The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-02-08 00:00:00

THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS.
(From The Times.)

For some time prsvious to the strike of the London
gas stokers, and to the tompormily-diminishe
nation which it produced, a number of ingenious per-
sons had been buoy with endeavours to improve and
cheapen the manufacture of gas ; and the strike has at
least ha I the go d effect of attracting to their lab mrs
more attention thau thioe would otherwise have corn-
maudei. Within the last few weeks two of the new
methods have ben brought prominently before the
public—one of them being the pr tperty of Me tori.
Porter and Lane the proprietors of the Gas Generator
Company, and the other being the pence-s of Mr.
rtuck, whi Ii is. now rested in the New Gas Company.

The method of Messrs. Porter and Lane consists
essentially in an improved arrangement of the retorts,
by which the diati dation of coal is greatly facilitated.
It has now be, n experimentally in use, upon a working
stale, for some months, in the manufactory of the
Chartered Gas Company in the Horseferry-road, and
is about to be established on • much larger scale at
their princieal works at Beckton. Instead of the
usual horiz total retorts, which are charged and
emptied with great difficulty by severe and skilled
labour, Messrs. Porter and Lane use vertical retorts,
within which a screw, with an oblique blade, slowly
revolves on a vertical axis. The coal is pia ed in a
chamber or hopper above, and trickles down into the
retort as room is made for it by the subsidence of
that which is below. The apparatus is, therefore, self
feeding, and only requires that the hopper should be
supplied at proper intervals by easy and unskilled
labour, such as can be done by any one who can handle
a spade and a barrow. The revolution of the screw
keeps a spiral line of coal in constant contact with the
Inner side of the retort ; and the intervals hetwetn the
turns of the blade allow room for the disengaement of
the gas. By the time the coal reaches the bottom of
the screw it is exhausted, and it fills as coke into a
vertical chamber below, which is continuous with
the retort, but beneath the furnace, anti in which
it is instantly quenched. The c Ace chamber can
be emptied by one man, as often as necessary, in one
minute; and the whole process requires scarcely
any interference from those in charge of it. By
establihiug a proper relation between the length
of the screw, the speed of its rotation, and the beat
of the furnace, the distillation of the coal can be
carried exactly to the most desirable point, so as to
obtain from it all the gas it can 3 ield, and to stop short
of the evolution of a variety of noxious producta. In
the horizontal retorts the outer crust of the mass of en-
closed coal becemes over-burnt long before the inner
pm tion is exhausted, and in this way many sulphur
compounds are produced, even although the eh trge as
a whole, is withdrawn flaming and manifestly mime.'
hausted. In Porter and Lane's process, on the con
trary, the charge fills out bit by bit in a merely glow-
ing condition, and yields a coke which is said to be
much better adapted for household purposes than that
ordinarily made. It is lighter and more spongy in
texture and kindles readily when placed on a common
fire ; but it certain*t burns out with great rapidity.

The results hitherto o'itaMed by this method at the
works of the Chartercd Company seem to show a con-
stantly increased production id gas to the extent of
two thousand cubic feet for each t n of coal, and also
an increased production of coke. Moreover, the division
and distribution of coal by the screw exposes it so com-
pletely to the action of heat that the retorts may be
kept at a lower temperature than in the ordinary
method, and thus the life of each retort will be pro.
porticnally pr,donged. The saving of labour, of couriaa,
speaks for itself ; and the quality of the gas, eepecially
with teference to the presence of sulphur compounds,
is very suianior to that made in the usual way. The
retorts remain free from carbonaceous deposits ; and
their vertical aerangement has admitted of improve-
ment in the furnace (included in Messrs. Porter and
Lane's patent), by which a considerable saying in re.
pairs fuel, and labour is effected.
The Directors of the "New Gas Company" gave a
demon tration of their methods of procedure on Satur-
day, at the Waterworks, York-road, Battersea, and
their invitations attracted a large number of scientific
insO,and of others practically interested in the lines
tion. bastes,' of manufacturing gas by the distillation
of coal, Mr. Ruck first obtains his hydrogen by the
decoy! poeit on of water and then charges it with the
carb in neceseary for illuminating purposes by passing
it through w petroleum spirit of specific gravity
0.680. In the first part of the process, superheated
I steam is conveyed into retorts containing iron and coke
I raised to • high temperature. The steam is &cow