Shavings and Saw Dust.

Progress, Volume II, Issue 4, 1 February 1907, Page 143

Shavings and Saw Dust.

\ correspondent raises the question ot what to do with the large quantities of sha\ ings and saw dust incidental to the working of saw mills and wood-ware factories, now that their use in the furnaces of steam boileis is eclipsed by the substitution of engines driven by producer gas. He asks whether there is any other use, which invention it not custom ma}- suggest, to the factory owner encumbered with the waste products of his working In reply we have to remind our correspondent that some years ago there was a remarkable example of the profitable use of saw dust m Germany In the year 1902, this waste product was used as fuel with good results It was made into briquettes, octagon-shaped, 6] m. by 3 V in. of a thickness of three quaiters of an inch, weighing about half a pound In the district surrounding the factory where these briquettes were

made the schools were heated by them, the combustion leaving very little ash and proceeding without a large flame. No binding ingredient was required, the saw dust being simply dried and pressed into the desired briquette state, and owing thus to the absence of tarry or oily substances there was no smoke in burning The weight of each briquette indicated the pressure under which it took its shape, and the edges — the authority was the United States Consul at Berne, Mr. Frankenthal, who had investigated the subject and reported — looked like polished oak The briquette in fact, was heavier than a piece of hard wood of the same size The demand created by the popularity of the fuel exceeded the supply of saw dust obtainable in the vicinity of the factory, and ship loads were therefore procured from Sweden, and cart loads from distant manufactories. Saw dust, which previously could be had for the asking, commanded a price as soon as it was known that a certain factory could make use of it Even then it was profitable to manufacture the briquettes ; but unfortunately the factory was destroyed by hre, and operations came to a stand still. There is certainly room for an invention for the utilisation of shavings, and peihaps the enquiry of our correspondent may lead to some development in this direction