cleaning. He improved the collection serv-
ice, and caused to be built necessary stables and buildings for
the mechanical department, making extensive additions to these.
Following the suggestions of the Gilroy Commission he installed
steel storage pocket bins for receiving waste and for quick work
in loading scows. The point for sea-dumping was carried nine
miles further out, and two large self-propelled steel dumping
boats were purchased for transportation of the waste in any kind
of weather. These boats were experimental, it being the inten-
tion of the head of the department to add to these if they were
found to be practical and economical. He began the dumping
of ashes and refuse at Riker's Island after the establishment of
352 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
the reduction plant which took care of the garbage, and this prac-
tically stopped sea-dumping.
For the light refuse disposal, Colonel Waring established the
plant at East Seventeenth Street, from which in the course of
three years the city derived a revenue of 61 cents to $I.IG
per ton.
The Commissioner also took up the method of street cleaning
by hand, which he had seen operative abroad. The streets were
divided into sections each under the care of one man who was
responsible for its condition, each one of the street forces being
equipped with apparatus invented for the purpose of assisting
him to do his work effectually.
In order to interest the people and in a measure supplement
the exertions of the department force, Waring inaugurated the
Juvenile Street Cleaning League, which was popular among the
school children and proved to be a beneficial civic movement.
Through the efforts of his assistants, under his direction, de-
tailed information upon many subjects was collected, all of which
up to the time of his administration had been neglected and
ignored. Among these special reports are those upon the relative
advantage and comparative costs of disposal at sea and by dump-
ing, for the purpose of making land at Riker's Island and other
points ; the private collection of garbage and its use as food for
animals ; the garbage and tankage trade as connected with the
fertilizer industry ; the value of street sweepings as a fertilizer ;
the waste paper collection, its quantities and values ; the value of
household ash ; the utilization of ashes and the products thereof ;
a comprehensive and detailed account of the cost of street sweep-
ing, including a description of the methods and machinery em-
ployed for cleaning every variety of pavement.
There are many minor subjects pertinent in one way or another
to a description of the work of this bureau that received his per-
sonal attention. Colonel Waring was always ready to listen to
any new idea that promised to help out, and to give the suggestion
a trial if he thought suitable.
Probably this very efficient Commissioner will best be remem-
bered for the creation of the "White Wings," the Street Clean-
ing force which he formed into battalions under military disci-
pline and rigid rules of behavior, whose annual parade in their
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 353
white uniforms was a feature of the administration of Mayor
Strong. The three thousand men under his control were im-
bued with the spirit of their chief, and inspired with personal
pride in their work, all of which gave them an esprit de corps
hitherto conspicuously absent in the department, making them
better citizens and better workers.
His own estimate of the results attained at the end of his term
of service may be quoted :
The progress made thus far is satisfactory. An inefficient and ill-
equipped working force long held under the heel of the spoilsman has
been emancipated, organized and brought to its best. It now constitutes a
brigade three thousand strong, made up of well-trained and disciplined
men, the representative soldiers of cleanliness and health, soldiers of the
public, self-respecting and life-saving. These men are fighting daily battles
with dirt, and are defending the health of the whole people. The trophies
of their victories are all about us, in clean pavements, clean feet, uncon-
taminated air, a look of health on the faces of the people, and streets full
of healthy children at play.
This is the outcome of two and one-half years of strenuous effort —
at first against official opposition and much public criticism. Two and
one-half years more, with a continuance of the present official favor and
universal public approval should bring our work to perfection. It should
make New York the cleanest, and should help to make it the healthiest
city in the world. By that time the death rate should be reduced to fifteen
per thousand, which would mean for our present population a saving of
sixty lives per day out of one hundred and forty daily lost under the av-
erage of 26.78 (1882-94).
CHAPTER XV.
THE ARNOLD REDUCTION PROCESS IN NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA,
BALTIMORE AND ATLANTIC CITY.
Renewal of New York Contracts. — The terms of five years'
contract in New York City for the disposal of the garbage by
the Sanitary Utilization Company (using the Arnold process)
expired on August I, 1901. The contract forms for a new
advertisement were ready in January, 1901, but they were with-
held by Mr. Nagle, and not published until June, the bids being
opened on the 27th of that month.
The specifications provided for a plant of 1,000 tons capacity
to be ready for work in 30 days, and to be reduction or crema-
tion methods, as the contractors might elect, the contracts to
include separate bids and plants for the Borough of Bronx as
well as those for Manhattan. The following are the bids received
for Manhattan:
Per Year
David Peoples (Philadelphia) $385,000
John McNamee 390,000
Seth L. Keeney 600,000
Sanitary Utilization Company 232.000
For the Bronx the bids were :
Sanitary Utilization Company (5 years) $355,000
Geo. W. Hyatt (5 years) 334,000
The acceptance of the bid of the Sanitary Utilization Com-
pany for Manhattan was recommended by Mr. Nagle, Com-
missioner of Street Cleaning, and that of Mr. Hyatt for the
Bronx. The Board of Estimate and Apportionment rejected
all bids and instructed the Commissioner to prepare new speci-
fications for bids for one year, instead of for five years. The
new bids were advertised on July 20, and opened on July 30,
after long controversy, and the Board of Estimate awarded the
contract to the New York Sanitary Utilization Company for
five years at $232,000 per year.
354
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 355
At the time of the award it was claimed by the Sanitary Utili-
zation Company that the amounts of garbage had doubled, mak-
ing necessary an increased capacity of their plant. This was
accepted as a fact, without verification, but it was manifestly in-
correct, as is shown by the reports of quantities for the previous
year (1899). Assuming that an average amount of 500 tons
daily for Manhattan was received, or a total of 158,500 tons for
313 days, then the cost per ton would be $1.48, an increase of
90^ cents per ton over the previous five-year contract, and a
total increase of over a million dollars.
The method adopted for letting this contract one day previous
to the expiration of the old contract, demonstrated the power
of a monopoly in controlling the public work of garbage dis-
posal by rings and the favor of the local authorities.
The renewal of the Brooklyn contract was obtained in a
similar way, at an increased cost to the city, and the disposal of
the garbage of the Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx by
the Arnold process at Barren Island was continued. In the
course of the following year the Sanitary Utilization Company
contracted for the disposal of the Bronx garbage at the price
of $22,500 per year, as against their previous bid of $71,000
per year in 1901.
The Accidents of Fire and Flood at Barren Island. — The
ground at Barren Island was originally about five acres of salt
marsh, to which about three acres more have been added by
filling. Around the border of the island spiles have been driven
to protect it against the wash of waves and the scour of the
tideway. It has happened that the shifting sand of the bottom
has changed in such a manner as to undermine the bulkhead
and allow the buildings to slip over into the deep water of the
channel. Such a collapse took place in 1905, involving a part
of the reduction plant, which was partially destroyed. For
many years parts of the island have been disappearing. Twenty
years ago a breakwater was built, and since then many boatloads
of stone have been dumped off the eastern end to prevent under-
mining by the currents.
On April 26, 1907, a part of the eastern end containing the
buildings of the reduction company's plant, and nearly two
hundred feet of the pier and bulkhead sank without warning.
356 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
These buildings contained the stock of oil or grease barrelled
for market. A part of this was saved, but nothing of the struc-
ture was recovered. The loss is stated at $50,000. The work-
ing force of one hundred men was thrown into a panic, but
they escaped without loss of life.
In May, 1907, the buildings of the main plant were destroyed
by fire supposed to have originated by spontaneous combustion.
Serious damage was done to the digestor plant, and the works
were put out of commission at a time when the warm season
was approaching and the garbage was largest in amount. For
nearly three months this waste was towed out to sea and dis-
charged near Scotland Lightship. The winds and tides carried
large amounts of it to the beaches of New Jersey, where it
decayed under the hot sun and gave rise to complaints of nuis-
ance all along the coast. Remonstrances were of no avail, and
the matter was taken up by Governor Stokes, of New Jersey,
who called with several prominent citizens upon Acting Mayor
McGowan, and were assured by him that the dumping scows
would be ordered twenty-five miles out to sea instead of fifteen
as had been the custom. Assurance was also given that the
reduction plant would soon be ready to resume work, although
at first with only sufficient capacity to handle one-fourth of the
total amount collected.
During ten days street cleaners' strike of the summer of
1907 such collections as were made consisted of a mixed mass
of garbage, ashes, refuse, etc., which could not be treated at
the reduction plant. This material was sent out to sea, and the
same remonstrances were produced from the residents of the
Jersey coast as on the previous occasion. These conditions
were remedied in the same way, by sending the garbage scows
literally out to sea instead of only forty miles from the city
wharf.
Continuation of the Garbage Disposal Contract. — In 1902 the
consolidation of the municipalities was made, and the city of
Greater New York came into existence, divided into the bor-
oughs of Manhattan (formerly New York City), Brooklyn,
Queens (Long Island City, Jamaica, Flushing and Rockaway).
Richmond (including five towns and all the territory of Staten
Island), and Bronx (including Harlem). The population of
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 357
the united boroughs was, in 1906, 4,258,387; the area in square
miles, 327.25.
The greater city assumed the collection and disposal of the
garbage in Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn, leaving Queens
and Richmond to deal with the problem in their own way.
Near the close of 1901 after four years of work of the
Street Cleaning Department the conditions of the service had
become notoriously bad. An investigation set on foot by a
committee of citizens, acting on behalf of a Civic Improvement
League, brought out astonishing developments.
One writer says of the work of the Department of Street
Cleaning as administered by Commissioner Nagle :
Beginning in 1898 with the inheritance of a well-organized and thor-
oughly equipped service, with labor and money saving devices and ap-
paratus in running order, with plans and purposes well-defined for carry-
ing on a practical and successful line of work in an honest and economical
way, now at the end of four years, as the result of incompetent manage-
ment and complete surrender to the machine politicians, the Department
is in a position of absolute contempt.
Every one of the means established for saving time and money has
been abandoned ; the pay-rolls are rilled with the names of political hench-
men; the streets- are dirty and crowded with encumbrances; the steel
dumping boards built for the Department have been sold for old junk;
the refuse disposal station has been abandoned; the steam dumping boats
have been thrown out and are rusting from disuse ; a corrupt combina-
tion with individual contractors and corporations has been made, by which
the city pays double prices for contract work; and the expenses are
increased by more than one million dollars in four years. Some parts
of the year's appropriations are even now exhausted, and still the demand
is made for larger appropriations for next year.
The election in November, 1901, again brought the city gov-
ernment under the control of an administration pledged to the
reform of all departments, and Dr. H. McGaw Woodbury be-
came Commissioner of Street Cleaning in January, 1902. The
contract granted in 1901 to the Sanitary Utilization Company
was faithfully carri-ed out by both parties despite the many
difficulties and reverses of the reduction company.
On the announcement that tenders would be received for a
new five years' contract for garbage disposal, competitors ap-
peared. The specifications were issued for any suitable method,
and time was allowed for the construction of an entirely new
358 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
and complete plant. The bids received in August for a contract
to begin in the following November were:
Per Year
The New York Sanitary Product Company (The Sanitary Utili-
zation Company and Arnold Process) . . . $148,000
The American Reduction Company (The Modified Flynn Pro-
cess, of Pittsburg) 1 54,000
Darlington & Co. (supposed to be a method of incineration) .... 209,000
E. J. McKean (process unknown) 300,000
The award was made to the New York Sanitary Product
Company, upon an estimated basis of 800 tons per year; the
price for disposal was about 90 cents, a reduction of 58 cents
from the last contract price.
In Brooklyn the garbage disposal contract was awarded to
the Brooklyn Sanitary Product Company for five years from
November, 1902.
DISPOSAL IN BRONX BOROUGH.
In the borough of the Bronx there was keen competition for
the garbage disposal contract, as the conditions were favorable
for the establishment of an incinerating plant, and the speci-
fications provided for the erection of a suitable plant with a
capacity of 100 tons of garbage and 100 cubic yards of refuse,
other than ashes.
The bids received were as follows:
Per Year
The Decarie Incinerating Company $16,000
S. J. Subers 22,500
M. J. Meagher 34,500
Melrose Company 68,000
Sanitary Utilization Company (if disposed of in the borough) .... 17, 500
The same (if disposed of by their plant at Barren Island) 14,000
The contract was awarded to the Decarie Company, which,
after some opposition and some changes in regard to the pro-
posed site, erected its plant and began the work of disposal..
The company met with difficulties from the first because of
its inability to destroy the given quantity, and also because of
complaints on the ground of nuisance from the chimney.
The company was given time to remedy these defects, and
after many changes in the apparatus again attempted to carry
out the contract. A trial of about two months' time demonstrated
that the incinerator could not perform the work required of it,
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 359
and that the charge of the offensive odors was a true one. The
contract was terminated by peremptory action of the Board of
Estimate, based upon the adverse report of the Street Cleaning
Commissioner, Dr. Woodbury, but the city did not insist upon
the forfeiture of the bond given by the Decarie Company in the
sum of $20,000 for the efficient performance of the contract.
The mechanical equipment of the company was removed and
used at another place to undergo a like failure and like discon-
tinuance of its work.
In 1908 the garbage of the borough of the Bronx was by
five years contract with the Sanitary Utilization Company taken
to the Barren Island plant at a cost to the city of $15,000 up
to $25,000 per year, or an average of $19,000 per year for the
five years' contract. At present, under this arrangement, the
refuse is picked and sorted for market, the worthless rubbish is
scowed to Riker's Island with the house and steam ashes, and is
used for filling.
THE GARBAGE OF THE BOROUGH OF QUEENS.
Formerly in the towns of Long Island City, Flushing,
Jamaica and Rockaway, all now included in the borough of
Queens, the garbage was disposed of by tipping Upon the marshy
grounds adjoining the towns. This became so objectionable that
in 1899 Colonel Waring accepted bids for its disposal by five
garbage crematories of the capacity of twenty-five tons each, tt>
be located in these towns, also for one at New Brighton, in
the borough of Richmond.
The contract provided that the city was to collect and deliver
the garbage; the contractor, Z. H. Magill, was to purchase
ground and erect the crematories, receiving 45 cents per ton
for the incineration of garbage with small amounts of light
refuse. This undertaking was carried on for a short time only.
The crematories were of the Dixon type, requiring large amounts
of fuel, and the capacity was not up to the standard, the cost
of operating greatly exceeded the guarantee, and the contractor
lost heavily by the work. After nearly a year's effort the city
was induced to purchase these plants, and a new administration
paid $50,000 for the five crematories and the ground.
The crematories in Flushing, Rockaway and Jamaica were
discontinued, their places being taken by other furnaces of the
360 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
La Chapelle make. That at Long Island City still continues at
work, but that at New Brighton has been abandoned because
of the erection of a modern destructor plant.
At the present time a small part of the garbage of Queens
is taken by scows to the Barren Island works, as is also a small
quantity from Coney Island, the summer resort on the shores
of the bay, immediately adjoining Barren Island.
DISPOSAL OF GARBAGE IN THE BOROUGH OF RICHMOND.
The borough of Richmond includes all of Staten Island; it
has a population of 78,943, and an area of 57.25 square miles.
Prior to the consolidation Staten Island was occupied by a
number of corporate villages and a great many small hamlets,
the latter controlled by the usual township and county system
of government, the villages having a more definite form of
administration by Trustees or a Board of Aldermen.
One of the towns, called New Brighton, had in 1895 erected
a garbage crematory of the Brownlee type, which continued in
service for only three years. Complaints were made of noxious
odors, and in the effort to abate these the work of the crematory
became too expensive and it was abandoned early in 1898.
In 1899 a Dixon crematory, built under the Magill contract,
was located at Port Richmond, and after being acquired by the
eity was operated until the spring of 1908, when replaced by a
modern refuse destructor. For some time after the closing of
the Brownlee furnace the garbage was removed in scows to
Barren Island.
Owing to the peculiar geographical conditions of the island
a long narrow strip of settlements bordering on the waters of
the Newark River, New York Harbor, and on the southern
and eastern side of the great South Bay, the distance for trans-
porting the garbage was entirely too great for its concentration
at any one point. The attempt to deliver it to the Sanitary
Company for reduction purposes was given up, and the several
towns continued to deposit their garbage upon dumps.
For four years after the new charter of the borough went
into effect but little was done in the direction of improved dis-
posal methods. In 1902 the Commissioner of Public Works,
Mr. L. Tribus, C. E., with the assistance of Mr. Richard Fox,
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 361
Chief of the Bureau of Street Cleaning, began the needed im-
provements. Mr. Fox was in 1904 followed by Mr. J. T.
Fetherston, C. E., as Chief of the Bureau, and the latter spent
two years in a study of the local conditions and the establish-
ment of a collection service and the necessary equipment.
In 1906 Mr. Fetherston was authorized to investigate the
garbage disposal methods in use in other countries, as well as in
America and Canada, and went- abroad for that purpose. On
his return, in the autumn of 1907, the borough authorities pro-
ceeded with the plans recommended for the erection of an im-
proved modern destructor plant that should receive about half
of the mixed refuse of the borough and destroy it by incineration.
The American Society of Civil Engineers published Mr. Fether-
ston's report under the title "Municipal Refuse Disposal : An
Investigation," together with papers discussing it by several mem-
bers of the Society and others interested in the subject. (See
Vol. LX., Transactions of the American Society of Civil En-
gineers.)
To ascertain the quantities and composition of the general
refuse the collection made by the city carts in one district of the
borough, West New Brighton was selected as a representative
section of the whole territory.
This district contained 4,321 houses, inhabited by 25,900 peo-
ple, 90 per cent, of whom contribute waste for removal. In
making observations there were noted:
First, the quantity of mixed refuse for 1,000 inhabitants by volume and
by weight.
Second, the seasonal variations by volume and by weight.
Third, the components of refuse, and variations according to the sea-
sons.
Fourth, the calorific value of refuse, both in separated parts and in
general combination, according to the season.
Fifth, the incineration of mixed refuse, together with the probable
temperature of the gases resulting from the destruction of refuse, and
the boiler power obtainable.
The exhaustive study of the conditions above noted was pub-
lished in the paper contributed to the discussion before the
American Society of Civil Engineers, December, 1907. It is a
most valuable contribution to the literature of the subject of
municipal waste disposal and especially interesting to engineers
362 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
investigating the question with view of undertaking similar
studies.
REPORT OF INSPECTION OF BRITISH DESTRUCTORS.
Following the tabulated results of the preliminary examination
of the conditions existing and probably to be encountered in the
waste disposal of West New Brighton, it became necessary to
determine by what method and with what apparatus the work
should be done. During May and June, 1906, thirty-nine de-
structor installations in Great Britain were inspected, and
in August the only destructor of British type in this
country, that at Westmount, Canada. Of the forty destruc-
tors examined thirty were in England, three in Wales, three in
Scotland, and one in Canada. Efforts were made to obtain data
regarding the main factors in the work of mixed refuse disposal,
so that the various features of each installation might be noted
for comparison with others.
The results of this comparison were tabulated in a series of
extended notes, observations, opinions and deductions, giving a
comprehensive survey of all the plants, with data for comparison
in each case. The main points included a mention of the muni-
cipality visited, its population and general character; estimates
as to the quantity and character of the waste, the location, type
and maker of plant ; its capacity ; its buildings ; the use made of
the power derived ; construction costs and repairs ; special notes
and opinions on operation, clinkers and ashes, and possible causes
of nuisance; the most commendable and the most obviously ob-
jectionable features, and general remarks.
Following this the author discussed the more practical ques-
tions that would concern the adoption of the destructor system
at Richmond, and gives many figures and much general informa-
tion bearing upon them.
In the final deduction he sums up the commendable and ob-
jectionable features in an impartially critical manner, bestowing
praise and blame in about equal proportions.
His recommendations were for the installation of a mixed
refuse destructor at West New Brighton, and included the fol-
lowing points :
I. A hand-fed destructor charged at the back of the furnace and
clinkering on the opposite side or front of the furnace.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 363
2. That refuse be stored in a bin or hopper with a door or curtain to
contiol and prevent the escape of dust into the destructor room while
the hopper is being filled.
3. That refuse be dumped into the bin or hopper behind closed doors ;
and that the refuse storage be separated from the destructor portion of
the building.
4. That heated air be required for the combustion of refuse.
5. That a water-tube boiler be specified.
6. That a steam-jet blowers, or fan-draft, or both, be provided so
that the advantage of either may be determined.
7. That the air for forced draft be drawn from the upper portion of
the tipping-room and feeding or clinkering-room, so that positive ventila-
tion may be secured.
8. That the clinkering process be arranged so that hot clinker is
dropped into a pit and the heat from the clinker is utilized in raising
the temperature of the air for combustion.
9. That ample working space, light, and air be provided in the building,
and the plant be located so as to cause no trouble from escaping dust.
10. That a suitable mess-room, bath and toilet-room be provided for
the comfort of the men employed.
11. That the exterior of the plant be made attractive in appearance.
This whole investigation is by far the most thorough that has
been conducted by any American engineer. The report contains
much detailed information not previously accessible and the pre-
liminary studies and experiments are of great value. Until this
work was completed we never had a clearly defined analysis of
municipal wastes, nor had any accurate survey and tabulation of
relative quantities and seasonable variations been made.
Mr. Fetherston has done the country a real service by this
work, which is valuable not only in his own locality, but also for
all American towns with anything like the same conditions. From
this data any place can, by making necessary changes, calculate
its own approximate quantities, with the relative composition
of each item, and can then determine what will be the best way
to proceed for its economical disposal.
His observations as to the construction, working qualities and
relative advantages and disadvantages of each type of destructor
are expressed strongly and fearlessly, and evidently without bias,
and with no other desire than to tell what appears to him to be
the facts.
The illustrations of British destructor plants add interest to
the text, although they are not always happily chosen or quite
364 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
successful in point of clearness of execution. The remaining
papers discussing this report bring out no new features, most of
the writers merely taking up one or another of the points already
advanced by the first paper, with few original additions.
The practical result of the investigation was the issuance of
specifications calling for tenders for a refuse disposal station of
sixty tons daily capacity, to be built of reinforced concrete
throughout, chimney included, and to have most of the special
features included in the recommendation.
This advertisement appeared in August, 1907; the contract
was made in September, the construction was completed in
March, 1908, and the plant has been operating since that time.
A complete description of this plant will be found under the
heading of Destructors.
ARNOLD PROCESS, BALTIMORE.
The collection and disposal of waste in Baltimore, Md., up to
1902, was by the usual primitive methods which obtained in the
early days. The collections were made by a number of contrac-
tors who took the greater part of the garbage to the wharf and
sent it off in scows, but the remainder, with all the ashes and
general refuse, was dumped in the city outskirts. In 1902 a
movement w?s made towards better methods and the city adver-
tised for bidders for a five-year contract for the collection and
disposal of all the waste. It was found difficult to get satisfac-
tory proposals, but a contract was finally awarded to the Balti-
more Sanitary and Contracting Company, a local business cor-
poration. The contract was for ten years from October 20, 1902 ;
the price paid for garbage collection and disposal was to be
$147,300 per year.
The system of garbage disposal was the same Arnold process
then in use in New York and Philadelphia, having the same
general features of construction. The specifications of the city
provided for certain points relating to the reduction process, as
follows :
The system of final disposition shall be through thorough sterilization
of all material by the use of live steam at a temperature of 292° F., and it
must be enclosed in steam-tight vessels at a pressure of 60 pounds for
eight hours. All vapors and gases are to be drawn off and condensed.
From the time that the material is delivered into the enclosed vessel it
shall not be handled in the open air until after it has been pressed so
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 365
that the solid parts of the material shall contain moisture not exceeding
50 per cent., after which it may be destroyed by cremation, acidulation
or reduction to commercial dryness for use as a fertilizing material.
Later, in January, 1904, this same company acquired the contract for
the collection of the ashes and rubbish for seven years at $54,500 per
year, with an annual increase of $3,000 per year.
The cost of the garbage plant was reported to be $250,000.
The work performed under this contract was not satisfactory
either to the contractors or to the city, and the contract was
terminated in 1907, the city agreeing to purchase the plant and
the equipment of the company for the sum of $372,888.19, pay-
ments to be made in cash and notes for one, two, three and four
years.
The city then readvertised for bids, and after it had awarded
the contract to one company it was declined. Subsequently satis-
factory proposals were received from a new corporation. The
Baltimore Products Company's bids were accepted, by which this
company was to reduce the garbage for ten years for $45,000
per year, to remove the garbage plant to Bear Creek, five miles
from the city, and to purchase for $100,000 the buildings and
machinery of the old company. A bond for $100,000 was re-
quired for the performance of the contract. This company was
also granted the contract for the collection and removal of ashes
and refuse, the total sum for the disposal of all the waste being
$587,000 per year^for ten years.
Meanwhile, however, opposition to the proposed location de-
veloped, and a bill was introduced in the Legislature prohibiting
the site to be less than fifteen miles from the city. This distance
was afterwards reduced to nine miles. These changes entailed
greater cost, and a final proposal was made by the Baltimore
Products Company to the effect that the price be increased to
$52,000 the first year, for garbage disposal only; $58,000 for
the second year, and $2,000 per year additional until the expira-
tion of the contract in 1917. This proposal was accepted by the
city and the new disposal works are now being erected. The
Arnold-Edgerton reduction process is the method to be used.
