Ash-Burning Secret.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43106, 18 June 1907, Page 2

Ash-Burning Secret.

Late files of Canadian papers give details of a “ remarkable ash-burniog secret ” discovered by an Altoona cobbler. This is how boat is said to be obtained from ashes :—M -isten with either salt water or salt wu crin which oxalic acid has been dissolved a mixture containing one part coal and three parts ashes, and a bett< t fu 1 than pure coal is obtained. The calms « f anthj racite coal burn as rea< ily do t.noM 1 upon a burning fire, fuse into a eokelike mass and deposit but .ittle residue. The salt water may be obtained by the dissolution of common salt in water. The chemical action of this compound is thus explained : —When t an aqueous solution of an alkaline salt, such as common salt, is mixed with 1 coal ash the result is that a milk lye is 1 formed, which, when mixed with any j combustible material such as coal, and upon the application of heat, gives off oxygen gas, thus promoting rapid combustion, The addition of oxalic acid causes a chemical change of greater value than the first, for the reason that second chemical breakdown results in the formation of a carbide, which in turn gives off acetylene gas, this adding to the intensity of the heat and facilitating complete combustion. ' Many large industrial places in Altoona are said to be profiting by this invention.