THE SOUTH DEVON 



MONTHLY MUSEUM. 



PLYMOUTH, FEBRUARY 1, 1834. 

 No. 14.] PRICE SIXPENCE. [VOL. III. 



GAS WO'RKS, PLYMOUTH. 



DURING the last month we have had repeated oppor- 

 tunities of visiting the Gas Works, at Mill Bay ; and, 

 notwithstanding the general sombre appearance of that 

 establishment, we have ventured to go there to select 

 a subject for the Frontispiece of our Museum on the 

 present occasion. The engraving is a representation 

 of the Retort House ; the operations of which, we shall 

 now proceed to describe, together with the whole pro- 

 cess of gas making. Though our friend, who conducts 

 this establishment, does not wish to appear in print 

 himself, we scarcely need inform our readers to whom 

 we are indebted for the leading article of our present 

 number. 



The Retort House then be it known, is the place 

 where the process of gas making commences. The fit- 

 tings of the interior consist of a series of iron cylinders 

 placed horizontally in ovens of fire-proof brick work 

 over most intense coke furnaces. These cylinders or 

 retorts are each 6 feet long, and 1 foot in diameter in- 

 side and are hermetically sealed at the inner end, the out- 

 er end is the mouth of the retort, where the coals, from 

 which the gas is extracted, are introduced. This is 

 done by means of a vessel of sheet iron in the form of 

 a half cylinder, made to fit loosely the inside of the re- 

 tort. Our readers will picture to themselves an im- 

 mensely large cheese taster and they will have before 

 their mind's eye at once, the figure of this half cylinder 

 which gas men call the scoop ; this is filled with coals, 

 a busher and half, imp., which is a charge for one 



VOL. in. 1834. G 