On January i, 1908, the city began the work of collection of
ashes and rubbish by its own equipment and finds this more satis-
factory than having this work done by contract. For 1907 the
total number of loads removed of garbage was 81,319.
366 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
ARNOLD PROCESS, PHILADELPHIA.
The city of Philadelphia has for many years let yearly con-
tracts for the collection and disposal of its waste. There is a
peculiar provision, or an interpretation of the law, which pro-
hibits a contract for a longer period than one year. This has
undoubtedly retarded the adoption of improved means of dis-
posal, as few contractors or companies would undertake the
risk of constructing large disposal plants for the short time al-
lowed for their assured employ.' On the other hand, this short-
term contract at first brought keen competition for the work, so
that presently the smaller contractors were eliminated, and the
bidding was concentrated among half a dozen contracting firms
who were provided with the capital and equipped with the teams
for the proper performance of the service.
Thus it happened that to-day the collection and disposal is in
the hands of a few contractors who divide among themselves
the five collection districts, and year after year secure the re-
newal of contracts at practically their own figures. As a natural
result the cost of this branch of city work has increased until at
present the expense is relatively greater than in any other large
city in the country.
The garbage collection and disposal is a part of the yearly
contract service. It was begun in 1894, when a company known
as the American Product Company secured one street cleaning
district, under competitive bidding, for the collection and dis-
posal of garbage only.
A plant was built on the Schuylkill River, near Gray's Ferry,
about a quarter of a mile from any dwelling. The capacity of
the plant was not great, as the garbage from one city collection
district only was treated. In later years other districts were se-
cured, and the capacity of the works increased. In 1902-3 the
whole service of garbage collection and disposal for the city,
except one small outlying district, was concentrated under the
control of the American Product Company. The increased
quantities handled, the better prices obtained for the service, the
experience gained through improved methods and apparatus, to-
gether with the advantages of large equipment for collection and
disposal gave the corporation a decided pull against competitors
for the yearly contract.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 367
The gradual increase in the cost to the city is shown by the
following table :
TABLE LXVI.— THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF GARBAGE IN
PHILADELPHIA, 1894 TO 1909.
Collection Cost
and Tons Per
Year Company Disposal Ton
1894 $294,879
1895 295,140
1896 289,000 /.
1897 322,500
1898 330,000
1899 358,000
1900 398,000
/ Am. Pro. Co 448,000 224,256 $2.00
1901 \ Am. Con. & Mfg. Co 333.800 252,238
1902 Am. Product Co. . 440,833 280,000
1903 488,830
1904 516,700 300,000
1905 560,000 340,000
I" Jas. Curran $529,000
1906 -j Am. Pro. Co. . 479,000 \ 479,000
[ Penn. Red. Co 399-575
1907 Penn. Red. Co 418,500 378.964
1908 Penn, Red. Co 488,988
This table includes the total cost for the garbage during the
years named. Not all of this for all the years was destroyed
by the reduction company. In 1894 the garbage was destroyed
in a Vivarttas crematory in one district, and in 1894-5 still an-
other portion of the garbage was burned in a Smith-Siemens
crematory at Twenty-fourth and Callowhill Streets. Both these
crematories were discontinued later, as the contracts for the col-
lection and disposal were acquired by other contractors who em-
ployed reduction methods. The Smith-Siemens furnace was
later in temporary use, at a time when the reduction plant had
been crippled by fire.
The competition for the contracts of 1901 made no change as
to the final results. The award to the American Contracting
and Manufacturing Company at the lowest bid, $333,800, had
been made, but after a struggle against adverse conditions and
inadequate equipment the contract was surrendered to the Amer-
ican Product Company at the bid of $448,000.
In 1903 an offer by responsible parties to pay the city for the
garbage collected and delivered at a plant to be built was received
but not acted upon.
368 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
After the bids were received in July, 1906, suit was brought
by the American Product Company to restrain the Mayor and
the Director of Public Safety from awarding the contract to
the lowest bidder, the Penn Reduction Company. The judge in
dismissing the suit said: "The plaintiffs' point is extremely nar-
row and technical. They ask for the intervention of a court of
equity to prevent the lowest bidder from getting a contract fairly
won in competition." The performance of the contract awarded
the Penn Reduction Company was begun by the erection of a
large plant at a point removed 1,500 feet from any dwelling, but
still within the city limits. Just as the works were ready to go
into operation a fire destroyed the buildings, November i, 1906,
and so crippled the company that they were obliged to surrender
the contract, which was then taken over by the American Product
Company at the price they had bid, $479,000.
The figures paid for this work in the years noted show a con-
tinuously increasing cost. In 1905 this cost was more than double
that of the first year reported, the exact ratio of increase being
53 per cent.
The system of garbage collection and disposal as carried on
in Philadelphia affords a very good illustration of the working
of the short-term contract service, with a limited period of ad-
vertising in advance for the construction of a new plant, and
the certainty of competition by a powerful company which has
for years enjoyed a monopoly through the favor of the local
authorities.
The American Product Company is the parent company of
those that control the Arnold process. The first plant built in
1894 was in most respects similar to that built in Boston from
the designs of the same engineer, Mr. Charles Edgerton. There
is a somewhat confusing use of corporate names in this connec-
tion, which makes it difficult to distinguish the different organi-
zations.
The Philadelphia Company actually doing the work was called
the Philadelphia Sanitary Utilization Company, and its personnel
included several of the prominent contractors and politicians of
the city. The New York Sanitary Utilization Company, the
Brooklyn Sanitary Product Company and the Boston Sanitary
Product Company are all operating under the processes of tfie
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 369
parent company in Philadelphia. This is believed to be also the
case in Newark, Baltimore and Atlantic City.
ASHES AND REFUSE OF PHILADELPHIA.
These portions of the municipal waste are separately collected
from five different districts by contractors who bid under one-
year terms. Here again the work appears to be so divided that
it goes year after year to the same parties at constantly increas-
ing rates. The contracts include the street cleaning and sweep-
ing, the removal of all household waste except garbage, and the
cleaning of all private alleys and paved streets once a week.
The cost of the work has steadily increased from $462,394 in
1894 to $529,889 in 1900, and $720,890 in 1902.
From a personal examination made in 1902 it was ascertained
that there were approximately 823,977 tone of total waste, of
which garbage was 280,000 tons ; ashes and refuse 529,889 tons.
The proportion of refuse was approximately 30,000 loads, or
15,000 tons. All this is dumped on low grounds below and on
the outskirts of the city. These dumps are picked over by
persons in the employ of the contractors who control the collec-
tion service and who recover from 30 to 40 per cent, of the light
refuse for market. This refuse is roughly baled on the grounds,
but much of it is in filthy and insanitary condition.
In one year there were six hundred complaints from property-
holders adjoining one refuse dump at North Broad Street and
Hunting Avenue. No relief was possible, as the Health Depart-
ment held that the dumps did not contain organic substances that
would by decay become injurious to health.
The contractor at this dump received pay from all cartmen
who picked out and recovered for market a large proportion of
refuse by the labor of women and children. His only expense
was to deposit two feet of earth upon the miscellaneous debris
brought to the ground, which assisted in the preparation of the
soil as a site for dwellings to be built thereafter. The insanitary
conditions attending the work, the complaints of neighbors, and
the inevitable spread of zymotic diseases that flourish under just
such conditions were not the concern .of the contractor, nor evi-
dently of the health department of the city of Philadelphia.
37° THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
ARNOLD REDUCTION PROCESS, ATLANTIC CITY.
The question of garbage collection and disposal at Atlantic City
has always been a most perplexing problem for several reasons.
The population is variable — roughly, from 35,000 resident per-
sons— at one period up to 150,000 during the crowded summer
months. There is no chance for disposal by tipping overboard,
nor are the facilities for feeding swine available as in other
places. A summer and winter watering place must be clean, and,
above all, must be sanitary, for the whole life of a town depends
upon its sanitary and attractive features.
For many years the waste was taken away from the water
front and tipped or buried. Then in 1894-5 the Smith-Siemens
crematory was erected, and for about five years destroyed the
garbage at great cost for fuel and labor. The quantity thus dis-
posed of in 1902 was 10,000 tons — disposed of by artificial gas
as fuel at a cost of $1.52 per ton.
In 1903 the city made a contract with the Atlantic Product Com-
pany, a Philadelphia corporation, of which Dr. F. H. McFarland
was president, to collect and dispose of the garbage for a period
of ten years. The company was to receive $20,000 per year for
collection and $20,000 per year for disposal, with an annual in-
crease of $1,000 per year. In 1906 the amount paid for both was
$43,000.
The plant is located at the north end of the island near the
inlet, adjoining the abandoned incinerating plant. The buildings
occupy an area of 100x150 feet, and are said to have cost
$125,000. In general arrangement and methods of operation the
works are similar to Philadelphia, though some more improve-
ments have been made over the older forms of machinery. There
are twenty digesters in five groups, with five hydraulic presses,
the usual catch-basins, gutters and flotation tanks for separating
the grease from the water. The gases are condensed and passed
over the boiler fires. The steam power is maintained by burning
the tankage for fuel. The capacity of the plant is necessarily
larger than the average because of the maximum population of
the city for short periods.
Probably the total for the year would not exceed 20,000
tons, but on occasion there might be 150 tons per day for treat-
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 371
ment. There are no accounts or reports of quantities or per-
centage of manufactured products.
THE ARNOLD PROCESS, NEWARK, N. J.
For many years the disposal of the waste of Newark had been
made by tipping upon the marshy lands surrounding the city
on three sides. A part of the organic waste was fed to the
swine, collected by private contractors, and a still smaller part
was taken outside of the city limits for ground burial.
In July, 1902, the city received tenders for the collection and
disposal of all waste matters for a term of five years. It was
provided that garbage should be disposed of by any means which
would be inodorous and sanitary; that ashes and rubbish should
be dumped at any place subject to the approval of the Board of
Works.
The bids received for this work were from six different con-
tractors and companies, ranging from $631,000 to $817,000 for
the five years' contract. The contract was finally awarded to the
highest bidder, Mr. Benjamin Meyer, who afterwards organized
a company called the Newark Reduction Company, and erected
plants under the Arnold process at a location in the rear of the
city on the banks of the river. The reduction works were built
under the Edgerton patents for rotary presses, and were in other
respects similar to the reduction plants of the Arnold process at
other places.
During the term of this contract the plant also disposed of
garbage from adjacent towns — Orange, East Orange and Harri-
son— which was brought by wagons from these places. Upon
the expiration of this contract in 1908, bids were called for by
the city and the award again made to the same company for
another term of five years.
WILMINGTON, DEL.
Wilmington, Del., was among the first to adopt improved
methods for disposal of its garbage, and in 1893 erected a gar-
bage incinerator under the S. G. Brown patents. This was the
first water-jacketed furnace to be erected in this country, was
operated by oil, sprayed by steam, which was furnished by a
boiler independent of the plant.
372 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
This crematory continued at work for some three or four
years, and was finally put out of commission because of the great
expense of operating. It was followed by a Dixon crematory of
approximately fifty tons capacity, erected on the same ground.
The operation of this crematory was found to be expensive be-
cause of the large amounts of liquid contained in the garbage and
the fact that this was separately collected without any admixture
of refuse and brought to the crematory for disposal. Various
methods of extracting these liquids were devised, but none found
to be of practical service.
In April, 1906, the city advertised for bids for the disposal of
the garbage under conditions which required the contractor to
dispose of it in a sanitary manner, and he should also be allowed
the use of the present city crematory and make such alterations
therein as should be approved by the Council.
The plant was required to have capacity for the disposal of all
garbage within twenty-four hours after collection. The Mayor
and Council should have the option to purchase the plant at the
termination of the five-year contract. This contract was awarded
to a company formed for the purpose, which company employed
the Arnold process, and which also had the privilege of burning
the rubbish in a part of the Dixon crematory which was specially
altered for the purpose. There is no report showing the quantity
treated or the results of the work at the present time.
The company engaged to dispose of the rubbish as well as the
garbage, and conduct their work on the same ground and include
in their plant the operation of the Dixon Crematory.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CHAMBERLAIN, HOLTHAUS, WISEOGEL, AMERICAN RE-
DUCTION AND PENN REDUCTION PROCESSES.
CHAMBERLAIN PROCESS, DETROIT, MICH.
This process, known as the "Liquid Separating Process," was
first used at Detroit, Mich., in 1898. The patentee and inventor
was Mr. M. H. Chamberlain, who was President of the Detroit
Liquid Separating Company, contracting with the city for all
garbage disposal for a term of five years.
The collection was made in large boxes holding one and
one-half tons each, and brought from all parts of the city to
a yard adjoining the railroad station. The boxes were lifted
from the cart bodies and placed on flat cars, each holding
20 boxes, and carried 22 miles on the Wabash Railroad to
French's Landing on the Huron River. At the works the boxes
were discharged upon a platform, the refuse picked out and
the garbage shoveled into digesters of the usual capacity of
five tons. The bottoms of these digesters were provided with
three concentric circular cylinders with double walls closed on
the top but open on the bottom, with perforated sides.
After the usual process of cooking from six to eight hours,
steam at high pressure was forced into the tank above and
below the cylinders, forcing these upward and driving out the
liquids carrying the grease, which passed off through pipes con-
nected with the lower section of the digesters. This pressure
was Continued for five hours, until the liquids were squeezed out,
leaving about 30 per cent, of the original mass, which was then
removed through the side doors and conveyed to steam-jacketed
driers. At the close of this drying process the bulk of the
material was reduced to 15 per cent, of the original measure, and
was in the form of a homogeneous brown mass, which was
screened and ground for fertilizer.
The pressed-out water and grease are separated, the grease
collected and barreled, and the water run off into the Huron
373
374 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
River as a dark brown effluent that rapidly colors the water of
the river. The special features of this process are the collec-
tions in closed tanks and transportation to the works without
breaking bulk, steamed garbage in the digesters, and the separa-
tion of water and grease within closed tanks, the steam and
gases from which were condensed or destroyed by discharge
under the ash-pits of the boilers. There has never been avail-
able any analysis of the products from this process, and no
comparison of the value can be stated.
This company was the first to use the system of collection
in large movable boxes tightly sealed for transportation by rail.
The compensation paid to the company was at the rate of
$47,208 per year, which included transportation by rail to the
works. No information in regard to quantities is available.
After the close of the contract the city advertised in December,
1905, for new bids for disposal.
Those received were as follows :
Dixon Sanitary Crematory Company, four 8-ton plants $80,000
Detroit Sanitary Works offered to sell their plant, 200 tons
capacity, for 100,000
Lewis & Kitchen, garbage crematory plants; submitted seven
bids, highest 68,879
These bids were all rejected, and the city advertised again
on December 23, 1905, when the following proposals were re-
ceived :
Detroit Sanitary Works, 10 years' contract, $12,000 per year.
Detroit Reduction Company, 10 years' contract for no compensation, for
garbage only ; also to dispose of all other refuse at 25 cents per ton, and to
dispose of ashes at 20 cents per ton, and night soil at 25 cents per barrel.
The Detroit Reduction Company also offered to sell to the
city at any time, on valuation.
At this time (Oct., 1908) the city collects the garbage, about
35,000 tons per year, and delivers it to the Detroit Reduction Com-
pany at a central point in the city. The company sends it by rail
to the works at French's Landing twenty miles outside the city.
The contract is for ten years from July, 1905.
CHAMBERLAIN PROCESS, INDIANAPOLIS, IND.
The Chamberlain, or "Liquid Separating Process," of reduc-
tion was introduced into Indianapolis in 1898. A contract for
collection and disposal of garbage and dead animals was secured
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 375
by the Indianapolis Sanitary Company, Mr. S. E. Rand,
President.
The works were built on a farm just outside the city, the
collections made in steel tanks, or wagon bodies, which were
taken by rail from the central station to the plant. The process
of disposal was the same as at the Detroit works, but instead
of running off the foul effluent direct into the river it was
heated to a high temperature and discharged on the gravel beds
of the river banks, through which it found its way to the
water.
This manner of effluent disposal gave rise to bitter and un-
ceasing complaints from adjoining property-holders, and in later
years the company has taken other means for the treatment of
the liquids.
In 1905 the city advertised for bids for a five-year contract
for the collection and disposal of garbage and dead animals.
The bids received were:
» Per Year
C. Jones (Buffalo) $48,800
F. J. Edengarter 60,360
Indianapolis Sanitary Company 52,000
The last-named received the award. It is understood that
the work is being carried on at the same plant and by the same
methods as before. No reports of quantities or value of prod-
ucts are available.
Assuming the population to be 212,198 in 1905, and the
quantity of garbage as estimated in the tables of the Govern-
ment Census Reports as 30,000 tons, the cost of collection and
disposal would be at the rate of $1.73 per ton, and at the rate
of 25 cents per capita per annum. This does not include the
ashes and refuse, for which a separate contract is made. No
reports of these amounts can be obtained.
CHAMBERLAIN PROCESS, CINCINNATI, OHIO.
As previously noted, this city had in service for ten years the
Simonin process of reduction for vegetable garbage and a con-
tract with a separate company for the collection and disposal
of the "animal garbage."
In 1902, when the city advertised for bids for the combined
work of garbage disposal and animal collections and disposal,
376 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
the bid of Messrs. M. H. Chamberlain and J. H. Corliss, after-
wards known as the Cincinnati Reduction Company, was ac-
cepted for the fractional parts of the years for the two com-
panies then performing the service. These bids were on a slid-
ing scale of payment: 1902, part of year, $43,000; 1903,
$76,000; 1904, $77,500; 1905, $78,500; 1906, $80,400; 1907,
part of year, $35,000. The company was to make collections
three times a week from residential parts of the city during
April to October and twice a week in other months, with daily
collections for markets, hotels and all places where animal food
is prepared.
The company provided iron water-tight wagon bodies to be
lifted by cranes to cars for transportation to the disposal works
a few miles down the river.
The "liquid separation" or Chamberlain process is the one
under which this company operates, the works and buildings
being of the same general design and character as the Detroit
plant, previously described. No reports of the exact quantities
received or the value of the product have ever been obtained.
On the expiration of the contract, the city advertised for bids
for five years and received and accepted proposals from the
same company, the Cincinnati Reduction Company, at the fol-
lowing terms: First year, $80,000; second year, $91,000; third
year, $93,000; fourth year, $95,000; fifth year, $97,000, con-
tract to begin June I, 1908.
MERZ REDUCTION PROCESS FOLLOWED BY CHAMBERLAIN RE-
DUCTION PROCESS, WASHINGTON, D. C.
The generally unsettled state of the refuse disposal problem
is well illustrated by the experiences of the Capital City in
this line of municipal work during the past decade. Seventeen
year ago the swill was collected in wooden barrels, in an irregu-
lar, unsatisfactory way, by the contract service. This was an-
nulled for breach of contract, and for some months the work
was done by the municipality at an increased cost, but with
greater efficiency.
In 1891, under the terms of a new contract, the work was
better done, the disposal being beyond the limits of the Dis-
trict of Columbia, being at least in theory deposited by
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 377
the contractor on farm land along the Potomac River, although
grave insinuations were made as to the dumping of the material
into the river as soon as the boundary of the District had been
passed.
In 1892 a special appropriation enabled the Commissioner^
to secure the removal of all garbage in inclosed tanks, and a
contract was made with a company for its disposal by reduc-
tion. This was the Merz reduction system, the plant for the
work being built in one of the remote and sparsely settled sec-
tions of the city.
The usual complaints were received, and a bitter controversy
arose, which was settled by the accidental destruction of the
building by fire. No attempt was made to rebuild, and the
reduction company soon went into the hands of a receiver, who
conducted the business for a short time, and finally sold it to one
of the members of the company.
The service rendered was extremely unsatisfactory to the
city, and, it was alleged, unprofitable to the company, because
of the inability of the Commissioners to enforce separation by
the householders.
This condition of affairs terminated in March, 1895, when
an appropriation of $60,000 was made, and strict regulations
as to the collection and sanitary treatment of the waste were
authorized and made a part of the city specifications calling for
new proposals, so as to bind the contractor, and were promul-
gated as public regulations so as to bind the householder. Each
bidder was permitted to select his own means of proposed dis-
posal. The city accepted a bid for disposal by incineration, by
which the contractor was to erect two crematory furnaces in
different parts of the city.
A Brown crematory was chosen by the contractor as one of
the means of disposal, and a Smith-Siemens crematory selected
by the Commissioners as the other. Upon trial of these two
furnaces it was found that the Brown plant could dispose of
far less than the quantity for which it was designed, not more
than 40 per cent, of the daily output of garbage during the
summer months.
In constructing the Smith-Siemens crematory, an attempt
was made to do away with certain objectionable features that
378 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
attended the former work of this furnace in other cities. Whether
from changes incident to these, or for other reasons, the furnace
built in Washington was not a success. It ran for a time on trial,
but gave rise to so many complaints based on odors emanating
from it, that, although it had been selected by the Commissioners
in the first instance, it was never accepted by them, and never
regularly went into service. Moreover, during its experimental
runs it never approximated its estimated capacity.
The contract was modified so as to permit the contractor to
carry all the garbage and dead animals down the river on scows,
and dispose of them in the same primitive manner which had been
followed under the preceding cheaper contract.
Early in 1900 efforts were made to obtain a better means for
the disposal of all the city waste, and bids were invited for the
collection and disposal of garbage, dead animals, night soil and
miscellaneous refuse and ashes for a period of five years.
Proposals were received from responsible parties, the lowest
of these being at the rate of $115,000 per year. Congress refused
to authorize the contract, and requested new specifications and
new bidding. When the new specifications were received, in
June, 1900, separate contracts were awarded, as follows:
Contract with the Washington Fertilizer Company, for five
years, for collection and disposal of garbage and dead animals for
$51,600 per year, and $1,000 additional yearly for any extension
of the service, but with a deduction of 50 cents per ton on all
over 20,000 tons collected during the year. This company em-
ployed the method of the Chamberlain or "Liquid Separating
Process" which was then in use in Cleveland.
Contract for the collection and disposal of ashes, five years, for
$29,979 per year ; for the collection and disposal of miscellaneous
refuse, five years, $8,000 per year, and for the collection and dis-
posal of night-soil for $17,000 per year.
These figures represent a per capita expense for each class as
follows :
Garbage $0.173
Ashes 10
Refuse 027
Night soil. 057
No statement of quantities per ton could be made with regard
to the various classes of waste, except garbage that was esti-
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 379
mated in 1900 at 24,339 tons, with 12,170 dead animals and
6,157 barrels of night-soil. The population of the city for that
year was 278,577.
The five-year contract with the Washington Fertilizer Company
expired November 30, 1905. In July, 1905, a new contract for
collection and disposal of garbage only was made with the same
company. New contracts for the disposal of every class of
waste were also made in each case for five years.
The expenditures for collection and disposal of city refuse
are as follows, for 1906 :
Garbage and animals $60,423 . 06
Dead animals 1,3 25. 13
Ashes 51, 13 7. 15
Refuse 1 5,488 . 67
Night soil 16,470.00
Incidental expenses 690 . 10
Total... $145,554.68
In 1906 the cost of this work was at the rate of
$1.54 per ton for garbage.
.41 cubic yard for ashes.
.72 ' bbl. for night-soil.
136 ' ton for refuse, assuming weight of 211,512 bags of paper
at 150 Ibs. each.
The population of the city in 1906 was 302,855.
The expense per capita per annum for the year 1906 for the
whole waste collection and disposal service was 48 cents.
HOLTHAUS REDUCTION PROCESS, BRIDGEPORT, CONN.
For years the disposal of garbage in Bridgeport was accom-
plished by buying in the vacant ground on the Town Farm.
Long trenches were dug, the loads of garbage dumped as col-
lected, and the earth thrown back over it. This method has often
caused complaint, but as a rule has been persisted in. When
complaints became too pressing the Health Department made
inspection and ordered four inches of earth to be placed over the
trenches. The burying process is somewhat intermittent, being
governed by the necessity for immediate disposal when the gar-
bage reduction plant breaks down or burns up, a frequent episode
in the history of their disposal works. What will happen when
this ground is needed for building purposes in future years is
a problem that the health authorities will have to solve.
380 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
Bridgeport for many years enjoyed the proud position of pay-
ing the largest sum annually of any American town for the col-
lection of its garbage.
A contract for ten years was granted to Mr. J. D. Twohey,
at a price of something like $2.60 per ton, the weight to be
taken on the city scales at the entrance to the Town Farm before
burial. A casual examination made in 1906 by reporters for the
newspapers revealed the fact that a very considerable percentage
of the garbage was water. The collection contract was again
granted to Reilly & King for five years from November 8, 1905,
at a cost to the city of $2.32 per ton.
A Dixon crematory was built in 1899, and operated for some
time, until the expense of burning very wet swill became too
burdensome.
This town was one of the first to experiment with reduction
methods, having in about 1887 a plant of the Holthaus extraction
system. This method used naphtha in the first stages for extract-
ing the grease, in a manner similar to the Simonin process,
although the digesters were of smaller capacity and were vertical
in position instead of horizontal. The subsequent stages of the
separation of the naphtha from the water, recovering the grease
and drying the tankage were like those in other plants, but the
machinery and equipment was of its kind more scientifically
built and better arranged, and the whole plant was better con-
structed.
