372 



GAS. 



"balls, gaming- places, horse-races, and play- 

 houses," stili stand, advice is now added en- 

 forcing the "duty of taking needful recrea- 

 tion," without which, it is observed, neither 

 physical nor mental faculties can be preserved 

 in a healthy condition. The counsel against 

 the use of music is removed, while the cau- 

 tion against musical entertainments, especially 

 against those " musical exhibitions in which an 

 attempt is made to combine religion with a 

 certain amount of amusement," is retained. 

 The testimony against " ecclesiastical de- 

 mands " is modified, but a minute is retained 

 expressing continued belief that the " union 

 of the Church with the state derives no sup- 

 port from the ISTew Testament." To the pro- 



longed testimony against war is added an ex- 

 tract from a former expression of the society 

 against "military centers." The "Queries," 

 or questions to be answered by meetings to 

 their superior meetings, are simplified and so 

 modified as to bring them into closer accord 

 with the circumstances of modern life ; a sum- 

 mary is given of a simplified form of marriage 

 regulations, and considerable space is occupied 

 with the statement of the rules in regard to re- 

 movals, appeals, arbitration, and other inter- 

 nal arrangements of the society. The changes 

 that are recorded are chiefly those that have 

 taken place within the last twenty years, but 

 are now, for the first time, placed in the official 

 code or law of the denomination. 



G- 



GAS. For many years gas- manufacture has 

 been one of the most conservative of the in- 

 dustries, but the past ten years have seen a 

 great advance in coal-gas processes, and the 

 successful development of the manufacture of 

 water-gas. 



The great improvements introduced into the 

 coal-gas manufacture may be referred to the 

 furnace, retort- charging, and scrubbing. The 

 general process is simple, and does not a<lmit 

 of much further development. 



Furnaces. About ten years ago one of the 

 prevailing ideas of gas -engineers was, that a 

 yield of 9,500 cubic feet per ton of coal, and of 

 6,000 cubic feet per retort daily, was good prac- 

 tice. The belief prevailed that a higher heat, 

 productive of higher yields, would injure the 

 quality of the gas. Later experience has con- 

 troverted this idea. The tendency toward high- 

 er heats has grown, and the size of retorts has in- 

 creased, until yields of 11,420 cubic feet per ton 

 and 9,000 cubic feet or more per retort are fre- 

 quently reached. It is especially in New Eng- 

 land that these results are attained. The revo- 

 lution in metallurgy and glass-making, due to 

 the invention of the Siemens regenerative fur- 

 nace, is known to all scientific readers. It was 

 not till several years after its invention that 

 gas-engineers adopted it. It was found to an- 

 swer all expectations, but presented some ob- 

 jectionable features. To contain the regenera- 

 tive chambers of the furnaces, a large excava- 

 tion was necessary, involving considerable ad- 

 ditional expense in building the furnaces. The 

 gas-generator was an extra and costly piece of 

 apparatus. Serious changes were necessary 

 wherever the new furnaces were introduced 

 into old retort-houses. Several modified fur- 

 naces were invented, combining some of the 

 characteristics of Siemens's furnace with those 

 of the old retort-bench. The new furnaces are 

 all constructed on the same general principles. 

 The fireplace is deep, with a grate of very 

 small area. A limited supply of air, sometimes 

 with the addition of a little steam, is admitted 

 below, and passes through the thick bed of in- 



candescent coke, thus producing carbonic-oxide 

 gas and hydrogen. The gas rises into the oven 

 containing the retorts, where it meets a new 

 supply of heated air. A vivid, intensely hot 

 combustion takes place, heating the retorts 

 containing the coal. The hot gases from the 

 combustion pass off through flues, parallel with 

 other flues, through which the second air-sup- 

 ply enters. This heats the air before the final 

 combustion, and in this heating of the air is 

 seen to some extent the regenerative element 

 of the Siemens furnace. The modifications 

 just described amount to a more compact and 

 cheaper construction of the same device. The 

 results achieved by them affect economy of 

 labor, economy of fuel, and higher heats, with 

 consequent higher yields. The improved fur- 

 naces are so disposed that less labor is required 

 in working them. The heat developed in the 

 fireplace is comparatively low, so that less de- 

 terioration of the furnace takes place and less 

 labor is required in removing the slag. The 

 saving in fuel amounts to 30 per cent. 



At first sight it would appear that the heat 

 developed in the furnace in the carbonic-oxide 

 combustion is lost, as it is not applied directly 

 to heating the retorts. But this is not the case, 

 as the carbonic-oxide gas is generated at a high 

 temperature, enters the oven when very hot, 

 and so transmits the heat of the furnace to the 

 retorts. As in the original Siemens furnace, 

 both elements, gas and air, are hot. The in- 

 crease in the temperature of the retorts is very 

 remarkable ; comparatively small retorts car- 

 bonize large amounts of coal. The increased 

 expense of the improved furnaces can be re- 

 couped to a certain extent by the fewer or 

 smaller retorts necessary. 



Hot-Coke Firing. Any one who is familiar 

 with the old gas processes must have been im- 

 pressed with the inconsistency in the treatment 

 of coke. It is drawn red-hot from the retorts, 

 cooled off by dashing water upon it, and when 

 perfectly cold a portion of it is used for the 

 fires. Some of the furnaces just described use 

 the hot coke as it comes from the retorts. It 



