cclxx GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND 



ordinary system, where it meets the air-blast. The former 

 bridge-wall of the furnace is built up solid to the crown, ex- 

 cept a narrow space called the combustion-chamber, which 

 is an important feature of the device. This consists simply 

 of a cellular tier of fire-bricks, placed on end, extending all 

 across over the old bridge-wall. Within these cells the 

 combustion commences, and the course of the name is direct- 

 ed as may be required. 



With this apparatus the essential features of which are 

 dwelt upon in what has preceded Professor Wurtz affirms 

 that the economical advantages in siderurgy, of added inten- 

 sity of temperature and energy of concentration of heat, in 

 saving of time as an element of w T ork done, are even greater 

 than have been contemplated by those who have fully ad- 

 mitted these facts on general principles; so much greater 

 that in siderurgical practice, where the heat taken up by 

 the iron is but a small fraction of the total heat, the calorific 

 superiority of oil over coal, weight for weight, actively and 

 effectively rises to the ratio of eight to one. The quality of 

 the metal j)roduced likewise left nothing to be desired. From 

 the foregoing, it would appear that the system of furnace- 

 working with petroleum has achieved a notable success. 



In last year's Record, with reference to the progress made 

 in the field of illumination, allusion was made to the grow- 

 ing popularity achieved by several processes employing pe- 

 troleum in lieu of gas-coal in the manufacture of illuminat- 

 ing gas. It is of interest to record in this connection some 

 reference to the " Lowe " process, the invention of Mr. T. S. 

 C. Lowe, of Norristown, Pennsylvania, which has during the 

 past year been introduced to light the city of Utica, New 

 York, its practical efficiency and economy having been pre- 

 viously abundantly tested on the working scale at Consho- 

 hocken and Phoenixville, Pa., at which latter place it has 

 been operated with great satisfaction for the past two years. 

 The difficulties on the score of stratification and condensa- 

 tion, to which the petroleum water-gas processes as a class 

 are supposed to be subject, appear in the case of the Lowe 

 gas to have been, practically, entirely obviated, the prod- 

 uct possessing a permanence and uniformity of quality, win- 

 ter and summer, equal at least to coal gas. Mr. Lowe's 

 process consists in producing from anthracite and the dc- 