There is no available knowledge of the exact conditions of
the contract with the city, but it is believed that about 34 cents
per ton was paid to the company, the delivery of separated
garbage being made by the city. At the time of the Waring
inspection of reduction plants it was put under a month's trial
by one of the Commissioner's staff, and was very favorably re-
ported upon for its cleanliness and general good performance.
But an explosion of the naphtha fumes wrecked the plant, and
fire followed, which completed the almost total destruction of
the buildings and equipment, and the city turned again to the
town burial ground for the disposal of the refuse.
In about 1900 the work of garbage disposal was taken up by
Mr. Geo. E. Winton, who had an abattoir and rendering plant,
and who received 50 cents a ton for garbage disposed of. His
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 381
plant also took fire and was partly destroyed, and the Dixon
crematory was again brought into service. Mr. Winton resumed
operations, which for some years were carried on with consider-
able friction, several competitors claiming that they could offer
better methods and all making efforts to secure the contract.
In 1907, when new contracts were to be let, strong competi-
tion was encountered, the contract for ten years finally going
to the American Abattoir and Oil Company, one that had pre-
viously had the same contract. The works of this company are
within the city limits, on the line of a trunk sewer. Serious
charges of nuisance were made in the summer of 1907, which
resulted in the temporary shut-down of the plant, until the
sewers, which the company claimed were too small, could be
rebuilt with sufficient capacity to carry away the water dis-
charged from the works.
A proposition has been made by the company to take the
garbage of New Haven and several towns in the Naugatuck
Valley for treatment. The plant of the company is believed to
be a modification of the Holthaus method, but no accurate details
can be had, as visitors are not allowed on the premises. The
quantities of garbage handled are also very indefinitely known,
as the records are not obtainable and no replies are made to
repeated requests concerning the operation of the plant. The
payment by the city is 50 cents per ton for disposal.
HOLTHAUS PROCESS, SYRACUSE, N. Y.
Up to 1899 this city made disposition of its waste by the usual
primitive and unsanitary methods employed in the early history
of American towns. The advertisement for disposal by incinera-
tion in 1898 produced no satisfactory results, and in the follow-
ing year a contract was let to the Syracuse Reduction Company
for the garbage disposal at $26,000 per year for ten years. At
that time the quantity of garbage was estimated at 10,000 tons,
which made the cost of disposal $2.60 per ton, the largest price
paid by any city in the country for any form of reduction, extrac-
tion methods.
This contract expiring in July, 1908, on May 10 the city
issued specifications for bids for disposing of the garbage and
382 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
dead animals in a sanitary manner for five years from July i,
1908. These specifications provide:
The contractor to erect his plant on location to be approved of by
Board of Public Works.
The quantities of garbage were : 1904, 8,279 tons ; 1905, 9,257 tons ; 1906,
9,285 tons; 1907, 10,624 tons.
The system or process must have been in use for two years preceding
date of bid.
Pending time of completion of plant, contractor will be permitted to
dispose of garbage and animals by burial.
This also to be permitted in case of temporary suspension of plant. The
plant to be designed in units to permit cleaning or repairs with no inter-
ruption of work.
The disposal to be innocuous and without nuisance, all liquids to be
evaporated and gases passed through fire.
Large dead animals to be collected by contractor.
City to purchase plant on expiration of contract on six months' notice.
The bids received under these specifications were :
Syracuse Reduction Company (present contractors) $17,000
Municipal Contracting Company 14,989
Albert Gaffey 18,896
H. Bromner 24,000
These bids were rejected as being too high and new specifica-
tions, on same terms, except that the bids will be for periods
of 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 years, the plant to be retained by the
contractor, at the expiration of contractor's term. The alterna-
tive proposition is identical, except that the transfer of the plant
to the city at the end of contract term will be made without
cost to the city.
The award of the contract to the Syracuse Reduction Com-
pany for ten years was finally made, at $13,975 per year for
disposal only.
The original Holthaus system, as operated at the Syracuse
plant, is thus described by an observer in 1900:
The garbage is collected in barrels and from these is dumped into a
car on an elevator which carried it to the top of the building. The car
is dumped into the digester with 30 per cent, of water added and the
garbage digested by steam in the usual manner.
The digesters arranged in groups of four, discharge into a press, where
the water and grease is pressed out and allowed to run into the separating
tank, from which the grease is drawn .off and barreled.
The tankage falls into the dryers below, and after passing these is
carried up to the second floor, where it is ground and screened.
The whole process from the time the garbage is put into the digesters
till the dry tankage and grease appear, is conducted in apparatus which is
securely closed.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 383
Pipes lead from the different parts of the apparatus to a vacuum pump
which draws off all gases through a condenser and then passes them
through the fire. All water vapors from the drying and rendering process
is condensed and all water evaporated and then condensed so that all
liquid wastes from the works are free from offense.
In this description there is no mention of the use of naphtha
at any stage of the work, and this appears to be a departure from
the first plant at Bridgeport, which employed naphtha for ex-
tracting the grease after maceration of the garbage by steam.
The present Syracuse plant has undergone many changes and
improvements that have made the work less expensive and more
sanitary.
A fire destroyed a part of the buildings in January, 1903.
THE HOLTHAUS PROCESS, NEW BEDFORD, MASS.
One of the earliest municipal reduction processes was that
of the Holthaus system in New Bedford, Mass., about 1893-94.
The city had contracted with a private company for a five-year
term for the garbage collection and disposal. The corporation
was formed by local investors, headed by Mr. James Gannon,
the contractor who had previously held the contract for collec-
tion of the garbage. The works of the company were placed
at a point just within the city limits, about three miles from the
City Hall. These were much the same construction as the first
plant of this system at Bridgeport, and included the use of
naphtha for extracting the grease from the tankage after previous
boiling.
At that time the reduction methods were not well understood.
The difficulties encountered, together with the continuous com-
plaints of nuisance, and the small price paid for the work made
the venture unprofitable.
An explosion and fire partly destroyed the plant, which was
not rebuilt. After about three years of unsuccessful effort,
the contract was given up and the city continued the primitive
means of disposal by tipping and feeding swine.
But little is known of the details of this plant, but it was
presumed to have followed the same methods of construction
and working as the first plant of the Holthaus system at Bridge-
port.
384 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
WlSELOGEL PROCESS, VlNCENNES, IND.
The work of Mr. Frederick G. Wiselogel covers a long period
of time and connection with many forms of apparatus for treat-
ment of waste matter. He installed the Simonin process for ex-
traction of grease by naphtha from abattoir tankage, in 1872, at
Chicago, and was connected, as engineer, with several fertilizer
companies up to 1887, when he joined the Merz company, as
chief construction engineer in the mechanical department of the
works at Buffalo. In 1889, he built the Merz plants at Denver,
and subsequently the works at Paterson, Detroit, Milwaukee and
St. Paul. In 1891 he installed the first plant for the St. Louis
Sanitary Company, followed in 1892 by the plant at Bartels, near
Milwaukee, and in 1893, the second installation of the St. Louis
plant.
The Wiselogel reduction process or system probably came
first into use at Indianapolis. The first plant at this place did
not continue, and was subsequently replaced by the Chamberlain
liquid separating process, then used in Detroit. The plant at
Indianapolis was popularly known as a "Wiselogel/' but how
far this was due to the methods of Mr. Wiselogel, and what
part was done by the methods of Mr. Chamberlain is uncertain
and of little interest. The first distinctive installation of the
Wiselogel system was at Vincennes, Ind., in 1902.
The Star Tankage and Fertilizer Works obtained the contract
from the town for reduction of its garbage and erected a plant at
an approximate cost of $30,000.
The apparatus is thus described by the secretary of the com-
pany subsequently organized in Boston:
In further consideration of your valued favor of the i6th inst., we
take pleasure in submitting the following facts regarding the "Wiselogel
System" for the disposal of municipal waste.
The chief claims of our system of reduction, as applied to garbage, over
that of any other, are that it is ECONOMICAL, AUTOMATIC and
ODORLESS.
Our apparatus consists of a self-contained, rendering tank and dryer
combined. It is a steam-jacketed cylinder of cast iron, 5 feet internal
diameter and 12 or more feet long, provided with a shaft and reel to
stir the mass within. The material to be reduced is fed in at the
top of the tank to which an air or vacuum pump is attached, and, being
constantly in motion produces an inward draft while the tank is open,
thus preventing any odors from escaping.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 385
When the tank is filled, the door is closed and clamped, steam is
admitted and the reel is set in motion, the air pump and condenser still
being in operation. The water, together with the grease, assembles in
the bottom of the machine, and is pumped into the cooling tank, where
the grease is drawn off into barrels and is ready for market. The water
is led off as a harmless effluent into the sewer. Relieved of the water
and grease, the residuum is dried in this same machine, and during the
entire process, by the aid of the vacuum pump, all vapors and gases are
drawn from the machine and forced through a condenser and separator,
where the vapors are condensed and the gases diverted to a specially
constructed consumer. When the residuum or tankage is thoroughly
dried, it is discharged from the machine a commercial fertilizer. This
whole operation consumes about eight hours' time.
The material suffers no exposure from the time it is fed in at the
top until it is discharged a dry and odorless product, ready for shipment.
The buildings of the plants under this system are usually two stories
in height, constructed of any good building material, upper and lower
floors of concrete faced with best cement, sloping toward the center
and "splashed" up at the sides, posts, etc., at least six inches, so that
they can at all times be kept scrupulously clean with soap and water. The
machines are set in the basement, the feed pipes extending through the
second floor. All the material to be reduced is brought up an inclined
driveway and discharged into the tank, as above described.
This system being composed of units of reduction, each tank repre-
senting a unit and holding about 10,000 pounds of wet garbage per
charge, it is but a matter of more machines for a twenty- or thirty-ton
plant. The same number of men, engine and boiler, with but little more
fuel, will operate six machines as well as one.
Our new combination tank and dryer, supplied with an extra large
vacuum pump and condenser, placed in the basement or outhouse of
a large hotel or apartment house, i> fully guaranteed to reduce all swill,
table and kitchen refuse, and so do away with the nuisance of garbage
cans, flies, bad odors and the inconvenience, and annoyance attending the
removal of cans.
We also make a machine for the sanitary disposal of night-soil, which
is operated under vacuum, all gases and vapors being conducted as
described above in our combination machine.
, One plant at Jacksonville, Fla., is equipped with such a machine as
above described called our Economy No. 2. The Star Tankage and Fer-
tilizer Works of Vincennes, Ind., built in 1902, is also operating under
our patents, having our separate digester and dryer and is unqualifiedly
endorsed by them.
The capacity of this first Wiselogel plant at Vincennes has
never been known. As the town, with a population in 1903 of
10,669, could not at best have produced over five or six tons of
386 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
garbage per day, it seems probable that only one dryer unit of
five tons capacity was used.
The difference between the Wiselogel system and that of the
Merz process is in the form of the digester, which in this case
is a cylinder, steam-jacketed and placed horizontally, instead of
vertically, and has a specially powerful cross-armed stirrer for
thoroughly breaking up and macerating the contents. The sub-
sequent operation of drying the tankage remaining in the jacketed
cylinder after the water and grease has been run off, is also a
point of difference between this and other forms.
The operation of the Wiselogel systems are under three
patents: No. 442,298, December, 1890 — Apparatus for heating
garbage. No. 536,677, April, 1895 — For dryer. No. 554,206,
February 4, 1896 — Apparatus for reducing garbage for fertiliz-
ers. Other patents are reported as pending. There are no
obtainable reports as to the percentages of grease and values of
tankage under this process.
The Vincennes plant was reported as injured by fire on Novem-
ber 2, 1901, and was completely destroyed by fire on the night of
February 26, 1908. It is reported that contracts have been let
for the rebuilding of the plant at a cost of $35,000.
In 1902, the patents and business of Mr. Wiselogel were taken
over by 3 corporation formed in Boston under the name of the
International Waste Utilization Company, with a strong board
of directors from prominent business men of the city of Boston,
Taunton, Lynn, Brockton, Springfield and Providence.
The active work of this company was in the hands of the
Sanitary Reduction and Construction Company, a Boston corpor-
ation with offices at Indianapolis, Ind. There was also a third
corporation, known as the American Underwriting Company,
which published its intentions to revolutionize the whole work
of garbage collection and disposal throughout this country by
this system, and whose prophet and apostle was Mr. Louis H.
Schneider, president of the company. His campaign throughout
the West will be remembered for the extraordinarily brilliant
promises made and the absolute lack of performance in any city
where contracts were said to have been made.
Meantime, the Standard Reduction and Construction Company
obtained permission for an experimental plant at Jacksonville,
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION.
Fla., which was installed in a small building adjoining the Dixon
crematory.
This Jacksonville plant comprised one small unit of the same
dimensions and capacity as at Vincennes, but had also a boiler,
fired with dry refuse from the city and burned in the Wiselogel
destructor, a new form of crematory.
There are no accurate reports of this work obtainable, but
after a precarious and intermittent existence for a few months,
FIG. 91.— THE WISELOGEL REDUCTION PLANT,
JACKSONVILLE, FLA.
a fire occurred which burned the enclosing building and damaged
the apparatus. The city would not contract for the disposal of
garbage separately collected and the enterprise was abandoned.
These two examples of the practical operation of the Wise-
logel garbage reduction system are believed to be the only ones
built in this country for municipal service.
AMERICAN REDUCTION PROCESS, READING, PA.
The experience of this city with garbage disposal methods has
not been of a pleasing nature. The first attempt to improve exist-
ing methods was in 1897, when a contract was made with the
Davis Garbage Crematory Company, of Lancaster, Pa., for a
388 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
furnace rated at 80 tons capacity, at the price of $9,850. Upon
the completion and trial the furnace was found not to meet the
terms of contract in point of capacity and operation and the
plant was abandoned.
In the fall of 1898, the city contracted with the General Amer-
ican Reduction Company, a company organized under New Jersey
State laws, for the disposal of garbage for a term of five years
by some satisfactory reduction process. The City Trust Deposit
Company, of Philadelphia, became the bondsman on behalf of
the company. The company was to receive 65 cents per ton
for disposal, and pending the erection of their plant were to
rebuild the Davis crematory.
The company occupied a brick building at Millmont, a suburb
of the city, which was equipped with reduction apparatus. After
a year's effort the company ceased work and abandoned the
plant to the city, basing this action on the claim that not enough
garbage was being delivered to enable them to operate at a
profit. The city, viewing the matter as a breech of contract,
brought suit against the reduction company and their bonding
company in 1902. The latter went into the hands of a receiver,
with no recoverable assets. The reduction company claimed the
machinery in the plant, but was enjoined from removing it. The
matter was compromised by paying the company $500 and allow-
ing them to remove the machinery and restore the building to
its former condition.
The method employed was that of the American reduction
process, but no details as to the quantities handled or the value
of the products can be had.
THE ARNOLD PROCESS.
There was formed another company, about 1902, which was
called the Reading Sanitary Reduction Company, and which had
a contract for the collection and disposal of the garbage for a
period of five years at the rate of $2.24 per ton, by reduction.
The plant of this company is at Grill Post Office, another suburb
of Reading, and is said to be now operating. The Arnold
methods in a modified form are used, but no reports of quantities
or costs are given. The plant is in operation with apparent suc-
cess, and there are few complaints of imperfect collection.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 389
AMERICAN REDUCTION PROCESS, YORK, PA.
The population of York, census 1905, was reported at 38,258,
but the present figures are claimed to be nearly 50,000. There
has been in this city the usual experience with various means
of garbage disposal, beginning first with removal to outskirts
and dump-tipping, collections of garbage by private parties and
farmers for stock feeding, and a Dixon garbage cremator of
twenty-five tons capacity, built in 1896 and discontinued 1904.
For about two years the York Chemical Works had the contract
for disposal, but the process or method employed was either
not profitable or was unsatisfactory. At the expiration of this
contract the city advertised for bids for collection and disposal
of the organic garbage, ashes and refuse. The amount of garbage
was estimated at 3,000 tons per year.
A proposition from a Philadelphia contractor to establish a
"feeding plant" for hogs and sheep was not accepted.
The bids for ten-year contract for collection and disposal of
organic and inorganic matters were:
G W. Ruch & Co., Philadelphia $18,405. 12
Jno. A Rayling & Co.. York 19,000 .00
Chas. C. Fischer, Reading 16,260 .00
The bid of Mr. Fischer was accepted to date from April I,
1906, with a yearly increase for additional amounts collected.
The present payment to the company is at the rate of $1,550
per month, $18,600 per year.
The York Sanitary Reduction Company was organized, and
the plant for reduction of the organic waste was built just out-
side the city limits. The collections are made three times a week
for garbage in iron wagons with canvas covers. The wagon
bodies are hinged to the rear axle and discharged by hoisting
blocks. The ashes and refuse are removed in wooden wagons
to dumps. The company keeps a special wagon for dead animals
and for the removal of any cans overlooked at any time. A
fine of $i is assessed for each complaint of non-removal three
hours after complaints are made.
The reduction plant is enclosed in wooden buildings cheaply
built, the whole costing not to exceed $10,000. The wagons dis-
charge their loads into a pit provided with grated bottoms,
through which the liquids are drained. From the pit a conveyor
390 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
carries it to the digester floor, the glass, tins, etc., being re-
moved while in transit.
There are four digesters of the usual capacity of five to six
tons. The contractor claims his method to be the "dry" extrac-
tion process. No water is used for cooking the garbage ; steam
is introduced at the bottom of the digesters in such a way that
it permeates the entire mass.
The pressure is said to be 40 Ibs per square inch, but may
be increased, if necessary. The superintendent of the works
claims "that the whole secret of successful reduction is knowing
when the materials are properly cooked." He says: "This is
essential both for obtaining the maximum amount of grease and
preventing disagreeable odors. Testing valves are placed in
the base of the digesters by which the attendant may determine
this, as no definite time for cooking is set. Two batches may
be cooked every twenty-four hours. There is no stirring or
moving the garbage when once in the digester."
Pipes from the top of the digesters carry the vapors through
condensers and thence to the fire-box of the boilers. From the
digesters a bucket conveyor delivers the garbage, of the con-
sistency of soup, to the hydraulic presses, the grease and water
falling into flotation troughs or basins, and separation is made in
the usual way, by skimming. What disposition is made of the
water is not known. The tankage is dried in a rotary dryer,
afterward ground and sold for fertilizer base. The quantity
treated daily averages about twenty-five tons.
Mr. Fischer states that there was very little profit in the opera-
tion of the reduction plant, but that it paid the expense of a
satisfactory disposal. Any profit to the company comes from
the collection contract.
The construction of .the works and methods of operating fol-
low those of the Reading reduction plant where the contract
for disposal is held by the Reading Sanitary Reduction Com-
pany controlled by Mr. Fischer..
The apparatus and means employed are of the usual types of
other reduction plants, using steam only for reducing the garbage.
There may be some special method of introducing the steam
into the digesters, or of regulating the pressure and observing
the progress of the work, but these seem to be the only points
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 391
of difference from others. No reports of quantities, values of
product of grease, or tankage could be obtained.
PENN REDUCTION COMPANY: "BEASTON PROCESS."
Extracts from special report of E. A. Fisher., City Engineer of
Rochester, N. Y., 1906:
This city made no regular collection of garbage until 1879.
Prior to that time, it was taken by the farmers from a few
small city districts and carried into the country in open wagons.
Most of the waste was dumped upon vacant lots, or an attempt
made to burn it in the open air.
In 1880, the City Council passed resolutions calling upon the
Executive Board to remove garbage from the public lanes and
alleys. This continued until May, 1881, when the supervision
was transferred to the Board of Health, and it was collected
by day labor by hired teams. In 1895 the Rochester Fertilizer
and Reduction Company secured a contract to collect and dis-
pose of all garbage, night-soil, dead animals, etc., at a cost of
$28,970 per year for the first year, and additional amounts of
$940 per annum for five years following 1894, and thereafter,
beginning with 1900, at the rate of 19 cents per capita for the
increase in the population of the city according to the City
Directory.
The location of the plant was, after many objections to other
sites, fixed at Waynesport, a considerable distance to the east
of the city, the garbage being transported on the New York
Central Railroad lines. In 1896, the Health Department re-
ported the cost at $29,910 per year, and that neither collection
nor disposal had been satisfactorily carried out by the company.
The power of the Board of Health to make this contract
having been questioned, the Council, in 1899, made a private
contract for the sum of $2,000 per month, which continued until
1900, when, under the new charter of the city, the work came
under the charge of the Commissioner of Public Works. Bids
were called for a new contract let for seven months of 1900 for
$12,000. Thereafter yearly contracts were let up to 1906.
The garbage receptacles at the houses were of iron, of a
capacity of one gallon for each individual in the building. The
wagons were of wood covered with canvas.
392 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
The records for 1902 show that nearly all of this garbage was
taken to farms outside the city lines, a part dumped into a
trench and composted with horse manure.
TABLE LXVII.— QUANTITIES AND COSTS COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL
GARBAGE, ROCHESTER, FIVE YEARS.
QUANTITIES
COSTS
Year
Popu-
lation
Tone
Lbs pr Capita
Per
Per
Per
Per
Year
Per
Day
Year
Day
Year
$
Ton
$
Cap-
ita
Cts.
1901
165,000
16,380
52.5
199
o 64
27,856
.70
17.0
1902
168,000
17.346
55-5
206
o 66
26,300
•38
!5-4
1903
17 1,000
19,026
61 .0
223
0.71
27,322
-57
16.3
1904
17 5,000
22.964
73-6
262
0.84
39,98i
•74
22.8
i9°5
181,670
21,800
70 .0
240
0.77
35,6i5
-63
19 .6
The average for 1906 at above figures would be about 83 tons
per day.
The ashes and rubbish of Rochester collected together for
the period of six years- are thus tabulated:
TABLE LXVIII.— QUANTITIES AND COST OF COLLECTION AND DIS-
POSAL ASHES FOR SIX YEARS.
Total
Quan-
Quan-
Cost
Cost
Esti-
Cost
tity
tity
Per
Per
Year
Popu-
lation
Cubic
Yards
mated
Weight
Coll't'n
and Dis-
Per
1,000
of
Popu-
Cu.
Yard
Cap-
ita
Tons
posal
lation
$
Yards
Tons
$
$
1900
162,000
206,208
94,959
76,421
,268
584
o-37
0.47
1901
165,000
216,844
99,657
77,664
,3!4
605
o-35
0.47
1902
168,000
216,912
99,888
75-948
,291
595
0-35
o-45
1903
171,000
219,736
101,188
76,670
,285
590
o-35
0.47
1904
175,000
324,000
108,125
93,687
,342
618
o-39
0-53
1905
181,670
253,000
116,576
97,208
,391
642
0.38
o-53
Estimated weight per cubic yard ashes, 1,600; of rubbish, 200
pounds. Average per cubic yard of ashes and rubbish in fore-
going table — 921 pounds. Estimated total amount of rubbish
separated, at 125,000 cubic yards or 12,500 tons per annum.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 393
The recommendations made by Mr. Fisher were briefly:
1. Advertisements for proposals for collection and disposal
of garbage for five years; wagons to be of approved pattern;
collections daily in central part of city — remainder, three times
weekly.
2. Contractor to satisfy Board he has sufficient area of land
outside city to bury garbage temporarily in case of breakdown
of disposal plant.
3. That the contractor shall satisfy Board that the methods
he intends to use are in successful operation in some city of
considerable size, and that the plant has a capacity sufficient to
take care of maximum amount that may probably be collected
during term of contract.
4. Separation of ashes and refuse and construction of plants
for burning unsalable parts of rubbish.
The recommendations of Mr. Fisher were adopted, and the
work was advertised in 1906. The proposal of the Genesee
Reduction Company was accepted for a term of years, from
January i, 1907, at a yearly rate of $59,770.
The estimated amount of 83 tons daily for 1906 was exceeded
in the first year's work of the plant, the quantity being about
1 8 per cent, more, or 30,661 tons. This disposal is made at the
rate of 36.1 cents per capita per annum and at a cost of $1.95
per ton.
The location of the works of the reduction company is on
the west bank of the Genesee River, between the upper and
lower falls. This location is within less than one mile of the
business center of the city. The narrow shelf of the river bank
at this point, on which the works are placed, is about 150 feet
below the level of the city streets, immediately adjoining. The
river cuts through a canyon below the falls, with high banks.
At the bottom of this canyon, on the east bank, are the works.
It is a critical location with respect to possible nuisance from
odors from the chimney or the entire plant.
The reduction plant has been in operation since June 5, 1907.
At first there were numerous complaints, based very largely upon
prejudice against the name "garbage plant." These complaints
have almost entirely ceased, and up to the present time the plant
has been operated without serious offense. (Paper of Mr. Fisher
394 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
in Proceedings of American Society Civil Engineers, December,
19070
The author made an inspection of the plant in the summer of
1906 just before it went into service. The ground is admirably
suited to the delivery of the garbage, the conveyor for the diges-
ters being but a short distance, and all the work being accom-
plished by the aid of gravity, no lifting or pumping being needed.
The process is said by Mr. Fisher to be a modification of the
Arnold, and is called the "Beaston Process." Exactly wherein
the difference lies a casual survey did not reveal. There is the
usual system of digesters from which the macerated garbage is
delivered into the hydraulic presses and the same system of
gutters and skimming basins for the grease recovery. There
was no solvent used, the whole process being like the Arnold,
one of treatment by steam and the recovery of the grease by
pressure, with an improved means for drying out the tankage.
