The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-10-19
A Valuable Improvement for Both
PrO0nccrA and COnAumerN OF Gns

A Valuable Improvement for Both
Producers ana Consumers of Gas.
| A patent has just been issued TO j.
II. Connolly, OF Wheeling, for manu-
featuring Gas by Introducing Petrol
cum, or its products, (Residuum) into
| the retorts with lime water, when
charged with coal, producing more gas
! with two retorts than can be produced
in the same time with three, when coal
alone is used in the ordinary wav, and
the gas thus produced, has twenty per
cent. moro illuminating power, as
demonstrated by the Photometre test,
and can be readily applied to any gas
| works now in operation. By using one
half CoAl aud half Residuum and lime
water, it only requires one-third the
amount of lie in the purifier, there
being no sulphur in the oil, and the
| lime water being converted into steam
in the retOrt, has not only its purifying
effect upon the coal gas, but as gas pro-
! duced from oil alone is too rich in car
bon. the oxygen and hydrogen of the
water when decOmpOSed, untiring in
proportions to make u soft and brilliant
ligtt, the per centage of the quantity
of gas is increased. Gas can be pro-
duced by this process from thirty to
forty per cent. cheaper than from coal
alone, from the fact that one pound
yields three to three and half cubic
feet OF gas, while one gallon of Resi-
dunn when distilled with lime wa
ter, will yield one hundred and
| fifty cubic feet of gas, and only one
third of the lime required in the puri-
fer, and two retOrts yielding more gas
than three In the same time; and from
the extreme low price that Residuum
can be bought, ms there Is now no mar
ket for 1t, and especially at points
| where coal is expensive on account of
freight. Tho barrels for shipping are
nearly double the cost of the material.
but may be shipped to all prominent
| points In iron bulk car tanks at fair
rates, thereby dispensing with the ex-
pense of barrels. When taking into
consideration the proportion OF gas
| produced per pound of each, it stands
as eighteen Is to one hundred, which
makes an item in freight, besides it is
| perfectly free from all expensive uuali-
ties, and used according to this plan,
1t is considered by practical gas men to
be as safe as coal itself. Also, the very
pungent and obnoxious odor arising
from changing the lime in the purifier,
in consequence of the sulphur contain
ed in the coal gas, is almost destroyed
designed to be used on small scale for
generating gas equally safe and econo-
| mtcal) for one or more dwellings, or
manufacturing establishments, when
out of the reach of city gas, either in
connection with coal, or with Residuum
and lime water alone, thereby dispens-
ing with lime in the purifying alto
gether.
The practical working of the abovs
can be seen at messrs. Reilly, Barnes
& Hobbs, Wheeling Brewery, on their
gas works attached to the establish
Inent, where 1t has been in successful
operation for over two mouths, and not
only witnessed by most OF the promi-
nent gentlemen of this city, but by
several practical gas engineers of other
cities, and pronounced by all to be
complete success. lst. Being perfectly
safe or free from any possibility Of ex-
Plosion. I'd. The great economy of
producing the gas. Sd. Its superiority
in illuminating power. Any parties
desiring information in regard to the
mode of constructing and applying it,
or with view OF negotiating for State
or County rights, would do we'll to adj
dress DIR. j. II. Connolly, box All,
Wheeling, West Virginia.
Preparations arc now rapidly being
mHde for it's application and adoption
by several embellishments.
THE LATE JOHN VAN BuREN-H1s
CHARACTER AND DPECULIARITIES.-J
| Van Buren,, or "Prince John" as he
was Familiarity called, was a verv re-
markable character, though not a sue
cessful man. He did not, in fact, pos
sess the peculiar 'endowments, which
| BlSO a Ahhl buGSSbS lu luis pEaCL1GaI
country of ours. His talents and his
information were too general, and he
developed IA readiness I'm all things and
| greatness in none. He was not busi-
ness man, but a man of society; not a
sharp fnancier, but a witty diner out;
not dry and iusty and learned lawyer,
but genial, lively and generous gem
tleman of elegant leisure. It was the
business of his life to entertain and
4 none could be more entertaining or
more elegant, or be so more untlagg-
ingly than himself. His wit and hu-
NOR intruded itself in everything, and
all his law cases (of which he had but
few are distinguished by his With
cisLns, and every political campaign
for many years past has its hundreds of
"Reminiscences OF Van Buten's jokes
and dry lumor. 3H
PosT OFFICE CLERKS occasionally get
off a funny thing. A clerk in our Post
! Office heard Il tap at the window of the
i ladles' department, when who should
he 1nd there but a man by the name of
Drake, to whom he said: "Mr. Drake,