514 Transactions of tee American Institute. 



He has used one of them in his family for two weeks, and made 

 a thorough test of its capabilities as a family cooking stove. The 

 principle upon which the invention rests may be briefly described 

 as follows: When petroleum is clarified or distilled, the first run- 

 ning is a light, colorless fluid, which emits a rank smell and is 

 highly inflammable. If burned with a wick, like kerosene, it 

 smokes badly and is oflfensive. The inventor of this stove, after a 

 great number of experiments, has ascertained that by the applica- 

 tion of heat to a tube filled with this fluid it may be converted into 

 gas; and when this gas is properly combined with the vapor of 

 water and with the common air, the mixture bums freely, gives out 

 a strong and steady heat, but no smoke, gas or odor of any kind. 

 This discovery once made, the mind of the inventor was turned 

 upon the problem of making this apparatus so simple, so cheap, 

 and so safe, as to cause the vapor stove to be a necessary part of 

 the furniture of every well-appointed kitchen. A can containing 

 two gallons of the gasoline, or naptha, is fastened at the height of 

 six feet from the floor, and removed by quite an intei*val from the 

 stove. A tube conducts the fluid down horizontally to the burner, 

 its end curving under like a fish-hook, so that the burner comes 

 directly under the tube about a foot from the end. Now, if the 

 faucet is turned so as to let the fluid on, the hydraulic pressure will 

 force a small jet from the orifice of the burner and throw it directly 

 upon the tube above. Within this tube is inserted a fine coil of 

 copper wire, which presents to the gasoline a large heating surface. 

 Ignite this little jet of fluid and the heat in the tube which contains 

 the coil of wire will soon be very great, so as to convert the nap- 

 tha from a fluid into a gjis. The pressure of the fluid in the tube 

 and can renders it impossible for the gas to escape through the 

 can. It must pass out at the orifice of the burner. Now, beneath 

 the burner place a small vessel of water, so near as to be kept hot 

 by it. The vapor rising from this water mixes with the gas from 

 the burner, and both are blended with common air. The heat thus 

 generated is steady, intense, uniform, easily regulated, and its 

 degree and application wholly under control. 



As to safety, the referee would say, that after careful investiga- 

 tion and experiment, he considers it is no more dangerous than the 

 burning fluids in common use throughout the community. There 

 are but two points where the flame can communicate with the 

 naptha, one at the extremity of the burner — the orific in which is 

 not much larger than a pin point — the other at the opening of the 



