Abstract
IN the supplement to the Daily Telegraph of March 19, Dr. A. H. Railing says that the need for the reorganisation of certain of the basic industries of Great Britain is urgent. As a result of recent applications of scientific knowledge, great advances have been made in developing new plant for the economic mining of coal and the manufacture of iron and steel products. In recent years the grouping of collieries makes it possible to use large turbo-machines and thus considerably lowers the cost of generating electric power. This solution of the problem of the handling and transport of coal will contribute greatly to the economic success of the undertaking. A colliery equipped with a modern coal-cleaning installation can command higher prices for its output. Loss and waste due to the breakage of coal can now be reduced to a minimum by using anti-breakage devices. By grouping together iron and steel works it would be possible to utilise the by-product gases of the iron and steel industry. An installation of large turbo-generator units in such a station would enable it to have a thermal efficiency as high as that obtained in the largest modern power station. The by-product gases from the industry would in this way acquire the same heat value as the coal used in coal-fired power stations. Many of the rolling mills in Great Pritain have been installed for very long periods and their retention in service militates against securing the high quality of product demanded to-day. An rfectrically driven rolling mill of modern design can be regarded in the light of a precision tool, capable an output of material possessing the highest degree of accuracy obtainable in rolling practice. The flectric furnace also opens out great possibilities. One of the valuable properties of the high-frequency ^lectric furnace is that, when operating, it gives rise to an automatic stirring action which secures a uniform product.
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Re-equipment of Collieries and Steelworks. Nature 133, 717 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/133717a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/133717a0