9 



multiplied by no other change than the addition of more 

 water (steam) from the boiler. 



The phenomena and effects of combustion above cited 

 seem to justify the following statement of theory : 



The Holland locomotive retorts liberate a pure hydrogen fuel 

 from the mutual decomposition of certain proportions of naptha 

 and steam. The regular temperature of the furnace keeps the re- 

 torts hot enough to disengage the oxygen of steam in the presence 

 of the carbon of naptha, the chemicnl attraction of these two ele- 

 ments causing them to unite in the proportions of full combus ioi, 

 and to form carbonic acid within the retorts. The released hydro- 

 gen is the only combustible ingredient left to issue at the burners. 

 All the heat of both of these combustions — that of the carbon with- 

 in the retorts and that of the hydrogen at the burners — is conserved 

 and utilized in the same furnace for the making of steam. 



The question now arises on the true causes of the 

 enormous excess of calorific power developed by a given 

 amount of fuel through the water gas process, as com- 

 pared with the results of direct combustion of the same 

 fuel. Assuming that the amount of carbon entering the 

 retort takes oxygen from the steam with which it min- 

 gles, to the proportion of full combustion, and thus lib- 

 erates just sufficient hydrogen to re-engage the same 

 amount of oxygen ; we have first to inquire what propor- 

 tion exists between the amounts of heat generated by 

 the union of that or any given quantity of oxygen with 

 its proper complements of carbon and of hydrogen re- 

 spectively. A number of authorities have determined 

 this question experimentally, with results not widely dif- 

 ferent. According to Grassi, the number of pounds of 

 w uer raised one degree by the union of one pound of 

 oxygen with its full combining equivalents of carbon and 

 hydrogen, respectively were 2,893 and 4,3^3. The di- 

 rect gain by exchange, therefore, would be almost ex- 

 actly fifty per cent. Numerous experiments by Bunsen 

 and Fyfe are also said to have proved (in indirect accord- 

 ance with those above referred to) that the fuel (hydro- 

 gen) obtained by the decomposition of water, yields a 

 considerable excess of heat above that absorbed in pro- 

 ducing the decomposition. 



We have made a close scrutiny of the Holland appara- 

 tus and its operation for domestic purposes, as exh li- 

 ked in this city, at the offices of the Heat, Light and 

 Power Company, No. 18 Vesey s reet. An even pres- 

 sure of both water and naphtha is secured by an ele- 

 vated tank for each purpose, at the top of the room. 

 The pipes running from these tanks to the cooking-stove 

 and rai ge are laid in full view, and strict tracing and 

 examination of their course and connections at every 

 point showed that there was no other possible source of 

 supply, of any kind, for the retorts and burners. The 

 oil tank measured 25% inches in diameter, and was com- 

 puted to hold nearly 2.22 gallons to the inch in depth. 

 In running the cooking-stove, with the oven constantly 

 at a sharp baking heat, the oil was lowered only -,\, 

 inch in half an hour, or about one quart cent) an 

 hour. The whole interior of the store, which had been 

 used a year last May, was free, not only from ashes and 

 soot, but from discoloration, which, obviously, much as- 

 sisted the effectiveness of the fire, as compared with the 

 coating of non-conducting material accumulated in using 

 crude fuel. It was found impossible to obtain a trace of 

 smoke or odor from the flame upon a white handkerchief ; 

 so that, of course, the usual free carbon, hydro-carbon, 

 carbonic oxide, and other gases of crude fuel, could affect 

 neither the atmosphere nor the flavor of food cooked in 

 direct contact with the flame. In the large cooking- 

 range, a third pipe is introduced for the distillation of 

 illuminating gas, simultaneously with the ordinary use of 

 the range. The adjustment and operation excited much 

 admiration. In the progress of the oil through successive 

 coils of this pipe, within the fire box, the several hydro- 

 carbon mixtures it contains are converted, by successive 

 gradations of heat, into a single homogeneous and fixed 

 gas, which resists the most extreme cold of our climate, 

 without condensation, and runs free from sulphurous 



and other impurities, requiring only dilution with air. 

