What constitutes a good fireman? You no doubt have heard this
expression: "Where there is so much smoke, there must be some fire."
Well, that is true, but a good fireman don't make much smoke. We are
speaking of firing with coal, now. If I can see the smoke ten miles
from a threshing engine, I can tell what kind of a fireman is running
the engine; and if there is a continuous cloud of black smoke being
thrown out of the smokestack, I make up my mind that the engineer is
having all he can do to keep the steam up, and also conclude that there
will not be much coal left by the time he gets through with the job;
while on the other hand, should I see at regular intervals a cloud of
smoke going up, and lasting for a few moments, and for the next few
moments see nothing, then I conclude that the engineer of that engine
knows his business, and that he is not working hard; he has plenty of
steam all the time, and has coal left when he is through. So let us go
and see what makes this difference and learn a valuable lesson. We will
first go to the engine that is making such a smoke, and we will find
that the engineer has a big coal shovel just small enough to allow it to
enter the fire door. You will see the engineer throw in about two, or
perhaps three shovels of coal and as a matter of course, we will see a
volume of black smoke issuing from the stack; the engineer stands
leaning on his shovel watching the steam gauge, and he finds that the
steam don't run up very fast, and about the time the coal gets hot
enough to consume the smoke, we will see him drop his shovel, pick up a
poker, throw open the fire door and commence a vigorous punching and
digging at the fire. This starts the black smoke again, and about this
time we will see him down on his knees with his poker, punching at the
underside of the grate bars, about the time he is through with this
operation the smoke is coming out less dense, and he thinks it time to
throw in more coal, and he does it. Now this is kept up all day, and
you must not read this and say it is overdrawn, for it is not, and you
can see it every day, and the engineer that fires in this way, works
hard, burns a great amount of coal, and is afraid all the time that the
steam will run down on him.
Before leaving him let us take a look at his firebox, and we will see
that it is full of coal, at least up to the level of the door. We will
also see quite a pile of ashes under the ash pan. You can better
understand the disadvantage of this way of firing after we visit the
next man. I think a good way to know how to do a thing, is to know
also, how not to do it.
Well, we will now go across to the man who is making but little smoke,
and making that at regular intervals. We will be likely to find that he
has only a little hand shovel. He picks this up, takes up a small
amount of coal, opens the fire door and spreads the coal nicely over the
grates; does this quickly and shuts the door; for a minute black smoke
is thrown out, but only for a minute. Why? Because he only threw in
enough to replenish the fire, and not to choke it in the least, and in a
minute the heat is great enough to consume all the smoke before it
reaches the stack, and as smoke is unconsumed fuel, he gains that much
if he can consume it. We will see this engineer standing around for the
next few minutes perfectly, at ease. He is not in the least afraid of
his steam going down. At the end of three to five minutes, owing to the
amount of work he is doing, you will see him pick up his little shovel
and throw in a little coal; he does exactly as he did before, and if we
stay there for an hour we will not see him pick up a poker. We will
look in at his firebox, and we will see what is called a "thin fire,"
but every part of the firebox is hot. We will see but a small pile of
ashes under the engine and he is not working hard.
If you happen to be thinking of buying an engine, you will say that this
last fellow "has a dandy engine." "That is the kind of an engine I
want," when the facts in the case may be that the first man may have a
better engine, but don't know how to fire it. Now, don't you see how
important it is that you know how to fire an engine? I am aware that
some big coal wasters will say, "It is easy to talk about firing with a
little hand shovel, but just get out in the field as we do and get some
of the kind of fuel we have to burn, and see how you get along." Well, I
am aware that you will have some bad coal. It is much better to handle
bad coal in a good way than to handle good coal in a bad way. Learn to
handle your fuel in the proper way and you will be a good fireman.
Don't get careless and then blame the coal for what is your own fault.
Be careful about this, you might give yourself away. I have seen
engineers make a big kick about the fuel and claim that it was no good,
when some other fellow would take hold of the engine and have no trouble
whatever. Now, this is what I call a clean give away on the kicker.
Don't allow any one to be a better fireman than yourself. You will see a
good fireman do exactly as I have stated. He fires often, always keeps
a level fire, never allows the coal to get up to the lower tubes, always
puts in coal before the steam begins to drop, keeps the fire door open
as little as possible, preventing any cold air from striking the tubes,
which will not only check the steam, but is injurious to the boiler.
It is no small matter to know just how to handle your dampers; don't
allow too much of an opening here. You will keep a much more even fire
by keeping the damper down, just allowing draught enough to allow free
combustion; more than this is a waste of heat.
Get all out of the coal you can, and save all you get. Learn the little
points that half the engineers never think of.