488 On the Danger of Explotion of the Reservoir oj Gas. [July I, 



its primeval atoms ; tbe modons or bility tliat an exploston rfiould by any 



decomposing principle, occasioning means be produced; and, xecond, the 



steam to tlio pressure of 2ib. to tlie probable effect of an explosion, if it 



inch, appears to me to be the period should take place. 

 at which water gives out the greatest 'J'licy found, that the gasometer in 



sensation of heat; and, as the opera- I'ruvidcnce-court, Westminster, has a 



tion goes oa, heat is less and less capacity of 14,000 cubic feet ; from 



perceptible, until the steam or gas whicii, under mismanagement, it has 



(perfectly decomposed) becomes (like been appreheniledthat,if the gas came 



consumed coal or ashes) coinpara- to be mixed with common air, tbe 



tively cold. If the boiler were, what 

 Mr. Perkins thinks it to be, a maga- 

 zine of coloric, which coloric comes 

 in freely through its bottom, the water 

 offering less impediment to its pas- 

 sage ; how comes it to stay there in 

 terrific pressure, obedient to bis will, 

 without passing as quickly through 

 its top or sides? Denying lieat to be 

 an element, and declaring steam to be 

 decomposed water, I considrr it 

 impossible for Mr. Perkins to get 

 SOOlbs. pressure in his boiler, or re- 

 generator, except by the decomposi- 

 tion of the water in it. If the water, 

 then, is decomposiblc in any degree 

 by the operation of fire, the boiler 

 must burst before the pressure is at 

 one quarter what he proposes to work 

 bis engine at, because he has no 

 room for its expansion. Again, water 

 when just broken into steam is easily 

 coiulciised, or united to water again ; 

 but, when broken to its elementary 

 utonis, it is not in human ])owor to 

 bring it again to water in any reason- 

 able or useXul time. 



The result of similar experiments, 

 tried nearly tiiirty years ago, is, that 

 a liigli-pressure engine can only be 

 worked, with economy, at 40ibs. to 

 the inch; and a condensing one, at 

 2ibs. : ten times his imagined power 

 has been long since discovered, and 

 obtainable witii double his assumed 

 economy. To regulate this enormous 

 power is the only desideratum in me- 

 chanics to wliich ingenious men are 

 looking forward. 



Batter sea. S. S. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



A COiSIAJITTEE of the Royal 

 •-lJL Society, appointed for the pur- 

 pose of examining into the danger of 

 explosion of the reservoir of gas, be- 

 longing to the Gas-light Company , have 

 come to important conclusions, which 

 ought to be publicly known. 



Mr. Lukin sent a model of the sea- 

 soning-house which blew up in Jan. 

 1812, at Woolwich ; and tlie committee 

 considered, first, tlie degree of proba- 



niost dangerous explosions might take 

 place. This, in the opinion of the 

 committee, might arise from an acci- 

 dental (ire, con)municated to the build- 

 ing which contains the gasometer. 

 The committee, therefore, recom- 

 mend, that the reservoir should be 

 provided with a pipe, leading to some 

 place at a proper distance, and having 

 its external orifice closed by a valve, 

 to let out the gas on the first alarm of 

 fire, and that this and all such buildings 

 should be made fire-proof. 



They also ascertained, that the 

 explosion of a reservoir containing 

 14,000 cubic feet, would be equal 

 to ten barrels of gunpowder. In the 

 explosion at Woolwich, it appears 

 that seventy-three feet of a thick wall, 

 twelve feet high, and which stood 

 twelve feet distant, wpre knocked 

 down, and some of the bricks tlirown 

 2.50 feet, and others forced in a dia- 

 g(mal direction a considerable depth 

 into tiic ground ; that an iron door 

 weighing 280lbs. was projected to the 

 distance of 230, and another 190 feet, 

 and that several persons were killed or 

 wounded. 



The conmiittee, therefore, recom- 

 mend, that works supplying gas should 

 be placed at a certain distance from all 

 other buildings ; or, if they are erected 

 near houses, that the reservoiis should 

 be on a small scale, and that the reser- 

 voirs should be separated bj mounds, 

 as is done in the government powder- 

 mills, or by strong party Malls, suffi- 

 cient to prevent the explosion of one 

 from bringing on that ot any othei"'. 



The committee also stated another 

 source of danger, viz. that if the pipes 

 coming into a room haj)|)en to leak, or 

 if the manager of the lamps should 

 neglect to turn tiie stop-cock after the 

 lamp is extinguished, the gas would 

 ooze into the room, and might occa- 

 sion a strong explosion, particularly 

 where the lamps are not lighted every 

 night, for a servant might come into 

 the room or chinch, hastilj to light 

 the lamps, and the mischief be done on 

 opening the door, before the smell is 

 perceived. X. Y. Z. 



