Trippel.] JQ [February. 



tern ; but in all cases of unsuccessful ness it could easily be proved, 

 that the construction of the furnace had not been in accordance with 

 facts, well and conclusively established by science, as well as practi- 

 cal experience, and was principally caused by a want of knowledge of 

 the nature of fuel, and its chemical composition, the action of its com- 

 ponent parts, when mixed with the oxygen contained in the atmos- 

 pheric air, and the requisite conditions for a perfect combustion. 

 From my own observation I can say, that the so called gas-furnaces 

 have been constructed in such an irrational way, that success would 

 have been either accidental or a miracle. Still, the possibility, or 

 rather certainty, of making a much better use of, and obtaining a con- 

 siderable higher useful effect from, fuel of all kinds, when first con- 

 verted into gas, has occupied the minds of some of the most promi- 

 nent men, and naturally more so in countries where the consumption 

 of fuel is in excess of its production ; and while some of the greatest 

 savants have now proved conclusively that heat is equivalent to 

 power, others have, in a more practical direction, tried to find the 

 conditions necessary to obtain all the useful effect a fuel can furnish 

 according to theory. 



Foremost in these efforts has been Prof. Charles Shinz, editor of a 

 large work on " The Application of Heat," and several other works 

 treating similar subjects. Mr. Schinz, an eminent scholar in physics 

 and chemistry, and gifted with an uncommon experience in many 

 technical branches of industry, has shown that the most important 

 conditions for a perfect combustion have mostly been overlooked ; and, 

 in comparing the effect of the hitherto best methods of heating with 

 that which fuel ought and can give, he finds the following results : 



Caloric Equivalent. 



Fuel. Usual Method. Gas-heating. 



Kiln-dried wood, . . . 2498 calorics. 3891 calorics. 



Same, with 20 per cent, moisture, 1890 " 3006 " 



Kiln-dried peat, . . . 3030 " 4574 " 



Lignite (brown coal), . . 3651 " 5419 " 



Bituminous coal, . . . 5228 " 7580 " 



Anthracite, .... 5423 " 8034 " 



It will be seen that the proportion of effect gives to the gas-heat- 

 ing method in all cases over 30 per cent., while comparisons with some 

 old practised furnaces will show as much as 52 per cent, saving in 

 fuel. 



