1823.] Gas Light Establishments. 425 



Each house served with this gas is furnished with a small 

 gasometer, to measure the quantity of gas consumed, for which 

 the consumer pays at the rate of 5s. for 100 feet. 



There can be no doubt that the light thus produced by oil 

 gas, taking the different intensities into the account, is much 

 cheaper than that produced by the direct burning of oil ; nor 

 indeed is the expense of oil gas greater than that of coal gas, if 

 we admit the intensity of its light to be three times that of an 

 equal quantity of coal gas, or that one burner supplied with oil 

 gas is equal to three with coal gas. 



The charge for 1000 cubic feet of coal gas is 15s. ; and the 

 expense of 3000 feet of coal gas, therefore, is 45s. which is stated 

 to be scarcely equal to 1000 cubic feet of oil gas costing 50s.; 

 now if the values in proportion to the light obtained thus nearly 

 approximate, it certainly appears to me, that the oil gas must be 

 nearly, if not quite as cheap, taking into the account the great 

 reduction in the first outlay for the apparatus required for gene- 

 rating the oil gas, compared to that required for the coal gas, 

 and reckoning also the difference in the required size of the 

 mains. And indeed the extensive introduction of this system 

 iuto the provincial towns now going on, is to my mind a con- 

 vincing proof of the correctness of the foregoing statement, and 

 makes it only matter of greater surprise to me, that so little has 

 yet been done as to the public use of oil gas in the metropolis, 

 the more especially when its greater security, from the reduced 

 quantity necessary for a given light, its greater purity, and less 

 offensive smell, are taken into consideration. 



I must not, however, omit to say, that an oil gas company, 

 called The Portable Oil Gas Company, is about to be formed in 

 London. The principal object of this company is to supply 

 detached houses with this gas, in situations where no mains are 

 laid down. For this purpose strong copper vessels are prepared 

 of different dimensions, in which the oil gas is deposited by com- 

 pression ; so that a vessel of one cubic foot has been made to 

 contain 16 cubic feet of this gas ; and if each cubic foot of this 

 gas is supposed to be equal to three cubic feet of coal gas, then 

 would such a vessel contain oil gas sufficient to supply one lamp 

 for nine hours. 



The idea is in some cases to attach a vessel containing a con- 

 siderable supply on this principle to small feeding pipes leading 

 to fixed lamps in different parts of the building ; and in some 

 cases, to have the reservoir containing the condensed gas, made 

 part of a moveable or portable lamp. 



The first of these modes seems to me most likely to be useful, 

 limited, however, as above-mentioned, to situations where no 

 mains are laid on, and where it is desired to avoid the trouble of 

 generating the gas on the spot. 



The latter seems to be still more limited in its application, as 

 few moveable lamps could be conveniently constructed, which 



