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| History of Cambria County, V.2 |
| HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. | 481 | |
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Belgian coke ovens. Mr. Morrell referred the problem to Mr. Fulton, whose careful chemical analyses revealed the fact that the native coke was much purer than the standard Connellsville. This led to the conclusion that if the defect was not in the chemical elements it must be in the physical; whereupon Mr. Fulton invented a device to determine the physical properties of coke, which showed that the native coke was lacking in hardness of body, causing it to be dissolved in its journey down the blast furnace by the attack of carbon dioxide. Since that time he has given special study to the production of coke, and has become an operator in the Connellsville district. This venture has been very successful, bringing him a firmly established reputation as well as fortune. In 1895 he published a book on "The Manufacture of Coke and Saving of By-products," and ten years later he republished it in an edition greatly enlarged. This work is regarded as the leading authority on the subject. In 1887 he was promoted to the general superintendency of the Cambria Iron Company, and one year later to be general manager, which position he held for four years, resigning to give his full attention to the investigation of mining properties and the study of geology. As an expert along these lines, Mr. Fulton is called in consultation to determine the value of these subjects in most of the United States and much of Canada, and has recently spent six weeks in an examination of iron ores in Puerto Rico. In his eighty-first year he is engaged in developing the promising iron ore fields of Virginia. Mr. Fulton is a member of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and of the Geographical Society of Washington City; also of the American Institute of Mining Engineers and the Pennsylvania State Forestry Association. In 1870 Lafayette College conferred upon him the degree of A. M., and the judges of the St. Louis Exposition of 1904 awarded to him two medals and diplomas--one for "developing the coke industry in the United States," and the other for his efficient "co-operation in the success of the Universal Exposition" of that year. Mr. Fulton is the embodiment of a self-made man. James Moore Swank was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on July 12, 1832. When he was in his seventh year his father removed his family to Johnstown. On both his father's and his mother's side his ancestors for four genera- |
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