THE ALUMNI JOURNAL 101 



poses; also chemical and technical laboratories, soldering, and weld- 

 ing. If mixed with oxygen, it produces a heat so intense that an 

 ordinary bar of iron i inch in diameter can be cut in two almost in- 

 stantly by placing it in the flame of a liquid-gas burner. This con- 

 centrated heating power makes it available, and especially desirable 

 in the smelting and forging of iron and steel. 



Concerning its application as a means of welding, etc., the company 

 claims for liquid gas that — 



"Any required grade of heat favorable for the metal to be welded 

 can be produced by simply regulating the pressure and quantity of 

 gas. The metal melts and flows together without oxidizing ; no press- 

 ing, no hammering, is necessary, and the metal does not turn brittle. 

 With a medium heating value of 15,600 thermal units, liquid gas 

 affords the cheapest and best method for the welding of metals." 



The success of the Bassersdorf factory has demonstrated the fact 

 that liquid gas can be manufactured and sold at a profit in competi- 

 tion with coal, gas and electricity, as nearly every town and village in 

 Switzerland is supplied with artificial-gas works and an electric- 

 lighting plant. Yet within a short space of time the company has 

 placed over 100 liquid-gas installations, and the demand for its prod- 

 uct keeps the plant running full capacity day and night. When it 

 is understood that the factory was built more as an experiment and 

 for the purpose of demonstrating the practicability of manufacturing 

 liquid gas as a material for heating and lighting than as a commercial 

 enterprise, and the fact that all the material used is imported, which 

 greatly increases the cost of production, it can be readily seen that 

 greater profits might be obtained from the manufacture in the United 

 States, where raw material, such as waste from rock-oil refineries or 

 other kind of bituminous oils, are plentiful and comparatively cheap. 



Factory Being Built in Boston. 



The Zurich company, which possesses international patents, has 

 disposed of the rights to manufacture under its process in France, 

 and a plant with a capacity of 1,056 pounds of liquid gas per day is 

 in course of construction in Paris and will soon be ready to begin 

 operations. A factory equipped with the Wolf patent apparatus is 

 being built in Boston. 