 After burning a scant -,V inch of oil, the time being taken, 

 the gas-making pipe was opened by simply turning a cock, 

 and in exactly one half the time enough gas was made 

 and measured to amount to 12.55 cubic feet, if diluted to 

 twelve-candle power ; when the total oil out was found 

 to be exactly fg inch, showing a barely perceptible differ- 

 ence from the rate of consumption without making gas, 

 but too fine to measure with the instruments at hand. 

 Roughly allowing it to be - 6 \ for the gasmaking, the cost 

 of the 12.55 f eet would be .0347 gal., or about 2${ gal. 

 per 1,000 feet. This is % gal. in excess of more exact 

 measurement previously taken by gas experts. 



But the rough experiment with the locomotive evi- 

 dences a gain of fully one thousand per cent, from the 

 exchange of carbon for hydrogen, estimating the fuels by 

 cost, in a practical way ; although the liquid fuel is of 

 course the dearer of the two, and the gain over the in- 

 trinsic value of the exchanged carbon, if it could be as- 

 certained, would therefore be still greater. Fifty per cent 

 from the exchange, then, is at best but five per cent of 

 the total gain, and the remaining 95 per cent must be 

 otherwise accounted for. Nor is there any lack of good 

 reasons for even this enormous difference. In the first 

 place, the carbon is consumed in pure oxygen from steam, 

 no atmospheric air having access to it in the retorts, and 

 therefore the large absorption of heat by the nitrogen 

 of the air that feeds the coal tire, is wholly saved in the 

 water gas process. The consumption is also perfect both 

 of the direct and the produced fuel, against a semi-con- 

 sumption in the coal furnace. Thirdly, the combustion 

 of the carbon, with all its heat antecedent and conse- 

 quent, is closely confined in the retorts, from which the 

 heat can escape only by radiation into the boiler, with the 

 exception of the very restricted vent of the hot gases 

 i through the burners. Fourthly, the hydrogen obtained 

 1 issues from the burners at a very high prior temperature, 

 I whereas the coal enters the furnace cold. Finally, the 

 hydrogen flame is a vastly more advantageous heating 

 \ agent than any form of crude fuel, from its unequalled in- 

 tensity and rapidity of action, and also from its direct 

 contact with the iron, as against the slower processes of 

 radiation and conduction employed by the coal in the fur- 

 I nace. The rapidity with which heat is imparted increases 

 I in a geometrical ratio to the increase of it sintensity, and 

 since the hydrogen flame is many times hotter than incan- 

 descent carbon, this concentrated heat must have a 

 vastly greater effect, unit for unit, in any given time of 

 passage through the Hues. Considering that 90 per cent 

 of direct waste is a moderate allowance in the ordinary 

 firing of a locomotive, it would seem on the whole that 

 we are justified in expecting yet greater economy from 

 this process rather than in theoretically distrusting the re- 

 I suits so far reported. 



PROGRESS IN MIXED METALLURGY. 



By William C. Conant. 



■ Of the fundamental mechanic arts substantially devel- 

 , oped before Science or History had a name, Metallurgy 

 \ was the beginning and the common parent. When Adam 

 was yet in middle life, the genius of Tubal-Cain divined 

 and explored the capabilities of the workman's metals, 

 ' copper, tin, zinc, and iron ; fused and mingled them, 

 wrought from them the tools of every craft, and became 

 " the instructor of every artificer in brass and iron." It 

 were hopeless, therefore, to question subsequent records 

 of Time for the era or the occasion of any of the more 

 essential developments in this art of arts. So far as the 

 ' native surface metals are concerned, it is probable that 

 ; all the more important metallurgical processes were un- 

 derstiod, for substance, long before the flood. Copper and 

 tin, the principal ingredients of bronze, being found com- 

 1 paratively pure at the surface, were naturally the earliest 



