The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1860-03-31
The Ottawa Gas Works.

We find in the Ottawa Enterprise, which
has just been issued for April, the follow
ing pleasant chapter on one of the paying
institutions Of Ottawa-the Gas Works:
In our last number we gave some &C
count of the Starch Factory, and in CON
tinuance of our design then announced,
we now proceed to describe the gas works,
and explain the process OF manufacturing
gas from cur Illinois coal. as furnished us
by Mr. LEVI Mason, the gentlemanly and
obliging superintendent.
The gas buildings consist Of an Office and
fitting shop, 80 by 40 feet, retort house,
80 by 60 feet, and gasometer 40 feet in
diameter and IL feet high.
In the reto-t house, set over furnaces
are four benches of three retorts each. INTO
which is placed the coal just as !. comes
from the banks. Fire is then built il the
furnaces underneath, and the gas is driven
off from the coal in the form of a dense,
black smoke, which is conveyed by pipes
leading from the retorts to the hydraulic
main" which is large iron pipe placed
horizontally above the rctort, and is partly
filed with water This process partially
removes the tara very troublesome pro
duct-from the coal, and fits the gas for
entering the ''scrubber,' an apparatus
which condenses the vapor, cools the gas,
and removes many of the remaining i'm
purities From thence it is conducted in
to five set of perpendicular iron pipes,
called condenserS, which condense the
gas still more, and dries IL
1t is then conducted to n sort of reser
yoir, which Is divided into four different
compartments, and is called the centre
seal Having condensed, cooled, and
dried the gas and removed the tar it is
now necessary to eliminate the sulphur, a
substance with which all of our coal is
more or less impregnated, and which is
/ got rid of only with much trouble and ex-
pense This object is accomplished by
passing the gas from one division of the
centre seal to the purifier "a kind OF
box, partly full of finely slaked lime
| thence back again to another division OF
the centre SEAL" thence back again to
the purifier, and so on until it has passed
through the purifier four times After be
ing in this manner thoroughly purified
the gas is conducted to the station metre
and there accurately measured, after which
it is sent to the gasometer, from whence il
/ is distributed all over the city.
The products from the coal are, the gas,
(carburetted hydrogen,) coke, the residue
left after heating the coal, and tar Six
thousand feet Of gas, twenty-three bushels
of coke, and half barrel of tar are made
from one ton of coal
The works are of sufficient capacity to
make thirty thousand feet of gas per day
but not one-half of this quantity is now
manufactured.
From tables carefully prepared by R. G
Courtenay, Esq, of Louisville, KY, we
learn that 900 feet of gas, at So, gives
light equal to 65 pounds of sperm candles
which would cost $50 so; 70 pounds of tai
low candles, which would cost about Sl2
or 81 gallons of sperm OIL which would
cost $2l.75, thus proving gas to be the
cheapest light which could be used
Since February, 1856, the time wher
gas was first used in this city, the work.
have been in charge of Mr.. Levi Mason
who has proved himself fully competent t,
fill the station he occupies, and who, b,
his urbane and oblging manner and dis
position, has won the esteem and appro
baton of the many consumers with whom
: he has had business dealings.
The gas fitting is in charge Of Mr.. Gee
BURGESS, a gentleman who thoroughly I'm
derstands the business both of gas an,
steam fitting. and whose work has givel
universal satisfaction.