1823.] Mr, Bewey on Gas Illumination. 403 



conducted. They furnish gas for about 8000 Argand burners, 

 and obtain a higher price than at Glasgow. I visited a small 

 oil gas work at Leith which had been but a short time in opera- 

 tion. I could not form a just estimate of its probable success ; 

 I think it more likely to succeed than coal gas in so small a 

 place. The consumption must be limited for a long time. I 

 think that neither coal nor oil gas can be profitable in small 

 towns, unless they are exclusively manufacturing ones. From 

 thence I went to Hull, where one of the first large oil gas works 

 was constructed. This is a small town without manufactures, 

 and must principally rely on the merchants and shopkeepers for 

 support. The consumption of gas is necessarily hraited, and as 

 yet the proprietors have not derived much profit from their 

 investment. Oil is now much lower than for years past, and 

 they are going on prosperously. A coal gas work could not 

 succeed here. I examined the coal gas work at Leeds, which 

 is under the particular care of Mr. J. B. Charles worth, an 

 eminent merchant of that town, who took great pains to instruct 

 me. Here I found some important improvements in tlir method 

 of heating the retorts, the condensation of the gas, ana mode of 

 purification. Coal is obtained here at a lower price than any 

 where else I have been. The gas is passed through dry lime, 

 and most effectually purified. I have yet to form an opinion of 

 the best mode of purification. The dry lime, 1 think, is to be 

 preferred where there are no ready means of getting rid of the 

 waste lime and water, which are very offensive, and Vvhere lime 

 is cheap. Where lime is dear, and the furnaces are constructed 

 to evaporate the waste water, perhaps the cream of lime is 

 preferable. The condenser is a straight main pipe, 12 inches 

 diameter, and 72 feet long, laid on an inclined plane in a trunk, 

 or canal, filled with water, and connected with the tar cistern, 

 the gas is completely condensed in passing through this pipe. 

 A small stream of water supplies this trunk, and keeps the pipe 

 cool. The gas costs less to make it per 1000 feet at this work 

 than at any I have examined. Dr. llawksvvorth principally 

 manages the gas work at Sheffield, and it is well managed. The 

 improved mode of condensing is adopted here. The work i^> 

 profitable, and should be in all manufacturing towns where coal 

 can be had reasonably. Coal gas must be held in high estimation 

 at Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, Sheffield, Leicester, 

 and in places where coal is equally cheap. I have examined many 

 of the principal gas works in London. Here, where coal is dear, 

 and the expences of making gas high, I think that had oil gas 

 been first introduced, with the present improved method of manu- 

 facture, it would have answered the general purposes better than 

 coal gas, and might be furnished at the same price for an equal 

 quantity of hght. But as it is, London is splendidly hghted, 

 and I hear no complaints from customers ; and those who do 

 not patronise these w rks should not complain. 



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