The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-02-25
Water Gas.

The process Of manufact turing gas from wa.
ter in Philadelphia seems to have been sue
cessful. Compared with coal-gas, an equal
number of cubic feet yields more light and
heat. 1t 10 more dense, much cheaper, and re-
quires greatly less room for it's apparatus and
fewer laborers to manufacture it. 1t Is also
easily freed from some of the offensive mix
lures, such as the sulphurous and nitrous
compounds-it is by SO much less offensive in
the leakages and escapes incident to the use
The Philadelphia Press says:
A bushel of charcoal and three hundred
pounds of rosin are consumed in the produc.
lion of ten thousand Gu bic feet of gas. These
are the only materials employed in the con-
version of the hydrogen of the water-yapor
into the gas or gases required. Any hydro
cnrbOnaceOus substances-such as the asphal.
tum of BIZ, coal oil, or other mineral oils
may be used as well As rosin. This class of
substances is very various, quite exhaustless
and extremely cheap. A retort of but one.
third Of the cubical capacity of the Goals
retOrts in common use, can, without being
subjected to a destructive degree of heat, make
three or four fold the quantity Of gas in equal
time. BY increasing the heat it can be pushed
To yield of six times-rhat is, eighteen times
the yield Of a coai-gas retort of the same d.
mansions. 1t can, indeed be made us fast as il
can be conveyed from the generator. The ca
pacity OF the materials and apparatus for pro-
hucing the gas answers to the degree of heat
will pay to burn up the retorts with
rapidity proportioned to their produce iveness.
which is scarcely question. The quantity
OF product and speed Of the manufacture are
the things secured, and they more than com pen
satS the consumption of iron.
The secret of the success in this method of
making water-gas is in the fact that by ming.
ling the vapor OF water and the hydro-car.
bonaceous matter (rosin,) the decompositio
Of the elements is affected simultaneously
with, and IN the presence of each other so that
AT the nascent points of generation they are
subjected to the action Of their ai1inities they
enter into ehemieaI combination, yielding the
bl-carbur6tted hydrogen illuminating gas J
the protO-carburetted hydrogen and carbonate
oxide combustion suppOrters) which are re-.
CURED to confer upon the aggregate the proper
degree OF iuminousness. A SUFFICIENT expert
ence, we are told, proves that the gases thus
produced are permanent, undergoing no de.
composition or deterioration after standing a
year IN gasometer. The failure of previous
auempts 10 make water.g gas Is due to u failure
TO secure the simultaneous decomposition 81
the ingredients and combina tions of their ele-
I.enn; Inc gas, after leaving the generator,
ana e1 nny;r cGaeaPiy, and expeditiousiy washed
pie, compact, and convenient that il can Ia
introduced In our large hotels and factories n
m attachment Of such establishment To This
nr;v.,s az aeas'' At Is capable OF passing into
The current cost-apart from the apparatus
and its wear and tear--of making one thom.
~~ssA 49, ~ 8uss - l0S8 t00n nifty cents Thu
eoAl.gas Of our city establishments cn.ts h..'s
Sno coIsr and twenty cents TO the companies.
XaAt tnis 10 water.gas and not rosin .sas in
the proper senses OF the words il ohSiors
from tns TACT that IN excess Of rosin redncas
us luminosity, and, pushed very far, DESTROYS
II. Both the charcoal aud the rosin CONT
buts essential elements, but the princinsI IN !.
gredient Is the hydrogen Of the water used
and this substance properly gives the produc /
It, distinctive popular name. We think II "a.
pable Of still greater improvement even in
the process Of production, and have no doubt
that IL will answer many uses, and will be
got under more perfect control In application
70 such usss, with little experience.
All the world knows that we need some
thing 70 check the abdses which the public 10
suffering from the mOnop0lisss OF gas manu-
lactare. We have bsen not little puzzled
for year or two. 70 hnd that while we are
burning exactly the same quantity Of gas, At
the same price per thousand feet, our quarter
" bills are quite doubled. We look TO this
new invsntion with much confidence, for both
light and relief