in 



ATnliY FORCES. LIGHT. 



[GAS-METEHS. 



very abundant, its products valuable, and its gas entirely 

 free from sulphur, . probable that it may bo 



used with great advantage as a source of inflammable 

 gai: in fact, a patent has been taken out I . Mr. Hansor 

 of London, for the manufacture of an illuminating gas 

 .1 mixture of i - <>f rosin, 8 of 



coal-tar, and 16 of oil. 1 ted by distilling the 



ire from perforated iron boxes, placed in a furnace 

 10 concleiiMlilo vapours so pro- 

 1 are then passed through another furnace divided 

 I'v diaphragms, and raised to a bright red-heat. By 

 this they are decomposed, and rendered permanently 

 gaseous. The gas so obtained, after having been ; 

 by means of lime, has a density of "026, and its illumi- 

 nating power is a little higher than that of common 

 DM gas, or about twice as great as that of ordinary 

 coal gas. A fish-tail burner consuming 2-5 cubic feet 

 iiimr, gives the light of 9'2 standard sperm candles ; 

 an. I . 1 consuming IJ'") feet, gives the light of 



16*5 candles. One of the great advantages of the gas is 

 its perfect freedom from every kind of sulphur impurity. 

 A company has been formed, under the name of Hansor's 

 ( defiant Gas Company, for carrying the patent into full 

 operation. 



Gca from Wine Lea and Grape Skins. These sub- 

 tances are said to produce a very good gas. One pound 

 weight of either of the materials will furnish seven 

 ' of gas of more than ordinary quality. This 

 fact was demonstrated in the year 1849, by SI. Levenair 

 nleaux, and Dr. Berhardt of Paris, in one of their 

 public lectures before the Faculty of Sciences. If the 

 results be uniform, the process affords an easy means of 

 obtaining gas, and other valuable products, from a 

 material that has hitherto been used only as a manure ; 

 besides which, the residue of the distillation is just as 

 valuable to the wine-grower as the lees themselves. 



Gas from Coal Tar. This liquid lias very frequently 

 been made the subject of ut, in the hope that 



the rich hydro-carbons which it contains might bo con- 

 1 into permanent gases of high illuminating power ; 

 but, hitherto, all attempts at effecting this desirable 

 result have signally failed. In the year 1820, Mr. Lowe 

 contrived an apparatus for decomposing coal-tar, and 

 iving it into permanent gases. It consisted of a 

 furnace with five retorts, three of which were ].! 

 In-low, and two above. These were charged in the ordi- 

 nary way with coal ; and when the caroonisation had 

 gone on for three hours, the tar was allowed to How 

 through a syphon-pipe into the back part of the u 

 retorts these being the hottest. Hero the tar 

 converted into vapour, and it passed over the incan- 

 descent surface of the charge to the front of the retort, 

 where it escaped through the exit-pipe to the hydraulic 

 main. According to Mr. Lowe, ho was enabled to pro- 

 . by this ai 'it, a maximum quantity of gas 



of high illuminating jniwer ; but, although the pi 

 was v in a very large scale under the innii< 



superintendence of the patentee, it did not succeed, and 

 it was soon abandoned. Since that time a number of 

 i.ive been taken out for a like purpose; but 

 have been successful. In some cases the tar has 

 been mixed with small coals; in others with peat; in 

 .vdiist; and, very recently, .Mr. Way has 

 proposed the use of a poroiiH stone, which he saturates 

 with tar. Some have distilled the material at a low 

 heat, others at a moderate temperature, and others at a 

 i one: so that every species of ingenuity has 

 been 1 in endeavouring to convert this rich in- 



flammable fluid into a \ < '-\s. 



( it .ve been resorted to as a 



source of gas. vaillon has proposed a mixture 



.nes, suet, oleaginous seeds, spent bark, sawdust, 



molasses, and small coal. Mr. Booth has claimed tho 



use ' M woods and oily seeds. Mr. Witt . 



ited a mixture of vegetable oils, and refuse vege- 



ters, suctt as spent, hop*, dr\ p. 

 sawdust, which he presses into blocks, and distils in 

 ire retorts; and then, again, it may be said that 

 Mr. i :icd a patent for uaphthaliaing gases 



from any source, by passing them through a vessel 

 containing coal-naphtha a process that was suggested 

 s ago by Dr. Henry, of Manchester. Lastly, 

 Mr. Archibald lias gone so far as to naphthaline atmo- 

 spheric air in a somewhat similar way. He first saturates 

 the air with nmixture, and then conveys it through 

 benzole, which is the most volatile of the coal-naphtha*. 

 Ho also passes the air through a mixture of one part of 

 benzole, two of alcohol or wood-spirit, and one-and-a-half 

 of water. By this means the air acquires inflammability, 

 and may be burnt from an ordinary gas jet : it may CM-H 

 be stored in gasometers, and distributed in the same way 

 OS coal gas. If the air is not saturated with moisture, 

 so much cold is produced by the volatilisation of the 

 benzole as to stop the process of naphthalisation ; and 

 hence the necessity for adding water to the hydro-carbons. 



ON THE APPARATUS REQUIRED FOR THE 



Oi.NSUMl'TION OF GAS. 



The Gas-meter. When gas was first used by tho public, 

 it was sold at an annual rent, at so much per burner; 

 but it soon became apparent that this was not a fair 

 mode of dealing with the article, and hence the ingenuity 

 of the mechanic was taxed to contrive a means whereby 

 the gas might be accurately measured. This was accom- 

 plished by Mr. Clegg, who, in the year 1815, constructed 

 the first meter. In the following year he improved it so 

 far ;is to obtain a patent for it. At first Mr. Clegg 

 attempted to register the gas by means of two small 

 gasometers, which rose and fell alternately, one receiving 

 the gas while the other was delivering it. But this plan 

 was not successful, and it was, therefore, abandoned for 

 another which constitutes the basis of all the wet-meters 

 that have been contrived since Mr. Clegg's time. It 

 consisted of a drum, which revolved in a chamber half 

 filled with water. The drum was divided into two com- 

 partments, one of which received the gas while the other 

 delivered it. The gas entered through the hollow axis of 

 the instrument ; and as the drum revolved and sub- 

 mersed tho compartment, the gas was forced through a 

 lateral opening into the outer chamber, and thence to 

 the burners. By moans of valvular contrivances, two of 

 which wore closed by water and two by springs, the gas 

 was made to flow only in one direction ; but as the spring- 

 valves were easily thrown out of order, and tho water- 

 valves were of a clumsy form, the instrument was open 

 to very great improvement. Mr. Malam, therefore, in 

 1819 reconstructed the apparatus. He divided the drum 

 into five compartments ono of which was central, and 

 the others around it (Fig. 126). As in Mr. Clegg's 

 instrument, tho gas entered the apparatus through the 

 axis of the drum ; but in order that there should be no 

 friction or impediment to its movement, he did away 

 with the stulling-box in which it worked, and brought 

 the central tube or axis, by means of a rectangular bend, 

 u] i above the level of the water in the central chamber d. 

 He also put aside the clumsy water-valves and the too 

 in spring valves of Clegg's instrument, and adopted 



a simple contrivance 

 whereby thedelivery 

 apertures were made 

 to act of them 

 by simply rising 

 above the level of 

 tho water. These 

 apertures wore in 

 the form of slits, 

 which communica- 

 ted first between 

 the central chamber 

 and the circum- 

 iial ones, and 

 then between tho 

 : and the outer 

 case, i >n entering 

 the central com- 

 partment, the gas 

 escapes through wliichever 



Fig. 126. 



slits 



