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Heating, Lighting, and Refrigeration

KINDS OF FUEL-HEATING SYSTEMS-CHIMNEYS AND FLUES-FIRE EXTINGUISHERS AND FIRE ESCAPES-FIREPROOFING AND WATERPROOFING - ARTIFICIAL ILLUMINATION - COAL GAS, GASOLINE GAS, AND ACETYLENE-KEROSENE OIL-ICE AND REFRIGERATION KINDS OF FUEL The principal kinds of fuel used in this country are anthracite or hard, and bituminous or soft, coal, coke, gas, petroleum or kerosene, and wood, either hard or soft. Peat or turf fuel is quite common in European countries, and some attempts have been made to introduce it in the United States in the form of "briquettes" and "eggettes," but thus far without much success. The cost of the various kinds of fuel naturally varies according to local conditions, but where all kinds are equally plentiful, wood is the most expensive. About eighteen cords of the best hard wood is required to heat the home of an average family for a year. At six dollars a cord this would cost nine dollars a month. Anthracite or hard coal is the next most expensive fuel; its first cost is higher and it is not an economical fuel to use, the estimated cost of heating an average home with hard coal being about seven dollars a month. The cheapest forms of fuel in common use are bituminous or soft coal and coke.

Where plenty of coke is available it may be regarded as perhaps the cheapest fuel, its cost being estimated on an average of about five dollars a month in temperate latitudes. Bituminous coal is, ton for ton, cheaper than coke, but as somewhat more is required for fuel, the cost may be regarded as practically the same.