No accurate information concerning the "Beaston Process" can
be obtained, and there are no reports as to the quantities and
value of the grease and tankage.
The city engineer recommends that there be a refuse disposal
plant placed near this reduction plant, at which the city rubbish
may be destroyed, and that the ashes be used for filling ravines,
old quarries, etc.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE EDSON PROCESS — THE MUNICIPAL REDUCTION PLANT AT
CLEVELAND — ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF REDUCTION METHODS.
The city of Dayton, Ohio, had, in 1896, a Dixon crematory in
use — capacity, 80 tons per day. This was destroyed by fire in
1898 and not rebuilt. In October, 1903, the city received pro-
posals from the Edson Development and Machinery Company,
of Toledo, by which this company agreed to receive the garbage,
dead animals and night-soil, at a point on the outskirts of the
city and to dispose of this free of expense to the city.
This proposal was one of several made at different places by
the Toledo Development Company, the representatives of the
owners of the Edson process, by which it was claimed that the
returns from the products were so lucrative that the company
could afford to take the garbage free of cost. After a long
delay to perfect their organization and erect their plant, the
company proceeded with the contract. Difficulties were encoun-
tered from the outset, because of imperfect separation of the
garbage, and irregular delivery at the point where the company
received the garbage.
There has been considerable trouble with its operation because
of the excessive amount of naphtha required as compared with
the estimated amount on which the original calculations were
made. There were many complaints from nearby residents of
noxious odors, and charges were made that the location chosen
was not the one originally designated when the contract was
secured.
In 1907 a strong remonstrance was made by the local im-
provement association which led to the establishment of two
loading stations by the city, at which the garbage is transferred
to the company's teams for transportation to the reduction
works, with more attention to abatement of nuisance.
The capacity of the reduction plant was at first sixty tons per
day. No reports of quantities handled or value of products can
395
396 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
be had. The present capacity of the plant is 100 tons daily,
the cost of the works being reported at $60,000.
EDSON PROCESS, TOLEDO.
In the summer of 1903 this city received tenders for the dis-
posal of approximately 50 to 60 tons of garbage per day. Of
the four proposals received that of the Toledo Development
Company, controlling the Edson reduction process, was accepted,
and in July of that year a contract was signed with the Toledo
Sanitary Reduction Company, a local corporation formed for
this purpose, and working under the patents of the Edson Re-
duction Machinery Company. The city agreed to collect and
deliver the garbage at the plant, and the company contracted
"to do the work of disposal by the reduction process, carried on
in closed digesters, dryers and percolators from which no gases,
vapors or odors shall escape; and that all garbage shall be so
treated and all products resulting from the same, before being
exposed to the air, shall be made perfectly sterile and free from
offensive odors."
The company was to receive no payment from the city, and
the contract was for ten years.
Strong objections were made to the proposed location, and
the final site fixed upon was at Green Street on Swan Creek,
where the plant was constructed in 1904. In 1906 it was found
that the quantity of garbage was lessening, owing to the fact
that the proprietors of hotels, and others, delivered it to farmers
for the feeding of stock. The question of the rights of the
city over the collection and removal of garbage was taken to
the courts, and it was decided that as the city made its own
collections, under its own regulations, it had power to restrain
others from collecting garbage inside the corporate boundaries.
On this question the decision of the U. S. Supreme Court
(199 U. S., 306, and 199 U. S., 325) affirms that household
garbage is not private property which can be disposed of by
the producers in a manner contrary to the requirements of city
ordinances or the rules of a Board of Health.
A later decision in an Ohio Court is thus reported in a local
newspaper, under date of March 31, 1908;
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 397
Refuse Disposal is in Power of City: Judge Brown rendered the fol-
lowing decision Saturday morning:
In the case of the Dayton Reduction Company vs. the City of Dayton,
demurrer to petition overruled in all respects, and defendant ruled to
answer, the court holding that the city has the right of ownership in
all garbage, dead animals and night-soil within the city, and has full
authority to compel the collection and disposal of such unsanitary mate-
rials under the statute, and under the general police powers of the city.
In January, 1906, the company offered to take the garbage
of the city of Detroit, about 100 tons daily, and haul it sixty
miles to the Toledo plant for treatment. This offer was, how-
ever, declined. In October, 1906, the company was in financial
straits, and the business passed into the hands of a receiver.
The capital of the company was stated to be $200,000, but only
$50,000 was paid in cash. Sixty thousand dollars of bonus
stock was issued, and the indebtedness was about $75,000, the
bonded debt being $100,000.
In March, 1907, complaints of nuisance were made, which
were justified, as admitted by the company's attorneys. In
May the City Solicitor alleged that "the company knew that
the system which it had installed would not do the work as
promised, and that the plant has not sufficient capacity, and that
the conditions were decreasing the value of surrounding prop-
erty and endangering the health of the residents."
On July 13, 1907, the plant was closed by order of the court,
the entry in the case also including the statement of the receiver
showing that the plant was operated at a loss.
At this time the city is investigating the various methods
of disposal of all classes of municipal waste by incineration.
MUNICIPAL REDUCTION PLANT, CLEVELAND, OHIO.
Combined Chamberlain and Edson Reduction Processes. —
Prior to 1905 the garbage of Cleveland was collected and re-
moved under private contract with the Newburgh Reduction
Company, at an annual cost of $69,400 per year. The disposal
was made by the reduction methods of the Chamberlain process
at a point outside the city limits. This service was not free
from complaints, and as most of the transportation was by
wagons, was slow and expensive.
398 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
On January i, 1905, the city purchased from the Newburgh
company the reduction works and collection equipment, at a
cost of $87,500. At that time the works had a capacity of 100
tons per day by the Chamberlain or "Liquid Separation Sys-
tem," employing fourteen digesters and a corresponding num-
ber of hydraulic presses, settling tanks and steam- jacketed
dryers.
Upon acquiring the property, the city installed an Edson
reduction equipment, adding three units, each of two digesters
and one dryer, and increasing the capacity of the plant to 240
tons per day. The work of the first year (1906) was delayed
somewhat by a small fire in the dryer building, also by delay
of constructors in furnishing machinery not up to the standard
of contract.
For the collection service is used a wagon of special design,
holding about 3,500 Ibs. The wagon body is hinged to the
bolster and is dumped by hoisting chains attached to the front
of the body that raise it to permit the garbage to fall out at
the rear end. The purpose of this is to keep the load as much
as possible on the front of the wagon for easier hauling by
one horse. The wagons have canvas covers, to prevent noise
usually made by iron covers.
The garbage is received in special steel cars, made with semi-
circular bottoms, thirty feet long, supported on trunnions at
three points. The capacity of these cars is about forty tons, and
ten are required for the service.
To unload the cars at the works, cables are passed beneath the
body and, by means of hoisting blocks, the car body is tippe:!,
unloading the garbage onto the concrete floor of the reduction
works. Although the capacity of these is forty tons, but two
men are required to tip them.
The loading station for the cars and stables for city teams
are on Canal Road, about three-quarters of a mile from the
City Hall. The reduction plant is at Willow, Ohio, outside the
city limits, about nine miles from the loading station. The cars
are carried over the tracks of the N. Y., P. & O. R. R. to the
works.
The arrangement of the buildings is quite different from the
usual design where the several steps of the work are done in
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 399
the same or closely connected buildings. Here they are separ-
ated, each process having its own building.
From a description of the works, contained in a paper by
Hon. W. J. Springborn, President of a Board of Public Service,
Cleveland, the following excerpt is made:
The arrangement of the buildings, tracks and so forth, at the works
is shown in an accompanying illustration. The railroad cars are
run into a receiving building, where the garbage is dumped on a con-
crete floor. From this floor the garbage is shoveled into two conveyors,
with 6 x 18 x 24-in. flights, which deliver it to the top floor of a digester
building. These conveyors, which were installed by the Jeffrey Mfg. Co.,
of Columbus, Ohio, and all other machines are driven by separate motors,
thus avoiding the use of main line shafts and belts. A 25o-h.-p. Monarch
Corliss engine, direct-connected to a Triumph generator, furnishes power
to operate the works. Steam is supplied from a boiler plant containing
five 8o-h.-p. and two iso-h.-p. return tubular boilers.
The conveyors pass through the digester building in a horizontal posi-
tion and drop the garbage through tubes directly into the digesters or
tanks, where the same is cooked. Twenty-four digesters, each having
a capacity of 10 tons per day, making the total daily capacity of the plant
240 tons, are installed. The digesters are 14 ft. high and 54 in. in diameter.
When the digesters are filled, steam is turned into the material at a poinc
near the bottom of the tank and the garbage allowed to cook from
six to seven hours, 70 Ib. steam pressure being used. When the cooking
process is completed, the steam is shut off at the bottom of the tank and
turned in at the top, the pressure thus produced driving off the free water
and some of the grease through a draw-off pipe at the bottom. In order
to prevent the material from passing out with the water, a strainer and
strainer-plate are used. This mixture of water and grease is pumped
into settling vats and allowed to cool, after which the grease is skimmed
off the top. The solids remaining in the digester are removed through
an opening in the side of the tank about 12 in. from the bottom and
deposited in a small car, which is equipped with a worm conveyor, auto-
matically unloading it into a drag conveyor that takes the material to
the dryers. It is first put into a steam-jacketed dryer 14 ft. long and
5 ft. in diameter. This dryer has a shaft through its center with paddles
attached. As the shaft rotates the paddles lift the material, breaking
it up and at the same time evaporating some of the moisture. This type
of dryer is equipped with two manholes underneath it, through which
the material is dropped into still another conveyor and conveyed to a
combination steam and hot air rotary dryer, which was designed by
Mr. E. S. Peck, Superintendent of the plant. The cylinder of this dryer
is 30 ft. long, 57 in. in diameter, with a 2-in. space between the inner
and outer shell for the admission of steam. There is also a 14-in. steam
pipe running through its center. To the sides of the inner shell are
400 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
attached flights, 4 in. in width, which lift the material as the dryer ro-
tates.
The dryer is set on a grade of a /^-in. per foot, and the tankage (as
the material is called) is fed in at the upper end and discharged at the
lower, the process being a continuous one. At the lower end of the
dryer is a series of steam coils with an attached blower, which forces
the air around these coils, heating it to about 230° F. This dry air
then passes through the dryer, absorbing the moisture from the tankage
as it falls from the flights referred to.
About 50 ft. distant from the dryer building is located the percolator
building, to which the material is next conveyed, and where the grease
is extracted by the use of naphtha. In the upper part of this building
there are three bins for the storage of tankage. Under each of these
bins is a tank 8 ft. high and 6 ft. in diameter, which is called a per-
colator. The material is put in through an opening in the top. When
filled, the percolator is sealed and naphtha or gasoline is pumped in at
the top and allowed to percolate through the material, being drawn off at
the bottom and carrying with it the grease. The grease and naphtha flow
to a treating tank in which there are steam pipes, where it is heated
sufficiently to vaporize the naphtha and leave the grease in the tank. The
vaporized naphtha passes through a condenser, restoring it to its liquid
form, and from which it is again pumped into the percolator. After all
of the grease has been extracted from the material left in the percolator,
the flow of naphtha is turned 'off, and in order to recover such of the
naphtha still remaining in this material, steam is injected into the tankage,
vaporizing and driving off the naphtha. This mixture of steam and
naphtha vapor also goes to the condenser and thence to the storage tank.
The water produced by the condensation of the steam is drawn off from
the bottom of the storage tank.
To reduce the condensation of steam to a minimum, it is first admitted
into the tank at a point near the top of the percolator. When the mate-
rial about this point has been heated and the naphtha vaporized, steam is
turned in at about the middle of the tank, and afterward at the bottom,
repeating the process until all the naphtha has been vaporized. The loss
of naphtha bv this system is about 25^ gal. to the ton of dry tankage.
The openings in the percolator, through which the grease and naphtha
escape, are covered with perforated plates and pipes designed to prevent
carrying the tankage through same. The material is removed both from
the side and the bottom of the percolator, placed in a conveyor, and sent
toa- small building about 20 ft. distant, in which it passes through .1
hexagonal revolving screen, taking out rags, tin, pieces of crockery, glass,
and so forth. From here the finished product is conveyed to the storag -
house and there loaded upon cars for shipment.
The taking out of the material from the above type of percolator and
replacing the small perforated plates and pipes through which the grease
escapes, involves considerable time and labor. Mr. Peck has invented a
new type of percolator, which Mr. Springborn believes will overcome
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 401
these objections, and at the same time greatly reduce the loss of naphtha
and leave the material much dryer. This percolator is similar in design
to the dryer designed by Mr. Peck, except that it is but 14 feet in length
and 8 feet in diameter. It is placed in a horizontal position, has a steam
jacket, and is constructed to rotate in the same manner as the dryer.
The material is put into this percolator through two manholes in its upper
side. The pipes for the admission of gasoline are also connected through
the covers in these manholes. The grease and naphtha escape through
three openings in the lower part of the tank, and in order to hasten the
process. of percolation the pipes can readily be disconnected and the per-
colator rotated so as to mix thoroughly the entire mass of material with
the naphtha or solvent used.
In order to recover the naphtha after the grease has been extracted,
steam is turned into the drum and jacket and the percolator made to
revolve, thus while heating the material, also moving the same sufficiently
to release quickly all of the solvent contained in the tankage. By this
method no moisture is added to the material nor steam mixed with the
vapors, which go to the condenser and thence to the storage tank. By
the use of this type of percolator, it is thought the loss of naphtha will
not exceed the one gallon per ton of material treated.
The naphtha storage building is constructed of concrete, the tanks
being placed below the ground level, with only the roof of the building
projecting above the surface.
In the old process formerly used, the grease was extracted by means
of hydraulic presses, the tankage being placed between burlap on racks
in layers of 3 inches thick and 5 feet square. The cylinder of the presses
was 14 inches in diameter, and subjected to a pressure of 3,500 pounds
to the square inch. By this means the liquids were squeezed out of the
material, carrying the grease with same to a vat, where, after cooling and
settling, the grease was skimmed off. The tankage produced by this
method is not as desirable to the trade as that which is being made from
the new process. There is about 12 per cent, of grease left in the pressed
tankage, whereas in the other there is only about 2 per cent. The grease
being the most valuable part of the product, makes it desirable to recover
as large a percentage as possible.
TABLE LXIX.— COMBINED INCOME AND EXPENSE STATEMENT,
CLEVELAND REDUCTION PLANT, FOR SIX MONTHS ENDING
JUNE 30 AND DECEMBER 31, 1907.
GROSS INCOME
6 Months 6 Months 12 Months
June 30, '07 Dec. 31, '07 Total
From sale of product $60,514.61 $55,809.85 $116,324.46
From inventory of product 6,473.75 5»5°4-92 **,97& 67
From sale of raw material 237.50 241.55 479.05
From rents 46.00 54 . 5 1 i oo . 5 1
From miscellaneous income:
Collection Department 318.95 29.00 347 .95
$67,590.81 $61,639.83 $129,230.64
402 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
TABLE LXIX. — (Continued.)
EXPENSES
AT WILLOW OHIO (DISPOSAL PLANT) :
Labor at plant $20,612.72 $23,572.55 $44,185.27
Coal at plant 9,050.57 7,319.18 16,369.75
Superintendence and clerk
hire 1,721.70 i, 775-04 3,496.74
Repairs and renewals to
Press cloth
O>OV" • ~J
I 2 6? 6 ^
I 80"? 4 1
»»o»| " • o J
3 i 6 i 06
Press racks
427 48
c^8 02
06 ? <o
Insurance
124 . so
62 . ^ s
186 85
Office supplies . .
104 .47
281 .96
786 4-?
Oil, waste, telephone, water,
etc
Taxes
3,488.29
103 .40
1,843 -60
265 .00
5,33i-89
4 <o . 30
Commission, analysis, weigh-
ing cars etc ,
32 Z . QI
145 .66
47 1 ^7
Freight on product, purchase
dead animals, etc
795-70
1,407 .28
2,202 .98
$43,508.42 $41,785.25 $85,293.67
AT CANAL STREET (COLLECTION PLANT) :
Labor, teamsters, etc $25,180.77 $28,919.47 $54.100.24
Feed 7,896.94 8,743.04 16,639.98
Freight on garbage 2,837.77 2,986.03 5,823.80
Superintendents and clerk
hire 1,290.00 1,140.00 2,430.00
Shoeing 1,480.65 1,651.85 3.132.50
Repairs and renewals t o
freight cars, wagons, etc. 2,441.40 3,129.35 5«57°-75
Repairs to harness 490.51 698.55 1,189.06
All other sundry expenses not
itemized above:
Supplies for barn, light,
etc 1,673.95 1,546.07 3,220.02
Insurance 224 .94 301 . 18 526 . 12
EXTRAORDINARY EXPENSES. $43, 516.93 $49," 5- 54 $92,632.47
Auditing $150.00 $150.00 $300.00
Losses on horses, cars, etc ... 400.00 276.00 676.00
Losses on bad accounts 2 1 . oo 21.00
Depreciation on machinery,
plant and equipment at
Willow, O., at 10% per
year :..-.... 4,072.11 5,829.69 9,901.80
Depreciation on wagons,
horses, stable and other
equipment at Canal St.,
at 10% per year 2,105.43 2,694. 10 4.79Q- 53
TOTAL EXPENSES: $6,727.54 $8,970.79 $15,698.33
At Willow, O $43,508.42 $41,785.25 $85.293.67
At Canal Street . 43,516.93 49,115.54 92,632.47
Extraordinary and deprecia-
tion 6,727 . 54 8,970.79 15,698.33
$93,752.89 $99,871.58 $193,624.47
Total income 67,590.81 61.639.83 129,230 64
Net operating expense. . $26,162 .08 $38,231.75 $64,393.83
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION.
403
TABLE LXX.— SUMMARY OF PRODUCT, SALES AND INVENTORY,
CLEVELAND REDUCTION PLANT.
JANUARY i, 1907 TO JULY i, 1907
Average Price
@ $4-25 cwt.
@ 7-85 ton
@ 2 .47 ton
181 Ibs. hair '. @ .20 Ib.
115 tails
220 hides. .
Quantity Article
1,225,290 Ibs. grease
2,756,281 Ibs. dry tankage..
2,439,010 Ibs. pressed tankage,
h
.30 each
4.65 each
Total first six months, 1907.
Amount
$52,068.44
10,816 . 14
3,011 .61
36.20
34-50
I,O2I .47
$66,988.36
JULY i, 1907, TO JANUARY i, 1908
Quantity Article
i 140 080 Ibs grease
Average Price Amount
. . . @ $4 . 2 98 cwt $49 042 40
836,406 Ibs. dry tankage
6,353,518 Ibs. pressed tankage
342 Ibs hair
@ 6.888 ton 2,880.81
@ 2 .50 ton 7,943.25
@ . 1442 Ib. 49 30
307 hides
@ 4 .496 each i 380 41
62 tails
@ .30 each 1 8 60
Total last six months, 1907.. .
$61,314.77
TABLE LXXI.— COMPARISON OF GARBAGE DELIVERED AT CLEVE-
LAND REDUCTION PLANT AT WILLOW, O., DURING
THE YEARS 1906 AND 1907.
1907
Month Lbs.
January 6,402,000
February 5,512,000
March 6,067 »°°°
April 6,144,500
May 6,139,000
June 5,719,000
July 5,895,400
August 6,130,700
September 7,038,000
October 7,494,300
November 6, 1 56,700
December 6,512,900
Total
Average per month.
* Decrease.
75,211,500
6,267,625
1906
Increase
Lbs.
Lbs.
4,784,000
1,618,000
3,994,000
1,518,000
4,520,000
1,547,000
4,694,000
1,450,500
5,430,000
709,000
5,936,000
*2I7JOOO
5,464,000
431,400
8,024,000
*I, 893,300
7,478,000
*44o,coo
7,098,000
396,300
6,204,000
47,3CO
6,1 56,000
356,900
69,782,000
5,429,500
5,815,167
452,458
The preceding tables give the figures of income and expenses
for the year 1907, the values of products sold, the amounts of
garbage per year, and a summary of the financial statements
for three years :
404 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT, CLEVELAND REDUCTION PLANT.
TABLE LXXII.— COST OF COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL PER TON.
Condensed from auditors' reports for years 1905-6-7 :
Year
1905
1906
Amounts
Tons
30,382
34.891
37,6o5
Cost
Collection
$62,803.78
74,334.32
92,632.47
Per
Ton
$2.05
2.13
2.46
Cost
Disposal
$54.449.88
83,383-98
Per
Ton
$i-79
2-39
2 .26
Total
Cost
Ton
$3-85
4-52
4.72
ADDING EXTRAORDINARY EXPENSES. DEPRECIATION, ETC.
1905
1906
1907
30,382
34,891
65,989.03
79,232.86
98,419 .00
2.17
2.27
2.62
60,690.37
87 377.00
95,i95 55
1.99
2.50
2.50
4 . 16
4-77
5-12
INCOME FROM DISPOSAL PLANT
1905. From sale of products, inventory,
rents, etc $65,881 . 14
Total operating expenses $54,449 .38
Extra expenses and depreciation. ... 6310.99
60,760.37
Net profit not including interest
charges $5.120.77
1906. From sale products, inventory, rents,
etc $106,990.41
Total operating expenses $83,383 .88
Extra expenses and depreciation. . . . 3,993 -25
87,377-I3
Net profit not including interest
charges $19,613.28
1907. From sale products, inventory, rents,
etc $129,230.64
Total operating expenses $85,293 .67
Extra expenses and depreciation 9,901 -80
95,195-47
Net profit not including interest
charges $34,03 5.17
Assume value of plant in 1905 at $70,495.37. The returns
are approximately 7.2 per cent, on investment.
For 1906, at a valuation of $146,297.18, the returns are 14
per cent, on value of investment.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 405
For 1907, returns on total investment at valuation of $222,-
726.92 is 15 per cent., and on disposal plant alone, $173,855.92, is
20 per cent.
These details respecting the Cleveland reduction plant are
given at some length, as this is the first of the process methods
to be operated by any municipality, and now, for the first time,
after twenty years of work by reduction means, we are fully
informed as to the costs of the work and the value of the
products.
These results have been obtained after persistent effort on
the part of the President of Board of Public Service, Mr. W. J.
Springborn, backed by a public-spirited Mayor and City Council.
The record stands in sharp contrast with the operation of
many private plants where the work is done for a large bonus
paid by the city, together with a still larger revenue derived
from the sale of the manufactured waste.
THE AMERICAN EXTRACTOR COMPANY PROCESS, NEW BED-
FORD, MASS.
For some years after the closing of the Holthaus reduction
plant at New Bedford, the waste of New Bedford was treated
by the usual means of dumping and feeding to swine.
In 1904, a new contract was made by the city with the New
Bedford Extractor Company, a local corporation working under
license from the American Extractor Company, of Providence,
owners of the Wheelwright hot water reduction process, a new
form for treatment of garbage by reduction.
This contract was for a term of five years, at the rate of
$25,000 per year, and included the collection and disposal of the
garbage and dead animals. The collections were made by a
sub-contractor, in metal wagons holding about two cubic yards
each. They are weekly from May to November and bi-weekly
for the remainder of the year. Each wagon makes two trips
a day.
The works of the New Bedford Extractor Company are
located on the same ground as the abandoned Holthaus plant,
three miles from the city center. There are three separate
buildings — the garbage house, the extractor house and the boiler
house, together occupying about 250 x 100 square feet of ground.
406 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
The garbage house is a brick building and contains four bays,
which allow four wagons to be unloaded at once, and during this
time the doors are kept closed to prevent escape of odors. The
wagons are discharged onto a grating, through which the liquids
FIG. 92.— THE REDUCTION WORKS OF THE AMERICAN EXTRACTOR
COMPANY. NEW BEDFORD, MASS.
pass to a cistern below, the metals, rubbish and foreign matters
are removed by hand.
The water drained from the garbage is pumped to a hot-
water tank, from which it is fed into the digesters as needed.
The inclined steel tube contains a drag chain conveyor which
elevates the garbage to the upper floor of the main building. This
tube also acts as an exhaust pipe for drawing foul air from both
floors of the garbage house. Conected with this, is a second ex-
haust pipe that withdraws the gases from the feed opening of
the digesters.
The garbage is delivered through the pipe and deposited
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 407
in the digester at the rate of from six to ten tons per hour as
required, this being precipitated with a small amount of boiling
water in the bottom of the digester.
The main building of the plant is of brick and steel construc-
tion, 60 x 80 feet, and 74 feet high. The stack is 125 feet high.
This building contains the apparatus for the treatment of the
garbage, the first of which in the series of operations are the
digesters. There are two of these, each weighing forty-five
tons empty and ninety-five tons loaded, and with a capacity of
thirty tons per day. They are made of cast gun-metal, two
inches thick, and corrugated on the inside to prevent the stick-
ing of the garbage to the sides. In the bottom of each digester
are four 1^2 -inch steam nozzles, through which enters the steam
for cooking the garbage.
When ready to be loaded the digesters are partly filled with
hot water, and then garbage from the conveyor is dumped in
until they are filled. During the filling the steam jets are oper-
ated just enough to keep the water at the boiling point. After
a digester is charged it is sealed and the steam -pressure grad-
ually raised to twenty-five pounds, at which it is held for a
period of two and one-half hours. The garbage is cooked under
pressure for three and one-half hours in summer and four hours
in winter.
