324 THE SCIENTIFIC PAPERS OF 



In the discussion of the Paper 



" ON PRICE'S PATENT RETORT FURNACE," 

 By ME. I. LOWTHIAN BELL, M.P., F.R.S., Middlesborough, 



DE. SIEMENS * said, that when he first saw the paper on that 

 furnace, he could hardly think it was Mr. Isaac Lowthian Bell 

 who had written it, because they all knew that Mr. Bell was 

 thoroughly conversant with the phenomena of heat and the 

 chemical actions that occurred in the combustion of fuel. Yet 

 he found in that paper, prominently put forward, a comparison of 

 Price's furnace with his regenerative gas furnace, in which it was 

 stated that there was an absolute loss of 30 per cent., arising from 

 the action of the gas-producer in dealing with the carbonaceous 

 matter while reducing it to the state of carbonic oxide, before it 

 passed into the furnace. Seeing this statement in Engineering^ 

 he took the opportunity of calling attention to the fact that the 

 gas-producer had several duties to perform. The carbonaceous 

 matter contained in the coal was burnt to carbonic oxide, but in 

 addition to that, all the hydrocarbons were developed from the 

 coal, and besides a quantity of vapour of water being decomposed 

 into its elementary substances, and thus a considerable amount of 

 the heat that would otherwise be lost, was simply transferred from 

 the state of sensible heat to that of latent heat, in order to be 

 re-developed in the furnace. Considered from this point of view, 

 it would be found that the loss in the gas-producer was not 30 per 

 cent, as stated, but about 12 ; it was a subject that could be 

 thoroughly cleared up by theoretical argument, and by measuring 

 the temperature of the gases as they came from the gas-producer. 

 He was glad to find Mr. Bell admitting that he was wrong in his 

 calculation, but still he did not seem disposed to accord to the 

 regenerative gas furnace the reputation for economy which it has 

 acquired. The regenerative gas furnace was sufficiently well 

 known, and its economy was proved in various applications, and 

 he would not take up the time of the meeting by reasserting its 



* Excerpt Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute, 1875, pp. 496, 497. 



