34 COLORADO COLLEGE STUDIES. 



The conducting pipe was buried under ground to prevent 

 freezing. 



The gas-holder is designed to hold twenty-four hours 

 yield of gas from the springs. It contains no strikingly novel 

 features. The bell or holder is supported by three chains 

 which run over pulleys attached to heavy timbers set for this 

 purpose in the Company's building, and bucket weights are 

 loaded to give the required pressure to send the gas to the 

 carbonating apparatus. The holder dips in water contained in 

 a cemented cistern which can be conveniently drained and 

 cleaned. A large manhole in the top of the holder provides 

 access to the cistern and to the enclosed pipes. An electric 

 incandescent lamp suspended just beneath the arched top of 

 the holder permits inspection of the pipes for the ingress 

 and exit of the gas; and for this purpose also a number of 

 small glass plates are cemented in a perpendicular line 

 on one side of the holder at intervals of about two feet. 

 The pipe which brings the gas from the spring, and that 

 which leads it to the carbonators, and that which provides 

 for the escape of an excess of gas, rise from the cemented 

 bottom 'of the cistern and are supported upon an iron 

 tripod, as shown in the accompanying plate. The pipe 

 for 'he entrance of the gas curves in the form of a goose- 

 neck and dips under the water some five or six inches, to 

 effect a water seal against back-flow. The overflow pipe is 

 capped by a metal bell which dips into the water of the cis- 

 tern so ^ang as the holder is not yet full of gas, but when the 

 holder is full the cap of the overflow pipe is raised from the 

 water and gas is allowed to escape. This cap or gas-trap 

 (see plate) is connected by a metal chain witu the top of the 

 holder, and is therefore raised from the water when the 

 holder rises above a certain height. This apparatus has 

 sometimes caused trouble by the kinking of the chain con- 

 necting the holder with the metal cap. The chain should be 

 made of small links so that it may readily coil in the little 

 dish at the top of the metal cap, and uncoil again without 

 kinks. A small rod suspended from the roof of the holder, 

 which would lift the cap by an arm, would perhaps obviate 

 any difficulty of this sort. 