After the cooking is completed the steam jets are closed and
the pressure gradually lowered. The steam from the digester
is blown into the hot-water tank, where it is condensed and
at the same time heats the garbage water contained therein.
The use of the garbage water for cooking saves the expense
of providing other water and at the same time makes it possible
to extract the grease from it.
At this point occurs an important operation in the process,
called the flotation of the grease. Water is pumped into the
bottom of the tank, and the grease, which floats upon the sur-
face, is removed by a pipe at the top of the digester to an oil
separator. The solids are prevented by a grating from getting
into this pipe. After going through the separator the oil is
run into settling tanks in an adjacent building and finally into a
storage tank. A 3-inch pipe runs from the storage tank to a
railroad switch near by, where the tank cars are loaded. The
408 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
oil is forced through the pipe under fourteen pounds air pres-
sure, and 27,000 pounds can be loaded into a car in one hour.
When the oil has been completely removed the water is drawn
off, and then the discharge pipe at the bottom of the digester
is opened and the solid matter pases to the extractor. This con-
sists of a i6-inch revolving worm inside of a casing, which is
tight except for openings to carry away the water as it is pressed
out. The pressing is done by means of mechanically operated
fins, which press into the threads of the worm, forcing the
solids against the hub and thus extracting the liquor. This is
quite different from the method usually employed of pressing
out the liquid by means of a hydraulic press in an open room,
whereby odors are occasioned.
The water thus obtained is conveyed to a settling tank and
the grease removed by flotation. The solids are carried by a
closed conveyor to a double steam-jacketed dryer five feet in
diameter and ten feet long.
After being dried the tankage, which is brown in appearance
and somewhat caked, is placed on a conveyor that takes it to a
disintegrator, where it is finally ground, and then passes to a
bagging machine, where it is packed ready for shipment.
The power plant consists of two Kendall boilers of 125-horse-
power capacity, working under a pressure of eighty pounds ; one
vertical Westinghouse, Jr., 94-horsepower engine, making 320
revolutions per minute; one 35O-gallon Knowles service pump
and one 5OO-gallon fire pump of the same make. A Green
economizer heats the water for the boilers, spring water being
used for this purpose and stored in a io,ooo-gallon tank. Water
used for other purposes is supplied by artesian wells and is
stored in a 3O,ooo-gallon tank. Between fourteen and fifteen
tons of coal are used per week.
A most important feature of this plant is that all apparatus
from which disagreeable odors might arise are connected to a
Sturtevant blower. The vapors pass through a condenser and
thence to the stack, where they mingle with the hot gases and
from which they emerge high in the air.
The Superintendent and General Manager of the Company,
C. K. Wheelwright, gave the following information concerning
the operation of the plant:
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 409
Besides the men who accompany the wagons, eight are employed at
the plant during the day and two at night, with which number we could
easily handle twice as much garbage as is now received, and would be
glad to do so because of the increased profits from the by-products. The
plant is designed to handle 60 tons per day, but at present receives on an
average only about 18 tons.
The population of New Bedford is about 80,000 (74,362 in 1905, by the
State census). There should, therefore, be about 25 tons of garbage a
day, according to figures obtained in other cities where careful investiga-
tions have been made. The apparent deficiency is stated to be due to
the extreme economy of the foreign-born laborers, who constitute a large
percentage ot the population.
From each ton of garbage treated there is obtained 400 to 460 Ibs. of
tankage and from 53 to 60 pounds of grease. The tankage is sold to
fertilizer companies as a base for fertilizer, and brings from $4 to $12
per ton, depending upon the amount of ammonia present. The grease is
sold to soap companies, and is used in the manufacture of the finest
soaps. In addition to the money derived from the sale of the by-products,
the company has a contract with the city whereby it receives $25,500 per
year for the removal and disposal of the garbage.
(Condensed from Municipal Journal & Engineer, Feb. 26,
1908).
The cost of collection and disposal at New Bedford, allow-
ing 6,000 tons of garbage to be gathered annually, is at the
rate of $4.16 per ton, or about 31.2 cents per capita per annum.
This appears to be the highest cost of any city in this country
using the reduction methods.
The value of the by-products and the cost of operating, ac-
cording to the statement of the officers of the company Septem-
ber 5, 1907, is as follows:
The New Bedford Extractor Company's plant, working under license
from the American Extractor Company, has a daily capacity for reducing
60 tons of garbage in 24 hours. Owing to the requirement of the city
it was necessary for the company to agree to its contract that the capacity
should be double the supposed collections, i.e., 30 tons per day.
The average delivery of garbage to this plant has been only 20 tons
per working day, but the operation expense is as much as if 30 tons
per day had been reduced.
Taking the market prices of the by-products of September I, 1907
(greases and tankage), a ton of garbage as delivered at the plant equals
in value $4,282.00
Actual cost of reduction at New Bedford plant of one ton of
garbage J[,995-Oo
Gain per ton $2,287.00
Twenty tons, 312 days 14,350.88
Depreciation on 25-ton plant, credit sinking fund. 6,500.00
$7,850.88
410 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
Yield of grease 3-34%
Yield of tankage 15.00%
Coal per ton garbage reduced, 284 pounds.
On 30 tons per day cost of reduction per ton would not exceed. . $1.50
On full capacity of plant it would not exceed i.oo
AMERICAN EXTRACTOR COMPANY,
Charles S. Wheelwright, President.
The statement has been made that the cost of erecting a
15-ton plant, not including the ground, is about $40,000. It is
not the intention of the American Extractor Company to erect
a plant or make money from their construction as builders, but
to grant licenses to those who do, supplying all necessary plans
and superintending the erection.
GARBAGE DISPOSAL BY REDUCTION METHODS.*
«* * * These percentages vary greatly with the geographical
location of the community, with the season of the year, and with
the particular kind of season; that is, whether rainy or dry, hot
or cold. In fact, every change in the natural order of living
affects to a greater or less extent the above values and their
relation to one another. For instance, the percentage of ashes
in our Southern cities is very much lower than in our Northern
cities; in our Northern cities it is a great deal higher in winter
than in summer, while in the South it is a fairly constant quan-
tity throughout the year.
Then the percentage of garbage will increase materially in
the summer because of the large increase in vegetable matter
containd therein. In our Southern cities the percentage of
grease in the garbage is very low because of the small propor-
tionate consumption of meats.
The kind of season influences particularly the quantity of
garbage; it also influences somewhat the quality of the garbage.
If for any reason the weather conditions have interfered with
the growing of melons, sweet corn and fruit, the amount of
garbage in July, August and September will decrease surpris-
ingly. On the other hand, if the season has been favorable the
"Condensed from paper before The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, by Roht.
Yarnell, C. E.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 411
vegetable matter assumes prodigious proportions in these months.
It is interesting to note the difference in the quality of the
garbage in our Eastern cities, its physical as well as chemical
changes.
The material collected in Baltimore is very inferior, indeed.
It contains but a small percentage of grease and a very large
percentage of rubbish and objectionable matter. Baltimoreans
seem to live largely on fish foods — oysters, crabs, etc. At cer-
tain seasons the crab shells assume surprisingly large propor-
tions ; in fact, often at a distance a load of garbage has a decided
pink color due to the crab shells.
Philadelphia garbage is in a very much better mechanical state
than that of Baltimore, but the percentage of grease is much
lower than in some of the other cities, such as Newark, N. J.,
New York and Brooklyn, although much higher than in. Balti-
more. The reason for this comparatively low percentage of
grease in Philadelphia is to be found in the non-enforcement of
an ordinance barring private collectors of garbage. A recent
Supreme Court decision has sustained such an ordinance. The
"hog feeders" go from house to house in the best sections of
town and to most hotels and boarding houses and collect only
the best of the material for feeding their swine, and leave for
the regular collectors the poorer materials, from which material
only a small percentage of grease, as above stated, can be ex-
tracted. This practice should be stopped at once, not only
because of the poor quality of pork produced by swill-fed hogs,
but because by so doing the city will be able to obtain lower bids
on the scavenger contracts if the material is to be reduced.
The garbage collected in New York City is the cleanest — con-
taining the least amount of refuse — in any city in the East. The
reason for this condition is found in the rigid enforcement of the
law governing separation of the three kinds of waste. The fact
that the material is richer — that is, contains more grease, am-
monia, potash, etc., per ton — in New York City than any other
Eastern city, with the possible exception of Atlantic City, is
because of the barring absolutely of all private collectors, and
also because of the great number of hotels and apartment houses
from which the waste of foodstuffs per capita is much greater
than from private households, or from a less thickly populated
412 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
community where there is an opportunity to scatter the material,
feed domestic animals, etc.
It is interesting to note that the garbage collected in New
York City is comparatively dry and can be stacked on scows
like hay.
The garbage from Boston is very wet and sloppy The scows
which transport the material away from the city to the reduc-
tion plant have to be provided with high sides to keep the ma-
terial from running into the bay. It is difficult to explain the
reason for this condition, but it must be because of some method
of doing the work about Boston kitchens which differs from that
employed elsewhere; perhaps the dishwater is added to the gar-
bage. The yield of grease from the Boston garbage is consider-
ably less than the yield from New York, but is greater than the
yield from Philadelphia, perhaps because of the greater con-
sumption of fish foods, which are poorer in grease than other
meat foods.
Concerning the relative merits of incineration and reduction
methods for the final disposal of this objectionable material much
has been said and written. The problem is a very complex one,
indeed. What is a merit in one case is a demerit in another.
What is advantageous in one city is utterly out of place in an-
other. But there are certain facts which largely govern a deci-
sion in all cases.
Generally speaking, in a city whose population is under the
100,000 mark, the returns from a reduction method of disposal
are too small to warrant building a plant, unless the contract
price paid by the city for the work is high, and the term of con-
tract long — ten years or more. For such cities cremation is
unquestionably the method to adopt.
Again, generally speaking, in a city whose population is over
100,000 reduction should be the method adopted if the cost alone
is considered.
Referring for a moment to the sanitary advantages of the two
systems, it has been demonstrated time and again that a reduc-
tion plant can be operated near a thickly-populated district with-
out creating any offense whatever. To cite a case in point, take
the old plant of the American Product Company on the Schuyl-
kill River, in this city, not over two miles from the City Hall,
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 413
and just across the river from the delightful suburban district
of West Philadelphia. This plant has been in almost continuous
operation for the past twelve years, and who ever heard of any
complaint as to its being unsanitary or a menace to public health ?
If care is taken in the design of a reduction plant, and intelli-
gence used in its operation, there is absolutely no occasion for
complaint.
A crematory can also be conducted in a highly sanitary man-
ner ; but against most existing plants in this country, at least, /
complaints have been entered based on the fumes, or from the
small particles of unburned garbage and dust discharged from
the stacks.
Success of both systems, however, from a sanitary standpoint,
rests almost entirely with the health officers of a city. If they
are so inclined they can prevent either method from being objec-
tionable. It is to be expected that the contractor will object ^
to any measures imposed by the Board of Health necessitating
his installing expensive vapor scrubbing or disinfecting devices.
But such measures, provided they are practicable, can be en-
forced, and the comfort of the complaining district assured.
It is pleasing to the medical mind to consider incineration as
the only sanitary method for the disposal of garbage, because by
such a method the doctor is reasonably sure of destroying at
once all microbic organism, together with their common feeding-
ground. To support him in his theories about incineration, or
rather by reason of his opinions, there are to be found a great
number of reports by engineers and others, both foreign and
domestic, endorsing this method of disposal. It seems to those
who are acquainted with reduction methods of disposal that
the opinions of these doctors and engineers have been formed in
ignorance of such methods. Their ignorance is due to the fact
that there is practically no literature on the subject of garbage
reduction and no reliable American data regarding the exact cost
of reduction, or the value and quantity of products extracted per
ton of garbage treated, except in the hands of the contractors
bidding for city contracts, and they naturally do not care to dis-
close their knowledge.
It is a fact, however, that may be stated without fear of con-
tradiction, that the net cost of reducing a ton of garbage is less
414 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
than the cost of cremating the same quantity. This should be
apparent to everyone. To burn a ton of garbage, it is first nec-
essary to evaporate the 80 per cent, of water the garbage con-
tains. It must be remembered that less than one-third of the
remaining 20 per cent, of the original ton is combustible. Now,
under the very best conditions of draft and arrangement of heat-
ing surface and design of furnace in boiler practice we are able
to evaporate about ten pounds of water per pound combustible.
Hence, to burn a ton of garbage coal must be added to it. To
be sure, it takes coal to make steam to reduce a ton of garbage,
but to pay for this coal are the products extracted. It may be
said that if the garbage were not separated 'from the other com-
bustible light refuse it would require practically no coal to burn
the mass. But, on the other hand, if this same light combustible
refuse were separated and taken to the boiler room of the reduc-
tion plant it could be used to help generate steam for the latter
process. There should be no uncertainty about these points.
Given a specific case, results can be accurately predicted.
When all is considered, as far as sanitation goes, there is very
little to choose between cremation and reduction of garbage. It
must be remembered that the raw material, by reason of its
origin, is subject to rapid decay, and hence in the hot season is
bound to be obnoxious; and it is from the handling of the raw
material itself, from the receptacle to the wagon and from the
wagon to the plant, that complaints arise rather than from the
plant itself, be it a crematory or a reduction plant.
It is the object of the reduction plant to obtain every pound
of garbage that can be collected from the city, because the plant's
profit depends upon the amount of material treated, the fixed
charges being very high. Whereas, on the other hand, there is
practically no profit to be derived from the burning of the gar-
bage. The collector for the crematory will therefore do every-
thing in his power to collect as small a quantity as possible and
not be detected by the municipal authorities. The only revenue
to be derived from the burning of the garbage he collects is
from the sale of the ash, but in most cases fertilizer manufac-
turers do not consider this ash of sufficient value for them to
cart it away from the plant, let alone pay a price for it, because
of its poor mechanical condition.
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 415
It is apparent in the case of the reduction contractor that
a premium is placed upon honest and efficient collection ; where-
as, in the case of the burning method of disposal a premium is
placed upon dishonest service on the part of the collector. Again,
does it not seem manifestly wrong to burn, up a material which,
if intelligently treated by an approved process, maintains in a
community a thriving manufacturing plant? Moreover, is it
not manifestly wrong to utterly destroy this material when a val-
uable fertilizer base can be extracted from it by which, after
properly treating it and distributing it throughout rural com-
munities, there may be returned to the earth a valuable plant
food which in due time will bring forth an abundance of fruit —
a point which will be more appreciated, perhaps, as time goes
on and our soils become further exhausted ?
Having decided that the garbage will be disposed of by a
reduction method, it remains to be determined which is the best
reduction method. All of the reduction processes are for the
purpose of separating the raw material into four parts — rubbish,
water, grease and tankage. An average sample of garbage, taken
throughout the year, consists of rubbish 6 per cent., or 120
pounds per ton of garbage; water 71 per cent., or 1,420 pounds
per ton of garbage; grease 3 per cent., or 60 pounds per ton of
garbage.
The 1 20 pounds of rubbish is composed of a great variety of
solid waste matter, such as bottles, tin cans, rags, bits of wood,
shells, etc., which should have been separated and placed in the
light refuse box by the householder and not mixed with the gar-
bage; but perfect separation is well nigh impossible to obtain.
The tin cans, bottles and rags are generally separated from the
rubbish, as will be explained hereafter, and sold to different
parties. The cans are put through a detinning and desoldering
process, the tin and solder finding a ready market, and the iron
remaining is melted up into sash weights. The bottles that are
not broken are cleaned and sold to junk dealers to be refilled with
cheap oils, ketchup, and other food products. The broken glass
is also separated and is sold at so much a ton. The rags are
washed, dried and sold to the manufacturers of paper. The
cans, delivered, bring about $5 per net ton ; the bottles about
416 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
4 cents per dozen, the broken glass $4 per ton, and the rags
bring about half a cent a pound.
The net return from these marketable products is very small
because of the amount of labor required to separate them and
prepare them for market. The part that is not salable is gener-
ally carted away to the dumps, or at certain seasons is burned
under the boilers in the plant.
The 1,420 pounds of water in the ton of garbage reduced con-
tains a considerable quantity of glucose and suspended matter
and a small percentage of ammonia, but it is of only slight com-
mercial value and is allowed to run away into the sewer. When
used at all it is evaporated to the consistency of molasses and
added to the tankage just before drying, the combination mak-
ing what is termed "granular tankage" as distinct from "fluffy
tankage."
The sixty pounds of grease to the ton of garbage has the
greatest value of any of the products of reduction. This grease
is of a comparatively low grade and sells for about 3 cents a
pound the year round, the price of the grease varying with the
price of tallow, which, on the basis of garbage grease at 3 cents
a pound, would sell at 4 cents a pound. It is of a dark brown color
and has a slight odor of burnt coffee. This grease is used large-
ly for making soap and candles. The greater part of the Amer-
ican output of garbage grease is shipped to foreign markets,
mostly Belgium and France. It doubtless returns to this country
again in forms which have successfully obliterated their origin
and which we would scarcely care to own.
The remaining 400 pounds in the ton of garbage is tankage.
Tankage is the term used for the solid fibrous matter left after
the grease and water have been separated in the reduction process.
It is used, when properly prepared, as a base for fertilizers, as
it contains small percentages of nitrogen, ammonia, phosphoric
acid, and potash.
All the American systems of reduction are either modifications
of the Arnold, or mechanical system, or the solvent system.
The solvent system reduces the garbage by first drying it and
then treating the naphtha or the lighter petroleum oils. This
solvent takes up the grease in the process and the grease is then
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 417
recovered by evaporating off the solvent. The latter is condensed
and used over again in the process.
The liquids are pressed out through the perforations in the
apron slats, and flow down into a center drain under the press
and thence to the catch-basins, where the grease rises to the
surface and is pumped up into settling tanks to be prepared for
market.
The solid matter, or tankage, is discharged from the end of
the press into a conveyor which carries it either into the boiler
room, where it is used for fuel, or into the drying department,
where it is dried down to 10 per cent, moisture and bagged and
subsequently sold to the manufacturers of fertilizers. The analy-
sis of this tankage varies greatly in different parts of the country
and at different seasons of the year. A fair analysis taken right
from the press would be :
Per Cent.
Moisture , 38 to 44
Grease 5 to 9
Nitrogen, equivalent to ammonia i . 2 to 2 . 2
Phosphoric acid, equivalent to bone phosphate of
lime : 4 . 2 to 7 . 2
Potash 2 to . 3
It is always a problem to decide what to do with the tankage
at a given plant. At times when grease is selling very low and
coal is high in price and there is small demand for low grade
ammoniates, it pays to burn it under the boilers. Tankage, how-
ever, is decidedly inferior fuel because of its low calorific value,
and also because of very troublesome clinkers that are continually
forming. Tankage ash is worth $1.50 per ton delivered for the
fertilizing ingredients it contains.
If there is a demand for tankage in the fertilizer market it
pays to dry the material down to 10 per cent, moisture, or com-
mercially dry, when its analysis should show :
Per Cent.
Moisture 10 .
Ammonia 2.8
Phosphates 8.5
Potash 31
This dry tankage should sell at from $6 to $8 per net ton.
If the grease market is strong and the price of solvents within
reason, under certain conditions it is advisable to extract the
418 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
6 per cent, or 9 per cent, grease which the tankage contains by
percolating it with solvents, such as the lighter petroleum oils,
benzine or naphtha, or by the use of carbon bisulphid, or carbon
tetrachlorid. The latter solvent is non-inflammable, but unless
diluted with a cheaper solvent its cost is prohibitive.
The best method of treatment is to first dry the tankage and
then percolate it, using the same liquor over and over again,
until it is sufficiently concentrated, when the system is allowed to
drain into an evaporator which drives off the lighter solvent to
the condenser, leaving the heavier garbage grease which is pre-
pared for market. The solvent held by the tankage is recovered
by the application of heat to the percolating tank. It is interesting
to note in this connection that the tankage from which the grease
has been extracted is now of greater value as a fertilizing ma-
terial. The grease thus extracted, however, is not as valuable as
that extracted by mechanical means.
The catch-basin liquor, after the grease has been taken off,
has very small commercial value because it is so very dilute.
It contains from .15 to .4 per cent, ammonia, and in some cases
we have evaporated it down and added the concentrated liquor
to the tankage during the drying process. This makes a granular
tankage, which is in greater demand that the fluffy kind, but the
price obtained is only a little better — in fact, is hardly enough to
pay the cost of evaporation and maintain the evaporators. The
cost for evaporator repairs is very high because of the acidity
of the liquor, which attacks both shell and tubes, whether of iron,
steel, copper or brass.
The New York garbage plant on Barren Island is the largest
reduction plant in the world. In the summer months it disposes
of 3,000 tons of raw material every day. One can scarcely real-
ize the enormous bulk this tonnage represents without spending
twenty-four hours on the island in August. The New York
Board of Health is very vigilant in preventing obnoxious vapors
arising from this plant because of its close proximity to Rock-
away Beach and Coney Island. It requires the fumes to be
washed thoroughly in great scrubbers before discharging them
into the air.
About two years ago a disastrous explosion occurred in the
Boston plant. One is never sure just what ingredients form
THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY REDUCTION. 419
the conglomeration with which the digesters are filled, and in
this case an excessive pressure was formed in one of the tanks
from an unknown cause and the explosion resulted, completely
wrecking the building.
The records of the quantity of garbage treated at various
reduction plants are interesting when examined together. The
fluctuation in volume and character from month to month is
fairly parallel — the yield highest in August and September —
except in the case of Boston, where the greatest yield is in
winter, due probably to the greater proportionate summer exodus
of the leisure class. The antithesis of this is observed in the
plotted curve of quantity at Atlantic City, which has a great
peak in the middle of August, the height of the vacation sea-
son, as would be expected from such a resort.
The character of the product varies also; but, unfortunately
for the reduction plant, the value of the material expressed in
terms of grease is much lower per ton when the quantity handled
is the greatest.
These records show that a reduction plant should be made
sufficiently large to handle the peak of the load in July, August
and September, although during the remainder of the year, in
most cases, two-thirds of the plant must remain inoperative.
Moreover, when this great bulk of garbage is being treated the
yield of grease — the principal source of revenue — is least, which
is certainly an unsatisfactory condition from a manufacturer's
standpoint. This explains the fact that the garbage reduction
contractor cannot undertake such a contract without being paid
a bonus by the city.
PART V.
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
CHAPTER XVIII.
REVENUE FROM WASTE MATERIALS — METHODS OF UTILIZATION.
The first question asked by a municipal officer when consider-
ing the disposal of waste is "What will it cost?" He may after-
ward ask what benefits are to be derived from the proposed
process, but in the first instance the expense is to him the chief
consideration. The Mayor, the city officials and the members
of the City Council are the ones who have the control of the
department of municipal work, which includes the collection and
disposal of all wastes. Up to within the last few years this
department of municipal service has received less attention than
almost any other, but the pressure brought to bear upon these
gentlemen by the people acting through the various civic organ-
izations, leagues and other associations for the improvement of
the city, have made it imperative that there should be better
attention paid and more money expended for the treatment of
waste than has been done in the past.
It is a gratifying instance of progress to note that many cities
are really endeavoring to obtain some accurate information from
the tabulation of their own statistics, and are trying to bring
themselves into line with the advanced methods, which have suc-
ceeded in bettering the conditions in other towns that make a
more creditable showing in this branch of civic work.
It has been said that "utilization is the keynote of successful
policy in large cities," and there is no department where utiliza-
tion theories can be so practically demonstrated as in the treat-
ment of the municipal waste. It was said by Colonel Waring
in relation to the wastes of New York that there was annually
thrown away in the discarded matter a sum of money sufficient
to pay for the collection and disposal of the wastes of the city.
This was looked upon at the time as being a glittering generality
420
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE. 421
impossible of realization, a mere dream that could never come
to pass. But in the three years' service of Colonel Waring he
demonstrated that it was not entirely a theoretical idea, but one
that could be carried out if it were attempted with thorough
knowledge of the requirements, a sufficient amount of money to
do the work, and the aid of a Mayor and Council who would
support reforms.
Utilization of refuse, which Colonel Waring began, and which
in his short term of office brought in a return that was sufficient
to pay the expenses of the refuse collection service in the dis-
trict where this was employed, was discontinued by his successor,
and was not revived until another reform administration assumed
the reins of government. The efforts made in the past four
years for the recovery of the marketable portions of the refuse
and rubbish in New York City have shown that there is a value
which not only pays expenses of recovery but returns a revenue
if the work is properly conducted. This revenue can be utilized
in two ways: First, by sorting it and saving such parts of the
refuse as are marketable for making paper, and second, by
burning the volume collected and utilizing the heat.
THE UTILIZATION OF REFUSE BY SORTING.
The actual cash value of paper stock in New York City is
to-day higher than it has ever before been known to be. Every-
thing which is valuable for turning into paper pulp is eagerly
bought by the various agencies that deal in this material.
The amount of refuse and rubbish discarded from the houses
in the larger cities of the United States is enormous in volume,
as, for instance, in New York City it is 936 pounds per capita
per annum. In Boston the quantities are about 600 pounds, and
in Buffalo available records show that the proportions were still
larger. These quantities will probably be found in all the larger
Northern towns and increase in the places where natural gas is
used for household fuel.
