The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1872-04-05
THE GAS QUESTION.
Editors Of the Wheeling Register:

Editors ofthe Wheeling Register:
The Intslligencer Of the 9th ult., in
/ reference to the question Of an enquirer
&C." why cant we have better gas,
eiitorily remarks that" among other
causes, "the method employed at the
Gas Works are not such as are necessary
to produce good gas" And again, that
even after the proposed enlargement o.
the works, mains, &c, is made, 1--WE
shall still not have good gas till a:
much pains is taken with the quality a:
is now taken to make it measure well.
Allow me, through the columns OF your
paper, to state that the method EN-.
ployed at these Gas Works is that
which is almost universally approved
and adopted, viz Carbonizaton OF tn
coal by flour hours charges" and the
publication by water, condensation and
the hydrate Of lime, for which method
these Works have been constructed by
an Engineer Of well known ability. As
to some of the so-called modern i'm
p,oyements" in gas making it would be
easy to show that they are not only dis,
advantageous, but absolutely danger,
Gus. 1t is quite true that in many
places in Wheeling there is bad light
from the gas, vet at the same time, l
assert that the gas is of good quality.
| am prepared 10 demonstrate by the
proper photometrical test that it is Is
candle gas, and this is the
only correct means for dctermin-
ing the illuminating power Of gas.
This statement will seem absurd while
in some places the light from the gas
is 60 poor. What is the cause? 1t is
pretty we'll understood that while the
increase in the consumption Of gas in
Wheeling has been recently very con.
siderable-in the last few years it has
been at least a third more-there has
not been a proportionate enlargement
OF the street gas mains. Market street
is poorly lighted, the supply of gas
there last winter being quite deficient,
more so than during any previous
winter for some years. This ia owing
in great measure 10. the Mcclure
House having used the city gas; pre-.
viousy, for some years, it had manu-
featured its own ga. The gas service
pipe from the main to this building is a
| large one-the size Of the street main
itself-and it is easy to understand that
the Mcclure House-a lofty one
would draw away almost the whole
supply in the street main, as coal gas,
being about half the weight Of stmos-
phcric air, will naturally ascend. Last
fall, foreseeing this disadvantage, tried
to divide it by proposing that the CITY
should rent the gas holder in the Nc
House yard which we could fill by day
for the use OF the hotel and thereby have
the supply in the main f1r the rest OF the
ras consumers on that street; but the
plan WAS not feasible, AZ Capt. Mcclure
was about to sell his gas holder. am
aware that similar disadvantages exist
in other parts OF the city, but they are
not in all cases caused solely by too small
street mains or insufficient supply OF
gas. lean prove that the bad light. or
"a the growing choose TO call it,
"bad gas is is many cases caused by
worn out or partially stopped up burn,
ers, or 10y corroded or too small tubing
in the houses. II in fitting up build,
ings for gas the SCALE as to the length
and size of tubing and number OF
burners, as laid down by all gas en-
gineers, copy of which may he had
0raf;s at the Gas Office, were adhered
to. there would be fewer complaints
about "had gas. Now, in addition to
the information Afforded 10y the MteNi-
acaccr, ! beg lr,ve 10 give i few facts,
hv mentioning few OFT OF many in
stances where this bad gas is chiefly
attributable TO 4 disregard OF what is
required bv the scale above alluded to-
FIRST, the HtsNgsncsr building, in all
Of it, rooms and offices, extending
from Main street along Quincy to Capt
Fink's store, almost half 4 square, The
gas tubing is what is called ! inch,
and there are about thirty burners,
while by the scale there is allowed of
that sized tubing only twenty feet, and
to supply not more than three burners :;
but when the number Of burners exceed
twenty there ought to be some one-inch
pipe. | once had some defective burn
ers in the printing office removed and
better ones substituted, which
printer said improved the light,
bnt subsequently one OF our
employees found that the latter
burners had been taken of and the
former one replaced. \ gentleman Of
the firm stated the burners put on by US
had been removed, because owing to
some neglect OF the employees they
passed too much gas and the same
gentleman also stated, candidly, that at
his residence the gas light was very
good. There is another public building
very badly lighted, Washington Hall.
Some four or five years ago | ascer-
tanned that the burners on the chande-
Tiers were only three feet burners,
while the ordinary burner is six foot
burner, that is consuming SIX cubic feet
Of gas per hour. The arms of the
chandeliers, though tastefully orna-
mented, being little larger in calibre
than straw. | recommended the sub
stitution OF good burners, and had a
man with the necessary tools ready to
lay some larger pipe in the building,
but gentleman, (one OF the owners OF
the Hall l UNDERSTOOD said he had
purchased those burners especially for
the Hall, and that as they afforded all
the light needed, he did not wish them
changed. Recently, when the new gal