The Lambertville press. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1858-1???, 1861-03-27
800 A YEAR
Gas---What it Is.

OHif WITH pOlltlcldHS ant opoAtClo, ou'
with the people. Gas has become a
great propeller, not only in trade, but
serves as an economical and most bril-
liant light. As the consumers of gas
are pretty numerous in our town, il
will be matter of interest to oul
readers generally, to know what gas
is made CT.
Coal Gas was first made by DR..
Clayton. an Englishman, in 1888 but
was not used for Illuminating purpos-
es until the year 1900, when it was
first introduced into the London man.
nfactories. The chief constituents oil
gas are hydrogen and carbon, and ac-
cording as is is made from whale OF
o'her animal oils, or from mineral OIL
coal, rosin or wood, it is found c)m-
bined with sulpl ureted hydrogen, car
bonic acid, hi. sulphuret of carbon,
ammonia, asphaltum, coal tar, pyro
ligneous acid and other matter.
The Illuminating power of gas, de-
ponds upon the amount of carbon that
it contains, and consequently the bet
ter gas is that which contains most
carbon, with hydrogen to aid its com
bustion, and is more free from other
ingredients which injure the brillliancy
of its fame and generate noisome
smells.
To purify gas, its manufacturers
use lime, and the oxides of iron and
magnesia, and the cost of its produc-
tion depends npon the price of coal,
or other substances to be distilled, the
direct expense of apparatus and labor
ard the value of the residum after dis
tillation, or of the matters separated
from the gas by chemical analysis, the
expense Of supplying gas to consum-
ers, and the loss by leakage. Consul
mers OF gas, in addition to these points
are specially interested in the modes
by which the amount of gas used is
determined, the proportion of carbon
in the gas furnished, and the amount
of carbon escaping without combus-
ton. A ton of gas coal will yield
nine or ten thousand feet of gas, con-
tanning carbon sufficient to make a
fame equal to fifteen candles, of six to
the pound, when it is burning FIVE feet
to the hour
The less carbon is supplied, so much
less will be the proportionate value
of the gas, but so much greater the
amount. In California, gas has been
sold at $40, and is now So per thous-
and cubic feet. Tn second class towns
throughout the United States and
Canada, it is supplied at So, 81 or S.
per thousand cubic feet, and in New
York at 50, so per thousand cubic feet.
The gas produced from ton of coal
may thus be supposed to bring the
company between 500 and $50 dollars,
but there is a wide margin both OF
profit and loss that this calculation
does not inclnde.
The proportionate expense Of labor
and apparatus is much greater in
snlall than in extensive gas works. -
In some works, the coal tar, asphalt
tum, ammonia and other matters sep
arated from the gas have already be-
come a source of considerable revenue,
and chemical science is now directed
TO the discovery Of new modes of rem
dering them valuable. The expense
of mains and other pipes to supply gas
is heavy tax, and the leakage is sta
ted to be equivalent to % per cent of
the whole amount of gas produced.
The joints W here sections of mains
come together are caulked with hemp
and lead. The gas dries the hemp,
which shrinks, and heat and cold al
ternately expand and contract the iron
much more than the lead, and conse-
quently in very short time the seams
are widely opened and an immense
amount of leakage ensues. In Liver
pool the sections of the mains are lathe
turned to fit into each other, like the
ground shoppers of glass bottles, so as
to be perfectly air-tight, and conse-
quently the loss by leakage is only IL
per cent
BUSINESS PROSPECTS We were