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Howden Hot Draft System -*-- DURING these times of close margins on lake freights vessel owners are interested in economy, and to insure their at--- tention and the attention of ship builders as well, to this article, some data on fuel economy is given at the commencement. COMPARATIVE FUEL, CONSUMPTION PER TON CARGO CARRIED PER MILE. One of a fleet of modem ore carriers_____________________________\)A oz. Nine steel steamers in the Escanaba trade________________________i)( " A number of typical modern steamers___________________________ixfj " Steel steamer Harvey H. Brown (boilers fitted with Howden's Hot Draft System)______________________________________________T% " It is mentioned in brackets that the steamer carrying a ton of cargo one mile with T% of an ounce of fuel has boilers fitted with the hot draft system. This is not responsible for the entire saving, for the boat may have more economical engines than some of those with which she is compared. Neither does the figures show the real economy for the Brown carries this ton a mile an hour fester than the other steamers carried their ton. There arc several sources in the employment of the hot draft system from which economy is derived. First is the perfect combustion of fuel, which is evidenced by the fact that the Brown burns 30 pounds of coal per hour to each square foot of grate surface, while in boilers of other steamers not fitted with the Howden hot draft system only 14 to 20 pounds are burned. By means of this hot draft more and smaller tubes are used, the up take can be smaller, so that the gases are kept in the boiler longer and more heat is extracted and absorbed by the water, thus increasing the steam generating capacity. An evidence of the .saving in this retarding influence is shown by the temperature of the gases in the stack on the Brown is 450 to 500 degrees, while on all other steamers having boilers on which steam is maintained at 150 or 160 pounds the temperature of the up-take is from 600 to 1,000 degrees. As will be seen from the illustrations even the 500 degrees of heat in the up-take of the Brown is utilized for heating the air that is forced by the fans to the furnaces, so that the air enters the furnaces of the Brown's boilers at a tempera-