I 



276 PROF. W. A. BONE AND OTHERS ON 



explosions under high initial pressures. The present memoir contains a description of 

 the installation, together with the principal results obtained therewith up to the time 

 of my leaving Leeds in 1912, when the apparatus was removed to the Imperial 

 College of Science and Technology, London. 



My previous work (loc. cit.) had enabled me to put forward a new theory of the 

 mechanism of hydrocarbon combustion, based on an experimental study of the whole 

 range of conditions between slow combustion at relatively low temperatures and 

 explosive combustion (including detonation) at initial pressures of between 270 and 

 1180 mm. 



It was important, from several points of view, to carry the matter still further by 

 examining the behaviour of certain explosive mixtures (which may be regarded as 

 "crucial mixtures" in reference to the various theories of hydrocarbon combustion 

 recently under discussion) when exploded under high initial pressures. 



In addition to the above, important information has been gained as to the 

 distribution of oxygen between methane and hydrogen or carbon monoxide, respectively, 

 when mixtures containing insufficient oxygen for complete combustion are fired under 

 high initial pressures ; from such facts can be deduced the relative affinities of these 

 gases for oxygen in flame combustion, as well as certain conclusions concerning the 

 mechanism of the combustion of hydrogen and of carbon monoxide. 



Finally, a study of the pressure curves obtained in a series of experiments in 

 which methane, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide, respectively, were separately 

 exploded with sufficient air to complete the primary oxidation in each case, has 

 definitely proved that there is no direct (if any) relation in such cases between the 

 relative times required for the attainment of the maximum pressure and the relative 

 affinities of the respective combustible gases for oxygen. 



The points adumbrated in the foregoing paragraphs will be discussed more fully in 

 the paper. W.A.B. 



PART I. APPARATUS AND EXPERIMENTAL METHOD. 



The apparatus was specially designed by Prof. J. E. PETAVEL, F.R.S., for the 

 accurate investigation of the mechanism of gaseous combustion under high initial 

 pressures, using mixtures of known composition whose constituents have been 

 prepared on a laboratory scale in a considerable degree of purity. The complete 

 installation includes, therefore, means and apparatus (l) for preparing, purifying, and 

 storing fairly large quantities (25 to 50 litres) of the various gases ; (2) for separately 

 compressing each gas into steel cylinders up to pressures of between 50 and 100 

 atmospheres; (3) for exploding accurately prepared mixtures under known initial 

 pressures in steel bombs of different shapes and capacities so as to obtain reliable data 

 for the interpretation of the chemical changes involved ; and (4) for obtaining complete 

 graphs of the pressure changes involved in the explosions of simple gaseous mixtures 

 of known chemical composition. 



