754 Transactions of the American Institute. 



of thcin are perfectly safe with proper oil, and could not weHl 1)0 dis- 

 pensed with by the public. 



The inconvenience of glass chimney's, their liability to become 

 smoked and broken, have incited many plans during the past twenty 

 years, to produce a gas flanie from liquid hydrocarbons, nearly all of 

 ■which have been based on the use of light, volatile products derived 

 fi'om coal tar, coal oil and petroleum distillation, and which are 

 known as naphtha, benzole, benzine, gasoline, &c., <kc. 



Charles Blachford Mansfield was the pioneer of this class, as will 

 be seen by reference to his patent, granted by Great Britain in 18-i7, 

 and numbered 11,9G0, in which he claims the " passing of a current 

 of gas or air into a vessel in which it shall become charged with the 

 vapor of a spirituous substance, such as may confer on it the property 

 of burning witli a luminous flame, at a burner which may be distant 

 from the reservoir." 



Since the date of the above patent, many changes have been con- 

 trived by several parties for the purpose of remedying the difficul- 

 ties found in the practical working of Mr. Mansfield's plans. But at 

 the present time, no improvement is known which renders the use of 

 any of this class of light hydrocarbons nnobjectionable, and it is 

 probable there never will be, for the reason that however volatile the 

 liquid may be which is employed to saturate the air, recondensatiou 

 will take place when it is carried any considerable distance through 

 cool pipes, stopping the pipes, producing irregularity of the flame 

 first, and finally stopping the pipes entirely. 



Another and important objection to these plans is the danger of 

 transportation, handling, storage, and use of tliese highly volatile 

 products, the low cost of which has led to the concoction of various 

 recipes for making them safe or non-explosive, wdiic^i have been quite 

 extensively sold by parties who are either unpardonably ignorant, or 

 dishonest ; and severe penalties should be imposed npon every person 

 engaged in such misrepresentations. 



The invention of Mr. Theodore Clough, of Dobbs' Ferry, New 

 York, for producing an oil gas flame from petroleum burning oil, 

 which will stand the fire test of the government, as previously 

 described, and which will not ignite until a temperature of fifty 

 degrees Fahrenheit above that test (110 degrees x 50 degrees) or 160 

 degrees fire test, is novel and simple in structure, furnishing a gas 

 flame equal to that from the best coal gas, at one-third the cost, with- 