The value of paper is at the present time quoted at the net
sum of about $4.50 per ton for the lowest grade of crushed
newspaper delivered at the cars for transportation to the paper
mills. The better grades of paper bring higher prices. Every
form of rags suitable for use by paper makers find a ready
422 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
market. There is no reason to believe that these prices will be
any less, and it would seem to be a measure of economy in every
city where this waste is available to turn it to some purpose
of revenue, which can easily be done by following the methods
already introduced in four of the largest cities of establishing
refuse utilization stations.
THE SANITARY SIDE OF THE QUESTION.
Objections have been made to the separation of salable articles
from rubbish on the ground of possible communication of con-
tagion to the persons engaged in the separation. The argument
is that everything that comes from the house should be destroyed
in order to prevent any chance of the spread of contagious dis-
eases, and also because the light rubbish or refuse from the
houses contains a large proportion of sweepings and other dirt
which must be destroyed. The records of utilization plants do
not show that any disease has ever been contracted in this work,
and' when it is done by the aid of machinery, with the proper
appliances, the employees are in no danger of contagion if the
sanitary regulations for operating the plant are enforced.
THE USES OF RUBBISH FOR POWER DEVELOPMENT.
Some authorities have claimed that the rubbish and refuse
from the city should never be sorted or separated, but should be
promptly destroyed by fire, and the heat derived therefrom be
utilized for the disposal of other parts of municipal waste. They
therefore advocate a separate collection of the refuse and rub-
bish and its being brought to a disposal station where it may be
destroyed without sorting. The work done in New York City
at the two incinerators during the past four years has shown
that there is undoubtedly great value in the heat to be derived
from this operation, amounting to the evaporation of one and
one-half to two pounds of water per pound of refuse and rub-
bish destroyed. Three large disposal plants in other cities are
now sorting out and recovering the valuable portions of the
refuse, and employ the remainder as fuel, and have been operated
for four, five and ten years respectively, returning large revenues
to the companies employing this means. But in the case of each
of these companies the revenue comes in the largest degree from
the sorting and not from the power. The value of this material
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE. 423
as fuel depends upon its quantity, since it must be continuously
on hand to be supplied to the furnace. If the refuse is very
light it burns with great rapidity and the heat is passed into the
chimney without being utilized. If the rubbish is wet or moist
it burns more slowly and the heat-raising power is decreased.
If it is- received in quantities too small for maintaining con-
tinuous combustion it is of small value for raising steam, as it
fluctuates greatly. At the best, refuse or rubbish in small
amounts must be looked upon only as an auxiliary to be used
in conjunction with more stable forms of fuel.
Whether it is equal to consuming wet masses of garbage has
yet to be demonstrated. By the American crematory method of
burning light refuse in a part of the furnace, there is very little
actual benefit derived from the heat, which quickly passes off,
acting only upon the surface of the wet masses of garbage lying
adjacent. On the other hand, when refuse and garbage are
mixed together and burned under the action of forced draft
the combustion is much more efficient and the results in steam
raising are greater. This is the method which is required by
some engineers in their latest specifications for destructors
burning garbage and refuse together under a powerful blast of
hot air or steam. By this means all the heat units contained in
the garbage, as well as those of the lighter forms of refuse,
will be utilized.
THE PAPER MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES.
The United States is the greatest paper producing country
in the world, the annual output being upward of 640,000 tons.
In the local consumption of paper this country also leads, with
an annual figure of 38.6 pounds per capita, England consuming
34.3 pounds, Germany 29.98 pounds, France 20.5 pounds, Aus-
tria 19 pounds, Italy 15.4 pounds. Nearly one-half of the paper
manufactured in the world is used for printing purposes. Twen-
ty per cent, is absorbed in the trades and industries, an equal pro-
portion is applied for official and school purposes, and the re-
maining 10 per cent, serves the demand for private uses.
A late book on the manufacture of paper gives a list of 860
different substances that have been used in manufacturing paper
stock. Of these the soft woods are the most valuable and easiest
424 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
obtained. They are the alder, aspen, poplar, willow, fir.
spruce, birch, white pine and chestnut. The amount of wood
fibre or cellulose, which is the pulp-making element, ranges in
these woods from 33 to 39 per cent, of the whole volume of
the wood, but as this is obtained only from the trunk and larger
limbs of the tree, the waste is enormous.
One writer in a monthly journal gives some startling figures
showing the "Slaughter of the Trees" of the American forests
for paper-making. He says "Some one has figured that a big
Sunday newspaper needs twenty acres of pulp wood to make
the paper for one edition. The Chicago Tribune, a chance in-
stance, uses 200,000 pounds of paper each Sunday, or 400,000
pounds each week. A ton of paper takes about two cords of
spruce in the making — to be exact, about 1,750 pounds of paper
pulp — not allowing anything for waste.
"The average stand of spruce pulp wood in the regions where
it is cut is probably about ten cords per acre. If it costs twenty
acres a Sunday, or forty acres a week, and 2,080 acres a year
to print one daily newspaper, what does it cost in acreage to
print all the newspapers in all the cities and towns of America?
Add to this the paper used in books and the enormous editions
of our magazines and the total staggers the imagination."
A few months ago, when the advance in printing paper was
made by the companies controlling the wood pulp manufacturing
interests, it was claimed and shown that the deforestation was
proceeding at so rapid a rate that the -supply of wood suitable
for manufacture in the United States would soon be exhausted.
These statements emphasize the necessity for not only conserv-
ing the forest to be used in the future manufacture of paper,
but also demonstrates that every form of material suitable for
the manufacture of various classes of paper should be saved
for this work.
In the larger Eastern cities there are many agencies for saving
the paper waste. The perambulating junkman goes from house
to house, begging, sometimes paying for the various classes of
paper until he has collected a load. In New York City the
people freely deliver it to the Salvation Army, which makes a
business of collecting paper and other marketable refuse waste
for the benefit of their fund for improving the conditions of
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE. 425
the poor. A much larger percentage is annually collected than
is generally known. The paper from shops and stores is largely
collected by private parties who receive this as a bonus for
removing ashes from the premises.
All of these agencies, taken together, are working for the col-
lection and sale of this form of municipal refuse, and all are
presumably receiving a sufficient revenue from the work not
only to pay expenses but to make a profit. If the forests of
the country now being swept off by the wood pulp industry shall
disappear, manifestly it is only a part of municipal wisdom to
turn to some useful purpose the printing and other forms of
paper which have once seen service and which may repeatedly
be renewed and transformed into salable forms of paper for
future use
THE COMMERCIAL VALUE OF GARBAGE.
The reports of the reduction processes previously noted show
there is a value in garbage of American towns when this is
treated by itself for recovery of commercial products. The 3 per
cent, (sixty pounds) of grease in a ton of separated garbage,
with a comparatively steady value of 3 to 3^2 cents per pound,
makes this item worth saving, if it can be done at not too great
a cost. The tankage is of uncertain value, dependent upon con-
ditions not always under the control of the manufacturers, hence
the returns from this source are not to be reckoned as constant.
It has a fuel value equal to about one-sixth of its weight in coal,
and can always be burned under the boilers of the plant, but
with a certainty of rapid deterioration of the boiler tubes and
fittings.
The chief difficulty in marketing the tankage seems to be
its storage when prices are low, to await a rise. Because of
its liability to spontaneous combustion when reduced by the
naphtha process it cannot be long held in bulk without great
danger of fire. When reduced by steam process it is probably
less dangerous, but is still very inflammable and readily de-
teriorates and putrefies. In short, it must be used quickly if
at all, or be burned for fuel if not marketed: The reports of
forty or more reduction plants in this country, all with scarcely
a single exception, contain records of explosions and fires, more
426 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
or less costly, and seemingly beyond the power of the owners to
prevent. The most rigid regulations for safety from fire appear
to be of little protection. The values to be had from garbage
when manufactured depends greatly upon the nearness of a
market for the grease and tankage. If far distant, the cost of
transportation cuts down the margins, and if the quantities
produced be small, the storage and handling counts up fast
against the profits.
THE COSTS OF REDUCTION.
It seems to be conceded that only when the quantities of
separated garbage are seventy-five tons or upward daily, can
the work be made to pay as a business venture, unless there be
a subsidy from the municipality. One writer says in no place
of less than 150,000 population can garbage reduction plants be
operated successfully. Another puts the lowest profitable figure
of population at 100,000, meaning upon a strictly business basis,
without payment by the city for disposal.
These statements are borne out by the results so far as shown
by the evidence at hand, since all plants where the work has been
done for the profit alone have heretofore failed, and in other
cases, where the quantities are small — from twenty-five to fifty
tons daily — the plant must have the subsidy from the town to
continue its work. This argument has always been advanced
when contracts for reduction were pending, and as the costs of
the work and the profits or losses were trade secrets jealously
guarded, the towns have, under pull, or influence, or a carefully
exaggerated idea of the great sanitary value of this means of
disposal, granted concessions for a term of years at greater cost
to the town than were asked by other methods of disposal.
There was at first an erroneous idea that the reduction methods
were very profitable to investors, and many companies were
capitalized for operating in the larger cities under concessions
that required the towns to pay but a small sum — from 50 cents
to 60 cents per ton — for the disposal of the garbage. It presently
appeared that the returns were not sufficient to pay expenses,
much less dividends, and when the works took fire, as they mostly
did, and were destroyed they were not replaced.
Some of the processes that involved the manufacture of a
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE. 427
complete fertilizer by the addition of nitrates and phosphates to
the tankage could not compete with the regular standard fertilizer
of the same grades, and they disappeared from the field. For
nearly eight years the reduction work was in the hands of two
processes or methods, alike in the main principles of treatment,
but differing in minor details of apparatus, and in these years
there was almost universal complaints of nuisance from the
work.
Not until about 1905, when the older companies had improved
their methods and apparatus, and new companies appeared with
more rapid and more thorough methods of extracting the oil
and drying the tankage, and with greater attention to the sani-
tary operation of the work, did the process methods make
progress.
With improved machinery and methods there came a sharper
competition. The veteran corporations that had for successive
terms of years in the large Eastern cities held the undisputed
control at their own figures, were opposed by the later comers,
all ambitious to acquire a foothold in the profitable work.
Up to this time there was but little accurate information to
be had as to the real results in a pecuniary way from the work.
The contract prices at which the awards were made for five-
year terms were always large enough to insure the expenses of
the works, leaving the profit, which was dependent upon the
quality of the oil and tankage manufactured, and the market
demand for these, to represent the profit of the stockholders.
MUNICIPAL REDUCTION PLANTS AND RESULTS.
The sale of the reduction works in Cleveland, which com-
prised two separate processes, to the city, and the operation of
the plant by the city for the last six months of 1905 greatly
interested other towns that were about to install disposal works.
For the first time it was then shown that reduction methods
could be made to pay the operating costs under municipal owner-
ship. The 'succeeding years, 1906 and 1907, were still more suc-
cessful demonstrations of the value of reduction methods hon-
estly conducted for the benefit of the municipality. What this-
year will show is still undetermined, but with greater experience
in management, with the improvement in apparatus already made
428 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
by the city's engineers, and with a better equipment and system
in collection service there is every reason to believe that the
revenue from the municipal garbage reduction plant will not fall
below the returns of the previous year.
This is an instance of municipal ownership and administra-
tion for the benefit of the people that may well be studied by
other American cities.
The example of Cleveland is not lost upon other cities. St.
Louis, that for twenty years had paid a company $1.80 per ton
for reducing its garbage, now contracts for the same work under
more favorable conditions for 27 cents per ton. Columbus, that
for many years had a part of this work done for 50 cents per
ton, at a loss to the company, and was unable to get satisfactory
terms from any reduction process companies, is now building its
own plant for garbage reduction.
Undoubtedly these examples will lead to the establishment of
many reduction plants, the more so as the patents involved do
not seem to be of any serious consideration to anybody wishing
to enter the field, and it is quite possible that the earlier dis-
astrous experiences of the experimental stages, and failures of
ambitious and inexperienced builders, may be repeated. It seems
almost impossible for these methods to get a foothold in the
Dialler towns where the quantities of separated garbage are
small. During the past year three plants of small capacity have
been discontinued, and none of the same capacity have been built
elsewhere.
The treatment of American separated garbage for recovery of
the commercially valuable constituents has now become a stable
and accepted fact in American disposal work, one to be here-
after recognized as an available means for municipal service in
the larger cities, and while these methods cannot always be profit-
ably employed at all places, owing to geographical or communal
limitations, it is certain they may be made useful in a large num-
ber of American towns.
THE CREMATORY METHODS OF WASTE DISPOSAL.
The primary purpose of any apparatus for waste disposal is
the destruction of waste matter. From the viewpoint of most
town officials in charge of waste disposal that means is best
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE. 7 429
which most quickly and most cheaply does the work. Hence,
anything that will give temporary relief, and push the final solu-
tion to another's shoulders, receives more attention and has a
better chance for adoption than another means which is proven
more efficient and will give better results for a longer term, but
at higher cost for apparatus.
Thus, in America.n towns the destroyal of garbage by fire was
at first done in small cheaply built furnaces that required con-
stant supply of fuel, and were at great expense for repairs and
renewal of plant. Afterward, when the refuse of the town was
burned at the dumping places, giving rise to volumes of nauseous
smoke, this waste was brought to the crematories, which were
then made larger for the double work. There was still the need
of fuel, for the crematory construction was not well adapted to
retain and utilize the heat from the combustible matters.
The increased volume of garbage and refuse demanded much
larger furnaces at greater cost for buildings and more men for
operating. Thus, the expenses of the installations have nearly
doubled those of the earlier years, without a proportional in-
crease in capacity or efficiency of the plant or of its sanitary
performance.
In the larger cities the disposal of garbage by the crematory
has met with very unsatisfactory results. The largest plants now
operating, of four different types of construction, do not give
results that correspond with the contracts under which they were
built. The incinerators at Atlanta and Los Angeles, built under
a stipulation to burn 200 tons per day, are not able to destroy
more than one-half the amount. The 140-ton incinerator at
Winnipeg has never yet been able to meet the contract condi-
tions as to quantity and cost, and is not accepted by the city.
The loo-ton plant at Tampa has never been called upon to
destroy the required quantity in continuous work. The cremator
at Milwaukee has never met the specifications of amounts
destroyed, Or costs of operating. The incinerator at Montreal
does not consume the specified quantities, and the operating costs
are more than double the contract's requirements. These are
the largest garbage furnaces now working under municipal man-
agement, and in each case the guaranteed quantities and the
operating costs have not yet been fulfilled.
430 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
The smaller crematories and incinerators are in a similar posi-
tion with respect to capacity and expense of operating, though
in some few cases the contract for capacity is more nearly met,
but the actual operating costs are always greater than the guar-
antees if taken over a period of a year. When a trial under the
best conditions approaches the operating costs according to con-
tract, it is assumed that this is the operating cost for all other
furnaces of this make at all places, and contracts are acquired
under the promise to do similar work that never are fulfilled,
nor were expected to be fulfilled when they were made.
The contractor takes the chance of getting his furnace ac-
cepted under a guarantee of low costs of operating, largely be-
cause of the indefinite way in which the amounts and character
of the waste to be burned is stated by the town, or if no state-
ment of quantities and character is given, then, upon the pre-
sumption that these will agree with his own estimate of what are
the amounts and kind of waste to be destroyed. He makes his
own estimate, guarantees the cost of disposal, and when he comes
short of the guarantees, sets up a claim that his conditions are
not met, threatens litigation, and finally compromises upon some
basis that gives the town the possession of a plant that is not sat-
isfactory. Then, the contractor having received the highest price
for his plant under his promise of lowest operating cost, and
usually being paid a large proportion of his price before trial,
leaves the town with a more or less comfortable margin of profit,
and departs to seek fresh fields and other confiding municipal
officials.
Sometimes, but infrequently, this programme is interrupted
by the demand of the town that the contracts be fulfilled, and
then there is trouble, ending in cancellation of the contract and
return of payments made or a compromise that leaves both parties
dissatisfied. Better engineering advice and more care in prepar-
ing the first specifications, with more definite statements of quan-
tities and character of waste, and more rigid and exact conditions
for construction and working costs over a period long enough to
get a knowledge of what is really accomplished, would go far to
obtain better results and avoid the mistakes of the years past.
Disposal by crematories and incinerators is an absolute outgo
for expenses of construction of large plants, for the cost of fuel
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE. 431
and labor to operate them, with no return of anything of value
from the work.
UTILIZATION OF WASTE BY DESTRUCTORS FOR STEAM POWER.
In contrast with the crematories and incinerators that receive
the garbage and refuse on large areas of grate surface, that
proceed by a slow process of drying and burning at low tempera-
tures with the aid of extra fuel, and that obtain no residuum of
any value, are to be placed the destructor methods that proceed
by receiving and temporarily storing the same amounts of waste,
either in a separated or a mixed condition, and burn this upon
smaller area of fire grates, at a far higher temperature, in no
longer time with no added fuel, with a residuum of vitrified
clinker useful for many purposes, and with the production of
steam power that, when utilized, reduces the cost of operation to
a figure impossible to be obtained by any other means.
A comparison of these two methods when applied to the
American conditions will naturally suggest some points common
to both, which may be stated thus :
(a) Area of ground required: For destructor — 20 per cent, less than
for incinerators.
(b) Initial cost of plant complete: For municipal work, in quantities of
30 tons up to 75 tons daily, the cost for destructor plant is 15 per cent,
more than for incinerators. This is for the added boiler and machinery
equipment.
(c) Capacity of plant: A reserve capacity for the same relative quanti-
ties in favor of destructor because of storage of waste and more econom-
ical use of time in disposal.
(d) Durability of construction: Is greatly in favor of destructors, as
proven by continuous work of more than 300 destructors against the in-
termittent work of 180 crematories or incinerators, of which over one-half
are discontinued.
(e) Temperatures attained: In destructors the minimum is 1250° F.,
the maximum 2000° to 2700°, the average 1500° to 1900°. This destroys,
within the furnace, all consumable gaseous compounds. In crematories
and incinerators the initial temperature at the fire box rarely attains
1500°, with a continuous loss of heat for every foot of distance to the
chimney.
(f) The addition of fuel is not required in destructors, but is a necessity
in all crematories.
(g) The gases of combustion are consumed by the destructors within
432 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
the furnace; in crematories and incinerators they are incompletely de-
stroyed in their rapid passage over fume cremators.
(h) The power developed by destructors is an asset or revenue, but in
crematories and incinerators the heat is passed direct to the chimney and
lost.
(i) The residuums of destructor work are vitrified clinkers useful for
several departments of municipal service. The soft ashes from crematories
have no value except for filling ground.
(j) The scope of usefulness of destructors covers every form of mu-
nicipal waste that fire will affect ; the crematories can deal only with gar-
bage, but are not able to burn or attempt to convert house ashes into
power.
OPERATING COSTS.
There has been much misrepresentation of the facts concern-
ing the operating costs of American crematories. As before
stated, when preliminary trials are made under the control of
the builders the expense of operating sometimes very nearly
approaches the guaranteed costs, but not in many cases is this
point reached. But when the cost of operating these crematories
is taken for one year's time it invariably results in expenses being
much greater than the guaranteed cost. An examination of the
work done by the American crematories over a period of over
twenty years makes it very clear that the actual cost for destroy-
ing garbage and refuse, when fuel is necessary, will approximate
the sum of 50 cents per ton, and this may be taken as the lowest
price which can be reasonably expected in all yearly periods of
the work covering the successful operations of the garbage
crematories.
Statements made that the garbage can be destroyed at 22 cents
to 35 cents per ton for operating costs and labor and fuel are
not borne out by facts. If we assume an average price of coal
at $4.50 to $5 per ton, the costs for disposal will certainly rise
to nearly 50 cents per ton for actual expenses.
The operating costs of destructors, so far as is demonstrated
by the four installations now at work, run from 50 to 70 cents
per ton for actual expense of labor. This is because there is
required a steam engine foreman competent to run a boiler,
whose wages are higher than the ordinary attendant. The re-
port previously noted from Vancouver is an example of this case.
Here the garbage and refuse is destroyed by destructor servic :
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE. 433
with no utilization of the power, and the cost approximates 56
cents per ton.
The use of the same apparatus of the modern high temperature
destructor disposing of garbage mixed with refuse under forced
draft will in American cities be found to perform the work at
a cost not to exceed from 50 to 60 cents. Now, when a credit
is made for the development of power which is produced by
the destructor, the operating costs will fall from 50 cents to
30 cents or less per ton.
It must be borne in mind that these figures do not include ex-
penses of depreciation or capital charges on the cost of the plant.
There is no doubt but what the work in this country can be
brought to the same ratio of expense as is done abroad, but it
must be remembered that the cost of wages here is about double
what is paid to the same class of labor in England. Therefore,
the operating expenses must be larger when compared with
destructors in other countries.
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL ASHES.
The preceding tables and comments thereon bring out the fact
that there is undeveloped value in ashes removed from the house-
holds of the people. This is particularly true of the ashes of
anthracite coal. Some part of this coal is now recovered from
the dumps by that class of the people who make dump-picking
their livelihood. Among the many articles which can be recov-
ered, the coal is probably the most valuable item, and of this only
a small per cent, of the total quantity is saved, as the most part
is in too small fragments to be picked up. But when the fine
dustlike ashes are taken out by screens, and the coal and clinker
afterward separated, then the volume and value of the coal is
clearly apparent.
This has been tried at one city where the waste disposal works
by incineration receives the mixed mass and separates the fine
ash before combustion.
The real value of municipal ashes as applied to many purposes
is well illustrated in the following paper by a gentleman whose
labors in this field of sanitary engineering have extended over
a long period, and whose opinion may be taken as the latest
expression on the value and uses of this form of municipal waste.
434 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
UTILIZATION OF CITY ASHES — BY C. HERSCHEL KOYL, CON-
SULTING ENGINEER.
Clean anthracite ash should be an article of commerce and
not a city waste.
It contains on the average 45 per cent, fine ash, 30 per cent,
clinker and stone, and 25 per cent, unburned coal, much of it
untouched by fire.
The fire ash can be made cheaply into excellent brick and mor-
tar ; the clinker and stone are first-class material for fireproof
floors and for the frost-proof beds of sidewalks and yard pave-
ments; the coal has a fuel value 75 per cent, that of new coal,
and for some purposes is better.
The above statement presupposes the possibility of separating
these substances from each other. This is no longer difficult,
and no more costly than the original mining of coal and its sep-
aration from slate, while this latter separation has the advantage
of being made at the doors of the market instead of a couple of
hundred miles away, and of leaving no waste product.
The separation cannot well be made by the family, because of
the dust and the small value recoverable from a single fire. It
must be made by machinery and on a large scale. But the family
can keep its ashes clean, and the city must do the same, for it
is not easy to separate a mixture of ashes, street sweepings,
newspapers and bed-springs. The plan is practicable in any city
using hard coal, and populous enough to warrant a separate
collection of ashes — say a city of 100,000 people.
Statistics of the Borough of Manhattan, New York City, will
serve for general illustration :
The population is, say 2,200,000
The ashes collected, say (tons) 1,500,000
The latter consisting of :
Fine ash (tons) 675,000
Clinker and stone (tons) 450,000
Coal recoverable (tons) , 375,ooo
1,500,000
The weight of each of these is approximately one ton per cubic
yard.
Coal is the most valuable and most readily salable product of
the separation. It is surprising to find in the ash so much coal
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE. 435
indistinguishable from that fresh from the mine. It is of all
sizes from furnace down, but is mostly nut. The mechanical
process of separation is so exact that not only can the coal be
separated from the clinker and stone, but the fire-marked coal
can be separated from the unmarked.
Nearly half of the product is coal salable at the price of new,
and I estimate the average selling price of the recovered coal at
three-quarters that of new coal in the same city. The total cost
of separation is less than one dollar per ton of recovered coal
(the operating expenses being about twenty-five cents), and if
the total cost of the separation be charged to the coal the profit
will be the difference between this and three-quarters of the
wholesale price of new coal in the place in question. In New
York the profit should not be. less than $2 per ton.
The uses of clinker and stone may be illustrated as follows:
There is necessary under sidewalks, flagging and cellar floors
a substratum of loose, dry material which will not readily bring
up the water of the underlying earth, and which in winter will
not readily be affected by frost, since its porosity will furnish
room for internal expansion. It has been customary for some
time to lay such walks with a substratum of from four to eight
inches of clinker, and men in the business say that nothing else
is so satisfactory for the purpose, and that nothing else would be
used if clinker were always available.
There is laid annually in Manhattan not far from 900,000 sq.
ft. of new sidewalk, and about as much more in flagging and
cement walks for rear yards ; and the annual area of new cellar
floor is not far from 8,500 sq. ft., which makes a total of 10,-
300,000 sq. ft., and this if underlaid to a depth of six inches
would require 5,150,000 cubic feet, or 190,000 cubic yards of
clinker.
Use in Fireproof Floors. — The most extensive present use of
clinker, however, is in the construction of fireproof floors of
large office buildings, warehouses, and the first stories of all
apartment and tenement houses more than four stories in height.
Here the steel floor-beams are from 10 to 15 inches deep to
afford sufficient carrying capacity; the support is completed by
brick arches which rest upon the flanges of the beams, and the
upper portion of such floors, to a depth of about six inches, is
436 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
filled in with clinker, preferably, and always when it is procur-
able. A large office building requires more than 5,000 cubic
yards of clinker. The total annual amount of such new floor
space in Manhattan is about 600,000 cubic yards, and there is
not enough clinker to fill it.
