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Pulverized Coal Given Sea Trial Successful Test of S. S. West Alsek—Equipped with Unit System of Pulverized Coal Burning—Fine Maneuverability—Made 12.7 Knots ARINE history went ahead M @® pace recently through the successful operation of the WEstT ALSEK on her sea trial out of New York harbor. A _ perfect day greeted the early rising marine en- gineers and fuel experts who gathered at 8 o’clock, June 19, at pier 6 Hoboken to board the freighter WEST ALSEK for her first trip burning pul- verized coal. The ship has_ been converted by the shipping board from an ordinary coal fired steam vessel. The conversion work was done at the Tietjen and Lang plant of the Todd Shipyards Corp. Interest in her performance was greatly increased by the fact that her pulverizing and burning equipment embodies many new features intended to overcome the disadvantages of earlier attempts at pulverized coal burning in connection with marine boilers. .On the trial the ship carried no freight, but those who have had charge of her conversion were en- thusiastic over the 12.7 knots average which she made over a 32 mile course and they estimated that she would exceed 9.5 knots when fully loaded. This figure is nearly 2 knots higher than her usual performance with the old method of grate burning. When the fuel conservation com- mittee was asked by the United States shipping board to pick out a vessel for the installation of the Todd pul- verized coal burning. equipment, it selected the Wrst ALSEK as being one of the worst examples of old ‘type inefficiently ' powered vessels— the type that “just can’t make money” for its owners in the present com- petitive age, according to C. J. Jeffer- By H. R. Simonds son, head of the fuel conservation section of the United States shipping board, New York, and one of the most active figures in the conversion pro- gram. On one of her last trips across the Atlantic, the Wrest ALSEK averaged about 6% knots. Yet her condition was not much worse than that of a large fleet of ocean going freight ships today. The first vessel to be put into CUOUULCUONLUOEEUOUEEGUUUETAUOEEYUOTELAUEOULUU EOD Particulars West Alsek hae WEST ALSEK is a steel cargo vessel of 8529 tons deadweight built by the Skinner & Eddy Co., Seattle, Wash., in 1918. The vessel is approximately 410 feet long, 54 feet in breadth and 29 feet 9 inches deep. Until the present time she has been in tramsatlantic service as a hand-fired coal burner. This vessel is equipped now to burn powdered coal in three single ended three-fur- nace scotch boilers. There is one triple expansion steam engine of 2750 indi- cated horsepower and the usual aux- iliaries found on vessels of this class. IHQUAUUUUAUAUOOEOOEEEVENOEOOOOO0000000000000000000UOUAOLOOLEOUO RELL LGRELENUOOO TAAL service by the shipping board with pulverized coal equipment was the S. S. MERCER, but considerable difficulty in maneuvering that vessel was ex- perienced due to lack of flexibility of the pulverizing and burner equip- ment. The Wrst ALSEK has a unit system consisting of an independent mill at each burner, so that any one burner can be shut down independent of the others. The maneuvering proper- ties of the WEST ALSEK proved to be exceptionally good. The vessel came to slow speed, stopped, started, stopped again, remained idle for ten minutes or more awaiting docking space and during all this time the stack exhaust was of a light gray color, pronounced excellent by the fuel experts. The West ALSEK is the fourth or fifth ship of her size to be equipped for use of pulverized coal, and is the first installation of a unit system of pulverized coal burning on a regu- lar operating vessel. One of the diffi- culties of adapting pulverized coal to a vessel is the short space within a scotch boiler for the: combustion of the flame. In order to have pul- verized coal and economy, combus- tion must be complete. Other diffi- culties have to do with lack of space outside of the boiler for the equip- ment and with features of flexibility as mentioned. The use of pulverized coal with a scotch boiler heretofore has been accomplished both here and abroad with some difficulty. For such an installation to be com- mercially feasible, it must be accom- panied by a reduction of fuel and labor costs commensurate with the increased cost of the apparatus and its installation. Tests made with scotch boilers particularly in experi- mental work at the Philadelphia navy yard indicate that an increased boiler efficiency of from 10 to 20 per cent may be expected. This increased efficiency is one of the chief reasons back of the use of pulverized coal. Both pulverized coal and oil reduce the labor cost about equally and en- gineers who have studied both systems Shipping Board Steamer West Alsek Passed Successful Sea Trial with Todd Unit System, Pulverized Coal Burning 22 MARINE REVIEW—July, 1929