ON THE ADVANTAGEOUS USE OF A GASEOUS ESCAPE, 79 
this arrangement worked well ; but I thought it would be an improvement in 
building the next oven to raise the whole higher, which I did, so that the cross 
_ pipes were on a level with the mouths of the flues. The consequence of this 
alteration was, that as the cemented joints are never free from pin-hole leaks, 
the small jets of air that escape ignited the gases, working like so many 
_ small blowpipes, and caused an immense local temperature, so much so, as 
_ speedily to destroy the stove; I had however my first plan to fall back upon, 
_ which enabled me to correct this error, or it would probably have been fatal to 
the application ; accordingly we lowered the apparatus, and had no more in- 
convenience. ‘I'he remedy is easily explained; for by lowering the stove so 
as to have the cross and side pipes below the mouths of the flues, as the gases 
_ from their levity do not descend lower than the entrance into the stack, the 
joints are not placed in a combustible medium, but, on the contrary, the space 
below is probably filled with carbonic acid, the heavier gas, which being inca- 
_ pable of supporting combustion, any small leak of air there may be is of no 
_ importance whatever. 
_ Ihave six furnaces at Ystalyfera, built in a row, and joined together by 
_ arches ; on these arches five stoves are placed, which heat the blast for the 
six furnaces; each stove is consequently between two furnaces, and has flues 
- conveying the heat from both. I have also a hot-blast main pipe, so that all 
_ the heated air is in a pipe common for all the furnaces. This is an excellent 
_ arrangement for any one erecting new works, but is not at all necessary to 
my plan, as I have No. 2 furnace working alone, with a stove on one side 
_ only, which heats the blast perfectly ; indeed the means of heating the blast 
are so excessive of what is required, that any length or drop in the flues 
_ leading to the stove may be compensated for by an increased height of stack. 
The gaseous escape could I am now convinced be carried a great distance, 
and be equally effective as a heating medium, if preserved from access of air, 
_and provided the temperature is kept up; if the flue is carried under ground, 
‘ 
both these ends will be attained. | calculate that the cost of erecting a stove 
attached to a furnace on my plan, as compared with two or three stoves in 
ordinary way, at the base of a furnace, is about one-third less in favour of 
arrangement, as I have a much less weight of metal in the pipes, and a 
yreat deal less masonry to erect; the repairs are nothing. It will thus be 
seen that I take credit for having conquered a great practical difficulty, and 
r having made a useful and ceconomical application of part of the gaseous 
pe from the furnaces at Ystalyfera. 
‘o me the saving is important, which I calculate as follows, compared with 
use of the ordinary heating ovens. 
irty-three tons of anthracite coal saved a week of 
_ rubble size at 4s............... gis Be dt oriioley ee Uinta 
Two men, and wheeling coal and ashes.......... 2 0 0 
£8 12s 0 
per week, or £447 4 0 per annum. 
_ Saving in repair of stove, say 
one-fifth of £500, the cost 100 0 0 
of new stoves ........ av 
£347 0 0 
on ten furnaces, the full extent of the works, would amount to 
0 a-year, or on five furnaces our present scale of work, to £2735 a-year. 
bituminous coal districts, where slack coal can be used for heating the 
the coal consumed would only be worth 2s. 6d. or 3s. per ton; but then 
Coal is very wasteful, and probably a greater quantity would be required 
ith anthracite, so as to make the expense of fuel equal. 
