CLEARER AIR.

Hokitika Guardian, 12 August 1924, Page 4

CLEARER AIR.

SMOK K-COX.M'.MIXC A Pl' AHAT PS. I.n.VDDX, Aliiy M. A party ol in inTir»r-t of local authorities ami journalists "as invited to I lai 1 1<‘ 1 ii l 1■ 11 to-day in see a in-w l;iml ill i mokc-oonsum jinx appurnl us at "nil;. Tlii< is known as the "lOuicka" system, and a company is Imino Honied to supply- it. Tim factory ill which it lias liimn install'd for ilia first time m s rubber tires, and its eliiirjmy has been notorious in the ucijxlilmurhond !’• ii- tim intcil'i'.y nl its black smoko. Tim visitor* >inv tlm cliimnay doinix its worst, |mllutinn tlm air nl tin- village in a virions uay. tind afterwards saw tlm ehimnoy after it had mended it' nninm'rs with tlm help of the apparatus.

Inside the factory one was show two hoilers sjde hy side and eonneet cd hy :i thick lihmk pipe. So far a noil-expert' eniilil nnder-iand, iln inetitoil is roughly as follows. Th smoke from the iirst holler, instead o

going np the eliimiiey in the oidinary way. is eondneted through the- tihoveiuch tinned pipe hack to the lire of the .second hoiirr. ami is driven liy fans throneh this lire from helow the grate. In the lirst hoiler ioal nr any other stroke-producing fuel can he used, in

the second there must lie a dear fire of coke. What happens, in nonscientific language. is that the smoke tints driven throneh the coke lire is consumed, and it-elf acts as fuel. 'The sinoke after "looping the loop" over tlm lirst hoiler. turns itself np in the second furnace. The technical description is as follows :

"At the rear of the coal-fired hoilers. he tween the end of the boiler and

damper in the controlling fine to the stack, an uptake pipe coupe!d to suction fan is inserted, driven either by steam power or an electric motor. This drives the smoke created in the furnace through a' duct, over the boiler. and it is carried down the face ol this boiler and passed into the ashpit under the firebars, where it is passed through an incandescent screen of colic and is consumed.”