Utilisation of Fine Ash in Building. — There are several meth-
ods of making up fine anthracite ash into brick, mortar, mortar-
board and material for interior decoration. The ash must be
finely sifted but the results are always good. The cheapest
method is to combine ash with a small proportion of freshly
slaked lime, press it, and if it is properly made get next day a
brick which in all essentials is the equal of ordinary red brick,
and which makes a stronger wall because ash-mortar is stronger
than lime-sand mortar. The ash must be fine, and the best re-
sults are obtained by the intimate mixture with lime by a ma-
chine, on the order of machine-mixed lime-sand mortar now so
extensively used.
Of course, a new building material must win its way, but it
is a safe statement that if ash-mortar proves to have greater
strength and more enduring qualities than lime-sand mortar it
will be welcomed as a substitute by architects, and if it can be
furnished at a. less price it will be welcomed by builders. The
field is large because ash-lime is lighter, stronger and cheaper
than lime-sand for mortar, mortar-board and plaster.
The present law in many places is that "mortar shall be made
from clean, sharp sand," but this is merely a protection for the
public against "mud" mortar, and if ash-mortar proves better
than mortar made from "clean, sharp sand" the law can undoubt-
edly be amended to include also the better material.
From present indications I see no reasons to doubt the early
and extended use of fine anthracite ash for various building pur-
poses, and, as I have said in another place, "it will be the perfec-
tion of 'waste* utilization to build dwelling houses in June from
the dwelling house ash of May."
UTILIZATION OF WASTE BY GAS PRODUCER METHODS.
In January, 1900, when the merger of the gas, electric light
and power companies in New York City was about to be con-
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE. 437
summated, and these interests brought under one management for
self-protection and to avoid competition, the question of obtain-
ing power from the city's waste for the uses of the consolidated
stations was brought forward in the public press. Many com-
munications on the subject were printed, among them two letters
from eminent engineers, which gave clear ideas of the possibilities
of these means of disposal and waste utilization, and showed
what might be done not only in New York but also in all the cities
of this country.
The two letters referred to, those of Mr. George Westing-
house and Prof. R. H. Thurston, are given below:
THE GAS AND POWER MERGER.
To the Editor of The New York Times:
The bringing together of the gas and electric light and power interests
in New York should result in great advantages to the public and to the
interests^so combined, provided the latest developments in gas and electric
engineering are investigated and availed of. Among the numerous ques-
tions affecting the health, comfort, and convenience of the citizens of New
York (and of all communities, in fact) are three of especial impor-
tance, viz. :
The disposal of garbage, the abatement of the smoke nuisance due to
the increasing use of bituminous coal for steam power purposes, and the
securing of an adequate supply of water.
From statistics there appear to be created daily in New York about
500 tons of garbage, or at the rate of one-half pound per capita. Such
garbage is about 20 per cent, carbon and 80 per cent, water. By a process
which has been well demonstrated on a small scale, and which is being
rapidly brought to a commercial basis, all of this garbage can "be economi-
cally, and without offensive odor, converted into a fuel gas of great value.
In the same apparatus and by the same process soft coal can be made into
a gas suitable for power and heating purposes.
The fuel gas made from garbage and soft coal can be used to drive gas
engines with electric generators, and the electricity thus produced can be
used for light and to drive motors to the exclusion of the thousands of
steam engines and boilers which make such demands upon the water
supply, since the gas engine central stations can be so located that the
water needed for engine-cooling purposes can be taken from the river.
Bearing upon these questions, and of especial importance, are the par-
tially executed plans of the electric power and light corporations, viz., the
Metropolitan, Third Avenue, and Manhattan Elevated Railways, and the
New York Gas and Electric Light, Heat and Power Company and the
United Electric Light and Power Company. If their present plans, which
are fairly well known to the engineering profession, are carried to com-
pletion, each will have one large steam station on the East River between
Twenty-ninth Street and the Harlem River, with about 75,000 horsepower
6f engines, boilers, and electric machinery, making an aggregate of 375,000
horsepower, and which may be largely increased when the underground
rapid transit railway is completed, and still further when the electric
locomotive is used on all steam railways within the city limits.
If these corporations, which might as well buy electricity as the ma-
chinery, coal, and water with which to produce it, were to unite in a
438 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
common plan to provide the electricity needed in their operations by the
adoption of the best available methods, the saving to each in capital ex-
penditure would be very great, and the decreased cost of their supply of
electricity would make an important addition to their earnings applicable
to the payment of dividends; while, most important of all, the citizens
of New York would have solved for them the garbage, smoke and very
largely the water questions.
I believe the contemplated plans of the corporations above named, which
can be shown to be based upon an imperfect knowledge of the subject,
will stand in the way of vast public interests, and, so believing, I have
said to representatives of some of those companies that the near future
would demonstrate the projected power stations and systems of electrical
distribution incidental to the character of such stations, to be as far from
the best as are the old cable systems for the propulsion of cars.
I write this letter because I believe these subjects are just now worthy
of investigation, discussion, and elaboration.
GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE.
New York, Jan. 9, 1900.
PLANTS FOR USING REFUSE.
To the Editor of The New York Times:
I have been much impressed by the suggestions of Mr. Westinghouse's
letter of the 9th published in The Times of the loth inst. It suggests
thoughts far more wide reaching than at first may appear.
The primary principle which underlies its text is that of the combination
of all the essential public utilities in such manner as to insure the most
economical production possible. This does not, in this case, mean so much
a reduction of total costs to the public as an increase of availability of the
product for the average citizen. When gas is permanently reduced to 50
cents per 1,000 cubic feet we may all use it in our kitchens and to some
extent for heating and in manufacturing, while the city will employ it in
making more extended and efficient the public lighting outside the range
of the electric light. When the electric light can be supplied at a half or
two-thirds its present average cost, the urban lighting of our communities
will be doubled in area and efficiency, and the comfort of honest citizens
and their safety and the repression of disorder and crime will be vastly-
greater than now. As is almost invariably the fact, the reduction of price
and costs will be met not so much by saving as by extending the benefits
of all utilities. When garbage can be made to contribute to our comfort
and health instead of being a perpetual menace, our householders will find
comfort in that fact, and our taxpayers will be relieved.
In every city in the country this combination of all sources of power in
a single center and the production of heat, light, power, and electricity,
and the incineration profitably and wholesomely of all garbage should be
provided for. Such a wise and sound method of engineering these enter-
prises would enable many a small city or even village to supply its people
with water and light, and to relieve itself from the dangers of typhoid-
charged water and of fever-breeding garbage, whereas it must otherwise
wait many years for the comforts of modern life. The gas, electric, and
water supply "plants," and the garbage incineration arrangements should
all be combined, not so much to reduce costs of product and of necessary
expenditures as to make it practicable for our cities to secure well-lighted
streets, an ample supply of pure water — artesian if possible — for drinking
and industrial purposes, a complete and useful disposal of refuse matter,
and all at minimum charge in the tax levy. But it is the wide distribution
of these great blessings rather than the reduction of the aggregate cost
to the city of such charges that should be sought.
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE. 439
Mr. Westinghouse has himself done much to render this important
change practicable, not simply in his contribution to the art of electric
lighting, but also, and more extensively and in a more important degree
than is generally realized, in his work in the direction of placing beside
the steam engine as a source of industrial power a distinctly dangerous
rival in the gas engine of large power, gas engines of 500 and 600, and, in
a few instances, of 1,500 horsepower, and operating with exceptional
economy, having already been produced. The scheme for the conversion
of the potential energy of our garbage into useful power, as a part of the
larger plan, is by these facts rendered so much the nearer practicable, and
the day of this form of industrial extension so much the closer at hand.
We find ourselves, as Mr. Westinghouse himself has elsewhere stated it,
in "A New Industrial Situation." Happily, it is one in which all parties
to the present and older situation may be advantaged. The realization of
this proposed modernization of the city public utilities in this manner will
extend the market for the sale of electric light and for gas, and thus
increase the profits, as always occurs, on the extended business. It will
make our very wastes, by way of the kitchen door, a source of health and
profit and free us from some of the most serious of all the risks and dis-
advantages of crowded city life. Where it is practicable in the usual case
— in fact, to introduce the provision of needed power for a pure-water
supply in the scheme, the free use of wholesome water will become a
continually growing source of health and comfort and godliness.
Nowhere in the world is there a greater opportunity offered for the full
exemplification of this plan and its economical advantages than in New
York, and nowhere is it possible to accomplish more for a crowded popula-
tion than in that city. With pure water in plenty for the poorest, liberal
use of electricity for light and power, and of gas, where suitable for
lighting, and in the now common and economical forms of gas engines of
every magnitude, from 1,500 horsepower down, with sanitary conditions
perfected by proper disposal of garbage and sewage, New York should
become an ideal residence city. Nature has there done her best, and it
only remains for man to do his very best in the light of modern science.
This is hardly less true of all large cities, but that is not the most or the
best possible. The larger proportion of our people, so far as urban at all,
live in small cities, and these may, under such ideal conditions as are here
contemplated, become at a comparatively early stage in their growth well
lighted, healthfully provided with water, and sanitarily insured against
danger from refuse, now a source of sickness and death, and at a reason-
able cost, may be given all the comforts of city life.
R. H. THURSTON.
Ithaca, N. Y., Jan. 12, 1900.
The exceptionally good opportunity pointed out by these gen-
tlemen for refuse utilization and power production in the city
of New York was never allowed to be improved. The monopolies
holding the control of the gas, electric light and power interests
were powerful enough not only to discourage any attempt at
utilization of waste, but also to stop efforts in this direction made
by private parties and the city authorities.
The situation in New York to-day is practically precisely what
it was eight years ago. The city gives to a disposal company
$1.25 a ton to remove the garbage from its wharves, and also gives
44Q THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
this company all the valuable products derived therefrom. It
turns over to a contractor the dry refuse, which annually amounts
to 150,000 tons, for which it receives the nominal return of from
$40,000 to $50,000. This item is the only one from which the city
derives revenue from waste. The volume of ashes, something
like 2,000,000 tons per year, is taken by a contractor from the
city's wharves, at a cost of $500,000 per year to the city, and is
deposited on dumps where are annually buried, beyond any
chance of recovery, 400,000 tons of good coal. This procedure
may be called "municipal wastefulness" rather than "municipal
waste utilization."
TURNING GARBAGE INTO GAS.
When the foregoing letters of Mr. Westinghouse and Prof.
Thurston were written the production of gas by the "producer"
method, and the introduction of gas engines was just beginning.
Since then some important advances have been made, and the
use of engines driven by this power has been greatly extended.
But the method of producing gas from garbage has yet to be
developed. Some experiments have been made by which it is
proved that gas can be made from many forms of waste prod-
ucts, among them being the mixed collection of municipal waste.
The subjoined special article by an engineer qualified by years
of practice and experience in the field of gas production gives
an idea of this possible use of unseparated city refuse.
THE DISPOSAL OF CITY WASTE BY GAS PRODUCERS
BY F. C. TRYON, Consulting Engineer
The use of city waste, such as ashes, refuse and garbage in
gas producers for the double purpose of incinerating the waste
and utilizing the products of the process in the form of producer
gas for power purposes is perfectly practical, and the process of
disposal of this waste should not be obnoxious to the surrounding
territory.
I have examined the tables sent me showing the calorific values
of the various constituents of this waste material, which I find
to be about as follows:
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE. 441
Taking a quantity of 50 tons miscellaneous city refuse as
gathered in New York the proportions will be:
f Fine ashes
Ashes 70% 35 tons •{ Clinker
I Coal
Garbage 20% 10 tons f Moisture
oolids
Refuse 10% 5 tons / Combustible
\ Incombustible
Ashes (screened) 65% 22.75 to(ns
clinkers . 20% 7 . oo
coal 15% 5-25
Garbage moisture 70% 7 .00
solids 30% 3 .00
Refuse combustible 95% 4-75
" incombustible 5% 25
From an analysis of the above we find :
Coal 5 tons average calorific value 10,000 B.T.U. per Ib.
Garbage 3 tons solids, average cal. value. . . . 8,243
7 tons moisture,
Refuse 4.75 tons, average calorific value .... 8,437
When the above 50 tons of waste have been screened and
sorted we have ready for incinerating 19.75 tons- All the re-
maining 30.25 tons is in the form of fine ashes, clinker, bottles,
broken glass, etc., available for filling for low lands. When sep-
arated the clinker is an excellent base for concrete streets and
walks, and has a value equal to its removal expense. The 19.75
tons combustible material contains the following B. t. u. :
5 tons coal 10,000 Ibs., 10,000 B.T.U. perlb. = 100,000,000
3 tons garbage, sols., 6,000 8,243 ' = 49>4 58,000
7 tons garbage, moist., 14,000
4 . 7 5 tons refuse 9>5°° " 8»437 " " " = 79,151,500
19. 75 tons 39,5oo Ibs. 228,609,500
Deducting the moisture, 7 tons, 14,000 pounds, will leave 12.75
tons, or 22,500 pounds of dry matter.
The 19.75 tons (39>5°° pounds) of solids will carry 7 tons
(14,000 pounds) moisture. This will not be prohibitory for
producer practice. The proper way to handle this would be to
have the whole mixed collection delivered at a dumping plant.
Under such a method the ashes are elevated and dropped on to
screens separating the coarse clinker, the fine clinker, coal and
fine ash. The clinker and coal are then run through a jig which
washes the coal from the remainder. The refuse passes over a
sorting belt where articles of value and all pieces of glass are
442 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
removed, and the remainder is then carried to a chopping machine
where it is all cut into small pieces. This fine refuse, which is
very dry, is then mixed with the wet garbage and all elevated
into storage bunkers arranged above the producer plant. The
coal is also stored in adjoining bunkers, and all are arranged so
that the material in each plant can be spouted direct into the
producer without further handling.
The 12.75 tons, or 25,550 pounds of solid matter, carries
226,6x39,500 B. t. u., or 8,887 B. t. u. per pound', available for use.
Since this 12.75 tons is all perfectly dry refuse it is necessary to
use steam in the producer to prevent clinkering of fire bed, and
the usual practice is y2 pound steam to i pound fuel. This re-
quires 1,270 pounds steam to the ton, therefore the addition of
7 tons (14,000 pounds) moisture contained in the garbage is not
excessive to keep the heats of producer in reasonable working
condition.
A down-draft producer working with open top, so that the
fuel can be spouted direct to top of fire bed, will at all times
have the fire under the observation of the attendant, and it can
be poked and barred as necessary. All hydro-carbons are dis-
tilled from fuel at top of fire bed and drawn down through bed
of incandescent carbon, passing from the bottom of the pro-
ducer a fixed, noncondensable gas. The ashes from the combus-
tion of this miscellaneous material is barred down from time to
time mechanically without opening the producer to the inlet of
air. This ash removal can be arranged for continuous operation,
if desired, so that fuel will be flowing in at the top of the pro-
ducer, ashes be taken out of the bottom, and gas drawn off near
the bottom.
A producer arranged as described above would easily deliver
in clean gas 60 per cent, efficiency of the B. t. u. fed to it. Thus
it would produce 135,965,700 B. t. u. in gas.
If this volume were the product of twenty-four hours of in-
cineration it would produce 5,665,237 B. t. u. per hour, easily
driving 45O-horsepower of gas engines to full load, supplying
330 kilowatts of electric energy. If this current were sold to an
electric lighting company at its own cost of production, say 2
cents per kilowatt per hour, the income from such a plant would
amount to $53,557.55 per year. The expense of installation de-
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE. 443
signed to handle 50 tons of miscellaneous city waste collections
per day would depend very much upon the locality where it was
erected and the permanency of the plant.
Assuming a permanent fireproof building two stories high,
50 x 60 feet, on two lots 25 x 100 feet, concrete construction, the
cost of building and land in a city of New York equipment
would be :
Two GAS PRODUCER PLANTS:
Two gas engines, electric generators and necessary ma-
chinery for lifting, sorting and handling the 50 tons
per day, say $85,000 .00
COST OF OPERATING PLANT:
Interest, depreciation, repairs, taxes, and in-
surance, 18% $i 5,300 .00
Labor, i superintendent
2 foremen
8 men to shift
13,600 .00
2 shifts
Supplies, Water
Oil f- • • i, 600 .00
Waste
Total cost yearly operation $30,500 .00
Electric current sold $53.557-55
Selected waste sold, 855 tons, $2.50 2,137 -5°
$55»695-o5
Cost 30, 500 . oo
Profit $25,195.05
The above shows a fair return on the investment, and I am
convinced that the materials can be utilized as described, and
that the products will amply repay for the investment, even
though the profits should not be quite as much as shown.
One great advantage of this manner of disposal is that there
is no smoke, smell, or other obnoxious fumes from the plant.
These are saved in the form of gas.
The garbage could be disinfected as delivered at the dump in
a manner that would really increase its calorific value. All dust
and dirt from the screening of the ashes could be kept within
the chutes of the building. The selection of a site for such a
plant should be at a point where the surplus refuse of fine ashes
and cinders could be handled and disposed of in the least expen-
sive manner, and at the same time the plant should be located
THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
in a place where the gathering and delivery of a certain district
supplying the 50 tons daily should not have too long a haul to
the dumps, also having in mind the delivery to some main line
of wire distribution for the electric current to be disposed of.
The foregoing answers the inquiries usually made, and may be
of use in determining one of the many ways of utilizing and dis-
posing of the waste of a municipality.
The calculations in the foregoing statement are based upon
data obtained by calorimeter tests in the laboratory. The range
of these theoretical values is much higher than it is found to be
in the actual work of disposal by destructor processes. In prac-
tice there is a difference of nearly one-half less in the calorific
values per pound than is assumed by Mr. Tryon; consequently
there would be a corresponding reduction in the results as com-
pared with what he records. But there must be taken into ac-
count the fact that the method of the gas producer in dealing
with this waste is more economical in its operation than any
form of incinerator can be. It is therefore fair to assume that
the results obtained from municipal waste in a mixed state by
the gas producer process would be at least equally good as those
developed under combustion by forced draft, and that the figures
submitted in the foregoing statement, while they may appear to
be rather high, will, if discounted one-half, show that this method
of waste disposal is one that will return a very fair revenue, far
more than sufficient for the operation of the plant. Experiments
have been made with municipal waste under this form of dis-
posal and have proved successful, although there is no gas pro-
ducer operating altogether by this fuel.
UTILIZATION OF REFUSE BY CRUSHING OR GRINDING, AND MANU-
FACTURE INTO BRIQUETTES.
Reference has been made to the method of grinding up the
refuse of the city of Paris to prepare it for use at the adjacent
market gardens and farming lands. Though this method has been
in use for three years in three of the city districts, there are no
reports that show more satisfactory results than those from
three other districts of Paris where the final disposal is made by
three Meldrum destructors.
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE. 445
Meantime, an English town — the Borough of Southwark —
placed in operation in October, 1906, an apparatus for crushing
or pulverizing house refuse, practically without any previous
sorting, and using the crushed material as a dressing for land.
The house refuse is brought to the plant in wagons, dumped in
front of the machines, and shovelled into the crushers — about
5 per cent, of large material being thrown out. From the crush-
ers the material falls into conveyors that discharge into railway
cars in which it is carried to purchasers.
They have found it valuable for use on heavy soils and grass
land and the sales have increased from 203 tons in October, 1906,
to 925 in March, 1908. The average selling rate is about 56^2
cents per long ton, which includes hauling. During three months
in 1907 it was necessary to store the material, which was sold
later.
After operating for one year it was decided to double the
capacity of the plant so as to deal with all of the refuse of the
town. The new machines are made somewhat heavier than the
first ones and it is believed that this will permit reducing the cost
of beaters and grids. Operating two plants will also effect a
saving on the labor of each.
The first plant consisted of two machines, which, with motors,
shafting, etc., cost about $8,300, or $11,000, including foundations
and buildings. At first, difficulty was experienced in the break-
ing of various parts of the plant by the iron and steel found in
the refuse. This was overcome by replacing these parts by
heavier ones.
This plant was described by the borough engineer of South-
wark, Mr. A. Harrison, in a paper read at the recent Municipal,
Building and Public Health Exhibition. In conclusion he stated
that he preferred this plant to a destructor as it occupied very
little space and crushed the refuse without the slightest nuisance
from dust or smell and practically dealt with the whole of it. It
has also been found that a considerable quantity of food con-
demned by the Sanitary Department could readily be disposed of
by passing it through the crushers with the other refuse.
The material treated as above described is the ash bin refuse
produced by English families, who dump ashes, garbage and all
house refuse into one bin or receptacle.
446 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
The following extracts from a paper by Mr. Herbert Coales,
Town Surveyor, Market Harborough, describes the machinery
and his method of treating this crushed or pulverized material
for manufacture into fuel:
COALESINE FUEL: UTILIZATION OF HOUSE REFUSE
The author has proposed to destroy refuse in a remunerative manner
by converting it into fuel briquettes — called "Coalesine" — and burning it
in works, boilers or other grates, without the construction of special
furnaces. If such a hygienic and remunerative method of disposal can be
demonstrated, then no pecuniary hardship will accrue to any town through
any anti-tipping enactment that may be hereafter passed. Two main
reasons may be indicated for converting ashbin refuse into fuel :
(1) Crude refuse is a nuisance, which may be abated by subjection to
fire.
(2) Crude refuse is a fuel, which may be utilized in the production
of heat.
PULVERIZATION OF REFUSE
The Patent Lightning Crusher Co., of the Southwark Engineering
Works, have perfected a machine, known as the dust manipulator, which
instantly converts crude ashbin refuse into a material resembling garden
mould in appearance. The machine is a high speed centrifugal-force disin-
tegrator, pulverizer and mixer combined. The hammers, weighing 50 Ibs.
each, of special alloy steel, are hung on an axle in a steel box; this axle
makes 1,000 revolutions a minute. The refuse is fed by a shovel into a
hopper, and can be passed through the manipulator at the rate of from
4 to 5 tons per hour. The Southwark Borough Council have four of these
machines at work, and the facility with which they disintegrate tins, old
sacking, wood and what not, is most surprising to those who see the
machines at work for the first time. Such large articles as old trays or
buckets are picked out from the refuse by hand, and any obstinate metal
which cannot be reduced by the hammers is automatically ejected from
the machine by a door at the front. It has been proposed in the past to
pulverize crude refuse in mortar mills, etc., but salmon tins, old garments
and books, or pieces of wire, for instance, cannot be reduced to a fine
material by such means. Therefore, until the Patent Lightning Crusher
Co. introduced the manipulator, there was no machine on the market to
effectually reduce crude ashbin refuse to a fine uniform consistency, in
which state only can it be briquetted.
COALESINE FUEL
To convert the pulverized material from the manipulator into innocuous,
serviceable fuel briquettes, three things are necessary:
(1) Addition of a deodorizer.
(2) Addition of an agglutinate.
(3) Addition of an enriching -ingredient.
Most fortunately for the simplicity and cheapness of the manufacture
of briquettes, tar is both a deodorizer and an agglutinate, as well as a
high class of fuel; I Ib. of tar will evaporate n Ibs. of water. By the
incorporation, therefore, of about 18 gallons of tar to the ton, the pul-
verized refuse is deodorized, agglutinated, and enriched by one operation.
The enrichment has the effect of adding 100 per cent, to the calorific value
of poor refuse, and 50 per cent, to refuse of a good calorific value. But
fuel in the form of slack does not give the best combustion results; it is
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE. 447
necessary, therefore, to make the material up into briquettes, in Which form
it is easy to handle, to store and to burn.
The proportion of 18 gallons to the ton of pulverized material does not
allow the tar to escape through the grate bars when subjected to the heat
of the fire, nor to give off smoke from the chimney shaft through incom-
plete combustion.
The approximate cost of plant, including manipulator, mixer, briquette
press, buildings, and power to convert 10,000 tons of ashbin refuse per
annum into coalesine fuel is from £2,000 to £2,500; or, say, an initial
capital outlay of from 45. to 5s. per ton of refuse .to be dealt with in
one year.
From the tabulated statement prepared by Mr. Wm. Jones, Assoc. M.
Inst. C* E., of Colwyn Bay, in October, 1907, it appears that the initial
cost of installing refuse destructors complete (taking the average of sixty-
nine towns) is i6s. 5d. per ton of refuse to be dealt with in one year.
The approximate cost of converting ashbin refuse into coalesine fuel,
including labor, power, tar, wear and tear, and loan charges, is calculated
at about 45. per ton.
CALORIFIC VALUE OF COALESINE FUEL
When one pound of crude refuse will evaporate :
(a) i Ib. of water, coalesine fuel will evaporate 2% Ibs., or .25 the
value of best coal.
(b) il/2 Ib. of water, coalesine fuel will evaporate 2^ Ibs., or .31 the
value of best coal.
(c) 2 Ib. of water, coalesine fuel will evaporate 3^4 Ibs., or .36 the value
of best coal.
(The calorific value of best coal is taken at I Ib. evaporating 9 Ib. of
water.)
