190 BURNERS. 



BURNERS. 



WHILE the engineer labours at the works to procure the most perfect gas 

 from his coal, and relies upon the truth of his calculations for the quantity 

 required by the consumers' lamps, he must not forget that the effect his opera- 

 tions will produce depends much upon the manner in which the gas is burnt. 

 It is a simple theory, involving only one question, but the results would make 

 it appear to be both perplexing and difficult. Coal-gas has now been used for 

 the purposes of artificial illumination thirty-eight years, and the burners 

 sanctioned by the Companies at the present day are of the same shape, size, 

 and uneconomical construction as those used in 1805. Unless some steps be 

 taken by the gas companies themselves to improve the system of burning, it 

 may in all probability continue as defective as it now is for generations. The 

 generality of consumers have other things to think of than the construction 

 of burners ; and manufacturers, although they may induce some few to adopt 

 burners made upon correct principles, have not influence enough to introduce 

 them universally. The engineers of gas companies are those with whom this 

 must rest ; and if they studied their own reputation, and the proper interests 

 of their establishments, the present description of burner would soon be 

 abandoned, and those calculated for the complete combustion of the gas sub- 

 stituted in their stead. 



Carburetted hydrogen of the specific gravity "390 (which is about the den- 

 sity of gas when arrived at the point where it has to be burnt) , requires two 

 volumes of pure oxygen for its complete combustion and conversion into 

 carbonic acid and water. Atmospheric air contains, in its pure state, twenty 

 per cent, of oxygen ; in populous towns less ; but twenty per cent, is near 

 enough for the present purpose. One cubic foot of carburetted hydrogen 

 then requires for its proper combustion ten cubic feet of air ; if less be ad- 

 mitted on to the flame a quantity of free carbon will escape (from its not 

 finding a proper volume of oxygen for conversion into carbonic acid), and be 

 deposited in the form of dense black smoke. When the flame from an Argand 



