THE ADDRESSES, LECTURES, ETC., OF 



culties I had found with the combined retort and grate gas pro- 

 ducer, as patented by me in 1864, No. 3018, which patent Mr. 

 Price seems to ignore, although it must have been extensively 

 read, seeing that all printed copies of the specification have been 

 sold, and a second edition is being prepared at the Patent Office. 



I asked two questions at the meeting, viz., in what respect the 

 retort gas producer employed at Woolwich differed from mine, and 

 what was the consumption of fuel per ton of steel produced ? No 

 answer was given at the meeting to these two practical questions ; 

 but Mr. Price now states, in reply to the first, six points of diffe- 

 rence between his furnace and the regenerative gas furnace with 

 reversible regenerators, as usually constructed by me. These points 

 of difference, however, do not remove the important points of 

 similarity between the two apparatus in question, viz., that of both 

 being gas producers, consisting of a vertical retort placed above a 

 common grate, with admission of atmospheric air, the retort por- 

 tion being heated by spare sensible heat, in order to pass the fuel 

 through the first stages of distillation. In both cases the hydro- 

 carbons evolved in the retort pass downward and through the fuel 

 made incandescent by the air passing through the grate ; and the 

 waste heat of the furnace is also in both cases utilised to heat the 

 air before entering into combustion, although Mr. Price's form of 

 regenerator may differ from the non -reversible form of regenerator 

 I have usually adopted where moderate degrees of heat are 

 required. 



The value of Mr. Price's construction should be tested by my 

 second question having reference to the total amount of fuel con- 

 sumed in both cases per ton of steel produced. If Mr. Price can 

 answer this question satisfactorily, I should be the first to admit 

 that he had made a valuable improvement ; but if, on the contrary, 

 as I suspect, the consumption in his furnace considerably exceeds 

 that in the regenerative gas furnace of usual construction, in that 

 case I can only regard it as an imperfect imitation of an existing 

 arrangement of recognised value. But, in any case, I might have 

 expected a graceful acknowledgment of my labours, both as regards 

 the furnace and the steel process employed at the Arsenal, notwith- 

 standing the immunity claimed by public departments from liability 

 under letters patent. 



I am pleased to observe that Mr. Price promises us an account 