Roughly speaking, then, coalesine fuel may be taken as having an
average calorific value of one-third that of best coal. Where the local
price of coal is known, therefore, the relative value of coalesine fuel may
be easily found by dividing the price of coal by three, and comparing
the results with 45 a ton (the cost of producing coalesine fuel). For
instance, taking coal at i8s. a ton and dividing by three we get 6s., and
6s. less 45. (cost of coalesine fuel) is 2s., this being the balance in favor
of coalesine fuel. Where, however, at present a town is paying 2s. a ton
(say) to dispose of its refuse, that town would naturally be 2s. a ton to
the good if the coalesine fuel were sold merely to pay for itself.
Coalesine fuel can be burned by itself or in conjunction with coal to
suit the varying steam requirements of consumers. It is obvious that the
addition of coal in no way detracts from the pecuniary advantages obtained
by the use of coalesine fuel, while at the same time the hygienic object is
equally attained.
The figures given by Mr. Harrison as the cost of operating the
original plant of two pulverizers are as follows:
The plant is driven by two 40 h.p. electric motors. The cost of
power, labor and other expenses is about 37 cents per ton after
taking credit for amount realized by sales. This is divided as
follows: Electric power, 16 cents; labor, 27 cents; repairs, 6
cents; oil and sundries, 2 cents; total, 51 cents per ton deducting
the net 14 cents realized from the sales, leaves a net cost of 37
cents per ton for disposal by the crushing process.
448 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
Now, if the method of Mr. Coales for producing a practical
fuel from the crushed refuse is sound, then the returns from the
equivalent coal values should be sufficient to show a large return
of revenue over expenses.
The value of unseparated house refuse containing from 70
per cent, to 80 per cent, of matters which have no fertilizer prop-
erties seems very uncertain when applied directly to the ground.
In certain cases of low marshy tracts which are to be reclaimed
and made suitable for better cultivation, the use of such a pre-
liminary charge of finely divided substances is undoubtedly of
service, but the actual benefits to be had when applied to gardens
and farming lands is still to be ascertained.
This process seems to be the latest English experiment in the
utilization of the town's refuse, and has attracted a good deal of
attention from engineers and others interested in the question.
The work of this Southwark plant and its results will be observed
with interest.
In this country many attempts to manufacture a fuel from
garbage have been made, but so far as known the cost of the
preliminary process has exceeded the value of the product The
experiments of Mr. Andrew Engel to mix with night-soil a
deodorant, which should also give it a value for fertilizer or for
fuel, have been carried on at two towns under favorable condi-
tions, but as yet no satisfactory results are reported.
THE PRESENT CONDITION OF WASTE DISPOSAL WORK.
Reference has been made to the work of the American Public
Health Association in procuring and tabulating the information
of the various methods of waste disposal, and of printing in
permanent form the results of investigations of the members of
the associations in various towns and cities. They report only
accomplished facts, and deal with these from the standpoint of
the sanitarian, and are not concerned with the business side of
the question.
Nine years ago at the meeting of the association in Minne-
apolis, papers were presented that gave a fairly accurate account
of the position of this question after some ten years of effort to
establish better methods of dealing with the disposal of waste in
American communities.
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE. 449
The author's contribution was a statement of the general con-
ditions then prevailing ending with a summary as follows:
"Ten years of garbage disposal work in American cities has
seen the establishment of sixty-five furnaces in fifty-four cities
and towns, besides the trial and failure of about ten experiments
of one kind or another in crematory furnaces. The same period
has witnessed the construction of twenty large and expensive
plants for the reduction of garbage by mechanical and chemical
methods. Of these, eight now survive, and of these only three
or four are reported to be satisfactory and economical, among
the latter being those of New York, Philadelphia and Boston.
The expense of construction in these furnaces has not been
large, or the cost of maintenance excessive when compared with
the results accomplished. From the beginning the tendency has
been to overrate the capacity and efficiency of the furnace, and
underestimate the quantity of waste produced ; for it always
happens that when a way is provided for disposal of worthless
matters, the quantities invariably increase. When compared with
what is yet to be . done, what has actually been accomplished is
of small magnitude. Because of the limitations of the furnace
capacity in consequence of its principles of construction, there is
no example on a large scale of the disposal of all classes of waste
by cremation. The smaller cities and towns have found cremators
useful and efficient, but limited strictly in capacity and perform-
ance. The large cities, with one exception, have not ventured
upon their adoption, though there has been shown a willingness
to put them to trial under conditions that could hardly be met —
the destruction of all kinds and quantities of miscellaneous mat-
ters at small cost.
We have reached a turning point where some larger and more
efficient means must be brought forward if the best methods are
to be adopted. Clearly, the great interest shown in the subject,
and the growth of public sentiment in favor of the sanitary treat-
ment of waste has created a demand that must be met.
The example of two cities in turning to account such part of
refuse as can be easily selected from the general mass, indicates
what may be done in this direction. When once separation is
determined upon, and the householder fully acquainted with the
necessity and expediency of this measure, he readily falls into
45° THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
line, and cheerfully contributes his personal quota to the general
reform.
We can depend confidently upon a sure revenue from what has
been previously thrown out as worthless — if not in articles and
substances saved and sold, then in fuel value for other uses.
While American cities have been slowly working out the prob-
lem of waste treatment, other countries, proceeding on parallel
lines, with a wider experience born of stern necessity for the
sanitary disposal of the wastes of a crowded population, and with
far more liberal expenditure of funds for this department of
municipal work, have gone more directly to the end and reached
conclusions that apply equally well in both countries. Why may
we not profit by the example set us, and turn into power the use-
less matters we are burdened with?
There is no good reason to be urged against this. The inventive
genius of the American engineer will speedily find means to adapt
methods and measures that are labor and money saving, and find
uses for power that, so to speak, is created out of nothing. Give
him a chance to do this, and the cities of America can realize the
predictions of scientists who, three years ago, said that each com-
munity may be served with electric light created from the natural
waste and outcast substances that we now pay huge sums to get
rid of.
From a consideration of the relative methods of disposal in
use in this country, and comparison with those which are found in
favor abroad, we may fairly draw the following conclusions:
First : But two ways or means for dealing with this question are avail-
able, and the relative advantages and special adaptations to the local
conditions can only be determined by scientific and expert investigations
and comparison. The subject has gone beyond the speculative and experi-
mental stage, and reached the point where more definite and exact knowl-
edge is needed. This can best be had by calling in the assistance of experts
who will make full examinations and submit reports covering the whole
ground.
Second: The indications are that a combination of the two systems
of reduction and cremation at points where the two can be advantageously
combined because of the presence of sufficient quantities of municipal
waste, is the ideal way in which to treat city waste. Each of these methods
developing along parallel lines have come to a place where they begin to
converge to a common point. Reduction has demonstrated its ability to
secure a percentage of value at a greater or less cost, according to the
THE UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE. 451
imount of garbage treated, but it does not provide for the still greater
proportion of city waste left untouched. Cremation destroys the com-
bustible and a portion of the putrescible, and recovers little or nothing of
value in the process ; but the employment of the heat derived from crema-
tion furnishes an additional source of revenue that should now be utilized.
Third: A city which has or will put into force a system of separation
and collection of garbage, ashes and refuse, and will erect a disposal plant
which shall proceed by treating the garbage, when in sufficient quantities,
by the modern improved process of extracting the valuable commercial
products, and shall operate its plant by the steam power which is obtained v/
by the combustion of such worthless parts of the dry refuse as may be left
after sorting out the salable portions, and that will, in addition, bring to
this point such proportions of ashes from houses as can be utilized for
fuel for the destructor, will then have all its waste disposed of in a way
entirely sanitary, and will realize a profit in the operation which, in a
comparatively short time will repay not only the cost of the works and
their operation, but will return in steam power, when utilized for mechani-
cal purposes, a very considerable amount of profit.
Fourth: When the quantity of garbage produced is insufficient in
amount or impracticable for treatment by reduction methods, there can be
erected a General Waste Disposal Station which will receive every class
of waste in a mixed condition, and by employing the best available de-
structive agencies can transform this worthless matter into electrical energy
as principal or auxiliary power for steel lighting or other useful municipal
purposes.
Fifth: Any smaller city or town can employ destructive methods for
its waste disposal, with guaranteed immunity from nuisance, at a smaller
relative cost for operating the work than has been known since the begin-
ning of this movement twelve years ago.
At this time (September, 1908) there have been built one hun-
dred and eighty furnaces of various types of construction, of
which one hundred and two have been discontinued and passed
out of service.
Of the reduction plants, including all the various examples em-
ployed in municipal work, forty-five plants have been or are about
to be erected, and nineteen of these have been discontinued or
replaced by others. There are now twenty-three in active service
and three others under construction.
The conclusions and deductions in the foregoing statements are
still applicable to the present situations. There still remains but
two ways to deal with waste in a sanitary and satisfactory way. v7
The choice between these two means is still to be determined by
the particular conditions that apply to each municipality.
452 THE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL WASTE.
There is still the need of better engineering advice to determine,
in the shortest time, with the least difficulty, that form of dis-
posal means which shall be most sanitary and most efficient for
any given case.
With a more accurate knowledge of the results to be had from
reduction processes, and the improvement in construction and
management of the plants, the towns are now able to determine
to what extent these may be employed in municipal work, either
directly under municipal control or by contract for a term of
years.
The disposal of waste by incineration has made slower ad-
vances than was expected, but with the elimination of the vision-
ary, crude and vicious elements that have heretofore obstructed
progress, and with a better system of accounting and publishing
of results, and more than all the introduction of improved and
reliable forms of furnaces and destructors proven by trial to be
adapted to American work, this system of waste disposal will
now be far more serviceable than heretofore.
It is perhaps inevitable that any great movement for bettering
public health and public comfort and which is contingent upon
its success for the favor and endorsement of the municipal au-
thorities should be one attended with many reverses and much
lost time, labor and money.
The conditions of American municipal government with the
constant periodical change of authority are not favorable to the
thorough investigation of this subject, and it has not received the
same attention and intelligent treatment which has been given to
other departments of municipal work — like water, sewage, roads
or parks. But with the growth of public interest in the question,
with the special study now given to public hygiene and municipal
sanitation in the technical schools and colleges, and, more than all,
with the demonstrated public benefit to be had from the adoption
of these better means for caring for the worthless and dangerous
matters that must be removed from the life of the people, we may
hope for more rapid progress, and far more beneficial results to
the great number of American municipalities,
INDEX.
AIR SUPPLY: PAGE
To Crematories 213
To Destructors ... 228
AMERICAN ABATTOIR OIL Co 380
AMERICAN CONDITIONS 406
AMERICAN EXTRACTOR COMPANY 217
AMERICAN GARBAGE CREMATOR COMPANY 168
AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION 6, 13, 96, 290 448
AMERICAN REDUCTION COMPANY 387
AMERICAN SOCIETY CIVIL ENGINEERS 63, 361, 394
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENTS 16, 290
ARNOLD PROCESS OF REDUCTION 332
ASH BIN REFUSE . . 14
ASHES, MUNICIPAL: 77
Analysis of 78
" Cremator 8 1
' Destructor 80
" Garbage 8 z
" Refuse 84
" Wood 82
Calorific Values of 205
Collection Costs, Rochester. 392
Definition of 77
Laboratory Analysis of 204
Volume of Coal in 78
Value for Various Uses 436
BAKER M N 9, 240
BALTIMORE SANITARY AND CONTRACTING Co 292, 364
BARREN ISLAND REDUCTION PLANT 347, 355
BENNETT GARBAGE DISPOSAL Co 182
BEAMAN & DBAS DESTRUCTOR 193
BILLINGS, DR. J. S 131
BOSTON, REFUSE DISPOSAL STATION 48
Report of Commission 24
Reduction Plants 331
General Disposal Work in 337
Semet-Solvay Process at 334
BOULGER. BENJ 149,159
BRANCH, Jos. G 165
BREYMAN, T./I. 152
453
454 INDEX.
PAGE
BRIDGEPORT BOILER Co 172
BRITISH DESTRUCTORS, REPORT ON 361
BROOKLYN REFUSE DISPOSAL STATIONS 67, 68, 69
BROWNLEE, ALEXANDER 170
BUFFALO REFUSE DISPOSAL STATION 70
Reduction Works 292
CALDER, WM 283
CALORIFIC VALUES OF:
General Waste 203
Equivalent Coal 204
Per Pound of Refuse 204
Steam Ashes 205
Range of 206
Of Other Waste Matters 208
CAMBRIDGE REFUSE DISPOSAL STATION 190
CHAPIN, DR. C. H 325
CHIMNEYS 230
CARTS FOR COLLECTION OF ASHES 66
CINCINNATI REDUCTION Co 376
CLASSIFICATION OF:
Municipal Waste 13
Garbage Crematories 145
Refuse Destructors 220
CLINKER FOR FILTER BEDS 270
For Other Uses 275, 286
COAL:
Analysis of American , 77
Heating Values in Waste 79
Percentage in House Ashes of 78
COLUMBUS, O.:
Collection Statistics 316
Reduction Works 315
Report upon Disposal Methods . 317
CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS:
Chronological List of Municipal Installations 114
List of Installations for U. S. Government 126
List of Installations for Institutions, etc i29
Anderson Garbage Crematory 308
Bennett 182
Boulger 1 59
Branch Incinerator 165
Brown Crematory 1 68
Brownlee 17°
Davis Furnace ... 107, 1 56
De Berard Portable Crematory 196
Decarie Garbage Incinerator 179
INDEX. 455
CREMATORIES AND INCINERATORS (Continued) : PAGE
Dixon Garbage Crematory 152
Dundon Incinerator 182
Engle Cremator 104, 149
Mann Night Soil Furnace 103
Morse-Boulger Destructor 161
Morse Destructor Furnace ?9i
Municipal Engineering Co. Crematory 162
Parsons Refuse Incinerators S3, 59
Pearce-LaChapelle Crematory 360
Public Service Co. Incinerator 67, 190
Rider Garbage Furnace 102
Sanitary Engineering Co. Furnace 183
Smead Travelling Crematory 198
Smith, F. P., Garbage Crematory 186
Smith, H. B., " /•,.... 172
Smith-Siemens 102, 106, 174
Stearns Refuse Incinerator 61
Thackeray Garbage Incinerator 109, 1 10, 1 58
U. S. Government Garbage Furnace 99
Vivarttas Garbage Furnace 176
Weislogel Refuse Incinerator 387
Wright Garbage Furnace 1 64
Operating Costs of 432
Method of Disposal by 428
Conditions Necessary for Success 212
CRAVEN MACDONOUGH 78, 346
DAVIS, DR. L. M 156
DEAD ANIMALS 18
DE BERARD, C. J 195
DECARIE, F 178
DECARIE MFG. Co 1 78, 3 58
DESTRUCTORS:
Classification of 220
Cell Destructors 220
Continuous Grate Destructors 227
Combined with Electricity Works 2 7 1 , 2 74
Combined with Electrical Traction 272, 286
Combined with Electrical Lighting Plants 66, 273
Combined with Sewerage Works 265
Combined with Water Works 275
Delivery of Waste to 231
Distribution of British Destructors 283
Beaman & Deas Destructor 222
Fryer Destructor 221
Heenan & Froude Destructor 231, 232
Horsfall Destructor 223
456 INDEX.
DESTRUCTORS (Continued) : PAGE
Meldrum Simplex Destructor 227
Sterling Destructor 225
Warner Destructor 224
In American Practice :
Meldrum Destructors at Westmount, Canada 242
" Seattle, Washington 249
" Schenectady, N. Y 253
Heenan & Froude Destructors at Vancouver, B. C 254
New Brighton, N. Y. . 256
Quantities Consumed by 23 5
Utilization of Heat from 224
DETROIT REDUCTION Co 374
DISPOSAL OF MIXED WASTE 29
DIXON-SANITARY CREMATORY Co 1 52
DIXON, SAMUEL r 52
DUMPS:
Insanitary Conditions at 9-10
Sorting at 1 1
DUNDON IRON WORKS 182
DUST PREVENTION 230
EDGERTON, CHAS 368
EDSON DEVELOPMENT AND MACHINERY Co 395
ENGINEERING PROBLEMS 140
ENGINEERING RECORD 96
ENGINEERING NEWS 316
ENGLE, ANDREW 148
ENGLE SANITARY AND CREMATION Co 104-149
EVAPORATION PER POUND OF MIXED WASTE 272
Rubbish 57-63
EXCRETA :
Definition of 15
Disposal of 19
Cost of Removal 1 6
FAILURES, PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF 137-138
FELLOWES, F. L 243
FETHERSTON, J. A 22, 106, 202, 259, 361
FISCHER, CHAS. C 389
FISHER, E. H 391
FLEISCHMAN, H. A ; ......... 292-311
FOLWELL, PROF. A. PRESCOTT 16
FORCED DRAFT 224
FORTY-SEVENTH STREET INCINERATOR, NEW YORK CITY 53
FRANKLIN INSTITUTE, PHILADELPHIA 410
FRYER, ALFRED 264
FUEL:
Ashes as 79
INDEX. 457
FUEL (Continued") : PAGE
Garbage as 108
Refuse as 57
Stable Refuse as 86
FURNACE CONSTRUCTION : 211
GARBAGE:
Agricultural Utilization of 39, 448
Analysis of 37
Ashes of 24
Collection Statistics of £
of, in Philadelphia 367
" " Rochester. 392
" " Syracuse 24
" Statistics of General Government 35
Composition of 3 6-3 7
Definition of 14
Feeding to Swine , 3.251
Fuel Value of 108
Methods of Collection i
Municipal Collection Costs 325
Separate Collection of 36
Volumes of 2 5-29
Weights of 38
GENESSEE REDUCTION Co 393
GENERAL ELECTRIC Co., SCHENECTADY 210
GENERAL GOVERNMENT-STATISTICS OF GENERAL REFUSE COLLECTION 35
Laws Respecting Water Pollution 7
Decision Respecting Collections 396
Fertilizing Value of Street Sweepings 85
GOODRICH, W. FRANCIS ' 216-218, 262
GOODNOUGH, X. H . , 24, 338
GREGORY, J. H • 316
HARLAN & WOLFE DESTRUCTOR REPORT. 208
HEENAN & FROUDE DESTRUCTOR 253, 254, 256
HERING, RUDOLPH 96, 107, 156, 205, 298, 304, 315, 340
HOOK, J. H . . . .- i 56
.HOLMAN & WENDEL, PROFS 169
HORSFALL DESTRUCTOR 200
HYGIENE AND SANITATION , 140
INDIANAPOLIS SANITARY Co 375
INCOME FROM REDUCTION PROCESS 404
From Refuse Sorting 47, 52, 59, 74
JACKSON, WM 24, 338
KOYL, C. HERSCHEL 79, 343, 434
LA CHAPELLE & PEARCE , 3 56
LEWIS & KITCHEN 162
LITTLE, E. J 1 52
458 INDEX.
PAGE
LOCATIONS 235
LOWELL REFUSE INCINERATOR 21
LYON, J. B 162
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 169
MELDRUM SIMPLEX DESTRUCTOR 193-200, 210-247, 251-253
METHODS OF COLLECTION:
Individual 4
Licensed 4
Contract 5
Municipal 5
Statistics of 7
METHODS OF DISPOSAL 4
MUNICIPAL REFUSE DISPOSAL STATIONS:
Boston Utilization Station 48
New York City, East i6th St 46
New York City, 4?th St 55
New York City, Delancy St 59
Brooklyn Refuse Station, East New York 63
3rd St 68
39th St 69
Buffalo Refuse Disposal Station 70
Lowell .74
NATIONAL EQUIPMENT Co 165
NEW BEDFORD EXTRACTOR Co 409
NEWBURGH REDUCTION Co 397
NEW BRIGHTON:
Heenan Destructor 256
Compositions of Waste in 22
Collections in 20
NEW YORK CITY:
Sanitary Code 42
Refuse Stations 51, 55, 59
Waste Collections in 20
Reduction Works of 347
General Waste Collection and Disposal Work in '. . 339
ODORS:
Various Causes of 108
PAPER MANUFACTURED IN UNITED STATES 422
PARSONS, H. DEB 60, 145
PATENTS OF PRINCIPAL CREMATORY BUILDERS • • • • 126
PECK, E. S 399
POLLUTION OF STREAMS 6,7
PORTABLE CREMATORIES 194
Destructors 201
POWER SPECIALTY COMPANY 260, 261
PRAHRAN REFUSE DESTRUCTOR 283
INDEX. 459
PAGE
PROPORTIONS OF WASTE 7
QUANTITIES, WASTE IN VARIOUS CITIES. . 20, 27, 21, 23, 22, 24, 28,29,
30.32,35
REDUCTION PROCESSES — IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER:
Merz Reduction Process, Buffalo 272
" Milwaukee 296
Chicago 304
St. Paul 309
Denver 309
Paterson 310
St. Louis , 3 1 1
Columbus 314
Simonin Extraction Process, Providence 323
" Cincinnati 328
New Orleans 330
Arnold Process, Boston 333
" . New York and Brooklyn 346
Baltimore 3 64
Philadelphia 366
Atlantic City 370
Newark 371
Wilmington, Del 371
Holthaus Process, Bridgeport 379
Syracuse 381
New Bedford 383
Chamberlain Process, Detroit 373
Indianapolis 375
Cincinnati 375
Washington, D. C 376
Weislogel Process, Vincennes 364
Jacksonville 387
American Reduction Process, Reading 387
York 389
Edson Process, Dayton 395
Toledo 396
Cleveland 397
Penn Reduction Process, Philadelphia 368
Rochester 391
American Extractor Process, New Bedford 407
Costs of Operating 426
Disposal of Garbage by 410
Municipal Plants for 427
The Number of Plants for. . . , 451
460 INDEX.
REFUSE DISPOSAL PLANTS: PAGE
Boston 48
Brooklyn 67
Buffalo 70
Cambridge 190
Lowell 74
New York City 47, 53, 59
REFUSE:
Classification of 42
Collections of 43
Composition of 48
Definitions of 42
Division of 47
Percentages of. 43 , 48
Value of 44, 58. 88
REILLY. LIEUT. H. J 99
RHINES, F. K 142,152
ROSS & HOLGATE 241, 243
RUBBISH:
Classification of 42
Definition of 1 1
Proportions of 58
Value of 25
SANITARY CODE, NEW YORK 42
SANITARY ENGINEERING Co 183
SANITARY PRODUCT COMPANIES 368
SANITARY UTILIZATION Co 346, 3 54
SAVERY, JAS. C 148
SEABOARD GARBAGE CREMATORY Co 176
SEATTLE DESTRUCTOR PLANT 249
SEDGWICK, PROF. W. T 24, 140, 338
SEMET-SOLVAY AMMONIA PROCESS 334
SEPARATE COLLECTIONS , 36
SIMONIN, I. M. . . , 323
SMEAD, ISSAC D 145, X97
SMITH, H. B i72
SMITH, M. V 1 74
SMITH, SEYMOUR R. . 1 78
SMITH, FRED P 163, 186
SPRINGBORN, W. J 399,405
STABLE REFUSE 84
ST. Louis REDUCTION Co 3J4
STANDARD TANKAGE & FERTILIZER Co 384
STANDARD CONSTRUCTION Co 164
STEARNS, F. L . 61 , 63
STREET SWEEPINGS 13
Analysis of 87
INDEX. 461
STREET SWEEPINGS (Continued) : PAGE
Quantities of 84
Fertilizing Properties of 85
SYRACUSE REDUCTION Co 381
TANKAGE : 90
Analysis of 89
Definition of 90
Values of 90, 416
Quantities of 345,417
TERNE, PROF. B 334
TEMPERATURES:
Nuisances Dependent Upon 236
Development of High 237
In American Practice •. 238
In British Practice 237
THACKERAY, CHAS 145, 158
THOMPSON, R. H 249
THURSTON, PROF. R. H 213, 438
TOLEDO SANITARY REDUCTION Co 396
TOWNS' REFUSE, DEFINITION OF 14
Ashes from Combustion of 80
TRADE WASTE 118
TR'YON, F. C 440
UNIVERSAL DESTRUCTOR Co 191
UTILIZATION OF WASTE:
Ashes fur Various Uses 436
By Gas Producer Means 436
By Crushing or Grinding Process 444
Garbage Commercial Values 425
General Summary of Methods 92
Refuse Utilization 421,423
VANCOUVER REFUSE DESTRUCTOR '. 254
.VENABLE, CAPT. W. M 146
VIVARTTAS, A 176, 183
WARING, COL. G. E.:
Report on Garbage Disposal 343
Work on Commissions 351
WARNER, GEO. H 148
WASHINGTON FERTILIZER Co 378
WASTE, MUNICIPAL:
American Methods of Disposal 8
British Methods of Disposal 217
Classification of 13
Consolidated Approximate Values of 89
Definition of 13
Disposal of Mixed 94
Disposal by Various Means 4,8
462 INDEX.
WASTE, MUNICIPAL (Continued) : pAGE
General Conditions Respecting ... 448
Terminology of 13
Terms Applied to at Various Places 14
Utilization of 92
What May be Done in the Future With 450
WATER GRATES 173
WEISLOGEL, G 311
WELTON. B. F 207
WESTINGHOUSE, GEO 311
WESTMOUNT REFUSE DESTRUCTOR 242
WEST NEW BRIGHTON 256
WHEELWRIGHT. C. S 410
WOODBURY. H. McG ... 3 57
WRIGHT, W. B 164
YARNELL, ROBT 410
YORK, SAN. REDUCTION Co 389
YOUNG, W , r 162
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